Lanzhou

En route from Xi-an to Xiahe, I stopped for a short overnight in the city of Lanzhou.  This wikipedia snippet does a pretty good job describing my experience in the city:


According to the Blacksmith Institute, Lanzhou is one of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, with its TSP (total suspended particle) rating 247% above that of the Gansu State recommendation. The air quality is so poor that at times one can not see Lanshan, the mountain rising straight up along the south side of the city. At one point, a controversial suggestion was put forward to bulldoze a mountain adjacent to the city, in order to let fresh air in to the bowl where Lanzhou is situated.


On the bright side, I did enjoy my visit to a "Western" restaurant in the city where I got to see people eating chicken wings with a fork and knife...cultural symmetry.

Xi'an: Land of Giant Action Figures

After Beijing I flew to Xi-an, in Shaanxi province where I spent four days.  Sadly, while in Xi-an I purchased a memory card which turned out to be defective so I lost all the photos I took here and for the next few stops as well.

:(

Anyway, here are some higlights with accompanying internet-sourced photos!

Terracotta Army:  This tomb full of giant action figures from the 3rd century reminded me of the epic 'set-ups' from my childhood.  Sure, it was full of tourists, but the main hall with thousands of restored warriors was pretty cool.

Xi'an walls:  The old city of Xi'an is surrounded by a giant rectangle of walls built in the 14th century.  Nowadays, these make for a perfect bike ride around the city complete with panaramic views of the concrete towers rising in all directions.

Wild Goose Pagoda:  I met up with an awesome local one night through couchsurfing and went out for a meal of delicious soup dumplings (jia san bao zi) before heading over to the Wild Goose Pagoda for an epic nighttime fountain + light show.  Thanks Lixin!

Beijing Nights

Beijing also had some great nightlife to match it's daytime attractions. When traveling solo nightlife really depends on who you meet up with and in Beijing I was fortunate to go out with some friends of a friend one night and local couchsurfers for two others.  

The night out with friends of a friend (thanks Weichen and Kate) started off at a tiny whiskey bar called Amilal run by a very cool Mongolian.  A few whiskeys later we strolled down Nanluoguxiang, a very trendy hutong full of tiny cafes, craft stores, bars, and gelato places.  We stopped at ____ bar for a few more drinks before heading over to a late night Dim Sum meal where I tried chicken feet for the first time!  I thought they tasted pretty good, though the tastiness:bone ratio was a bit high for my liking.

Amilal interior (thebeijinger.com) 

Another night out I met with a big group of couchurfers for one of their weekly meetups (the site offers much more than just a couch to crash on).  The one I went to in Beijing had a great mix of locals, local expats, and passing travelers.  We went to Haidilao, a Sichuan style hotpot restaurant where small groups sit around two big pots of broth and drop in various vegetables, noodles, meats, etc. to enjoy.  This meal was followed by a trip to a nearby bar called the Brick for further merriment before calling it a night.  Thanks Lydia! 

Couchsurfers at Haidilao

I met up with some of the same couchsurfers for drinks the next night as well, this time in the Goulou Daijie neighborhood.  I enjoyed some good drinks and conversation on a rooftop bar and also had a chance to walk around the Houhai lake area.

Houhai lake nightlife

Beijing Days

My first few hours in Beijing felt like entering a vaguely post-apocalyptic world.  The sun was blotted out by a thick haze of smog, the train from the airport broadcast a weirdly distorted replay of a women's indoor volleyball match, and the ramshackle alley in which I found my hostel was full of animals, garbage and electric bicycles.  Fortunately this impression quickly passed and I was soon learning to make dumplings at the hostel's dumpling party that night.  I spent each of the next four days visiting one of Beijing's genuinely impressive tourist attractions.

1.  The Forbidden City - I spent four hours wandering around this massive palace complex listening to my audioguide while weaving in and out of hordes of toursits.  I found the whole place impressive more for it's sheer enormity than any other particular aspect.  Even after four hours I had barely visited half of the 'sites' contained within.

2.  The 798 Art District - A former industrial park transformed into a collection of art galleries and cafes.  I feel entirely unqualified to comment on the artwork, but I definitely dug the in-progress reclamation of a massive industrial facility for purposes of artfun. 

                              

 3.  Summer Palace - Like the Forbidden palace, but with a big lake in the middle, the world's longest corridor (pictured), and a giant paddle boat made of stone!

4.  The Great Wall - Jinshalong section - My favorite site in Beijing.  It felt endless, was pleasntly untouristed, and was tremendous fun to hike along.  Only wish I could have spent more time there.

 This last photo was taken at ice cream and/or beer o'clock.  Sadly neither was available at the time.

Seoul

Airfare pricing rarely makes much sense.  The cheapest route I found from Tokyo to Beijing had me stopping in Seoul, South Korea.  Not having a real itinerary I decided to spend a few days exploring the city before carrying on to China.

I was rewarded by a splendid ancient palace and gardens, an abundance of delicious grilled meats (yay Korean bbq!) and more awesome cafes than I could shake a metal chopstick at.  My time in Seoul was generally pretty lazy, just walking and eating, but I did manage to participate in my first ever cooking class.  Daniel and Shawn of Ongo taught us how to make Dak Galbi and two other dishes (recipes here).  They all turned out pretty well, though I was so busy cooking/eating I forgot to take any photos...so it goes.

And now for some assorted photos of Seoul:

 A typical meal

Awesome teahouse where I drank five-flavored tea (thanks Jean for the recommendation!)

Gwangjong (sp?) night market where I had some Bin-dae-tok

my trip to Japan as told by another

My friend Sam, with whom I traveled in Japan for three weeks, has written a far better account of our trip than I will ever be able to produce. So to avoid wasting precious internet cafe minutes (and assuage guilt over not posting more) I've provided a link to her blog below:

http://caeterafama.tumblr.com/post/884933579/tokyo-weekend-tsukiji-fish-market

Our trip to Japan should begin with a post titled "Tokyo Weekend: Tsukiji Fish Market" written on July 31st. As I write this, it should be close to the top of the page, but this may change as time passes and tumblr updates (if so just go by the dates...).

Also, a huge thanks to Leo for providing many amazing recommendations on what to (not) do while in Japan.

Will write more soon!

Fuji-san

After a few days in Tokyo we left the city to spend a night climbing up Mt. Fuji.  We were lucky and caught a break in the rain for the six-hour uphill hike.  We started on the trail around 10pm.  It began as a wide path through a pine forest, but quickly gave way to a series of switchbacks up a rocky volanic surface.  The ascent was punctuated by numerous guesthouses along the trail, each containing a large group of tourists (mostly locals) preparing to make the trek.

As we neared the summit a queue actually formed and our pace slowed to a crawl.

 We arrived at the summit a very slow hour later.

Just in time to be greeted by views of a sunrise over the clouds.

 After pausing to drink coffee and eat some bananas we also toured the top of the crater.

The trip down was much faster.

It began raining the minute we stepped onto our bus back to Tokyo.

Tokyo

My sister, Laura, and I walked all over Tokyo.  It's a sprawling mega-city with an impressive mix of the past, the future and some delicious food.  In a single day we saw the humanoid robot, Asimo (he can run, kick a soccer ball, and tell jokes in Japanese)

Walked through an emperor's 13th century duck hunting garden

Strolled aroud Ginza (Japan's 5th avenue?)

Visited tokyo's anime/electronic city of Akihabara

And finished the day by ordering some delicious soba (+fried chicken) from a vending machine.

On conversation in rural El Salvador

[this post was written in February, 2008]

On our way back down from the mountain,

after buying a chicken and getting some ice pops,

we stopped at Mike's host mother's house.

The four of us sat down and waited as Mike talked with Mercedes, the head of the household. Each exchange of words was followed by a long silence. I somewhat anxiously wondered if we were intruding. I would have fidgeted but for fear of startling the chicken tucked under my arm. Dogs lolled about. People came and went. Huge bags of coffee beans were delivered. I pondered the holes in the roof. Isn't there a rainy season? Eventually Mike bid his farewell and we all filed out.

I left feeling guilty about my inability to speak the language and contribute to the flagging conversation. Mike explained rather simply "there are no awkward pauses."

Springtime in Seattle

Back in spring of 2008 I traveled to Seattle for four months on my first consulting project.  I stayed in the city a few weekends and did a bunch of sightseeing, went on really (really) long walks, and explored the surrounding area.  Beyond the exceptional food and drink (largest wine producing state after California) I was most impressed by how close downtown Seattle is to the outdoors. Here's a view of the Cascade mountains just ten minutes outside of the city.

We drove through the mountains on our trip out to some wineries in Yakima valley.

During one my long walks I encountered a bridge troll.

I also saw lots of bald eagles.

And I walked past a big granary.

And this.

Lastly, I'll just point out that these photos were taken across a few different weekends, but the sky was consistently gray...that's springtime in Seattle.