China- Part I: Beijing

Hey friends and family, I hope everyone is doing well! I just got back from a 9-day trip in China with a group of 28 people from the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce, with which I was connected through Owen. He went on the trip too, which ended up being even more of a life-saver than I thought because we were on the same page while the rest of the group had a different agenda. The price was (really, really) right for this trip, so I decided to go even though it was in a tour group which is not really my style. Since the entire package was inclusive (5 star hotels, all meals, flights & transportation), it turned out to be a little too good to be true. We found ourselves touring China via factories (ie. pearl, silk, embroidery, cloisanne) and eating at the restaurants adjoined to each factory after a demonstration of how each of these things was made. After the demonstration there was a lot of pressure from the billions of employees in each gift shop to buy one of the wares, followed by a meal no Chinese person could stomach. Well, perhaps I'm being overdramatic, but I've never had Chinese food this bad, which seems to say a lot seeing as I was in China. But, the trip wasn't bad and definitely had some great highlights. So, without further ado, let me give you a little run-down of what we did.







We are not excited about this flight














Flying over Siberia!!!


















I played this game for like 5 hours, ugh






The first two days were somehow spent traveling, as we crossed the international dateline and mysteriously lost day 2 of our trip into the abyss. When we arrived in Beijing in the evening our tour guide, Julia took us to a dumpling restaurant, which was very tasty. We watched the kitchen staff assemble the dumplings through a window. Then we went to our very nice hotel and Owen and I picked up some unbelievably cheap beer (3 yuan, which is like 50 cents) and relaxed in our room.







Dumpling dinner





















The next morning we ate a buffet breakfast that impressed us in our hotel (so far so good...), and then went to the Summer Palace. It was here that we discovered we were horribly underdressed (and underpacked) for the temperature, which was around freezing with very strong winds. With the wind chill, Beijing remained around 25 degrees or so the entire time we were there... wah wah. :) It was beautiful anyway and I wondered if it had all been rumors about the smog in Beijing because it was gorgeous with blue skies the whole time we were there.







View from our hotel window












Driving through Beijing


































Gate to Summer Palace












Once inside the gate




























What a beautiful day!













































Owen



























At least our group didn't have orange hats













Teapot window















A secret door we found...
















...and getting kicked out of the secret door
































Being a tourist







After lunch we went to a pearl factory, where Owen and I had our grand realization of why the trip was so cheap. After listening to a talk about pearls, we spent an obscenely long time walking around the store area, where everyone else on the tour proceeded to buy as much pearl jewelry as they could carry. I am not a fan of pearls, so there wasn't much in it for me. The lunch was almost inedible.







This girl's English was great! And look how cute!



















The inside of an oyster







Next we went somewhere, but I can't remember what temple it was. Along the way we saw some key Beijing buildings. Then we were off to the Forbidden City, which was awesome. Owen and I immediately got lost from the group and were found about 30 minutes later (somehow... I have no idea how because this place is HUGE). I felt guilty that one of the guides had to come looking for us, but we were genuinely lost in the maze.


























Where the Olympics were held











Where the pool is, I think
















Temple gate












I accidentally took a picture of this










































































This restaurant is called "Easy Time" and that sign says "characteristics cuisine"



























Such vivid colors












































This is the sign we had to follow around for 9 days

















Handstand in the Forbidden City










The Forbidden City was followed by Tianenmen Square, which was pretty awe-inspiring. It is intense seeing the big picture of Chairman Mao in person! I was disappointed to see the square relatively empty, which I think was a result of the sun being on its way down. I ended up getting another chance to see it later, so that was fine.






First view of the square
































































After leaving the square and being followed/stalked by vendors all the way to the bus, we were on our way back to the hotel. We had a forgettable (I have no idea where we went) dinner, and then relaxed for the evening. Owen and I ventured out to a little tiny restaurant/bar near our hotel that night, and ate what skewers of what may or may not have been intestines and liver of something. We also drank some mystery liquor. When in Rome, right? :)

Because this is very time consuming (and I have over 500 photos...), I think I'll post separately for different segments of the trip. I will continue next posting with the Great Wall of China, which was definitely the highlight of the trip!! Thanks for reading and I hope this finds you well! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Shan

Update from Home...

Hey guys, I just wanted to post a little note to tell everyone that although I started to be kind of lazy about posting on here, I have been able to upload my newly resized photos very quickly onto my picasa page. Soooo... I know I never posted anything here about my trip to Uruguay, which was amazing and filled with great stories, I DID post a lot of my photos to Picasa. Nate and I also just got back from a 10 day trip to California, and whether or not I get around to posting about it, there are pictures up already from the first leg of the trip, which was Yosemite. AMAZING!!! Definitely check out the pics and I will try to be better about posting now that i figured out my photo woes (The pictures on my camera were ginormous, if you hadn't noticed, but I figured out how to resize them all). Hope you're all doing well, and keep checking back for the next adventure... CHINA (leaving Nov 15...)

Love, Shan

p.s. here's the link again, just in case...

My Picasa Albums

Campo Grande to Pantanal, Brazil

Hi everyone, I realized there was really nothing to write about Foz except that we saw Iguazu and it was spectacular, again. I am posting pictures on Picasa in an album called Foz do Iguazu. After seeing the falls, we took an overnight bus to Campo Grande. This bus was pretty terrible compared to the coche cama, and I was sitting in front of some obnoxious kids the entire ride and couldn't sleep. Anyway, when we arrived in Campo Grande someone from the hostel met us at the bus station and took us to the hostel and fed us a nice fresh fruit breakfast. We relaxed a little bit and were able to take showers before going on a great adventure to the Pantanal. The Pantanal is Brazil's major ecological attraction, and there are several tour groups you can go on expeditions with. Josh had been researching our different choices, and we decided on one that was 3 nights and 4 days. I was honestly under the impression that we would be camping in a swamp. I envisioned stepping out of my bug infested tent into ankle-deep mud and being immediately attacked by bees and malaria-infected mosquitoes. Needless to say, I was not too excited about this expedition, but I was trying to be agreeable. Anyway, I was COMPLETELY wrong. First of well, our tour was during the dry season, so there was no mud to speak of, and we were sleeping in cabins, not tents. We left Campo Grande in a bus of about 13 people, and after a stop for lunch, we arrived about 4 hours later at a little rest stop where we transfered into a jeep type vehicle. On the bumpy ride into our camp, we saw lots of amazing wildlife, and it really felt like we were on a safari! The camp we stayed at was called Santa Clara and it was kind of on a farm, but it had a little swimming pool, two shaded areas with hammocks, a big dining area, a game room with pool and ping pong, and a few cabins. It was evening when we arrived, so we just spent the night eating dinner and hanging out. I was in a group of 10 amazing people from around the world. Everyone settled in really well and really enjoyed each others' company.

On the second day, we got up early, had breakfast, and went on a nature walk with Carlos, one of the guides. We saw lots of birds and some monkeys, but not too much else as far as wildlife goes. I think our group was too big and so we scared the animals off as we walked around, but we still had a great time. When we got back, it was really windy, so we just sat in the hammocks and chatted. The people on the expedition were so friendly and everyone had great stories and jokes to tell. We had lunch; I should mention that all the meals were prepared for us and were served buffet style, and were really tasty. Maybe too tasty... :) After lunch we walked over to a nearby lake and took two boats out to go piranha fishing!! This was one of the highlights of the trip for sure. It was also my first time fishing! It wasn't very representative of real fishing, because there are so many piranhas in there that you drop your line in and pretty much get a bite right away.... but still! I caught 5 fish. ;) We actually pulled the boats up to shore and some of the boys got out and fished from in the water, but I was a little too nervous about going in piranha infested waters. They assured us it was safe but... I saw those teeth. Haha. Anyway, after a very successful afternoon, we went back to the camp and ate fried piranha that we had caught. There were also a few catfish caught, and they made a delicious soup for us out of the fish. After dinner our group just hung out and had more bonding time til we all got tired.

Most of you will never believe what I did the next morning... guess who rode a HORSE. That's right. and just to make it even better/more unbelievable, my horse was practically a mini horse. It was ridiculous, the guide was bringing out all the horses, and when I saw the tiny one, we were joking about having Mike take it because he is super tell. Then the guide beckoned ME over there. Of course. Hahaha. When you look at the pictures, you will be able to tell how little my horse was next to the others. I'm not going to say I loved riding the horse... but it wasn't as horrible as it could have been. Although I was really scared and I kept thinking it was going to run off and do whatever it wanted. MY WORST NIGHTMARE. Anyway, it was an adventure, to say the least.

After horseback riding and lunch, we got back in the jeep and went on a sunset safari. We drove around for an hour or so, then took about an hour to explore outside of the jeep. I took TONS of photos. There were lots of birds and lots of capyburas, which is the largest rodent in South America and seriously looks like a giant guinea pig. We also saw several caymans, which are a mini crocodile. Several times we came really close to them, which was awesome and scary at the same time. But the safari was great and we saw an amazing sunset. It was freezing on the way home and we were all surprised by how cold the weather had been despite the first day being overwhelmingly hot... but I suppose it is the end of winter, even in the Pantanal.

The next day was our last, and we had breakfast and then went down to the lake and rode around in the boats for awhile. We were supposed to go swimming, but for some reason we didn't get that as an option. We decided that based on what other people had said, we had the worst guide on our expedition and didn't get to do half the things everyone else had done... but we still had a fantastic time. I feel so lucky to have met such wonderful people, and everyone was so entertaining in different ways.

After a bittersweet goodbye, it was off to the next adventure... and after a major money mishap, I finally boarded a bus for Sao Paulo with two of the girls I met at the Pantanal, while Josh and Mike continued on to Rio.

Check for pictures of my Pantanal adventures in my Picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.carney

MORE TO COME!!! :)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hola from Montevideo, Uruguay!! I am here visiting my friend Ana and while she is at her grandma's house I thought I better get going on the updates from my past 2 weeks here...

I arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning on September 28th. I continue to be the luckiest traveler in the world (knock on wood) and somehow managed to get two seats to myself on my connecting flight from Houston to Argentina, so I slept comfortably and had an easy flight. Here is a picture of the city from above just before I landed. I took a shuttle, followed by a taxi to the hostel Tango Backpackers which is in Palermo, a hip and trendy neighborhood. I met up with Josh (a friend from high school and WWU) and his friend Mike, who also went to Western. Josh and I went and got coffee at Havanna, which is kind of a South American Starbucks. We took the bus to Recoleta and wandered around all afternoon. That part of the city houses the Cementerio de la Recoleta, which is where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried. The cemetary was huge and very ornate, and the graves reminded me a lot of those in Coptic Cairo, as you will see in the pictures.







walking around Recoleta


















































































I had to.

























































































Evita's tomb












































After walking around in the afternoon, we decided to go back to the hostel for a nap before we went out that night. We signed up for a pub crawl that began in a park nearby and included free pizza and wine. So after our nap, we walked over the park with some other people from our hostel, and just mingled, ate and drank while waiting for everyone to show up from the nearby hostels. After about an hour or so, we had a pretty good crowd, but they ended up cancelling the pubcrawl and reimbursing our money because it turned out most of the people there worked for the group that organized it. It ended up being even better than I had imagined because we still went out with a big group of people to a couple of bars and a club to dance, not to mention we got our money back and got free pizza and wine. Not too shabby. We had a great time at the club and were back and in bed by 3am, which is early by Argentinian standards. :)

The next day we took the subte (subway) to the bus station to try to buy tickets to Iguazu falls. Then we stopped at a lunch counter and had choripan, which is just chorizo in a bun, and is soooooooooo delicious. I have definitely had my fill of chorizo on this trip. We walked around San Telmo, which is full of cobbled streets, and then we went to rent bikes. We biked around Puerto Madero, which is such a charming neighborhood full of parks and statues. I LOVED riding bikes around the city, and we got to see a couple of interesting things, such as the front bumper of a car falling off right in the middle of a traffic jam, and a man dressed in a really nice suit getting thrown on the ground by cops and arrested. Oh, I also almost got hit by a bus. But it was all part of the adventure of Bike Gang Buenos Aires. :)





































































































































Mike needed a choripan break








After biking we took a little siesta, followed by an Indian dinner recommended by the Lonely Planet. It was pretty disappointing, since it wasn't traditional Indian food. Then we went back to the hostel and drank some beers while chatting with some other people in the hostel. Josh and Mike went out that night while I went to bed, as I was coming down with a cold. Apparantly Mike and Josh met some guys out on this evening that owned a restaurant several blocks from where our hostel was, but they couldn't remember exactly where. So...

The next day we wandered around for an hour looking for the place. When we finally found it, by some miracle, it was actually very good. Mike had some of that famous Argentinian steak, which really can't be beat. After lunch we went to a little outdoor market in Palermo, and I drooled over all the botiques and specialty shops all the way back to our hostel. The shopping there would have been incredible, and I am really regretting not taking advantage of it. Oh well, maybe next time. ;) The day ended up being pretty stressful, because on my first night Mike and I met a New Zealander who had lived in BA for awhile and told us about a 10k race Nike was doing, I think it was called the World Race, or something. Anyway, lots of major cities were hosting a 10k on the same day and it was a really big deal, so of course I really wanted to get in on it. The race was the following day, so we basically spent a good chunk of the day trying to find out more information, like where the race was, how to sign up for it, etc, and we were having no luck whatsoever. Eventually the stress of searching all day began to cause tension, so I gave up the dream of running 10k with everyone else in the world.... :( Anyway, we went out for a big steak dinner that night, where we drank Malbec straight out of the barrels and finished our feast off with 3 postres including one topped with dulce de leche, the best treat ever. mmmm...


That night was our last night in Buenos Aires, so we wanted to have another big night out. We ended up going to a club called Crobar with a bunch of other people from our hostel, and it was pretty fun, even though everyone at the club looked about 17 or 18. The boys stayed out til the wee hours of the morning, but I came back at about 4. The next day we were late checking out (of course) and we boarded our bus to Puerto Iguazu. The bus ride was around 15 hours, if I remember correctly, but it was more comfortable and enjoyable than any plane could have ever been. We got full cama seats, which means they reclined almost completely into beds. They also gave us dinner and breakfast (although we slept through breakfast, so I'm not sure what it was). We also brought some wine on the bus, which aided in a perfect night's sleep and arriving in Puerto Iguazu very well rested. ;)







Josh and Mike enjoying the recliners













the dinner... wah wah














Without a wine key you have to be creative











Our hostel in Puerto Iguazu








While we were in Puerto Iguazu, we basically spent most of our time trying to get a visa into Brazil, and spending lots of money on that and on a plane ticket to Uruguay. Puerto Iguazu is also where I began a long saga of money problems, starting with not being able to take out enough money to pay for my visa and my plane ticket (both of which had to be paid for in cash). This was the beginning of my debt to both Josh and Mike, who basically lent me enough money to last for about 4 days. Anyway, we went to Iguazu falls and were blown away by the beauty and power of it all. I have never seen anything so huge!! I took way too many pictures, saw amazing animals and beautiful plants, and took a boat into the falls that puts The Maid of the Mist to shame!!! (Disclaimer- Niagra Falls is amazing and the Maid of the Mist was really fun). We basically went INTO the falls in one of the most intense parts, and they don't give you any plastic raincoats or any of that sissy stuff to wear. They give you a waterproof bag for your camera and belongings, and when you get out of the boat it's like you've gone through a washing machine without the spin cycle at the end. We were completely soaked to the bone for the rest of the day, and it was worth it. The whole experience was just breathtaking.

The next day we took our pricey visas to Brazil, to Foz do Iguazu, which is the Brazilian side of the falls.

To be continued...

*UPDATE* Ok everyone, this post has been stalling to be published for a few days while I tried to figure out how to get more space for pictures, and it turns out I've used up all my allotted space and even though I've purchased more, my blog is full. SO, I am going to continue writing my stories down on this site, but I will attach a link to this post so you can look at my photos via Picasa. This is not ideal for what I wanted for my blog, but it will have to do... so, here's a link to Picasa and the rest of the Argentina photos are in a folder called End of Argentina. Those are the pics from Iguazu. Enjoy, and thanks for waiting!

sorry I couldn't successfully make a link, just copy and paste
http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.carney/EndOfArgentina#