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| We're Moving!
It's 2009, and so we've decided to move. Moving to blogger... so now, you can find me at: http://blog.alvinandbethany.com. | | |
| 167 Miles
Christmas in LA. My next entry will probably have food pictures from some of the things we've made and eaten in the last few days. Yum.
But for now, non-Californians need to get a feel for just how big LA is, and how much driving all over the place is just a typical thing to do (which is why driving from downtown to 75 and Legacy - 35 minutes - just to play volleyball... is no big deal at all for us. would do it every day of the week if the gym was open.)
This was my driving on Monday. Hacienda Heights, Marina Del Rey, LAX, Culver City, El Segundo, Santa Monica. We almost hit all the big freeways in LA - 110, 91, 710, 60, 605, 105, 405, and 90. All the major ones except for the 5, the 10, and the 210. I was almost on the 10 too... was tempted to drive a small stretch of the 10 and the 5 just to cover a couple more. Oh well. All in all... 167 miles of driving... from 10AM to 10PM, with multiple multiple stops throughout. Ahh... I love LA. | | |
| Beijing, Day 8
Can't believe that our trip here is almost over. Has been pretty nonstop site-seeing. We spent this morning in Chengde and then made our way back to Beijing by dinnertime.
In Chengde, we visited two Buddhist temples. One was a temple built during the Qing Dynasty in honor of an emperor's birthday, but being in Chengde, it was built in such a way as to honor the Mongols and the Manchus. Here's a shot of the roof of one of the temple buildings. The temple was multiple buildings built along a mountainside.
Then we visited another temple which is active and open. A good number of people that came into this one would purchase incense, burn it, pray, and bow. There was also an entire fence and railing outside one building which had countless thousands of locks on it. These locks can be purchased there (for 10元) and then added onto the collection. I have to learn more about the significance of the action. Meanwhile, here's a picture...
Then we had lunch in Chengde and then settled in for a 3 hour bus ride back to Beijing. Checked back into our Beijing hotel and then got ready for dinner. Beijing duck.
The decorative garnish... carved out of a carrot.
The man slicing the duck near your table, kinda like Lawry's does with the Prime Rib.
And, another shot of the Beijing duck...
It was yummy. A great meal. We've probably had better Beijing duck, believe it or not, in Monterey Park. But this was still good.
One more full day in Beijing, and then it's back onto a plane we go... | | |
| Beijing, Day 7.
This was a day of scenic shots. In the morning, we headed out to the Great Wall. But while most people go to Badaling or Mutianyu (which is where I went last time I was here), we got to go to Jinshanling this time. It is farther way but the climb, while steeper, is much shorter. And the best part about it... there were hardly any people. In our hour or so on top of the wall, we probably only saw about 20 other people.
Here are two scenic shots from the top:
Then for the afternoon, we went to Chengde, which is the Hebei province northeast of Beijing. We were actually nearing to the border of Inner Mongolia, so much of Chengde (where we spent the night) has a Mongolian flavor to it. This is where they have the Summer Resort from the Qing Dynasty. It is essentially another Summer Palace (in Beijing, we already saw the New Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace). This is a pretty large area of land surrounded by mountains with a palace built into the middle flatland. There was also a beautiful, calm lake in the middle of the resort. Made for some nice pictures...
Spent the night at a hotel in Chengde. Before going to bed, walked down the street to the McDonalds (yes, Chengde has a McDonalds and at least 2 KFC's). We got a long-awaited Taro Pie. Yes... taro pie. Think McDonalds baked apple pie, but instead... it's deep fried, and it has taro instead of apple. Yum.
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| Beijing, Day 6
Sorry that I've been AWOL for a little bit. Day 6 did not have as many interesting pictures as I had hoped, so I put off the update for a day. But then Day 7 we did not have internet because we went to a different city. Nonetheless, now I'm back, and will try to update on the last 3 days of activity.
By the way, I've been wearing the same pair of jeans every single day that I've been in China. And probably rotating between 3 different shirts. So I'm practically wearing the same clothes over and over again. I figure, everybody else here does it... I might as well too.
Day 5... we took an early morning bullet train to Tianjin. Super fast. Normally a taxi ride might take close to 2 hours to get us to Tianjin. This train ride got us there in 30 minutes in a sleek new train, with this route just opening up in August, in time for the Olympics (because there were some sports played out there in Tianjin). Here's a shot of the train:
A one-way ticket cost just about $10. I think that a taxi ride would cost 3 times that much and take 3 times longer.
Here's a shot that shows just how polluted Beijing, Tianjin, and the places in between all are...
A shot of Tianjin. Notice the brownish haze...
We were in Tianjin for the morning and for lunch. Then we took a 3 hour bus ride to the Qing tombs. This is a huge national landmark site, where some of the emperors and empresses from the Qing dynasty were buried. Honestly though, I didn't think it was worth the 3 hour bus ride (plus the 2 hours to get back to Beijing). No interesting pictures from the tombs.
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