Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Great Wall







We got an early start this morning. We signed up to do a five hour hike on one of the more secluded parts of the Great Wall. As we approached the place where our hike would start, I noticed some strangely shaped jagged mountains. It wasn't until we were close up that I realized that the jagged "mountains" was actually the lines of the wall on top of the mountain range. Now, maybe it's just me, but I always pictured the Great Wall to be one big, relatively uniform wall cutting evenly across the mountains. I was surprised and amazed to see that it actually follows the contours of the mountain. It is incredible to see (and to think about how LONG it must have taken to make it).

There were 32 towers between where we started and where we ended. The towers aren't too fancy, but they do mark the top of the hills, which were steep. Jayde kept complaining that all the climbing was making her ill. This made it a little difficult to completely enjoy the scenery, but I had to agree with her that it was a LOT of climbing. I consider myself to relatively fit, but I was definitely winded. Some of the towers are just straight up stairs, others probably should have stairs.

The first half of the wall had been restored and looked completely intact. It wasn't until we reached the second half of the wall, which is slowly crumbling, that we realized how much work had been done to the first half. Some of the peaks were impassable and we had to detour around them.

Now, China may be a communist country, but its inhabitants sure have the capitalist system down. There were some very enterprising people making a lot of money on that not-so-short hike. We were warned by people who had done the hike before not to let any of the people who volunteered to "guide" (it is pretty hard to get lost . . . you follow the very large wall) you for free not to walk with you. After trying to discretely "lose" her several times, we politely told a woman following us that we really wanted to enjoy the wall by ourselves. At the midway mark, we saw several other people guilted into paying a lot of money for overpriced souveniers from the free guides crying that they had walked all this way, "Won't you please buy something? Not just a postcard. I have walked so far!" Also, we had to buy a ticket to walk from the beginning to the middle of the wall, from the middle to the end of the wall, and to cross a bridge between the end of the wall and where we met our bus.

All-in-all, it was still worth it. There is no doubt in my mind why the the Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It's breathtaking (literally).

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Olympics are ruining Beijing



After the long ride to Beijing, we had a LONG night in a full hostel room with a sick girl. it was hard to sleep with all the puking noises. After discretely changing rooms, we went straight to the bank. While telling our sob story to the friendly people in line with us, they explained that only certain people in China can have foreign currency. That would explain why no one would take our dollars!



After a quick breakfast at the Traveler's Den, we went walked through Tiannamen Square towards the giant Chairman Mao flag to the the Forbidden City. We explored until our feet were ready to fall off. It is so huge; everything starts to look similar after the thirtieth ornate building. Our favorite part, though, was the park we got lost in while we were trying to find the Forbidden City.



Strangely, several people asked if we would take pictures with them. We were getting so used to our superstar status that when a couple asked us to take a picture of them, Jayde lit up and started to pose before realizing she wouldn't be in this picture.



We tried to shop on Quianmen St., which according to our guide is a happening street market. In addition to Mao's Tomb, and several of the buildings in the Forbidden City, the Quianmen St. Market is another victim of the Olympics. Many of the buildings had been torn down with scaffolding up the sides and huge screens with pictures of nice buildings to hide the wreckage from the street.

We were disappointed with the lack of shopping, but we made up for it later that night. Roi and Colby, two guys from Israel, took us with them to the Silk Street Market, aka Heaven! It has whole floors dedicated to high-end shoes, purses, electronics, clothes, pearls, and SO much more. To be honest, we didn't make it off the purse floor. :)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Ever After

For those of you that are interested in my life outside of my trips, please check out my (non-travel) blog: Ever After .

A week to remember


Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled program (for those that are just tuning in, I have been posting excerpts from my journal about a trip that I took in April), but this week has been just too incredible not to write about it now. It started with an amazing opportunity from one of my clients (Thanks Bruce!) to take a Blackhawk helicopter ride. We took off right as the sun was coming up and flew through Provo Canyon. The pilots were having a lot of fun swooping, dipping, and basically making us all squeal. More than one person lost their lunch. At one point, the helicopter dropped so rapidly that I lifted off of my seat. It was like a roller coaster ride with all of the thrills but none of the safety. The view was spectacular (my pictures don’t do them justice). The snow on the mountains was a remarkable contrast to the beautiful fall leaves on the trees at the bottom. After the ride, I attended the VIP breakfast where Mary Kay Huntsman was the keynote speaker.

Although the Blackhawk ride was the experience of a lifetime, it was completely eclipsed by the life-changing moment I experienced when I came home Wednesday night. I had just finished seeing Paint Your Wagon with some friends at the Pioneer Theater and it was late. I was worried about getting everything packed before Rod and I left early the next morning for Louisiana. I forgot all about my angst, however, when I opened the front door. There was a pathway of candles leading me up the stairs. When I got to the top, there were roses everywhere and our (Rod and my) song (When You Say Nothing At All) was playing on the stereo. The pathway of candles led me to our coffee table, which had a vase full of red roses and a letter that said read me sitting below it. Without sharing this very intimate card with everyone, it basically said that the time he had spent with me had been the happiest in his life and he wanted to make sure that he got to spend the rest of his life with me. When I turned around, Rod stepped out of the dining room and got down on one knee, “Will you marry me?” I was so surprised and excited I pulled him up and just started kissing him. When we stopped, he said, “So will you?” I thought my answer had been pretty clear, but I told him that he better get down on one knee again. :) He asked me again and slipped the ring on my finger. I can’t imagine a life happier than the one that we are going to have together. I said “YES!” of course. Then I started crying and we danced to our song.


Now, believe it or not, my exciting week was not over there. Again, it was nothing compared to getting engaged to the love of my life, but on Sat. night, Rod and I went with his family to the wildest, craziest, loudest, most exciting football game: LSU v. Florida Gators. For most of the game, we were not happy campers. Florida was winning and our defense was not doing much to stop them. Rod and his brother Stephen had given up, but I never gave up hope. I think I have watched one too many inspirational football movies. I told Rod at halftime that the defense was going to get the motivational speech at half time and come back out ready to stop the Gators. Well . . . it wasn’t quite that easy, but as soon as Florida fumbled the ball, the momentum of the game changed. When they announced that USC, who was competing with LSU for first in the rankings, lost, the crowd went crazy! The clip below shows how loud it was minutes after the announcement. The crowd cheered even louder than when we scored! The real heart-attack moment, though, was when Les Miles decided to go for it on the Fourth down when the tigers were within field goal range. I knew that it was going to be either glorious or Les was going to get crucified the next day. Luckily, we got first down, made a touchdown, and managed to keep the Gators from scoring during the last 1:09. I screamed so much that I was hoarse for two days!
WHAT A WEEK!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

The Long Road to China



An uncomfortable and somewhat scary encounter with the manager at our hostel made us VERY glad that this was our last day in Hong Kong. We had planned on staying longer, but the train schedule just didn't work out that way. We spent the morning shopping. Shocking, I know.

Since the train ride was supposed to be for 24 hours (it ended up being 26 hours), we splurged and got the soft sleeper cars. The cars were . . . pink, but otherwise private and comfortable. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to handle Jayde's whining for the whole trip so I gave her motion sickness pills. They knocked her right out, and gave me some time to catch up on my peace and quiet.

I was hoping for a scenic ride through the country side. Either the places around the train tracks are pretty bleak or I just slept through all the pretty places. The food was atrocious! We could not finish our first (and only) meal on the train because it so slimy/greasy. It was so bad that we opted to starve rather than eat the food. The two granola bars I had in my bad did not really tide us over.

By the next day, when we arrived in Beijing, we were tired and hungry. We caught the first cab we found. Not smart. It was gypsy cab and way overcharged us. After throwing our stuff in our lockers in the hostel, we headed out to find two things: 1) Money and 2) Food. We learned the hard way that the Chinese ATMs do not accept American ATM cards. The banks were closed. None of the restaurants accepted credit cards (or traveler's checks or American dollars). Our feet hurt, we were tired, and I could have ate a horse. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is a lethal combination. We decided to try one more restaurant before I started throwing a tantrum.

***The Traveler's Den***


Not only does this restaurant have good food and good atmosphere, it takes pity on despondent American travelers. We ate an incredible pepperoni pizza! We ended up eating there at least once a day. :)

Friday, March 30, 2007

Day 7: Shop 'til you drop



After dragging Jayde to all the temples in Bali, she was adamant that we spend our time in Hong Kong shopping. I'm not a big fan of big cities and there were no particular landmarks that I "had" to see, but, before I let her have her way, I insisted that we take the take the Peak Tram to view the city. We walked from the Star Ferry port to the base of the tram. This gave us a brief, but nice tour of central Hong Kong. The tram itself was steep, but otherwise unspectacular. The views from the top, however, were another story . . . I wish it were less smoggy, though.



We spent the rest of the day moving from one street market to the next: the ladies market, the jade market, the temple street night market. There are so many I lost track (and feeling in my feet). Interesting fact: stores in Hong Kong will not let you try on clothes. Some stores would let you try on pants, but I actually got scolded for trying on a shirt.

After all that shopping, I needed a drink! We went down to the waterfront to dine and get pictures of the world famous skyline.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Day 6: Goodbye Bali, Hello Hong Kong



Our morning was a rush of souvenir shopping. The unique shopping experience only highlights how different Bali is than the other places I've been. Unlike other places with less than ideal economic situations, people in Bali seem really content with their station in life. They practice their religion constantly. There are offerings, shrines, and ceremonies EVERYWHERE! Even the most humble home is exceptionally tidy and has a spectacular shrine to leave your offering. When you bargain here, people don't get angry or annoyed with you. Instead, after you buy something, they act like you are their best friend. "Oh, this is the first buy of the day. You will bring me good luck."


By the time we got to Hong Kong we were exhausted! There were skyscarpers, mostly apartments, the entire drive from the airport. I could not believe that these weren't even part of the world-famous Hong Kong skyline. We crashed at the first hostel we found . . . at the Chunking Mansion. The "Mansion" is actually a huge skycraper with commercial enterprises shoved in every possible nook and cranny. It has four separate banks of elevators in different coordinates and is impossible to navigate. I don't think we made it to our room once without directions. Our hostel was a very cramped (think barracks), but tidy place on the 23rd floor. Strangely, although we had just left Indonesia, this was our first interaction with anyone Muslim (Bali is the Hindu enclave of Indonesia). The owners seemed nice and let us borrow a DVD player to watch the pirated movies we bought in Bali. I think we made it through ten minutes before crashing.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Day 5: One Perfect Day


Jayde and I were so sad to say goodbye to our cute little bungalow (and even sadder to be heading back to Kuta). But before we hit Kuta, we had a couple more temples to visit. Gusted was our driver again. Our first stop was Mengwi. It was the perfect bluebird day to admire the moat surrounding the temple, which was filled with water lilies bigger than my ass. While there, we came upon a very cute barong that we just couldn't help playing with.

Our next stop was Tanah Lot. This was probably my favorite temple of the whole trip even though I didn't get near it. It is on an island that you can only get to during low tide. We did walk out onto a big peninsula-like rock (to get a better look at the temple) just in time to get soaked. Since we were already wet, we played in the water and waded out to play with the holy snake that protects the temple. We were much more impressed, though, by the unholy python that Gusted led us to.

When we finally hit Kuta, Gusted helped us find a nice hotel. We took a quick dip in the ocean and then got ready to go to Ulu Watu, the last temple we would visit in Bali. Ulu Watu was not nearly as impressive as the sheer cliffs it sits on top of. The view was stunning. There were very mischevious monkeys everywhere. One tried to steal my purse while I was posing for pictures. We saw another group of monkeys steal a guys map, hat, and snickers bar. The monkeys immediately peeled and devoured the snickers, and every time the man tried to retrieve his hat, the monkeys bared their teeth and growled. Hilarious! While at Ulu Watu, we stayed to watch the sunset over the Indian Ocean and the Kecak Fire Dance.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Day 4: Day of a thousand temples


As much fun as the unplanned day of introspection was, it put us behind on the list of things we wanted to see/do while in Bali. To make up for lost time, we hired a driver, Gusted, to drive us North. Our first stop was to watch the less-than-authentic Barong v. Rangda dance. It was interesting, and the costumes were beautiful, but there were only a handful of people there and it was clear that it was more of a job than a beautiful rendition of their sacred tradition for the actors. The Barong is the lovable, snuffleumpagus-like creature/spirit that protects against evil spirits, such as the Rangda. It is a classic story of a princess being kidnapped and enslaved by the Rangda and its evil helpers and the Barong saves the day.


Our first two stops were the Elephant Cave and Kaui. The Elephant Cave is an uninspiring cave with an elephant mouth as its entrance. Kaui is an outdoor monument to the Balinese royalty. It is surrounded by rice paddies and eight huge stone carvings, which each represent a member of the royal family.




Then we hit three temples: Tirta Empula, Kintamani, and Besakih. Besakih was by far the most beautiful, Kintamin the most peaceful, and Tirta Empula the biggest culture shock. Tirta Empula apparently requires its visitors, with the exception of the tourists, to bath. That led to some interesting situations . . . at one point I went to check out one of the "fountains" and found several young (naked) boys splashing around. Luckily, the people over a certain age, bath with their clothes on.

Although we hadn't planned on it, we went to Kintamami because Gunung Batur and Agnung (the volcanos) were completely covered by clouds. It was the most peaceful of the templese we went to, we were the only tourists there. We still got attacked with sarong-toting vendors. When I first read that sarongs were required in the temples, I thought it was great that Balinese were so devout in their religious beliefs. Only after turning down a million vendors, did I realize that the sarong requirement has less to do with religion and more to do with commercial opportunities.




We saved the best for last: Besakih is the mother temple. It covers the entire side of a mountain and is directly below Gunung Agnung, which was still covered by clouds. The series of towers covered with different levels of thatch were really incredible.

Although the temples were neat, the experience of driving around was also great. We saw a lot of the landscape, which is really beautiful, and drove past a number of authentic Balinese rituals such as a cremation ceremony and several wedding ceremonies. We also ate in a Warung, which was a less than savory, but very rustic experience. Picture eating chicken with your fingers on an old picnic table, while starving dogs circle you and the cook swats away the flies.

That night we celebrated with the most fabulous massage ever, followed by a flower milk bath. Gusted brought us strawberry cake and Arak, rice liquor. It was a great way to finish our last night in Ubud.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Day 3: Nyepi - Day of Introspection



The morning after the O-goh O-goh parade is the actual New Year (Nyepi). According to a pamphlet I picked up at the hotel, this was actually the Caka New Year 1929. It is celebrated with a "day of introspection". In other words, no one is allowed to work, to turn on the lights, or to travel, which means no flights, no buses, no one on the street. Our hotel told us we were not allowed to go out. We obeyed, but had to walk out to the sidewalk to believe it. There was not a single person on the street! It was like watching a zombie movie (before the corpses reanimate) or those post-apocalypse films. People are also not supposed to work or turn on lights.

Well . . . I don't know how much introspection took place, but Jayde and I did have a good time hanging out by the pool. We also explored the hotel grounds. It was amazing to me that even this really inexpensive hotel had such beautiful grounds and a shrine where they make offerings. This illustrates the one thing that really sets Bali apart from other developing countries that I've visited: the people here seem really content with there position in life and give thanks regularly for it. Even the people selling goods on the street make little offerings throughout the day.



This was the first time in a long time that I really relaxed. Whether at home or on vacation, I always wake up with a list of things I need to accomplish. It was nice to have nothing to do.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Day 2: Kuta to Ubud, Indonesia

After spending the night wandering America's Bali, we were in a hurry to see "Real" Bali. Amazingly, it was less expensive to hire a car than to take the bus. It was a pretty drive. Every town had a temple and everyone was preparing for the "Ogoh-Ogoh," a.k.a. monster, parade. There were intricately woven bamboo arches everywhere.

We didn't have much time before the parade so we headed to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. It was a little too planet of the apes for me. I've been around monkeys before; I've been close enough to feed them too. That experience was nothing compared to this. The monkeys were everywhere! And they did not hesitate to rush you. They were cute until they turned and ran at you while baring their teeth. The sanctuary itself was really beautiful too. It was full of incredible tall trees that looked like they were all roots and moss-covered statues of dragons, lizards, monkeys, etc.

The O-goh-goh parade was amazing. Monsters like we had seen the night before, had been mounted on bamboo frames and carried on the backs of sarong-laden boys. The O-goh-gohs were so tall they had designated a person to lift up the wires of the telephone poles as they passed under them. Who knew that paper mache could be so violent and scary! I'm glad that we had the opportunity to witness a truly authentic Balinese ceremony rather than all the other ceremonies that have been warped to capitalize on tourist dollars.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Day 1: SLC-LA-Hong Kong-Bali


For Jayde's Graduation, I'm taking her to Asia. I'm excited to expose her to new cultures and experiences. It is funny to see how nervous she is about certain experiences--navigating the subway, staying in a hostel--and remember how wide-eyed I was when I started traveling. This is a new experience for me too. It's just three weeks (rather than the epic month plus I'm used to). I guess that is part of growing up . . .
Anyway, we left SLC Thurs. night and chased the Sun. all the way to Bali. We skipped Friday altogether. We arrived too late to do anything except walk down to the beach and watch the sunset. We stayed in Kuta, which has a disturbing number of McDonalds, KFCs, and Starbucks. Fortunately, and disappointingly, the locals are proficient in English.

We got hustled by some nail-polish toting ladies, but managed to escape with a cute pedicure (and most of our money). While we were wandering around, Lenny (a very helpful rastafarian) pointed out a "monster" and told us about a parade/contest taking place the next day. We later learned that before the New Year, groups of boys and men get together to make HUGE paper mache monsters, parade the monsters, and burn them to the ground. It is symbolic of chasing out demons before the new year.



As we were playing spot the monster, and walking back to our hotel, I couldn't help but noticing the large number of men in very traditional dress (a long sarong skit and a turban-like head wrap), walking out of the temples, answering their cell phones, and driving off on their mopeds. It was a bit surreal.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Having a ball in Bali!

Okay, okay! Back by popular demand (well at least one demand), I have started writing about my most recent trip (see below). It may take me awhile, though, since I am in the middle of discovery in several cases. But I will do it! Maybe I'll get ambitious and write about all my other trips too. Until then, here are my favorite pictures from Bali, Honk Kong, and China.

Enjoy!