A Chinese Whirlwind: Part 3

The next day we got up early and drove 2.5 hours to a part of the Great Wall of China called Simetai. It was worth the drive for a couple of reasons. The first is that, being far away from the city means that there were no crowds and it was less touristy. The second is that the location we visited was the highest point on the Great Wall. We were met at Simetai by the pastor of my parents church in Thailand and his family. Their eldest son works with the British government in Beijing and speaks Chinese. He had also been to this place a few times and knew his way around. This allowed us to relax because we didn't have to worry about any of the details and we could just enjoy ourselves. Which we did.

Pictures anyone?


There it is


We got to ride this cable car about 2/3 of the way up.


On the wall


Out the window of a turret.
It's amazing how the wall just keeps winding off into the distant mountains.


A cranny in the turret


Steven up high


Steven enjoying the wind and wall


Anime Snapshot


A family on the wall

The next morning we got up really early and got a taxi back to the airport. From there we all flew to Bangkok and parted ways. I flew back to LAX through Taipei and my family flew straight back to Chiang Mai. So ended the Chinese Whirlwind and my trip to Asia.

Paul

A Chinese Whirlwind: Part 2

The next morning we took a taxi to Tianamen Square and walked up through the Forbidden City. This sounds simple enough but took a long time and was very taxing on our feet. It was, however, amazing and worth the trip. So... lots of pictures...


Tianamen Square


The entrance to the Forbidden City


About to enter, Mao is looming.


Walking in (I really liked the lighting in this archway.)


Panorama of the second entrance. David's head is on the right.


Closer to the walls


An idea of the scale


Now we are inside (and we found the Starbucks)


Forbidden rooftops


Further towards the north of the walk we came to the gardens


Boys, Dragon, Goldfish


Pretty


And now we come out the north end and look back across the moat (not pictured) to see the wall that surrounds the city. If there was someone standing over by the trees then you would have a better idea of how huge the wall is. The small tree is about 20 feet tall.


One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing a bunch of men in the park standing around playing various games. These guys were playing Go, but some others were playing cards, chess, and dominoes. There was also lots silence followed by loud spurts of arguing and yelling about various rules and strategies. It was great.

Get ready for part 3!

Paul

A Chinese Whirlwind: Part 1

We were not around for the third day of Songkran because we had to leave for China. We flew into Beijing, took a taxi about an hour to our hotel, and checked in before it got dark. Then we decided to try and walk to find a night market that my Mom had read about. So began our Chinese Whirlwind.











We never found the night market (read: Got lost and walked around for 3 hours) but we did walk through a cool park with some metal sculpture things, and see some cool lanterns hanging around. We did however find a "Snack Street" with some excellent (and some gross) food.











We ate and then walked back to the hotel.



(Part 2 coming up!)

Paul

Here Comes The Flood...

The reason I chose to visit my family at this time of the year was because of Songkran (the Thai new year celebration). It is basically a 3+ day nation-wide water fight in which no one who steps outside is exempt. Chiang Mai is famous for being the best place in the country to celebrate it.

Here's how it works: Half of the city piles all their friends and relatives into the back of a pick-up with buckets and water guns and a giant trash-can full of water. Then they drive around town soaking everyone in sight. The other half of the city stands by the side of the road with hoses, buckets, and water guns soaking everyone in the trucks.

The first day I spent with Steven and his friends in the back of a truck. We were lucky to have a truck with a removable cover and benches in the bed.



I don't have any pictures from the second day as it was spent walking around downtown with David and his friends and I didn't dare take my camera with me. It was an amazing experience and very hard to describe. If you have ever been to a big concert with no seating you know what it is like to stand with people up against you on all sides making it very difficult to walk. Imagine that, except there are trucks full of people that are trying to drive through the middle of it and everyone is:
- Singing/shouting
- Somewhere between slightly and heavily drunk
- Throwing water on everyone else.

It was great.

Paul

P.S.
(OK I lied, I do have pictures from the second day but they were taken in the morning, while riding in the car with my dad. There weren't many people out and traffic was actually moving because most people were still sleeping off their hangovers.)

Back in action

So, I'm not sure why I tend to post in bursts, but that's what seems to happen. Here we go again. These are from back in Thailand with David, Steven, and Sam.
(Click on the pictures to see the bigger versions.)






Paul

all the way home

So, I'm home now and recovering from jet lag. Yesterday I slept for 17 hours and last night I slept 4. I have no sense of time or the date. As soon as I get my head screwed on straight I will begin the backlog of posts that have been gradually building.

Back from China

I am now back in Bangkok and waiting for my plane to go to Taipei (and then on to LA). My family will leave from here and fly back to Chiang Mai about the same time. The Internet connection here is sketchy but I thought I would post anyway. China was great! We did a night food market thing the first night before going back to our hotel. Then the next day we went to Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. Then yesterday we did the Great Wall, and this morning we flew out. It was quite the whirlwind tour but we did it. Well, more details on these things and the end of my Thailand stay when I return tomorrow nightish. (I return tomorrow night but may not actually post then)

This is not the perfect blog

As I am sure you are already aware. This is not the perfect blog. I spell stuff incorrectly, my facts aren't always straight, I don't post everyday, and now I will begin posting out of order. Stuff is happening so fast now that I don't have time to write about what is going on as it happens. The last two days were very full and interesting and will take a while to write about. But now we are sitting in the Bangkok airport waiting for out plane to take us to Beijing, China. My external hard drive with all my pictures on it is packed away in my checked bag and I may not get be able to set it all up in the same place that I get Internet while we are in China. I may not get Internet there at all.

So... My blog will be confusing and the pictures of my last few days in Thailand, pictures of China, and all my videos may have to wait until I get back to California. I will try and write about things as I get the chance but it will probably be brief. Sorry. You will just have to deal with it.

YouTube vs. Thailand

OK, so I really wanted to post videos of my trip as I have been taking a few of them. But I have been having problems with the Internet provider not allowing access to YouTube. I thought this was just a small problem and that it would be fixed sometime soon. Apparently not. A couple of weeks ago, somewhere on YouTube, a video (or a few, I'm not sure) was posted that makes fun of the King of Thailand. I don't know how serious the video is but... the Thai people love their king. YouTube would not let the country block individual videos because of some discrimination issues so the government decided to block the entire site. YouTube no longer exists in Thailand.

As this is the case I will have to wait until I get home to post the videos. Sorry for the delay.

More Goings On

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Stuff here is happening pretty fast so I am a little behind. The other day my mother and I went to Wararot market (basically a collection of stores) to buy some stuff and I took these pictures.


Fabric Store


A Thai Silk Store


A Guy Smoking


A Bead Store

Wouldn't it be just like me to...

...get sick. Yes folks, the night before last it started out as a sore throat but then quickly escalated to a fever (with all the aches and pains that it so graciously provides). I spent that night tossing and turning in my bed deathly afraid of being splashed with cold water by a little girl (who laughed in between splashes) and with random parts of Wilco's "Heavy Metal Drummer" looping through my head.

Fevers do weird things to your brain.

But now I am getting better. The fever is gone and I now only have exhaustion and a sore throat to contend with. I took a couple of videos that I am planning on editing and posting soon. But for some reason the ISP at the house won't let me access YouTube. I can't even view the videos on my own blog. Hopefully by the time I finish editing the videos I will feel well enough to go to a place that has free wireless and I can upload them there.

It is David's birthday today and I think we are having some of his friends over for dinner or something like that.

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas

Mike's and Geocaching

Yesterday was spent sitting around the house recovering from my trip. I ate some delicious mangoes and pineapple (the fruit here is amazing) and sat under the air conditioner.

Today however we had our first day out on the town. Mom and Dad had some errands to do in the morning for which we stayed home but when they got back we piled into the van and drove the 1o minutes into central Chiang Mai.

We ate lunch at Mike's (hailed by some as the best American food in town) and then walked down the street looking for the Geocache that we had looked up on the Internet that morning. What? you don't know what a Geocache is? Well, then you had better read this because I don't have time to explain it myself.

We found the cache with out too much trouble as it was in plain sight in a store (no I won't tell you which one). We were hoping for more of a challenge, but it wasn't to bad for our first one. Hopefully we can hide our own later.

oh yeah, pictures...


Mike's! (proud supporter of Comic Sans)


The GPS unit leading the way past a taxi parking lot and a building that is several hundred years old.


Detail shot of a really old wall (taken from the car as we were speeding past)


Steven navigating with the GPS unit


Sam, always happy to be photographed.

More stuff later!