Beijing - China

Hey Gang!

I have been ... a lazy lazy person! But here is my post about Beijing!

We did a lot of touristy thing in Beijing, expect for going to the bookstore, where I bought a lot of book for cheap!!

We went to the Great Wall. I got sick, and so had to stop at the first tour guard. Kevin climbed all the way to the top of that section though!

I remember the stairs being halfway to my calf, and I was already sweating after the first three minutes. :/ I am so americanly out of shape!

We also went to the Imperial gardens. Gorgeous! If I was an empress I would want to live there for sure! It was giant, and so calming. Even with the hundreds of people running around and the crappy weather.

We went to the Temple of Paradise, which was pretty cool, but very quick to look at. We could have spent 30 minutes there and be happy. The architecture was really close to the Imperial Gardens and to the Forbidden City.

So obviously, we also went to the Forbidden City, which was not as cool as I expected. Everything looks very similar, and because I didn't understand the guide so I didn't get any of the cool background story :/

I wish I had pictures to show you, but I don't have any on this computer. I hope to steal them from Kevin again :]

Anyway, I have a lot more to tell you about regular life :P So keep posted!

Wuzhen- China

We also took a day trip to Wuzhen. It is about 1h30 mns away from Hangzhou. Wuzhen is a preserved city from the Song dynasty. It is a water city, and therefore you have to get there through boat transportation.

Once we got in the city itself, we are left alone to explore. There is a lot of tea shops, and magistrates' houses where we first got off. The city is divided into 6 districts. After walking a little bit, and crossing a couple bridges, we arrived in the shopping district. You can find a bunch of little stores that can sell handmade China dish or tea, or pointless little toys that you can find cheaper in Hangzhou. I didn't buy anything that time, expect for fish food to feed the massive amount of fish before entering the working district.

As you can see, they swimming ON TOP of each other to get the food. It was like no one had fed them in ages. The kids (and Kevin) loved it! It was the highlight of their trip. Shortly after that, we got to make little snack. Unfortunately, I didnt catch the name of the dish. It was mainly flour mixed with water, created a goey substance that they rolled in some light brown powder. It tasted like peanuts.

Here is Kevin beating the flour into the gooey mixture. The snack was actually pretty good! We had some iced tea afterwards, and walked some more. We visited a factory of soy sauce and of rice wine. I hate calling factories, because they are so old school. I took a couple pictures of the soy sauce "factory". It was interesting as we could actually touch and open the soy sauce jar.

There was a lot more to see, but Kevin's little cousin got tired quite fast. So we decided to go back by boat. We did a quick tour of the little town (The west side is still under reconstruction) and went back home.

Next stop: Mt Huangshan!

My job

My job is killing me.

Just letting you guys know that if I stop blogging it is because I am dead from my job.

They took away my France trip, and replacing it with more office work. Which kills me by the way.

I am not an office person. Not for THAT long at least!!

I am a travel person! If you have travel before, and you have the travel bug, then you know what I am talking about!

This itchiness to get out and explore the world. To google picture of random places, or spend time on Google Earth.

Argh!!

I need my vacation. Now!