****** We still cannot post pictures, but we have MANY! When we get to the next country we will post them!! Stay tuned!!**********
Pingyao is an ancient walled in City. It has 4 main gates to enter and all the streets are cobblestone. The hostel was right in the center of the action within the walls. Each day thousands of Chinese tourists walk the streets and go in and out of the little shops. Pingyao is a very chilled out place to relax for a few days. We met up with Michelle and Rob, our room mates from Beijing, and we have been spending our days chilling out, walking the streets, and biking around. At night all the red lights go on and the town continues to bustle with crowds. Just sitting on our hostel stoop watching all the tourist go by is very interesting, and a nice way to spend the day. The weather has been really nice here, about 78 degrees and clear skies.
We have been eating a lot of noodles and rice. Last night we decided to splurge and buy the famous local Pingyao meat at $5 for a plate, it was kind of like corned beef. We have been trying to only spend about $7/day on food, our budget is tight, but so far so good!
We have met lots of travelers from all over the world and some nights we have spent playing card games with Israelis, English, New Zealanders, Swiss, and Chileans. Its quite funny when English is the common language and many things get lost in translation!
Tonight we are taking the over night train to Xi'an(9 hours/$12) for a 3 days stay. After that, we haven't decided yet! We kind of want to stay in the warmer places...and we might go to Tibet through Nepal instead.....who knows!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Left Beijing
Well we had a ticket to leave Beijing on an over night train. We had booked a "hard sleeper" which means its some sort of "bed" to sleep on. At the train station it became a rat-race to get on the train! My suitcase on wheels was a little inconvenient as we ran to to the train, but my back felt great! We found our carriage and we boarded! We thought we were in the right place, but we were told to move! The beds were on stacks of three with 6 in each row....packed in! We found out that the rat race was to get a seat in the cheapest carriage, if you didn't get a seat you had to stand for the duration of the trip. We finally finally found our right spot and we settled in!
We arrived in Datong! It was freezing! I had many many layers on! With friends advise we made our way to the famous caves. They were Buddhist caves carved in 590AD! They were absolutely amazing!!! And it only took an over night train, a bus, and a motorbike to get there!!!
To burn the rest of our time in Datong we went to an internet cafe to chill out and sleep! Our train out of Datong was at 11pm. We sat in the train station and played cards as 7 on lookers watched us!!
Then we arrived to the beautiful city of Pingyoa! It is a walled in city and the temp had gone up lots!!!!!
We arrived in Datong! It was freezing! I had many many layers on! With friends advise we made our way to the famous caves. They were Buddhist caves carved in 590AD! They were absolutely amazing!!! And it only took an over night train, a bus, and a motorbike to get there!!!
To burn the rest of our time in Datong we went to an internet cafe to chill out and sleep! Our train out of Datong was at 11pm. We sat in the train station and played cards as 7 on lookers watched us!!
Then we arrived to the beautiful city of Pingyoa! It is a walled in city and the temp had gone up lots!!!!!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Next - China
*****Due to restrictions of the Internet in China, we can not post any pictures on our blog.....but we will keep trying*******
We made it to Beijing, China! We took the airport train into Beijing, then made our way to our hostel. We are staying at Sanlitun Youth Hostel for about $9.50 a night. The place is huge and has many foreigners and locals staying here. We had booked the cheapest room, 10 beds, and we got what we paid for! The room was an absolute dump! Trash everywhere and stuff everywhere. It was impossible to even tell which beds were occupied and which were empty. We cleared a passage to a bunk bed and put our stuff down. I went down to the desk to complain, but they are NOT the most helpful hostel staff we've met.
We ended up meeting all of our every interesting and kind room mates. They taught us about the over priced beers at the hostel and showed us a store that sold them for 2.5 yuan, thats about .40 cents!
Our first full day in Beijing we went to the Forbidden City, where the movie "The Last Emperor" was filmed and to Tian namen Square.
Our second day we went with Michelle, Rob, and Andres(Our hostel friends) to the Great Wall. Our plan was to hike from Jinshanling to Simatai, a 10 km walk that would take about 4.5 hours. Only we took a wrong turn at the wall just as we entered it and walked away from our "destination". We hiked for just over 3 hours when we found we came to a dead end. It was barred off and said it was for the military ONLY. We turned around a little disappointed, but actually it all worked out because we got to be on an EMPTY GREAT WALL! We didn't see anyone for hours, and we were able to take Amazing pictures!
Third day, we went to The Temple of Heaven. This was a massive Temple with MANY MANY people visiting!
Today is our 4th day and we are going to the market to view the strange foods and animals they sell! We have heard that you can eat scorpions.....we shall see!
We went to the night market and let me just say they sell the craziest foods on a stick! When we can put pictures up, we will. But in the mean time to name a few....live scorpions, starfish, seahorses, bugs, sheep testicles, and snake!! I didn't eat any of them, but a person we went with ate the bugs and snake....they taste like chicken! Most of the market was geared toward tourist, everyday Chinese people don't eat these kinds of foods, they are expensive.
Today we went to the Olympic Park, it was AWESOME!!! We went during the day and stayed until the sun went down to see the buildings at night. Definitely need to see the pictures to see how amazing they buildings were!
Cost of things: Exchange rate $1= 6.7 Yuan...prices below are in US dollars-
Beer in a little shop next to us: .40 Cents
Subway: .33 cents each way
small food stalls: .15-$1.00
Entry to sights: $6-8
Beer in our hostel: $2.5
My favorite meal so far: Sweet and Sour pork: $3.2
A bunk bed in our hostel: $4.95/per night/per person
We made it to Beijing, China! We took the airport train into Beijing, then made our way to our hostel. We are staying at Sanlitun Youth Hostel for about $9.50 a night. The place is huge and has many foreigners and locals staying here. We had booked the cheapest room, 10 beds, and we got what we paid for! The room was an absolute dump! Trash everywhere and stuff everywhere. It was impossible to even tell which beds were occupied and which were empty. We cleared a passage to a bunk bed and put our stuff down. I went down to the desk to complain, but they are NOT the most helpful hostel staff we've met.
We ended up meeting all of our every interesting and kind room mates. They taught us about the over priced beers at the hostel and showed us a store that sold them for 2.5 yuan, thats about .40 cents!
Our first full day in Beijing we went to the Forbidden City, where the movie "The Last Emperor" was filmed and to Tian namen Square.
Our second day we went with Michelle, Rob, and Andres(Our hostel friends) to the Great Wall. Our plan was to hike from Jinshanling to Simatai, a 10 km walk that would take about 4.5 hours. Only we took a wrong turn at the wall just as we entered it and walked away from our "destination". We hiked for just over 3 hours when we found we came to a dead end. It was barred off and said it was for the military ONLY. We turned around a little disappointed, but actually it all worked out because we got to be on an EMPTY GREAT WALL! We didn't see anyone for hours, and we were able to take Amazing pictures!
Third day, we went to The Temple of Heaven. This was a massive Temple with MANY MANY people visiting!
Today is our 4th day and we are going to the market to view the strange foods and animals they sell! We have heard that you can eat scorpions.....we shall see!
We went to the night market and let me just say they sell the craziest foods on a stick! When we can put pictures up, we will. But in the mean time to name a few....live scorpions, starfish, seahorses, bugs, sheep testicles, and snake!! I didn't eat any of them, but a person we went with ate the bugs and snake....they taste like chicken! Most of the market was geared toward tourist, everyday Chinese people don't eat these kinds of foods, they are expensive.
Today we went to the Olympic Park, it was AWESOME!!! We went during the day and stayed until the sun went down to see the buildings at night. Definitely need to see the pictures to see how amazing they buildings were!
Cost of things: Exchange rate $1= 6.7 Yuan...prices below are in US dollars-
Beer in a little shop next to us: .40 Cents
Subway: .33 cents each way
small food stalls: .15-$1.00
Entry to sights: $6-8
Beer in our hostel: $2.5
My favorite meal so far: Sweet and Sour pork: $3.2
A bunk bed in our hostel: $4.95/per night/per person
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Seoul at Night
Seoul at night! A 3 story Dunkin Donuts about 1 minute from our hostel. Korea has most major chain restaurants.....and they love coffee! Starbucks and Dunkin everywhere. Dad, I took this picture for you! Seoul has a lot of outside markets and at night time many businesses set up shop with portable vendors and portable restaurants.
Seul es una ciudad increible, la verdad que hay para hacer de todo y de noche se pone mucho mejor.
Drinking some beer at out hostel. Two of Koreas most popular beers are Hite and Cass-both tasted good!
Namdaemun Market
Seoul Plaza
Seoul Tower from Seoul Plaza!
Cool tube you could climb into!
Cheonggyecheon river in the middle of downtown Seoul. This was built a few years ago and is absolutely beautiful. Between the small bridges the river changes its view. In this spot there was a breast cancer awareness display. The river goes for a couple of miles and is a nice break from the noisy city.
The breast cancer awareness section.
Moving digital flowers displayed on the wall with classical music played in the background.
Seoul subway.......can you find me?Around Seoul
Seoul is really easy to navigate around as the subway system goes everywhere and the computerized ticket dispenser is in English! Each trip costs 1000-1100 Won about .80-.90 cents. We had about one week in Seoul and we covered lots!
Estuvimos una semana en Seoul y la verdad excelente. Fuimos a museos, la torre de Corea, el estadio mundialista, recorrimos la ciudad caminando y en subte y pasamos una semana de 10.
The National Museum of Korea, the 6th largest in the world and cost 400 Billion won to build!
The National Museum of Korea
The National Museum of Korea
Inside The National Museum of Korea
Samsung building, downtown Seoul
Outside markets in Seoul
Seoul
The ambulance flipped over on its way to a rescue....no one was hurt! But this created a huge traffic jam with onlookers!
Agustin cooking dinner at our hostel!
Sauteed Chicken with peppers, onions, and rice! YUMMY
2002 World Cup Soccer Stadium 
Aguante el Diego!
2002 World Cup Stadium
Seoul tower...couldn't find a bus to it, so we walked up the mountain!
Seoul tower, its only 236 meters tall, however it is built on a mountain so its height is 479 meters from the bottom of the mountain.
Inside the tower it lists countries from all over the world and their distances from the tower. Buenos Aires, Argentina was the absolute furthermost place from Seoul! 19,417 Kilometers!
A 360 Degree view from the tower! Seoul is huge!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Changgyeonggung Palace - Seoul
This is the Changgyeonggung Palace, it's location is about a 7 minute walk from our hostel! It looked very similar to the other palace we visited.....they kind of all start to look alike:)
The palace was originally built as "Suganggung" by King Sejong for his father, Taejong, but in 1483 renovated and enlarged by King Seongjong at which time at which time it received its current name.
During the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese built a zoo, botanical garden, and museum on the site. In 1983 the zoo and botanical garden were removed. Like the other Five Grand Palaces, Changgyeonggung was heavily destroyed by the Japanese.
Este es el palacio Changgyeonggung, por suerte bastante cerca del hostel asique la caminata fue leve. Espero que le gusten.
The front entrance
Where royal ceremonies occurred
Some stone thing Agustin liked!!
Throne
Seoul Tower from the palace!
Tossing of a coin- if it lands in the center my wish comes true.....mine bounced off:( Haha, my wish was, I hope this coin lands it!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)