Beijing, I Hate You

J and I were back in London by Monday afternoon, and I started packing as soon as we got back since I was flying to Beijing the next day. Let me tell you, it's not easy packing three weeks worth of stuff, especially when you're going to different temperature extremes: Beijing - average, Tibet - ass cold, Nepal - swamp butt hot. But I somehow managed to squeeze it all in my new backpack.

My British Airways flight to Beijing pretty much sucked. The TV was broken, the overhead light was stuck in the on position and my window shutter wouldn't close. The only good thing about it was that the flight was relatively empty, which meant I got three seats all to myself.

I arrived before any of my friends and managed to get a good nap in before they finally showed up three hours behind schedule. One of them had a knife stashed in his luggage (I still don't know why) and they weren't able to travel on the metro since you have to undergo a security check every time you get on the metro and such items are prohibited. They also had a hard time finding a taxi since Beijing cabs won't take you if they don't "feel" like it.

We were all famished at that point, and we headed off to Ghost Street, which is well-known for late night dining.


We wandered into a restaurant that looked like it was doing a brisk business and ordered dinner by pointing at various things on the menu. The food that finally came out was disgusting - there was more gristle and bone than meat and everything was positively swimming in grease. Smoking is permitted pretty much everywhere in Beijing, including inside restaurants, and the smell of nicotine didn't make the food taste any better. We finally gave up trying to eat and settled for watching the guys next to us attacking their stewed bullfrogs with gusto.

The next day, we hopped on the metro to check out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I have to hand it to Beijing, their metro kicks the Tube's ass. It's dirt cheap, clean and air-conditioned.

Tiananmen Square was a vast expanse of concrete interspersed with splashes of Communist red. Several buildings enclosed the square and two giant TV screens were showing what looked like propaganda.




There was a very strong military presence, with lots of soldiers in formal uniforms standing around with ramrod straight posture.

Mao's mausoleum is also located there, but none of us were curious enough to try to catch a glimpse of his casket. We settled for his portrait, which made him look like a kindly grandfather. Ha!


My general impression of the square was that it was stark, forbidding and the least friendliest place ever. They've even got a sculpture that looks like it wants to shoot you! Btw, none of the people in their sculptures look remotely Chinese - what's up with that?


There really wasn't that much to look at so we headed to the Forbidden City. More soldiers dotted the landscape, and I finally got yelled at for taking their picture. I wasn't that keen on getting arrested in China so I stopped snapping pics and cannot provide photographic evidence of some of the guys who were standing in formation with the soldiers. They were strangely dressed in street clothes and looked like disgusting slobs - one guy had his finger shoved so far up his nose that it looked like he was conducting a full-on excavation of his piddly brain. Now I ask you, would Mao approve? I think not.


The compound was huge, much bigger than we originally imagined, and although the buildings were impressive enough, they all start to look alike after a while.


I found the statues to be much more interesting. A killer dog with a killer 'fro was my favourite.


Many of China's buildings are guarded by a pair of lions - one female and one male. You can tell them apart because the male has a ball under his paw while the female has a cub under hers.

Dragons can also be found pretty much everywhere. I don't know why this one looks like he's laughing hysterically - there's nothing fun or funny about the Forbidden City. Oh, except for the shop that allows you to put on traditional clothing and puts you against a green screen to produce a video that makes you look like you're flying through the Forbidden City.


It was a hard five hour slog, but we got through it in the end. After a short break back at the hotel, we headed out to Wangfujing, a large outdoor shopping area with a wide variety of retail outlets.

It's also home to a street famous for its cheap and freakish eats. We hit up the food stalls and sampled some dumplings, noodles and pumpkin cakes.


Some of the stuff that we didn't sample included...

Dog stew:


Giant centipedes:


King spiders:


We were still pretty hungry since we weren't that keen on filling our bellies with sheep penis and baby shark, and we were tired of fighting with street vendors who conveniently "forgot" to return our change or straight up demanded more money after agreeing on a price. In defeat, we found refuge at the nearest McDonald's to get away from all the salty and greasy food. Ironic, huh?

Some other things I hated about Beijing:
(1) People spitting all the time. ALL THE TIME.
(2) People smoking everywhere.
(3) The worst pollution I've ever encountered in my life, and I'm from LA!
(4) The never-ending hostile stares.
(5) The strange lack of fruit and vegetables.
(6) Why does everything need to be deep-fried?
(7) The constant jostling and pushing. I WILL elbow you back, asshole.
(8) The aggressive driving. Here's a thought: try to not run over pedestrians.
(9) Censorship. I couldn't access any blogs, and I was advised that if I type any "troubling" words in my emails such as "Tibet" or "freedom", my email would most likely shut down. Fan-f*cking-tastic.

I needed to get out of there...

Easter in Istanbul

J and I decided at the last minute that we ought to go somewhere for Easter weekend, but I was a bit hesitant since I knew everyone would be going away and booking so late would mean sky-high prices. At the same time, I couldn't pass up a four-day weekend, and it was our last trip together before I left for Asia so come Friday, we were on a flight on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul.

Why Istanbul? Everyone I knew who had gone there had raved about it (great knock-off Mulberry bags!), and I figured the crowds wouldn't be so bad since it's a Muslim country (Jesus who?).

I should mention that Turkish Airlines is now my favorite airline. They don't give a rat's ass that people are messing around with the overhead compartment - they're pulling away from the jetway as scheduled! The food is more than edible, and they provide actual metal utensils in economy class.

Our hotel provided complimentary pick-up service from the airport, and we checked in to the Rose Garden Suites in Sultanahmet, which is the historic quarter of Istanbul. The hotel looked deceptively small from the outside and was actually a sprawling set of buildings once we passed reception. Our room played up the exotic Aladdin theme to the hilt, and we also got a tiny balcony thrown in. The room didn't justify the price, but it was the only passable one I could find after scouring the web for hours and it was sufficient for our purposes.




The next day, we tried Turkish coffee for the first time at breakfast. J didn't know how strong of a drink it already is and requested it extra strong. Needless to say, it was a tough cup to swallow. We were pretty amped from the massive dose of caffeine and headed uphill to check out the Blue Mosque.

We soon found ourselves on what remains of the Hippodrome, a Byzantine stadium for chariot racing. Now, it's just a plaza with three very different columns, including an Egyptian Obelisk from the 15th century. There also happened to be a trio of musicians playing traditional music, which lent a nice flavor to the whole scene. A small German fountain with a very impressive ceiling anchored the other end of the plaza for some inexplicable reason.

And then we got our first glimpse of the Blue Mosque. It is truly one of the most impressive buildings I've approached - the cascading domes of the roof are absolutely stunning and the slate blue color is beautiful.


We joined the long queue to enter the mosque, and as it is a place of prayer, it's requested that visitors cover their heads and knees.


The interior was almost as impressive as the exterior, but it was hard to enjoy it as the entire place stunk of hot feet. Shoes are not permitted within, and the stench made it hard to stay for long.




Right across the way is the Hagia Sophia, a place I've read about in books as a small child, and I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that I was standing right in front of it!

The building was completed in the 6th century, and it now functions as a museum. The very impressive interior is an interesting mix of Christian and Muslim features. Islam prohibits images of man in its mosques as they're considered to be a distraction, but the Hagia Sophia has a beautiful mosaic of the Virgin and Child and important saints. J especially liked the arabic script, while I liked the stained glass windows, which were very different from the stained glass I'm accustomed to seeing in churches.

We wandered about for quite some time, as the museum is absolutely huge, but we also had to make a stop at the Basilica Cistern.

Also built in the 6th century, the subterranean structure held water for the city until it was eventually forgotten and only rediscovered when locals told of catching fish in their basement wells. A couple of people had told me how amazing it is, so I was eager to see what it was all about and more than bit dismayed when I made my way down below. The entire place was Disneyfied in that they had creepy music playing and the entire interior was lit up in devilish red light. The cistern's big draw are the two Medusa heads, which I didn't find that impressive. Don't be surprised if water drips on you the whole time or by the fish that still live in the cistern.

We still had time to see one more sight so we walked towards the Grand Bazaar, which houses over 25,000 shops. I was pretty disappointed as it seemed that all of the stalls sold the same crap that they thought tourists want to buy, and the place was jam-packed with people bargaining for knock-off goods.

I was pretty tired of getting jostled so we left for the quieter Arasta bazaar behind the Blue Mosque, where I nabbed a scarf for myself.

We were pretty famished by dinnertime as lunch had turned out to be a massive fail. We had bought some sandwiches at the shop across the way from the Hagia Sophia. It was a pretty obvious tourist trap, but it was still pretty amazing at how bad a restaurant could mess up a simple cheese sandwich. Anyway, we decided to take no chances and had dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel nearby. The food was excellent, and dessert was a fun treat to look at - they created a hard candy version of the sultan's insignia!

The next day, we headed to the grand-daddy of them all, the Topkapi Palace, and on the way, we saw some ladies preparing what looked like delicious dumplings. Yum!

It was a bit of a hike to get to the entrance of the palace, and the place was crawling with tons of tour groups, so much so that it was really hard to enjoy ourselves.

The palace is a compound of different buildings, and we had to queue for every single exhibit. A can't-miss was the jewel display, and J especially enjoyed the full body armor made completely of diamonds in the weapons exhibit. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside most of the exhibits, so you'll have to see the goods in person. Let's just say that the Turks were really into encrusting everything with gems and most of the furniture was inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Every single inch of the buildings' interiors is covered with fancy blue tile, and the Turks didn't pass up the opportunity to gussy up basic practicalities such as lights, water fountains or windows.

We had big plans to take a ferry ride along the Bosphorus up to Ortakoy, but we were pretty tired from fighting the crowds so we just wandered around the park by the palace eating ice cream bars and gazing upon the many tulips that are planted all over the city, including a variety of the flower that I haven't seen before.

We spent the rest of the day sitting on a bench at the Hippodrome and watching the many street vendors selling grilled corn and candy and listening to the calls to prayer before settling for an unremarkable dinner at a restaurant hidden behind the handcraft museum.

I think at least another full day at Istanbul would've done justice to the city, but it turned out we timed our departure perfectly since it started pouring cats and dogs that night and the rain showed no signs of letting up by the time we left for our flight on Monday.

It was great being somewhere so different from our last few destinations, but at the same time, I don't think the city quite lived up to my expectations. To be fair, it had been so hyped up by everyone that some amount of disappointment was probably inevitable. I'm glad I visited, but I don't think we'll be returning any time soon unless I start missing the many stray cats that live quite well in the city.

China Hates My Blog

Sorry about the lack of updates, but I've been traveling in Asia for the last 2 1/2 weeks, and China has decided that my site needs to be blocked so I wasn't able to access to update any posts.

I'm currently in Kathmandu and leaving for a trek soon, so I'll update in a week or two with all the haps of the last few weeks - Istanbul, Turkey; Beijing, China; Tibet; Kathmandu; Nepal.

Hampton Court

Spring has finally sprung, and J and I decided to spend our first sunny Saturday away from the hubbub of the city.

I had heard fantastic things about Hampton Court, so we hopped on a National Rail train to check out King Henry VIII's palace. It was only a thirty five minute train ride until we arrived, and the initial view of the castle and the river running alongside it was lovely. We decided to buy membership to the castles, which means we have free entry to Hampton Court, Kew Palace, Kensington Palace, Tower of London and the Banqueting House for the next year. We also get 10% off restaurants and the retail shops. It definitely pays for itself at the end of the day.

Our first stop was the castle itself, where J was very anxious to check out the kitchens that fed Henry and his court. Basically, they ate mostly meat and drank lots of wine. So not a big surprise that Henry weighed more than 400 lbs when he died.

The castle was quite impressive, but I fell in love with the grounds. It's a wonderful mix of manicured lawns and knot gardens with a little wilderness and a maze thrown in for good measure.

Long avenues radiated out from the rear exit of the castle, and they were lined with Alice in Wonderland type trees that were shaped and pruned to within an inch of their lives.

We moved on a bit further and saw a long expanse of water extending out as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, it was gated off so we couldn't walk the length of the pool, but we did enjoy the bit that wasn't fenced off such as the weeping willow and the birds that were busy building their nests.

We were pretty hungry so J and I took a quick lunch break at the Tiltyard Cafe before exploring the grounds further. The food there was excellent, and I splurged a giant sausage roll. Yum!

We tried walking off our very full bellies by exploring the garden by the cafe. We saw acres and acres of daffodils and the occasional blossoming tree, and it all felt wonderfully idyllic and peaceful.

We eventually made our way to the maze, and J decided to lead the way. He very firmly pronounced that always turning left would see our way out. And then he led us straight into a dead end.

After meandering about for ten minutes our so, we managed to break free and headed to check out the rest of the more cultivated gardens. Who knew flowers could be so obedient?!

After we explored to our hearts' content, we did what everyone else was doing, specifically, buying an ice cream cone and laying out on the grass for a bit before heading back to the train station.

All in all, it was the ideal way to while away a picture-perfect spring day.

Jabbed

My big China trip is coming up soon, and there's so much to do. My contract ended on Friday, so today's the first real day I've had free to get all my travel things sorted.

I needed a bunch of passport pictures for visas I'll apply for along the way, and I discovered that Photobox does a great deal - 8 photos for 4 GBP (includes delivery). I just snapped a picture of myself against a white background and uploaded it, and I'm supposed to get them by tomorrow. Fab!

I also needed to get updates on a lot of my vaccinations, specifically polio, diptheria, tetanus, hepatitis A, typhoid, and rabies. I got my tetanus booster a year ago, but the polio, diptheria, and tetanus is a three-in-one so I got to get another one. Not fun. I ended up getting jabbed 4 times, and the technician was really quick so it wasn't too bad. I used to think it was odd that they call it a "jab" over here for a needle stick, but I've decided that's a pretty accurate description of what it feels like.

Yes, I've got a FOB mark. Lol

I did a ton of research to figure out where to go, and I ended up picking MASTA. They have a location within walking distance from my flat, and their prices are a wee bit cheaper than the others I looked at: Berkeley Travel Clinic, 1st Contact, and CityDoc. I know NHS does some for free, but I don't have much time left to get this done, and I was concerned about the difficulty in trying to schedule three different appointments before I leave for my trip.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the way the appointment went, but some things are a bit different here. For instance, the jabber didn't wear rubber gloves and she didn't swab the site of the injection with alcohol. She also didn't warn me when she was going to stick me, she just went at it with syringes blazing. I'm not complaining, it's just different. I actually didn't mind the lack of warning, since I didn't have time to tense up. I'm now riddled with MASTA plasters (band-aids), and the ache is starting to set in.

Only two more rabies shots to go. Woohoo!

A Whole New World

J came home last night and very slyly mentioned that he had been researching something. I was a bit wary, judging from the expression on his face, and I was right to be so. What had he been researching?

HONG KONG.

As in living in.

Oh my God.

Dinner and a Show

J and I decided to do up this Saturday big since I face-planted on the couch last weekend from being as sick as a dog, and I had a lot of fun to make up.

First order of business was catching a matinee showing of the musical Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden. It's based on one of my favorite childhood novels by Roald Dahl, who's pretty much the best children's writer of all time, and it got excellent reviews so I was pretty excited.

As always, we arrived way too early, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since J was able to snag a beer and I grabbed two large bags of sweet treats - one sour and one sweet cause a girl needs variety. =)

In any case, the theatre's smack dab in the middle of the seven dials, which is the intersection of seven shopping streets and the world's tiniest roundabout. The theatre is a bit tired looking, but the place was filled with schoolyard decorations such as chalkboards with rude sayings scrawled on them.

We weren't seated for too long when I noticed that a gentleman a few rows ahead of us looked an awful lot like Paul McCartney of the Beatles. I also couldn't help noticing that the lady next to him looked just like Paul McCartney's new wife. I couldn't stop staring because they looked so much like them that they had to be them, but it was still too improbable for it to be happening. I mean, what are the chances that I would be catching a Saturday matinee showing of Matilda with a Beatle?

And it finally dawned on me, HOLY SHIT, IT'S PAUL MCCARTNEY. I'm from LA, and it's not unusual to spot celebrities in random places. I've seen Jack Nicholson opening doors for confused shoppers at Nordstrom, and Dog the Bounty Hunter sauntering through the Grove with his wife in tow. But this wasn't any celebrity sighting - this was THE celebrity sighting. I love love love the Beatles. I grew up loving them since I was in the fourth grade, and they were so amazing that I could never grasp that these were real live talking and walking people who existed in the same world as me.

Anyway, I managed to pull my eyes away from him long enough to enjoy the musical. It was a wonderful show, but the best bit was Miss Trunchbull, the terrifying headmistress of the school. It's a very masculine woman's role, but it was played to perfection by a man who flounced and pranced better than I ever could. I really couldn't imagine anyone playing that role any better - he completely stole the show.

The two hours or so sped by, and pretty soon we were on our way out when I noticed that Paul McCartney was walking down the stairs right in front of me. I was so close that I could've reached out and ruffled his very thick head of hair. My arm started to reach out, as if it had a mind of its own, when J grabbed me and told me he had to visit the men's room. Foiled and thwarted!

As disappointed as I was that I didn't manage to grab Paul McCartney and get tackled by his security team, I managed not to cry. J tried to console me with a good wander through Covent Garden, and I was sufficiently recovered by the time we met our friends at Christopher's for dinner.

Christopher's is a neo-American restaurant close to the Strand, and the four of us spent a good three hours eating and chatting. It was good times, and the food was excellent but with one big caveat. The boys ordered from the a la carte menu, while us girls ordered off the pre/post theatre menu, and the food ordered from the a la carte menu was vastly superior. Other than that, the service was excellent, and the setting was like a proper American steakhouse without being stuffy. And we each got a chocolate truffle after our dessert. Definitely worth a trip or two back.