Bonnie's Blog
(Yeah, yeah this is Bonnie's Blog, but afterall, it is MY website - so my comments are in Italics;)
Well we did it, 8 cities in 10 Days! And I survived China...
When people asked me how my trip was the one word to sum it up would have to be "Crazy".
I don't think you can describe the things you do and see to people who have never been until you actually see and do them yourself.
Well we did it, 8 cities in 10 Days! And I survived China...
When people asked me how my trip was the one word to sum it up would have to be "Crazy".
I don't think you can describe the things you do and see to people who have never been until you actually see and do them yourself.
I
first arrived on a Saturday afternoon where Linda met me at the airport
(thank god cause the thought of getting downtown alone was terrifying).
We hit the train and headed downtown Beijing. We cheers'd with some
Bijou and redbull after my long day in Vancouver and 11 hour flight....
I soon learned that "laowai" were able to get away with basically anything. So drinking in public was no big D.
I soon learned that "laowai" were able to get away with basically anything. So drinking in public was no big D.
We
headed to a cool lounge with Linda's friend Shannon, who I also
admire living in China for the last 5 years, and grabbed some drinks
before dinner.
We
then headed to a beautiful lake and a part of town called Houhai where
we met a few of Linda's friends for a "welcome dinner". Got to see my
friend Lincoln as well for a quick bite! Great food and good times. But then I
hit a wall at about 11pm where I had been awake for 24 hours at that
point, so we headed back to the Houtongs hostel and got set up for the
night.
Was up and ready at 6am for a Hike along the Great Wall the next morning! When we arrived after a 3 hour bus ride I was ready to go! (thank you, Extra Jos) We managed a 10 km hike up the stairs of the great wall in about 2 hours. My pace was pretty steady at first but after 1hr 30 of stairs the last 30 mins was a deep deep burn! The great wall was beautiful, I had never seen anything so historically old. We stopped along the way for photos and to buy a $1 tee shirt. While we chatted the whole way seeing as we had a year and a half of catching up to do. The great wall would have to be one of my top highlights of the whole trip. Was a great way to really start off the whole China experience.
We
then headed back downtown and were off to a Kung Fu show that night. It was
beautiful and I would describe it as a mixture of Kung Fu Panda, Break
Dancing and Ninja Assassin, and would compare it to a Cirque de Soleil in
Vegas style. We walked around in the rain afterwards and had some mango and
pineapple on the street.
Didn't find sleeping in china hard even tho the beds were hard, I seemed to be so exhausted at the end of every day. Probably for the best.
Next morning we got up and walked Beijing... We visited a few parks (BeiHai, JiangShan)... beautiful and entertaining!! There were lots of old people there stretching, doing thai-chi, hitting/slapping themselves, dancing to christmas carols, walking backwards, walking their birds in cages around, singing, you name it....all the things linda told me about...but never really comprehending till i was staring it in the face. We visited the bell tower, TianAnMen Square and the forbidden City that afternoon. We grabbed a Starbucks at Linda's favorite spot and then Linda was off to work!
While
she was working for 3 hours i visited a 1600 year old Buddhist temple (YongHeGong). Very cool, lots of great statues, and the strong smell of incense. Met
some cool people from Holland on an exchange for 6 weeks as well. I
walked around the streets afterwards and checked out a few stores.
Stopped for lunch and fortunately found Linda shortly after that. We
headed for a quick mani and trip to the spa! Got a facial/massage for
only $5! The girls there gave me a Chinese name "Mei Ya." (梅雅， meaning strong and beautiful）
We jetted off to the airport and missed our damn flight (thanks to rush hour...at 7pm). So Shannon rescued the day and we crashed with her and changed our flight to the first flight out to Guiyang the next day. The city we landed in after Beijing is considered a small one 300,000 population. We found a great hostel ("presidential suite" we called it) and started exploring the city. The mountains are beautiful in this part of China... very "traditional Asia" or what you would expect in Thailand, Vietnam. (GuiZhou province)
It was in the smaller towns where I started to appreciate the culture, and notice that I was actually in a third world country and could see the poverty all around us. We were definately in a place where people had never seen a white person in their whole lives. And probably will never see one again. We would have people stop as they were walking towards us and with dropped jaws stare at us as we walked past. It was quite a different feeling... having someone watch your every move in a zoo animal kind of way. We would get requests to have our photos taken with locals daily. and little kids running up to us and saying "hello" then giggling and running away.
Visited a local temple via motorcycle taxi after a $1 hair wash.
We headed out to a night market
after that, grabbed some $0.25 beer and walked the streets. So many
sounds, sites, smells, bargaining, and people! Fun times. We bought
some green tea from a local woman that day who grew it, dried it and
sold it herself. photo below:
We
woke up early and took a bus to Asia's tallest Huanggoushu Waterfall
(81m). On the hour and a half bus we passed through some beautiful
scenery, old women and men farming in the lands, planting rice, and
walking on the street with their yacks. Lots of old dilapidated houses
all over.
We
got the the small town the falls were located at and started walking.
On the way the local police pulled over and told us to get in their
car. At first I thought we were getting in trouble... then we realized
the police there are more there to serve and protect the tourists then
the locals. They drove us in their cop van to the falls and gave us a
few tips on the way there. The falls were about a 45 min hike to....
Thankfully I packed smart walking shoes.....not... I had reef sandals
where I tripped on about step 40 of 900 and broke my shoe. Linda had a
entertaining time watching me walk around for almost 2 hours in one
flip flop. Ohhh boy. As we got closer to the falls you could hear the
roar and feel the mist. The waterfall was stunning and is the only
waterfall in the world you can view from all sides. And we made sure we took advantage of that!
Headed back to town after the falls and grabbed some
lunch then off to the train station (for lil' Bonnie's first train ride!) to the next city, Kailie, which was
just a quick stop over where we stayed the night and bought 7 pairs of
socks for 1$ (We kept thinking... should have gotten 14... should have
gotten 14) (In fact I don't think Bonnie slept that night and I am pretty sure she was talking in her sleep saying 14, 14, 14...)
I learned that you find out a lot about a culture on a 4 hour train with them. While I was avoiding being annoyed by the sound of chewing spits, I had the great pleasure of witnessing two women eating chicken feet. One which was sitting next to me, I swear when she bit in and I heard a crunch and got some chicken juice squired on my neck I was gonna hurl! I survived my first train ride of my life, let alone in China... barely. (and I don't think she'll be doing that again).
After staying the night in Kailie we woke up early and caught two bus's to Sanjiang and a 10 hour day of traveling. The roads were in rough condition and Linda advised "it's just better if you don't watch," so I tried to ignore the fact we were going very fast on a windy gravel road with a cliff on one side. The driving there was nuts in the first place, and that was a whole other level... May or may have not hurled at one of the stopped. don't judge! turns out I was actually sick for the rest of the trip... must have been some of those strange fruits we were trying on the side of the streets... or the water. Again we just stayed the night and found about a 1 star cockroach hostel... literally! (but the location, and the price made the cockroaches worth it, right?)
Again we were up early and bussed to Guilin which the world famous Li River ran through. It was a beautiful city but the most catered to tourists. Which, looking back, really made me enjoy the rural areas. Linda picked a hostel for us she saw last time she was in town and we set up our stuff for the last two nights left of my trip. It was nice and great location. In Gulin we had the opportunity to check out some parks and visit a old tunnel of caves. They light up the tour with phony lights to Linda and I felt like we were in Disney Land. Still really beautiful and quite cool... and we we inspired to do some TaiChi in them.
After ditching the worlds slowest
tour group we finished the rest of the caves (aka bat city) in the
dark. In the park we had a man write my chinese name on a fan for $1 in
some beautiful old chinese calligraphy. We motorcycle taxied back
downtown... where I was still not feeling 100% but after a beer sitting
by a lake with two 1600 bagodahs (spelling) Pagodas, and a McDonald's Big Mac (me, rolling my eyes the entire time) I
was feeling almost back to normal! Thankfully Linda "let me" try a few
of the western fast food joints to get some "normal" food in me. We
walked around more and went to a nice restaurant for dinner across
town. While we were there the storm of a century brewed. The loudest
Thunder occurred, which sounded like it was right outside of our door of
the restaurant! The amount of car alarms that were set off after were
nuts. We let the rain let up a bit and walked down what was the biggest
Night market we had been to yet.
On our last day of adventure left, we woke up early (what day DIDN'T we...) and got in a bus with a bunch of other tourists towards the Li River. We dressed for sun... but when we arrived... there was nothing but cold rain and wind. While the 5 of us boarded a small bamboo boat, Linda and I had full hypothermic shakes followed by histerical laughter. The river was gorgeous! and a great way to end the trip.
Hit
the night markets (and the outdoor spa for every asserby to watch the foreigners get waxes and painted) for one last night and bought some gifts for my
friends and family. Repacked and was off to the airport the next
morning... I had 3 flights... one of which was delayed and I missed my
flight home. By that time I had already said goodbye to Linda so I was
on my own. The airline put me up in a hotel for 24 hours till I could
catch the flight the next day. But I would have to say I was in the
oddest position of my life... Stuck in a country where I had NO money,
didn't know the language, had no tv, phone or computer, and was by
myself. I sat in my hotel room with nothing to do. Literally lost in
translation. Finally caught my flight home the following day...
Linda's commentary:
Tea in a bag; duck in a bag; corn in a bag; tongue fruit et al. that made us both sick for a week; giggling hysterically on the train at the hicks and their non-stop eating and cracking of sunflower seeds; laughing until we couldn't breath at the cold and insanity on a boat down the Li river; quoting dumb and dumber, ace ventura and all the oldies of our childhoods; getting to know my little sister as an adult and being prouder of her than I could ever imagine - those were my highlights and memories I pray I never forget.
I think China is taking a big sigh of relief now that the McGrew sisters are separated again.
Our biggest challenge will be topping this one.... here's to at least trying in France next year!
We
then headed to a beautiful lake and a part of town called Houhai where
we met a few of Linda's friends for a "welcome dinner". Got to see my
friend Lincoln as well for a quick bite! Great food and good times. But then I
hit a wall at about 11pm where I had been awake for 24 hours at that
point, so we headed back to the Houtongs hostel and got set up for the
night. Was up and ready at 6am for a Hike along the Great Wall the next morning! When we arrived after a 3 hour bus ride I was ready to go! (thank you, Extra Jos) We managed a 10 km hike up the stairs of the great wall in about 2 hours. My pace was pretty steady at first but after 1hr 30 of stairs the last 30 mins was a deep deep burn! The great wall was beautiful, I had never seen anything so historically old. We stopped along the way for photos and to buy a $1 tee shirt. While we chatted the whole way seeing as we had a year and a half of catching up to do. The great wall would have to be one of my top highlights of the whole trip. Was a great way to really start off the whole China experience.
We
then headed back downtown and were off to a Kung Fu show that night. It was
beautiful and I would describe it as a mixture of Kung Fu Panda, Break
Dancing and Ninja Assassin, and would compare it to a Cirque de Soleil in
Vegas style. We walked around in the rain afterwards and had some mango and
pineapple on the street. Didn't find sleeping in china hard even tho the beds were hard, I seemed to be so exhausted at the end of every day. Probably for the best.
Next morning we got up and walked Beijing... We visited a few parks (BeiHai, JiangShan)... beautiful and entertaining!! There were lots of old people there stretching, doing thai-chi, hitting/slapping themselves, dancing to christmas carols, walking backwards, walking their birds in cages around, singing, you name it....all the things linda told me about...but never really comprehending till i was staring it in the face. We visited the bell tower, TianAnMen Square and the forbidden City that afternoon. We grabbed a Starbucks at Linda's favorite spot and then Linda was off to work!
While
she was working for 3 hours i visited a 1600 year old Buddhist temple (YongHeGong). Very cool, lots of great statues, and the strong smell of incense. Met
some cool people from Holland on an exchange for 6 weeks as well. I
walked around the streets afterwards and checked out a few stores.
Stopped for lunch and fortunately found Linda shortly after that. We
headed for a quick mani and trip to the spa! Got a facial/massage for
only $5! The girls there gave me a Chinese name "Mei Ya." (梅雅， meaning strong and beautiful）We jetted off to the airport and missed our damn flight (thanks to rush hour...at 7pm). So Shannon rescued the day and we crashed with her and changed our flight to the first flight out to Guiyang the next day. The city we landed in after Beijing is considered a small one 300,000 population. We found a great hostel ("presidential suite" we called it) and started exploring the city. The mountains are beautiful in this part of China... very "traditional Asia" or what you would expect in Thailand, Vietnam. (GuiZhou province)
It was in the smaller towns where I started to appreciate the culture, and notice that I was actually in a third world country and could see the poverty all around us. We were definately in a place where people had never seen a white person in their whole lives. And probably will never see one again. We would have people stop as they were walking towards us and with dropped jaws stare at us as we walked past. It was quite a different feeling... having someone watch your every move in a zoo animal kind of way. We would get requests to have our photos taken with locals daily. and little kids running up to us and saying "hello" then giggling and running away.
Visited a local temple via motorcycle taxi after a $1 hair wash.
We headed out to a night market
after that, grabbed some $0.25 beer and walked the streets. So many
sounds, sites, smells, bargaining, and people! Fun times. We bought
some green tea from a local woman that day who grew it, dried it and
sold it herself. photo below:We
woke up early and took a bus to Asia's tallest Huanggoushu Waterfall
(81m). On the hour and a half bus we passed through some beautiful
scenery, old women and men farming in the lands, planting rice, and
walking on the street with their yacks. Lots of old dilapidated houses
all over.Headed back to town after the falls and grabbed some
lunch then off to the train station (for lil' Bonnie's first train ride!) to the next city, Kailie, which was
just a quick stop over where we stayed the night and bought 7 pairs of
socks for 1$ (We kept thinking... should have gotten 14... should have
gotten 14) (In fact I don't think Bonnie slept that night and I am pretty sure she was talking in her sleep saying 14, 14, 14...) I learned that you find out a lot about a culture on a 4 hour train with them. While I was avoiding being annoyed by the sound of chewing spits, I had the great pleasure of witnessing two women eating chicken feet. One which was sitting next to me, I swear when she bit in and I heard a crunch and got some chicken juice squired on my neck I was gonna hurl! I survived my first train ride of my life, let alone in China... barely. (and I don't think she'll be doing that again).
After staying the night in Kailie we woke up early and caught two bus's to Sanjiang and a 10 hour day of traveling. The roads were in rough condition and Linda advised "it's just better if you don't watch," so I tried to ignore the fact we were going very fast on a windy gravel road with a cliff on one side. The driving there was nuts in the first place, and that was a whole other level... May or may have not hurled at one of the stopped. don't judge! turns out I was actually sick for the rest of the trip... must have been some of those strange fruits we were trying on the side of the streets... or the water. Again we just stayed the night and found about a 1 star cockroach hostel... literally! (but the location, and the price made the cockroaches worth it, right?)
Again we were up early and bussed to Guilin which the world famous Li River ran through. It was a beautiful city but the most catered to tourists. Which, looking back, really made me enjoy the rural areas. Linda picked a hostel for us she saw last time she was in town and we set up our stuff for the last two nights left of my trip. It was nice and great location. In Gulin we had the opportunity to check out some parks and visit a old tunnel of caves. They light up the tour with phony lights to Linda and I felt like we were in Disney Land. Still really beautiful and quite cool... and we we inspired to do some TaiChi in them.
After ditching the worlds slowest
tour group we finished the rest of the caves (aka bat city) in the
dark. In the park we had a man write my chinese name on a fan for $1 in
some beautiful old chinese calligraphy. We motorcycle taxied back
downtown... where I was still not feeling 100% but after a beer sitting
by a lake with two 1600 bagodahs (spelling) Pagodas, and a McDonald's Big Mac (me, rolling my eyes the entire time) I
was feeling almost back to normal! Thankfully Linda "let me" try a few
of the western fast food joints to get some "normal" food in me. We
walked around more and went to a nice restaurant for dinner across
town. While we were there the storm of a century brewed. The loudest
Thunder occurred, which sounded like it was right outside of our door of
the restaurant! The amount of car alarms that were set off after were
nuts. We let the rain let up a bit and walked down what was the biggest
Night market we had been to yet. On our last day of adventure left, we woke up early (what day DIDN'T we...) and got in a bus with a bunch of other tourists towards the Li River. We dressed for sun... but when we arrived... there was nothing but cold rain and wind. While the 5 of us boarded a small bamboo boat, Linda and I had full hypothermic shakes followed by histerical laughter. The river was gorgeous! and a great way to end the trip.
Hit
the night markets (and the outdoor spa for every asserby to watch the foreigners get waxes and painted) for one last night and bought some gifts for my
friends and family. Repacked and was off to the airport the next
morning... I had 3 flights... one of which was delayed and I missed my
flight home. By that time I had already said goodbye to Linda so I was
on my own. The airline put me up in a hotel for 24 hours till I could
catch the flight the next day. But I would have to say I was in the
oddest position of my life... Stuck in a country where I had NO money,
didn't know the language, had no tv, phone or computer, and was by
myself. I sat in my hotel room with nothing to do. Literally lost in
translation. Finally caught my flight home the following day...Over
all the trip was great, the cities was beautiful, I tried a lot of new
food, learned some of the language, saw my sister impress the pants off
of everyone with her ability to speak amazing chinese, witnessed a new
culture, quoting Ace Ventura and Nacho Libre like it was nooobody's
business and learned a lot about the Country (that will soon take over the earth). Linda and I have never
gotten along better... and if nothing else we have a friendship now
like never before!
McGrew sisters survived china... CHECK!
(in other words, China survived the Mcgrew sisters)
McGrew sisters survived china... CHECK!
(in other words, China survived the Mcgrew sisters)
Linda's commentary:
Tea in a bag; duck in a bag; corn in a bag; tongue fruit et al. that made us both sick for a week; giggling hysterically on the train at the hicks and their non-stop eating and cracking of sunflower seeds; laughing until we couldn't breath at the cold and insanity on a boat down the Li river; quoting dumb and dumber, ace ventura and all the oldies of our childhoods; getting to know my little sister as an adult and being prouder of her than I could ever imagine - those were my highlights and memories I pray I never forget.
I think China is taking a big sigh of relief now that the McGrew sisters are separated again.
Our biggest challenge will be topping this one.... here's to at least trying in France next year!
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