Brian and I got back from a ten day trip to China last week. While the jet lag since we got back has been debilitating, everything else about the trip was fantastic.
We flew into Beijing and spent our first few days there. We stayed at the Red Lantern House hostel in Beijing. It’s in the Xicheng district, which is very central. We ended up with a private double room with a bathroom for 240 RMB/night. That’s about $34. They also have delicious coffee, which can be hard to find.
To help us acclimate, we booked a couple of tours through Cycle China. They cater to English speakers who like to be on their own or in smaller groups. It’s more expensive than your typical bus tour, but so worth it. Our tour guide Nemo was excellent. On our first day, he took us around to the Beijing sites. Unfortunately for us, the sky opened up and flooded the city. Nemo bought us all ponchos, and then took us to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City.
We had hoped the rain would keep away the tourists. It’s possible that some stayed away, but the city was still packed with Chinese tour groups. Because early May is a holiday for the Chinese, a lot of them get out and see the sites. They seem to always travel in large groups. The leader carries a flag and the rest of the group wears matching hats. Here’s a photo of one group crossing the street:
In the afternoon, it cleared up and we headed to the Summer Palace. From the temple there, you can look back and see amazing views of Beijing.
The next day we headed to the Great Wall at Jintang. It’s a more remote part of the wall. Much of it has been restored, although we did get to walk on a short segment that hadn’t been restored. It was a very steep hike up, but the views were amazing. We also stopped by the Ming tombs on our way back to town, but those paled in comparison to the wall.
After Nemo had shown us the sites, we headed to see our friend Erika in Xian. Xian is a twelve hour train ride to the west of Beijing, and on the way there, we took a soft sleeper which is basically a private room with four bunks. It was very nice and spacious. On the way back, we took a hard sleeper which is an open car with rows bunks three high. It makes for much more interesting people watching and isn’t nearly as cramped as it sounds. My only real complaint was the restrooms, which were definitely overused in the hard sleeper cars. Otherwise, the ride was fine and we ended up sitting next to a fluent English speaker on the way back.
Xian is a big tourist site for a few reasons. It was once the beginning of the Silk Road, a major trading route between the East and West. It was where Buddhism was first brought to China. More recently, tourists have come to see the terracotta warriors found buried in the ground by a farmer 30 years ago.
Our major reason for visiting Xian was that we had a friend there teaching English. We got to stay on campus with her and learn a bit about what it’s like to live in China. Erika also showed us the best places to buy pirated DVDs, told us which street food was vegetarian, and was just a great guide. Xian is a mid-sized city for China, but it has a population of 8 million. Trying to navigate it on our own would have been a challenge.
After a few days in Xian, we headed back to Beijing. We spent our last few days in Beijing visiting the city’s many parks. Beijing’s parks seem to be most used by the city’s older, middle-class population. They come early to practice their tai chi, calligraphy, traditional dance, and hacky sack. They often have grandchildren in tow and seem to have a very pleasant life. Of course, you see older people who don’t seem to be in nearly as good of shape, but the emphasis on physical activity later in life seems to improve the overall quality of life. Interestingly, you rarely see kids out playing games.
Considering how far the dollar goes in China, I would consider retiring in China if it weren’t for the poor air quality and the fact that I still have another 40 years of working to do.
Uncategorized
17
May 08
China 2008
13
Apr 08
It’s a zoo.
It’s a chihuahua party over at our house this weekend. We’re fostering two chihuahuas, Olive and Sweet Pea, for the Utah Animal Advocacy Foundation. They’re from a puppy mill rescue and are poorly socialized just like Amos. Olive is twelve and was in heat when UAAF got her; good reason for her to be spayed right away. Sweet Pea is twelve and very skinny.
Boo, Izzy, and Amos are enjoying all the excitement. Amos is especially excited about it because they’re just his size and… we’ll leave it at that.
They’re very sweet little pups. They’re going to take a while to warm up, but it will be so worth it. Anyone interested?
13
Apr 08
So Sore
Brian and I felt horribly behind in our gardening after our organic gardening class at Wasatch Community Gardens last week, so this weekend we did a whole lot of garden prep. We made raised lasagna garden beds on the side of our house with last year’s compost and some leftover soil from the great yard redesign of 2007. We cleared out the wood chips and rocks in the front yard so that we could dig out the weeds and replace the weed barrier, which obviously wasn’t working.
We also got the beds that we made last year weeded and planted with some early spring veggies. The garlic that I planted last November is doing really well. Every single bulb that I planted is coming up (lower left in the pic). I’m always dubious when I plant a seed. It just doesn’t seem like it’s going to work, but it definitely does. We’ve got a couple of flats of seedlings coming up, and I can wait to get them all planted.
15
Feb 08
Adventures in Bus Riding
This winter has been an insane one for snow, ice, and cold. The bad weather has made it really hard to stick with regular bike riding, so I’ve switched to the bus for my commute. While a bus ride isn’t quite as exhilarating as a bike ride, it does have some other perks. One of my more interesting bus rides is featured on Bus Tales.
Photo Credit: stock.xchng
31
Jan 08
Pandora
Pandora is a little stray kitty who found me a few months ago when I was on my way home from work. We weren’t going to keep her because we already have three dogs, but she grew on us. She seemed really happy to find me and Brian, but she’s still a bit pissed off about the dogs.
18
Dec 07
Graduation
Amos graduated from basic obedience a few weeks ago, so we celebrated with some hiking down in Capitol Reef. He loved it:
He’s really not as miserable as he looks. Sometimes we have to pick him up to get over big rocks, but generally he’s quite the little hiking trooper. Especially considering that his legs are only four inches long. And we couldn’t even walk him on a leash when he came to live with us last August.
Thanks to Sebastian for taking this picture.
20
Sep 07
Farmers Market
My writeup on the farmers market in downtown Salt Lake was featured on Apartment Therapy earlier this week. Here's the link if you want to check it out.
13
Sep 07
Last Year’s Lawn, This Year’s Garden
I’m not the biggest fan of grass, and when I bought my house in 2005, I managed to kill the whole lawn in a few months. Yellow grass is really depressing to look at, and Brian and I knew it had to go. So we embarked on a great earth moving project that has consumed two whole summers and more calories than I can imagine. In 2006, we ripped the dead lawn up by hand and replaced the whole thing with gravel. Sod takes up a whole lot of space, but lucky for us we had a compost bin the size of a VW bus in the back corner of our yard.
The results were good, but I had no idea what on earth we would end up doing with several tons of dead grass. But that’s the great thing about a compost heap. I didn’t do a thing, and the whole pile magically transformed itself into really rich soil over the winter.
Thus began phase II. I picked up Square Foot Gardening earlier this summer, and Brian and I decided that veggies were the way to take our soil. So every weekend for the last few months we’ve been building planters boxes, moving soil, and planting things. The first round of boxes didn’t get done until mid-July when average highs were hovering above 100 and there wasn’t a drop of rain in sight. I couldn’t imagine any plant being able to fight through that and survive, but they did. We managed to get a full crop of beans in about a month’s time:
Beans may not seem like something to get excited about, but they taste delicious right off the vine and they’re great for the soil. All the nitrogen they’re fixing will make next year’s crop even better.
We also planted the side of our driveway with tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries in mid-June. Peppers are a great plant that I had never thought to try and grow. It’s a nice change from the ubiquitous tomato, and it’s similar in the care and conditions that it needs. The crazy thing is how the plant manages to stay upright with big peppers sprouting out left and right:
With all these veggies, it feels like I’m hemorrhaging water, but my bills have been a third of what they were when I was trying to keep the lawn watered. According to Tree Hugger, lawns are actually the most irrigated crop in America. Funny… I don’t see anyone eating it. Maybe someday we’ll figure out a way to power our cars with all the lawn clippings we toss in trash, but I doubt. In the meantime, I’m a convert to the Food Not Lawns movement, and I’m not the only one. Read more about it here.
Great produce, a low water bill, being green… those might seem like enough reasons for taking on a project like this, but we got more. The crowning glory of this whole process has to be this:
The compost pile is now gone, and we’ve gained back a whole huge chunk of space in the backyard. We also were lucky enough to come into a hammock that a friend had laying around, and the two work exceptionally well together. All those weekends of moving dirt were totally worth it.
28
Aug 07
Alaska!!!
Alaska was amazing. After Zambia last year, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by a place, but I was. The beauty and grandeur of the place is just out of this world. Plus the facilities and roads are stellar (certainly something that Zambia doesn't have going for it).
We started our trip by flying into Anchorage. Anchorage seems like a pretty pleasant little town with some great bike paths and a vibrant downtown area, but we didn't stay too long.
We headed up to Denali. It's a four or five hour drive. It wasn't too exciting heading up because of all the rain. Rain is a serious risk when you go to Alaska, especially in August. This was an area that we ended up lucking out in immensely on this trip. It cleared up by the time we got to the park, and we did a hike up Mount Healy, one of the trails accessible from the Visitors Center.
Denali is a little different from most national parks. Only the first 14 miles are accessible by private car; to get any further, you've got to hop on a shuttle or tour bus. You can get on and off shuttle buses anywhere on the route you paid for and hike. Since much of the park is tundra, you can hike anywhere you want. This was our plan, but it was pouring all day long. Just thinking about getting off the bus made me shiver.
The rain didn't have the same effect on the wildlife. We saw four grizzles, two wolves, two caribou, two moose, and countless sheep. Here are a few pics:
The only thing missing was seeing the mountain. Only one in four visitors to Denali see it, and we were expecting to be in the majority on that one. The next day we headed south from Denali down to Seward. Along the way, the skies cleared and mountain appeared. It is a pretty amazing site:
The weather stayed clear down in Seward, which is good because we had a lot planned down there. We booked a package deal with Kayak Adventures Worldwide to go sea kayaking in Aialik Bay and hiking on Exit Glacier. It cost $468.50/person which felt like a huge splurge but ended up being some of the best money I've spent this year.
The sea kayaking started with a two hour boat ride out to Aialik Bay. It was an amazing ride. We saw sea lions, seals, puffins, and orcas. If you aren't up for the sea kayaking, it might be worth hiring a water taxi just to take this ride.
We got dropped off in Aialik Bay and headed out to Pederson Glacier in kayaks. Pederson is behind a spit off of Aialik Bay and has some amazing icebergs in its upper lagoon. It also has some amazing wildlife. We saw more bears, river otters, and seals.
The next day we headed out to Exit Glacier with Exit Glacier Guides. It's a 1 1/2 mile hike up to the glacier. From there, we donned crampons and headed out onto the glacier.
As for accommodations, we went the hostel route. In Denali, we stayed at the Denali Mountain Morning Hostel. They have a variety of cabins, tents, and bunks. We chose the Ice Worm for $150/night. It was a pretty spacious two room cabin with four double beds. It was next to a creek and had decent bathrooms nearby.
In Seward, we rented a house from Moby Dick Hostel for $150. It was right in the mid
dle of Seward and could have slept 15 people. It had two rooms with double beds and ten single beds in a loft upstairs. If you need that much space, you need to book early since the rooms and beds are usually rented out individually.
Beyond accommodations, it's really expensive to eat out, and pitchers of beer run $17. We could have used the kitchens at the hostels to save some dough, but we were on vacation. Who wants to cook?
You can see more pictures on Flickr.
