China Review

Well, it has been awhile since I last wrote largely in part because after we left Xi’an we did a lot in a short amount of time. We visited Chengdu, went to 4-5 Olympic events and had classes, and spent a lot of our afternoons in Beijing and then after class ended we went to Hong Kong on a 24hr train ride from Beijing to Hong Kong and then visited Macau and then South Korea. Here is a brief summary of those adventures…

Chengdu:
We got to Chengdu on a Friday night, 08.08.2008 to be exact! I remember this clearly because it was the night the Olympics officially began and they had the opening ceremony. We got to our hotel, the beautiful Crown Plaza, and then went out to watch the Opening Ceremony. We went to a main ‘trendy’ part of the city and watched the Opening Ceremony outside with hundreds of Chinese in their mid 20’s roughly. Right away we realized that Chengdu was a lot more ‘westernized’. Girls were actually drinking and were being loud compared to what we had experienced in the rest of China. We liked it. We watched the ceremony and I’m not going to lie… we were blown away…

We left and went to an Irish restaurant, mainly because it was the only thing open. It was delicious though and there were many Europeans there. We got in pretty early because the next morning we were heading to the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center. We got there and saw all the pandas and it was amazing. We got to hold one too! That was definitely a once in a life time experience! A lot of the details have disappeared but I do remember having to take a taxi ride for 20 mins just to find an ATM that way we could “donate” money to hold the panda. It was incredibly worth it though. When we left there we took a 2 hour bus ride to Leshan, to hike Mt. Emei and see the Giant Buddha is. That was a LONG adventure that I can’t really seem to grasp. It was A LOT of walking but actually getting to see the Giant Buddha made it worth it.

The Olympics:
I managed to get tickets. It came with serious bargaining.

Women’s Soccer
Men’s Soccer
USA Softball
Tennis (Jankovich vs. ??) (Hewitt vs. Nadal) (Federer vs. ?? ) <– Don’t know how on earth we got so lucky to see these competitors! All of these events were amazing and I can’t explain the feeling it was just being there at the Olympics. However, I will bring up one story because it’s one I never want to forget. During the softball game of USA vs. Japan, we got there pretty early. We started talking to this southern women, who we later found out cooked cookies for the USA girls. Anyways, we started getting into a discussion how I would do anything to meet them. She told me to just go see them after the game and they would sign something for me. Of course, I ran over and got a big ‘Beijing Olympic flag’. We watched them practice and then the game. We didn’t have that great of seats but then we just moved up in our seats and we ended up getting right behind the dugout. Katie sat with Cat Osterman’s mom and I basically just took a lot of pictures. After the game we headed down to the dugout and started talking to Stacy Nueveman’s (catcher) husband. We kind of just walked right into where the family goes and right away we were in! Player after player walked out and right away I just went up to them all and just asked for their autographs. They couldn’t believe that we came all the way there from the states and they were just so sweet and nice. I got to meet the whole team and even Coach Candrea and had everyone sign my flag. It was truly one of the best experiences of my life to meet the people I looked up to so much while I was growing up and playing.

Hong Kong:
After classes ended we immediately hopped onto a train in Beijing to Hong Kong. Don’t get me wrong though, the process was crazy. It took us a very long time to explain to them that we wanted a “Deluxe Luxury Sleeper”…hey, it was a 24hr train ride! But anyways, we got onto the train and it happened to be really nice. Everything seemed new and clean. My only complaint was the food… not too great. When we got to Hong Kong we were pumped. We had a nice hotel and we would have a couple days to spend.

Some of our highlights in Hong Kong:
-Took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour.
-Saw Dark Knight on IMAX with subtitles. And it’s not even playing in mainland China yet!
-Ate a really nice restaurant on the harbour at night.
-Went to Stanley Market and the beautiful beach.
-Took the Peak Tram up to the Peak.
-Ate at the famous Cafe Deco on top of the Peak.

Macau:
We took a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau which only takes an hour. We were excited because we know Macau is the “Vegas of Asia”. We got there and it was beautiful. The Portuguese owned Macau for a long time so all of the architecture was Portuguese. We also visited many of the casinos.

Highlights:
-Ferry ride to Macau
-The Ruins de Saint Paul and the restaurant (can’t remember the name) around the corner.
-Gambled at the Macau Wynn, the MGM Grand, and the Venetian. No Luck!
-The restaurant at the MGM we ate at had the best customer service we experienced in our entire trip.
-Portuguese egg tarts in the busy shopping center.

South Korea:
We went around Seoul and we realized it was very quite and somewhat quaint. When we went into a main section, there were a lot of military personnel around. We ate at the Seoul Hard Rock and had a good meal and some Korean beer. We were so exhausted after traveling. We woke up early to visit some historic sites. My favorite was the Korean War memorial. It was beautiful. My favorite piece was byfar this clock that they will put once North and South Korea once again reunite as one. I definitly want more time Korea sometime.

All and all, while all my blogs may have been short or not very descriptive, they really don’t do the 7 weeks I had in China, ANY justice. Being on the go a lot I realized how long and hard it is to maintain a blog. The trip was at most times just breathtaking. Words can’t really express how I felt in the country because China is just so different than any place or country I have ever visited or experienced. The Great Wall, the buddist temples, Tiannemen Square..there is just so much history there that seems untouched or unnoticed by the world. I’ll never be able to justify the Chinese people or the life they lead there, it’s something you will have to see and experience for yourself…but, trust me, it’s worth it…