Category Archives: asia

Temple of Heaven

Some of the parks around town charge a minimal fee (10-15 RMB, $1.50-2.50 USD) for entry, and we think it’s for folks to have a less crowded space to hang out and play cards/dominos/Chinese chess. Everywhere we go, there are huge crowds, so the parks offer some respite.

And then you have the tourists…

Zoo Day

If you want to see pandas, the Beijing Zoo has about 5 pandas. They’re absolutely adorable, and the country is stepping up the efforts to save the pandas in the wild. I would skip the rest – somewhat sad to see the other animals.

Forbidden City

Built in 15 years by 1 million laborers, the Forbidden City has over 900 buildings and covers 7.8 million square feet. It’s impressive. You walk through gates and you think that’s it – we’ve reached the end. That’s never quite the case; there are always more massive halls, buildings, or gardens.

Mutianyu Great Wall

Weather.com for Beijing isn’t that great. I didn’t know this when we first got to Beijing. So, I saw the weather forecast and decided that we had to go to the Great Wall the day after we got here. There was a little bit of research and some debate as to which section of the Great Wall we wanted to see (while minimizing car time). We decided on the Mutianyu Great Wall; the option to take a toboggan down made it a no-brainer. 40 seconds in, you’ll see the worker try to slow Pete down as we’ve taken off on a downhill section.

The Great Wall is impressive – built stone by stone centuries ago, high in the mountains, as far as the eye can see. I’m usually not afraid of heights, but I had a bit of vertigo walking up the steep uneven steps. It was one foot in front of the other, hoping I wouldn’t misplace a foot and tumble down the steps.

Shanghai

Our trip to Shanghai was about eating. Every day, I had a list of places to eat, and we’d usually overstuff ourselves at lunch so we couldn’t be bothered to eat a big dinner. We met up with Joel, Elisa & her daughter Megan for the first few days, and it’s always nice to see friends in a foreign land. Thanks to Joel’s Shanghai guide, we got to see some great stuff:

  • Walking to the local bao cart for breakfast each morning. On our last morning there, the cart was missing, and we even saw others asking for it. The baos we found on the food stall street nearby wasn’t as good.
  • Walking through People’s Park on Sunday afternoon and seeing parents with homemade ads to marry off their kids. We were able to recognize heights and photos of houses and cars.
  • Riding the maglev at 431 kph (269 mph).
  • Eating massive meals at Din Tai Fung, Crystal Jade and Jade Garden.
  • Going to the local favorite soup dumpling restaurant (Jia Jia Tang Bao) and then walking across the street to pick up fried soup dumplings (Yang’s Fried Dumplings). JJTB is not as pretty nor consistent as Din Tai Fung (1 or 2 leaks out of 12), but tasty and good value. They run out of the pork filling early, but we liked the crab and pork dumplings. Yang’s had stupidly good fried soup dumplings – crispy, gooey, chuy and soupy all in the same dumpling. The soup stayed hot even after our 10 minute walk back to the hotel.
  • Going to the Chinese circus. Mindblowing even if you’ve seen a Cirque du Soleil.
  • Showing Pete the Muji store. It’s like a Container Store with Japanese sensibilities.
  • Taking pictures on the glass floor of the Oriental Pearl Tower. It is somewhat unnerving, pretty impressed that Christine managed to get air for this photo:

China – Organization

In an organization fit last night, I mapped out all the places I wanted to eat at and see while in China. The red markers are for eating, and the blue ones are for sights. Shanghai looks to have amazing food and nothing to see (there are some duplicate restaurants), and Beijing is all sightseeing. The sad thing is that there is a Great Firewall in China, and my maps may not show up while I’m there.

Shanghai

Beijing

Trail Run and Dumplings

Sometimes, I wish I had packed differently. Yesterday, I really wanted trail running shoes, a water bottle with some nutrition in it and my camera.

Regan and I went on a Taiwan hash run through some tea and beetle-nut plantations in the mountains outside Taipei. It was hilly, humid and muddy, so the run lasted twice as long as we expected. All I wanted was water and nutrition. Every time we went up an extended uphill, we were rewarded with gorgeous views of lush mountains with just a touch of fog. Those were the camera moments. After tons of steep downhills, sliding down dirt, using bamboo to stop the momentum (once even dangling off a tree trunk with both legs in the air), I finally ate it on some mossy rock. I should have known better, but it’s been a while since I’ve been on trail – especially with cushy road shoes. It was a big fall – massive bruise on my shin and some good scrapes.

Aside from the gorgeous views, the run had the side effect of ramping up my appetite. (I can’t remember the last time I spent over an hour running/walking.) So, we went to Din Tai Fung for their famous steamed dumplings. We got there early for dinner, so our wait for the table was only 25 minutes. (Taipei is one of the most densely populated urban areas, so there’s always a wait for famous things). The wait was well worth it, and we spent the next hour stuffing ourselves full of dumplings, spicy wontons and noodles. Best dumplings ever.

Road Warrior & Mileage Run

Somehow without expecting it, I’ve become a road warrior in the second half of this year. I’ve done trips here and there in the first half, but the bulk of the miles started with the ’round the world trip late June. I didn’t realize how much I was gone until I saw the chart from TripIt last night.

On the other hand, I saw that I was soo close to Executive Platinum (EXP), I decided to to a mileage run by flying from Austin to Nashville, and then from Nashville to Dallas to Tokyo to Taiwan. I had to do the Austin to Nashville leg to get enough mileage on American. The benefits make absolutely no sense to someone who doesn’t travel much, but I’ve spent more time on airplanes than on my bike this past year and it does matter.

Just on this trip alone, some of the nicer things the airline folks have done for me:

  • On the BNA-DFW flight, the attendant gave me a liter bottle of water because the flight between DFW-NRT was so long. I’m nicely hydrated now.
  • On the DFW-NRT flight, the gate agent moved me to another window seat since the lady next to the original seat had a baby. As it turns out, no one was next to me on the flight, so I had two seats to myself!
  • If I book enough in advance, I usually get premium seating closer to the front. It’s quieter, you feel less turbulence, and you get off the plane faster and beat the rush to immigration.

I chose Taiwan since my college-roommate is an expat here, Taiwan doesn’t require a visa for US citizens, and I’ve been meaning to visit.