Half way there...

As crazy as it is to believe, today is the halfway point of our trip.  Tomorrow we leave Thailand and head to Laos.  That means in the first half of our trip, we've spent 2 weeks in Japan, 4 weeks in China, and 4 weeks in Thailand.

We're not sure what's crazier, though.

Is it crazier that we've done and seen so much and we're still only half done with our trip?  Or is it crazier that we still have the same amount of time ahead of us, in completely new countries for us?  Either way, this whole thing is crazy, and we're loving it.

We still have to visit Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.  All places that we're completely clueless about right now, and will hopefully have a much better understanding of in the next 2.5 months.  Crazy.

We still get to spend time Ho Chi Minh City with Lisa, Steve, and Luke.  We still get to tour Vietnam and Cambodia with my (now our) parents.  We still get to meet the child that Carmen sponsors in the Philippines and volunteer with his community.  Crazy.

Any way, hopefully you've enjoyed reading about our adventure so far, and we hope we have just as much to report on during the 2nd half of our trip.  And we hope you all are having a great 2010 so far.

And in case you missed them, click the following for the videos we've created so far...

Click for the Japan video.

Click for the China video.

All our love!
The Palumbos

Day 18 - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 Imperial Palace Beijing China

Highlights

-       The Imperial Palace (former Forbidden City b/c the common people used to be barred from the interior) is big, and that’s about it.

-       We’d fly back to China just to eat Peking Duck.  It’s that good.

-       The bird’s nest and water cube at the Olympic village are magical at night.  Gorgeous.  The village must have been breathtaking during the games.

The “too much time on my hands” version

Today we visited the Imperial Palace after a stroll through the massive Tian’Amnen Square.  It’s a marvel to be seen strictly for its size, but not much else.  You walk through one giant set of doors into a huge courtyard that contains a giant temple on the other side, which stands in front of a temple that contains another gigantic set of doors that lead into another huge courtyard, and so on and so forth.  Maybe its beauty was dimmed to us because the weather was so crappy (and because we were not properly clothed for the frigid air), but the most intriguing part of our 2 hour tour through the grounds was the excited speech our tour guide Frank gave us about the emperor’s 3000 concubines (a 20 minute description versus the normal 2 minute synopsis that he provides.  We think he likes the idea of having that many women at your beck and call).  After experiencing Japan and its quaint and subtle beauty, we were impressed by this mark of Communism, but not blown away as we were with the changing leaves in Kyoto.

Exiting the Imperial Palace means plowing through a mass of trinket pushers, which Tim and I happily did to make way for the rest of the group.  We were also assisted by the arrival of police, which sent the salespeople flocking to the street like the bacon/hot dog sales people scamper outside of the Hollywood Bowl when the cops come storming.

Once we made our way to the street, we took the city bus over to the hutongs, which are traditional communal housing areas that are slowly being plowed over in exchange for high rises and office towers.   It’s these peeks at what China has always meant, not what it’s trying to mean, that we cherish when we rarely happen to stumble upon them.  It’s the people that make up a country, not the huge structures contracted by wealthy businessmen and bureaucrats.  It's the authenticity of this area that was so intriguing to encounter.  It's a horrifically decrepit way to live, but it's a memoir of times past nonetheless, so we hope the portion we saw survives the city's expansion and growth.

We capped off the night with one of the greatest meals we’ve ever had; Peking Duck.  My mom had raved about it after her trip to China, and all the books say it’s a must while here, but we had no idea how good it would really be.  Frank took us on another ride on the 60 city bus (which has been the artery for our travels through Beijing) into a part of town that hasn’t been swallowed by the western monster.  We walked through the restaurant's traditional doorway that contained specific pillars which signified this family was wealthy, but not married to another wealthy family (don't ask).  Beyond the classic doorway, we passed through a gorgeous courtyard and into a private room overlooking the courtyard. 

As food was laid onto our lazy Susan (a staple at Chinese restaurants due to the large average group of diners), we watched and listened about how to properly build a Peking duck roll (or burrito in our minds).  We first grabbed a piece of skin that, after an initial crunch and burst of the richest flavor our pallets have ever experienced, our teeth melted into the inner layers of the skin.  My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it.  And that was just eating off the side plate of skin.  We hadn’t even gotten to the meat yet.  When we did get to the meat, we placed it on thin rice papers resembling miniature tortillas along with plum sauce, thinly sliced onions, and pieces of cucumber.  Having prepared our rolls before the group was done with theirs, we were not able to wait any longer and stuffed it into our faces.  We tried to be delicate and polite while eating the first roll, but after that, it was on.  The flavors and textures are indescribable.  I might give up buffalo wings if it meant a lifetime supply of these rolls, they’re that good.  Not sure if Tania would give up Frankie’s pizza for it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t.

With our stomachs on cloud 9, we jumped in a few cabs with the rest of the group, and headed over to the Olympic village, which we heard was a much better site while it’s dark since they are gorgeous when lit.  And boy is that correct!!  We ran around the exterior of the bird’s nest and water cube like school kids on recess.  These intricately designed buildings were massive, and so beautiful.  We could only imagine how inspired and empowered our athletes were as they entered the gates.   We didn’t get to go inside, but we didn’t care, for the exterior grounds were so enchanting.  After being underwhelmed by the Imperial Palace due to it’s dull imperialistic feel, we were blown away by these modern beauties.  Go USA!!!!

Oh, and based on its reaction on Tania, I’m thinking rice wine might be an alternative fuel for race cars. 

Day 17 - Monday, November 23, 2009 The Great Wall Beijing, China

Highlights

-       The Great Wall is awesome.  No mincing fancy words, it’s worth all the hype…and sore calves the next day.

-       Kung Fu shows in China filled with an audience of 99% white people and voice-over’d dialogue is worth a few bucks, but only for the crazy tricks the artists do.

The wordy birdie version

It’s Monday night and we’re in our room with Susie, Michael, and Tim (all Ausies) listening to our iPods and dancing  around our room waiting for the hotel security  to come bust us for having such a good time so late at night.  While listening to great songs, we’re also confirming that the music played such a big part during our wedding reception.  We’re dancing just like people did during our party.  Brilliant!

Last night after a relaxing afternoon (much needed after the chaotic Japan trip and before our even more chaotic tour of China began), we met our group in the hotel lobby.  Along with the aforementioned Susie, Michael, and Tim, we also have Susie's sister Ali, Linda from Australia but who lives in London, and Indra from Germany but who lives in Switzerland.  And we met our tour guide Frank, who's from Xi'an and has never left China.  8 tourists and 1 guide...seems like a nice sized group.  Everyone seems cool, and since half the group is 21ish and the other half is 30ish, the age range is quite even.

We got an early start yesterday and left for the Great Wall at 6:30am.  Arriving just as the wall opened (weird to say), our group was able to take the gondola up to tower 14 and walk all the way up (and up) to tower 20, all without encountering another tourist.  It really was surreal to be up on this epic tourist attraction and to be the only tourists around.  (Great call Frank!)  This enabled us to take unobstructed pictures of our trek.  On our way down, we realized how lucky we had been to be alone on the wall, for another wall had hit us…a wall of tourists.  By 11am, the wall was full and we needed to navigate around people from all over the world who were there to see what we had come to see, but with much more life trolling on this massive structure. 

Instead of walking down from tower 6, Tania took the ski lift to the bottom of the hill while I sped down on an alpine slide (or toboggan as they’re called here).  It was so worth the $5, frozen nose, and numb hands. 

Overall, visiting the wall is well worth it just to see for yourself a small chunk of what is sprawling across this vast land.  Not only was the wall a great deterrent for possible invaders (since the Mongols are no longer a threat), the peaks of high-elevation mountains on which it’s built will exhaust an enemy even before they get to the wall.  Tania saw pictures of how different the wall is in the west, but here in the east, it’s as impressive and daunting as we had imagined.

So on top of getting to experience this great wonder of the world (whether it’s the official 8^th wonder is up for discussion outside of China, but is more of a fact inside the country), we have buns of steel since the climb up to tower 20 is as good a work out as we’ve had in a long  time (=ever).  Having earned it, we simply relaxed in the afternoon and walked around town.  We did go to the greatest Kung Fu show in China (another self-proclamation), which had very impressive tricks integrated, but overall was a simple tourist trap there to thrill laowais (the local term for white foreigners with big noses) with what is supposed to be an authentically local show.  It was worth the experience, but maybe not the large ticket price.

Day 15 - Saturday November 21 Beijing China

Highlights

-      -  Tian’ Anmen Square is big.  Bigger than we ever fathomed.

-      -  Chinese like to hock loogies and spit them on the sidewalks.  Cool for me because I’m okay with it, but a nightmare for Tania’s eyes and ears.

-       -  First food experiment complete!  Pork intestines aren’t too shabby, as long as they’re fried and drenched in yummy Chinese brown sauce.

-      -    Street hagglers are ubiquitous, and like to touch Tania, which Tania doesn’t like.  At all.

-       -  Our hotel is apparently under renovation because they haven’t vacuumed our carpet in our months and there’s a fine scent of paint wafting through our room.  At least the beds are as soft as a brick wall.

The Craig-has-too-much-time-on-his-hands version:

Okay, if we last thought that we definitely ain’t in Kansas anymore, now we’re sure we’re not even on Earth anymore.  Within walking 5 minutes from our hotel around a few loogie-ridden sidewalks and corners, we were minimized to ants amongst the extreme grandeur of Tian’ Anmen Sqaure.  For as far as the eye can see (which isn’t too far since the smog limits how far the eye can take you), there were monstrous government buildings surrounding a square that make a football field look like a foosball table standing inside of a convention center.  I knew the commies went big to show how powerful they are, but this redefines what big means in my head.  Dear Lord this square was massive.  So massive that we were winded by the time we walked from one end to the other.

Here are some pictures that hopefully show some sense of the scale of the area:

Knowing we were going to explore the square again, along with the Imperial Palace (aka Forbidden City) with our tour group on Monday, we picked our jaws off of the cold cement floor, took our pictures with the gigantic painting of Mao on the Imperial Palace’s front gate (below), and continued to ignore the people trying to sell us God knows what as we darted out of the square.  By this point we were starving, so we looked for the closest non-touristy yet hopefully-doesn’t-serve-dog restaurant, which we found close by (hopefully we were right about the dog thing).

While Tania ordered some sort of eggplant dish (which looked nothing like the picture in the menu when they brought it out), while I decided to not waste any time in ordering a dish I’d never have in the US, and opted for the lightly fried pork intestines in brown sauce.  I want to so badly explore the unique aspects of this culture while we’re here and to escape all of the standard pitfalls, but after eating this dish, I know it’s not going to be a quick or easy transition.  The first bite seemed to have a nice crunch as I broke through the outer fried shell, and the (what I’m guessing was the) intestine had a very soft calamari-like chewiness to it, but as soon as I got past that point, something squirted from the middle, and this immediately struck my nervous tourist gag reflex button.  I wasn’t close to puking or spitting it up, but it tightened my nerves for the rest of the meal so that I wasn’t relaxed to enjoy this new dish.  Hopefully this is temporary and will ease over time as we explore more unique dishes, but like I said, this transition isn’t going to be smooth.  (Sorry to let you down Steph, but please know I’m trying.)  And Tania will be close behind.  She tried a bite of my dish and handled it well, but we’ll see how she does when she gets her own full dish of pigeon liver or whatever it is she has the gall to order.

Now that we were initiated into the local cuisine, it was time to explore the streets.  We stumbled upon a market full of small stands selling the obvious trinkets and chotchkies (is that right Sabby?) as well as snacks like grilled cherry or steak kabobs.  Very cool little area of town, but it wasn’t what we were looking for.  We needed to replenish our reading supplies.   I had finished the book “Lost On Planet China” that Bridgett gave me (THANKS B!!!  Hope you and your little family are doing great!), and Tania finished a little book named Twilight that Roxy gave her.  You may have heard of it.  It’s now turned from a book into an addiction for Tania, so she needed the follow-up New Moon like a fat kid needs cake (that’s quoting a song, not an insensitive jab, parents x2).  Well, after looking in every bookstore between Kyoto and Beijing, we finally found an international bookstore that had New Moon.  And Tania beamed with joy knowing she could continue her affair with Edward again. 

I was equally as giddy because this bookstore also had the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol.  Even though it’s a massive hard back and will be tough to lug around, I felt it was worth it knowing how well it would keep me entertained during our several overnight train rides that we have ahead of us over the next few weeks.  And since I read slower than Tania walks, it will last me a good while.

Happy as clams, we skipped over to the mall (video view below) for a quick Starbucks free wifi session then grabbed a bunch of groceries from a big ol’ grocery store (not a street market that will over-charge this laowai) for our room.  Knowing I didn’t have to haggle with local vendors filled me with joy.

Click for video of Beijing mall

Now back in our room, we’re going to relax, start our books, and stay warm.  And tomorrow, we’ll meet our tour group, which we can’t wait to happen since we’ll be spending the next three weeks with them.  So cool!