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

Days 23-24 Sunday – Monday November 29-30, 2009 Xi’an, China

Highlights

- Secrets hide within the Muslim quarter.  When in Xi'an, make sure to spend the time to get all Indiana Jones and find those treasures.  And FYI, a Mandarin translator will help.

- If you ride a rented bike around the city's wall, make sure you have the world's strongest quads and are as in-shape as an Olympic athlete.

- The Terracota Warriors tell a mystical story of Chinese history, but visiting them feels more like a field trip to the local museum than it does a trip to a mystical land.  Souvenirs anyone?

The long way home version

Xi’an was more of a pit stop along our Chinese journey than anything.  Mostly, people come here to see the Terracotta warriors and then move on.  Yet, since our tour guide Frank is from and lives here, we got to know it a little more intimately than most.

After a lunch in the Muslim quarter, which by the way was so damn good we want to go back just for the meal, we walked over to the main entrance of the city wall.  In the olden days, the Xi’an residents occupied the land within these walls, and not outside of the wall and moat.  Nowadays, the city has expanded far beyond the water perimeter. 

Frank dropped us off at the wall on the way to see his son Eric, aptly named after his favorite musician Eric Clapton, and his wife.  The 8 of us rented bikes and rode around the top of the 13.7km/6 mile square shaped wall.  Let’s just say that even though my beach cruiser in Venice was a one-speed and got tough to ride around mile 2 due to it’s less than optimal engineering, my beach cruiser made this bike seem like the smoothest ride in the world.  So combining the world’s toughest bike to ride with the world’s stoniest and roughest road to ride on, you had the world’s hardest 6 mile bike ride.  Yet, like most inconviences we’ve encountered on this trip, we fought through it and enjoyed the funny times with the group and the fine views of the city provided from this higher vantage point.

What better to do after such a grueling bike ride than to get a foot massage?  As the group dispersed to different shopping and eating directions, Tania and I headed straight for a foot massage place that we noticed on the way to the wall.  It was only $10 for a 88 minute massage, and dear Lordy, it was worth it.  Not only did they rub out all tensions in our feet, they also spent some quality time on our arms and back.  And all in a private room with lounge chairs that would make Mr. Lazy Boy realize his chairs were rubbish (a new favorite word of ours after traveling with Linda, an Ausie who’s lived in London for a few years).  Such a great cure for the sore lower limbs.

We went back to the Muslim Quarter and grabbed some delicious street food (pancakes, hamburgers, and bao, all extremely different than the American versions you’re picturing now) before meeting the group for another round of karaoke.  This time, everyone joined in the fun and we belted out tunes until our throats could no longer last, especially since half our group was quite sick by this point in the trip, led by the ill efforts of Ali, Susie’s older sister.

The next morning, we hopped into our private bus and made the hour drive over to the Terracotta Warriors.  We had already been exposed to them last year in Atlanta where we visited the traveling exhibit with Roxy, Patrick, and the kids.  Even with that knowledge, it was still a site to be seen.  Broken into three different buildings, the first is the primary digging site.  Most of the pictures you’ve seen of the warriors were taken in this building, which is primarily filled with infantrymen and horses.  It was filled with natural light, a mistake by the government because they started to dig before building the structure, meaning the statues were exposed to enough sunlight to deteriorate the original vibrant colors.  Therefore, the two subsequent buildings were build next door prior to digging, with the necessary sun-blocking exterior.  It felt much more like a museum in the latter two, which delved into the cavalry aspect of the army.

Overall, visiting the warriors is a must for visitors of China.  I will say though, that I’m a tad skeptical of the authenticity of the whole thing.  Considering that this is the country infamous for creating dead-on knock offs, which will tell any story necessary to sell a piece of memorabilia, I can’t quite grasp the romantic history of this attraction to the extent that they’re selling it.  Call me a skeptic, but the whole site felt overly formulated to truly feel historic.  Maybe since I was expecting a work-in-progress plot of land filled with desperately excavating archeologists, but instead visited a comfortable set of museums predictably organized with the most well preserved statues right up front for the herd to photograph, and with most of the construction being done on the visitor’s exit area so that more stores filled with the same souvenirs one can find under any street underpass or market can try to cipher as much money as possible from said tourists, it just didn’t click for me as much as I had hoped.  But like I said, it was a must to do, so I’m glad I have the obligatory pictures of Tania and me and the warriors so we can say we had been there.

We then jumped back on the bus and headed over to the airport to catch a flight to Chengdu.  After a 5 hour delay, we boarded the plane for a quick flight and a quicker bite provided by the airline, a hot dog wrapped in tin foil like a backyard BBQ, topped not with relish or ketchup, but instead with a pickle and mayo.  Let’s just say it wasn’t horrible. 

Days 20–22 Thursday – Saturday, November 26-28, 2009 Shanghai, China

Highlights

-       Shanghai is the western face of China, but was having serious cosmetic surgery being done while we were there to get ready for the 2010 World Expo, meaning we didn’t get to experience many of the city’s greatest attractions.  Boo.

-       Getting shafted is now called “getting Shanghai’d”

-       Authentic Chinese shows located in auditoriums, I mean theaters, with a ton of tourist buses outside are probably not the most authentic shows in town.

The “it’s raining outside” version

Shanghai might as well be in the US.  Serving as the primary conduit to the west for the last 20 years during China’s leap into the modern age, it has morphed into something very familiar to us.  Huge shopping areas, small internationally themed neighborhoods (the French concession), more KFC’s, Haagen Daazes and McD’s than we can describe, and an overall capitalistic feel that screams “We are ready to not only welcome in the 21^st century, but to lead it as well!!!!”

Our hotel was just off of Nanjing Road, said huge shopping walking street lined with department stores and designer stores.  After settling into our spacious room that had carpet which had actually been vacuumed in the last 4 months (ahem Beijing), Frank took us on a walking tour of the city.  We got a quick glimpse of the local museum, the French Concession (where Mao first met with his communist partners before taking over power), a grown woman squatting a pee on the sidewalk next to us, through old town for a glimpse at how things were prior to the city’s renaissance, ending up at the Yuyuan Garden, normally known for its tea house on stilts.  But as we would encounter with most things in Shanghai, the tea house was closed due to renovations in preparation for the World Expo being held here next year, 2010.  Therefore, we settled for some dumplings and steamed veggies for dinner after a quick milk tea boba (I’m thinking only the LA people will know what that is).

Then the group headed over to the river harbor so we could take a ferry ride up and down the river to view the incredible city skyline.  Frank says it’s one of the 100 things people should do before they die.  Although impressive, we’d more add it to the 1000 things, not 100.  From the financial building to the tower to the high rise wrapped in a huge video screen, it was definitely worth the 100 yuan.  Up on the roof, we gathered around like the clock was ticking down to midnight on new year’s eve.  Pretty cool experience for the group.

While part of the group headed back to the hotel so they could get some sleep before waking up at 8 to head over to the financial building’s viewing tower (the one that looks like a bottle opener), Tania, Michael, Susie and I darted straight for the Big Echo, which is Asia’s most popular karaoke destination.  We sang Bon Jovi medleys, total eclipse of  the heart, green day’s 86 (so much to say about this clip...Letterman in Hollywood?Demi Moore's outfit?), and a slew of other tunes that made us feel right at home.  Rough on the vocal chords, but great for our spirits.

Even better for the spirits was waking up the next morning to Skype with our families who were celebrating Thanksgiving all across the country from Atlanta to Sacramento to Phoenix.  Even though we missed them and the feast of traditional fare very much, it was great to just see and talk to them.  If anyone is able to Skype, let us know your log-in name and let’s chat!!

Since it was raining, we went back to sleep and skipped the financial tower viewing.  Eventually we got up and walked down to the bund, Shanghai’s famous waterfront street which is normally filled with stores, cafes, and restaurants, but was completely closed to the public due the renovations for the Expo.  Lame.  We had also hoped to have a drink and listen to some jazz at the Peace Hotel, but yup, you guessed it, that too was totally closed.  It was at this point that we named this type of occurrence (aka getting royally screwed) “getting Shanghai’d”.  There was so much that we wanted to see and do in this city which we couldn’t because of all the construction.  I’m sure it’ll look great next year, but for now, we missed most of the best.

To make up for getting Shanghai’d all day, we made up for it at the city’s famous acrobatic show.  The whole group grabbed a bite to eat across the sewer-smelling street from the hotel then taxied over to the local, well, I’m going to call it an auditorium since it reminded me of our gathering places during grade school.  As the very talented ex-olympians performed tricks ranging from jumping through hoops to hula hooping 40 hoops at the same time to riding 5 motorcycles inside of a large metal ball, all I could think of was that we were in Blain, Missouri, and Mr. Guffman was about to walk through the auditorium doors.  It was entertaining, yes, but afterwards we vowed not to take Frank up on any more excursions that had a tri-fold pamphlet to publicize it and that had a multitude of tour buses outside transporting an influx of Caucasians who thought they were about to experience true Chinese entertainment.  We’re on an adventure tour to learn about the authentic Chinese culture, not the façade that China wants to sell us in bulk because that’s what they think westerners want.  We know Frank only takes us to these places because Gap Adventures obligates him to, but we can’t take him up on any more of these offers.

After being herded out of the theater, the group headed over to the French Concession for some drinks.  We found a Mexican place that served over-priced margaritas and chips & salsa that would cause an odd expression to wipe across the face of a Mexican, but it was a far cry from the same types of meals we had been eating every day, we were happy to indulge.  In this area we got a good sense of how many westerners had settled into this city due to how many corporations were entrenched here.  Good to see firsthand, but at this point in the trip, we were ready to get far away from the west’s influence on this country.  And our wishes were about to be granted the next day since we were taking another overnight train to Frank’s hometown, and home of the Terracota Warriors, Xi’an.