In the Far East

Vacations start out slowly but end much too quickly.  After just two weeks in China, I'm back at work catching up on emails and fighting through the never ending cycle of meetings.  I was amazed to find myself in the same mental and physical state riding bart home as when I was leaving for vacation.  Tired, hungry, and a bit sad to be departing.

With just a few days in Shanghai under my belt, I decided that I wouldn't come back to China.  It was full of smog, rude people, and the food wasn't any better than here in the states.  Perhaps it was my jetlag that made me respond quickly because by the end of the trip I didn't want to leave.  We spent three days in Shanghai walking through Huangpu, the French Concession and Pudong districts.  Each area has it's only unique architecture and class of people.  

  

 

 

 

 

 We took a bullet train south to Hangzhou where I spent four days including New Year's walking around the lake and drinking Chinese beer.  The people were really friendly and the food was amazing.  And so cheap.  I tried real Szechuan chili peppers for the first time.  It leaves a tingling sensation all over your mouth, including that burning feeling in the pit of your stomach.  Delish.  We rode a gondola to the top of the hills where you could see miles of tea fields dotted by the pagodas of Lingyin temple. 

New Year's eve was pretty uneventful as the Chinese don't celebrate it like we do way.  It's all about Chinese New Year in Asia.  They are really into Christmas however.  Santa and Christmas tree decorations were up everywhere and eight days into the New Year, the decorations still hadn't come down.  Nick and I drank bad champagne in our hostel and did the countdown at an expat bar downtown.  It was smoky and filled with techno tunes, but I woke up not hungover.  Pretty good start to a new year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a cross-country train from Hangzhou to Xian on New Year's day.  It's a 24 hour train ride where we had to share bunks with four other people.  I was about to rollover and die when the old men started snoring and the faint odor of feet permeated into the car.   Once we upgraded to private sleeper bunks, it turned out to be well worth the long ride.  The countryside is beautiful and changes quickly once you get into central China.  Xian is a really fun and easy city to navigate.  I'd love to go back and spend more time there, as well as explore more of the Shaanxi province.  The Terracotta Warriors in Xian were one of the best parts of the trip.  It's a sight to see and these pictures don't do it justice.  The rest of my photos are up on Flickr if you want to see more of me eating yummy food.