Wow... This Looks Like China!

After a good night rest we were ready to go. The breakfast had an awesome layout of anything from eggs and pastries to fried chicken nuggets and dinner foods. It was a nice treat.

Our guide for the day was William and one other lady named Holla who joined us. We started the morning off by visiting the famous Chinese Panda. Come on, who is not in love with these beautiful creatures. They are just adorable. We were lucky that they were up and active!

Did you know that China gives pandas as gifts to countries? However, if those pandas mate and have a baby then the baby belongs to China. It is their decision to request to have the panda shipped back or not. 

Next stop was the Summer Palace and home of the Dragon Lady. Every summer the royal family would take a boat over to the summer palace to reside in the cool grounds. The one section is a series of walkways that have hundreds of hand painted pictures. There are four round sitting areas that represent the four seasons. At the end you can see an entrance to a palace that sits at the top. 400 some stairs lead to where the Dragon Lady would go to pray. From what we have learned she was not the friendliest of people. She was a cruel and tiresome leader using the emperor as a puppet. Whenever she died the people had her buried, unburied, and then burned to make sure she could not have an afterlife. Our guide joked that they did this because the people had to carry her everywhere, including up the 400 some steps every day in a hand carriage!

My mom and I loved just imagining what it was like when no one was around taking pictures and being touristy. It was a beautiful place with the man made hill in the back drop, lake, temples, and artwork. 

The Summer Palace is free for locals over 60 who enjoy a wide array of activities. The favorite seemed to be using long paint brush the size of a cane and ain't inn Chinese characters on the sidewalk. It is pretty darn cool.

Next up we visited a pearl market. Turns out there are fresh and salt water pearls. Salt water pearls are more precious and have one per oyster. Fresh water pearls go through a process to produce more pearls by switching shells and some other business. Was a little confused by it. The oyster we opened had over 20 pearls! Some neat new information.

Lunch was pretty crazy. Overly tacky with gold and red decorations and love signs the three of us enjoyed a multitude of dishes. We had egg drop soup, Kung pao chicken, peppered beef, fried rice, and a few other things I can not remember. I do not get how these people are so darn skinny.

Next we had a tea ceremony where we learned all about the process of pouring tea, drinking tea properly, and the good effects of tea. These tours love to take you on shopping trips and this was one of them. As soon as we were done having our tea ceremony we were ushered to try to buy every type of tea possible. Hahaha typical

Our final stop on the tour was the Lama Temple. This was probably my favorite stop for the day. We visited the different temples, learned about the differences in Buddhism, and saw the worlds largest wooden Buddha.

This Buddha was seriously massive. It was carved from one tree from Nepal, was carried to south China to be carved, and then carried and placed in the temple. It is pretty wild to think about 500 years ago people carrying something this massive on a road system that was nothing more than a foot or horse path. Viewing things like this really makes me realize how remarkable people can be when they are left without technology!!!

Bugs, Tips, and Crazy Ladies

Walked 25 miles today up and down steep mountains. No one ever told us that the Great Wall of China is literally straight up a mountain side. It was pretty impressive. We survived with a smile on our face. The Forbidden city is massive and totally Chinese looking. DId you know the emperor got 3000 woman just to himself. How does one sleep with 3000 women. Also when he died they hung all of them to buried with him. Mom is doing as the Chinese do... She pushes, shoves, tramples, and gives no personal space. But she is happy because we found the first fountain Diet Coke.

Our tour guide was wonderful today. Except at the end of the tour she told us exactly how much we needed to tip her. We ventured on the subway to find a night market. Was a fail at first until we saw some red lanterns only to find an entire city of china town with food and souvenirs. I got a little adventurous eating squid tentacles off a stick, mom got curly chips, we drank dry ice lemon drink, and I finished it all off with a salty and crunchy GRASSHOPPER.

At the end of the day mom needed one more souvenir. We haggled with a lady ad she agreed on a price. When I gave here the money she started yelling atme and stuffing things in my bag. Stood my ground and all is good. Forgot to tell you we were three minutes late to our cab and the driver threw a bottle of water at us. For more details I will be writing more blog posts soon!

We aren't in Kansas anymore...

Jet lag. A thing of fantasy in my life. Something I have never had before. It is with great sorrow that I report it is not a thing of mysteries and fairy tales but real life! Somehow we had managed to sleep most of the 13 hour flight. With the exception of watching Pride and Predjudice Zombies and Zoolander 2 it was one passed out flight. So much so that I missed all of the food cart options.

Even with all of the sleep I could barely keep my eyes open as we got off the plane. Getting a taxi was the typical of any country. The second you have your luggage you are swept off to a desk that wants to charge you way too much money. China is not exception. Ignoring the people we went straight into the local taxi line an snagged a taxi for 1/3 of the price they wanted at the tourist desk.

Beijing is full of traffic. Maybe not as bad as Bangkok but pretty bad. Our driver swerved, weaved, and drove over curbs for over an hour to make our way into the hotel. Such a pleasant man for as he fought the traffic he hooted and Hollander and continued to sing. 

Arriving at our hotel we were blown away. It is not an expensive luxury hotel but instead a very traditional courtyard inside a Hutong. A Hutong is a narrow street in which Chinese people gathered and lived in close quarters. Their shops were on the outside and they lived behind them. Immediately we were taken away from the big city feel and transported back in time. Our room is neatly decorated with gold and red everywhere! The bed has a beautiful canopy, an old fashion phone, a gold ordained wardrobe, and so much more you would consider when thinking of China.

Jet lagged and tired we made our way to explore the main road. It was clear we are halfway across the world. I have never faced such a language barrier as we have here. First, I needed to go to the pharmacy to get cream for my sun burnt lip. Because it was night the pharmacy is all locked up and they speak to you through a whole in the metal. Hand gestures and trying to explain we were left with nothing to help. Next stop food. I have never seen a book with so many options half of which were duck, tongues, goat, donkey, and every other animal on the planet. It took about five waiters to finally get our order! Once we made our way down to our hotel we had many people stopping and looking at us. For such a big modern city this has been a big surprise to me.

In the end we had a great arrival day and ready for bed!

Planes, Trains, and Mix Ups!

Life has been a bit crazy in all of the right ways. Starting off the summer I went to Disney and Universal with Tyler and then immediately off to Mysteryland with my sister and her husband. I'll post more about that maybe another day. The crazy thing is though we did not leave any tine between trips. I am saying I got home from Disney at 11 pm and left for Mysteryland at 4 am. Then I did the same thing after Mysteryland leaving for China.

We woke up Tuesday morning, showered, packed the car, and we're off to the airport with my dad and Tyler. This is the hardest time I have ever had saying bye. But before I could get choked up we hit our first road block. Well second one, but you'll have to personally ask me to find out what the first was!!!

Upon checking in with the lady we are informed that our flight has been delayed by three hours. This will leave us only 40 minutes to transfer planes in Toronto. Uh oh! Then the lady proceeds to tell us that we aren't even on that flight that the airline has already changed us to the next day. Ummm what!!! This can not be happening to me again. Can I please just fly once without a problem. I guess not because that was only the start.

The rude airline lady said she could do nothing for us, surprise, and pushed us aside. Big surprise when we found out she was a United worker checking people in on Air Canada. Honestly United may be my least favorite airline in history.

While I stood on hold connecting with our airline my mom was able to find a flight with Porter airlines. These workers were beyond nice. They saw what was going on and began to help us out. There was a flight that would be leaving soon and still had seats. The lady on the phone was also helpful and took all of our information. She putt it in the system so that we would be able to get refunded for part of the trip. Yeah this is getting better. 

Smooth flight to Toronto City Airport, smooth border control, smooth luggage collection, smooth walkway to the train to take us to the new airport across the city, and then as we step on the train it decides to break down. Come on! Broken train now and only a short time to get to the airport. Unload luggage, move train, new train, load train , and we are off again.

We made it to the airport and have time to check in. All smiles I approach the lady at the desk and she stares at the desk perplexed. Uh oh now what is wrong? She responds saying "Excuse me ma'am but your flight doesn't leave for two more months on August 14th. You will have to come back." After lots of talking and trying to explain we are redirected with 15 minutes until check in closes to a ticketing agent. She stared at me like I was speaking Chinese and could not understand that situation. Our print out tickets from online had the correct dates, our email did, the system had different ones. She finally fixed it, we were ushered to the front of check in, went through security, and then finally took our seats at the boarding gate.

Here we go! We may have started off a bit bumpy but we are on our adventure finally! 

P.S. I can not even believe the hassle it is going to be trying to explain and get our first portion of our flight refunded when all of the rest of the tickets were messed up. I can feel the massive amount of emails coming already. 

Colombia boarder crossing

Colombia crossing

 

After many small panic attacks over my plans I finally made a choice. Over the past three days I was regretting buying a flight from Quito to bogota. At first it seemed like an amazing idea. Skip the 30 hour bus ride and get an hour plane.

However, as I've mentioned before I really enjoy bus rides and seeing the countryside. When you look out of the window you get to see all of the small towns and not tourist stops. Life bustles by and landscapes you pass are pristine and gorgeous.

With much consideration I decided to not get on my flight, lose the money, and see southern Colombia. 

I have been in a bit of a leave but I can tell you now I am soooooo happy for this choice.

Packing our things we started as a group of 15 and headed to the bus station. Immediately I knew how annoying it was soon going to be to carry around a five foot rain stick everywhere. To get it in a taxi I have to stick it in through the seat and down. I acquired a very good technique for this quickly.  Andrew never stopped complaining about it and was insisting that he would break it before the trip was over. 

The bus ride was enjoyable with beautiful landscapes passing by. Ecuador is such a beautifully diverse country in such a small area. Every time the bus stopped people jump in and out of the bus selling things. I'm still not exactly sure how anyone can make money selling gum pieces all day. I love these people! They offer everything from gum, candy, drinks fresh fruit, chicken legs, and who knows what but I love the street food. 

To get to Colombia the bus drops you about a five minute ride from the border. We had to get a taxi. It was comical as a group of 15 gringos, backpacks in hand, and the boys smoking stand in the side of the road. This is even more so because some of the boys we were with were super tall. At the border you have to get stamped out, walk 100 yards through no mans land, and stamp into Colombia. Needless to say it is a cheap but long process to get from Quito into Colombia! But with that I entered Colombia and my 43rd country!

Otovalo

Otovalo

 

Every Saturday Otovalo turns its streets into a massive walking market. They sell everything from cows, to purses, to shoes, to guinea pigs.

 

Our first stop was to have a beautiful view of one if the lakes and volcanoes.

Next we stopped at the local animal market. This place was crazy. All around people sold animals in the dirt road and park.  

 

They sell it all. I mean every type of animal. Cows, pigs, guinea pigs, ducks, roosters, and cats. You name it. It was pretty bizarre to see half of the people walking around with some type of animal dangling from their body.

 

Guinea pig is a very common dish and speciality so there were bins of them for the picking.

 

The chick boxes were so fluffy and cute.

Next stop was a musicians houses. We learned about the different types of flutes in the surrounding country. Then we got to learn how to make our own flutes from scratch! I'm pretty proud of my flute that I made! I loved this stop so much and the family was unbelievably musically talented!

I thought it was a brilliant idea to buy a five foot rain stick. It's been about a week since I bought it and it's been through many taxis and bus rides. I slinky regret the decision but it'll be worth it if it makes it home!

 

Finally we made it to the main market. The streets were closed and covered with booths selling everything. I bought a poncho to use as a blanket and pillow on the bus!

I ate lunch with a Canadian at a stand that proudly displayed the pig they were serving.

 

The final stop of the trip was in the evening at the real equator. Here a guy taught me about different facts about the equator and the earth. Overall it was a very good day!

Quilotoa

Quilotoa

 

One thing that I inttended to do that I missed was Quilotoa. I decided to give it a miss since we were going up to the Amazon and the crater lake was more towards banos. After seeing more pictures I knew I had to see it! Jess, Kirsty, and I decided to get s taxi to take us since all the day tours were full. A two and a half hour drive away we found a taxi to take up there and back for 80 dollars. That's cheaper than the tour!

Once we arrived at the crater the taxi began to argue that it took longer and now he wanted 160. Yeah right! This trend seems to be happening more frequently. I have no problem paying a price but I do not like being taken advantage of just because they think I can afford it. It can get a bit frustrating. We argued for about ten minutes before getting out of the taxi and going to the crater.

 

Absolutely stunning!

 

The Craker lake is an old volcanos that exploded a long time ago and now is home to a perfect circle of blue and green vibrant waters. 

On the walk down to the bottom the dirt and sand collected in our shoes. Some people slipped and fell on the loose ground. About halfway down we ran into two llamas.

 

Obviously I had to take a selfie with them!

Kirsty was scared of them. I told her not to be because they are generally friends. I don't know if it was her lack of confidence around them or what but the one put his ears back and started to come after her. I could not stop laughing.

Near the very bottom there is a cliff that shoots straight down into the water. Sitting in the edge and looking over gave you extreme views of all blue and green.

 

I had to do my iconic pose on the edge of course!!!

Not only was the water beautiful but so were the rocks that made up the crater. The jagged edges and peaks the surrounded the water made the scene even more stunning.

Hiking back up to the top was going to be a struggle. Little did we know but we were at 4000 meters. Not extremely high but enough to take your breath away. We tried to get horses to take us back up. But right before they would get to us someone else would snag them up. The other two girls were really struggling. When we finally came upon two horses I told them to go and I would hike.

I think I needed some solitude and away from some of the negative energy. The hike up was rewarding. Every time I would look down I'd have great views. There were some points I took the straighter and more difficult route. It was actually really fun. I found a precipice that I sat in for about ten minutes just enjoying the view and seeing how amazing nature can be.

Close to the top the horses caught up, yeah I was actually faster than them, and the girls looked miserable. They said how uncomfortable they were. Glad I walked!! But first I had to take a selfie of me walking and them on the horses.

Our driver took us back down and we agreed to pay him 100. We didn't totally give in but weren't going to give him what he wanted. Back in town we met up with some more friends from mancora and the boys. We all went out in the new town of Foch to eat. While in Quito I had stayed at three different areas. This last one was clearly tourist and gringo centered. Many even referred to it as Gringolandia!

After dinner we went to pack for the next days adventures. I realized my shoes were at the other hostel across the city. I wanted to take a taxi but thought better of it. Quito has had so many stories of muggings. Multiple people have been held at knife point on this trip when they were alone or out late. One girl had been held up by a gun. I decided my boots were not worth it and I could possibly consider going early the next morning if I could get someone to come with me.