Even knowing that the baby has arrived and time is short, I haven't really knit anything in the past couple of days.First, there was drama. Now, I'm a little too old for drama, but I basically live in the equivalent of Melrose Place for the foreigners of Yatsushiro. Except with less sex. As far as I know. Anyway, there was drama and that involved coffee and gossip sessions, and I got distracted. Bad Tracy.
Second, my books on Beijing and China arrived. Yea! At the end of this month, I will be leaving to spend eight days in Beijing, but all I've got booked so far is the flight, the first two nights at a hostel, and my visa. So there is a lot to research and plan. I got the Lonely Planet guide to Beijing city, and Fodor's China. They both seem pretty good so far, and I got them both slightly used but in excellent condition from BetterWorld Books, who sent them promptly. I love that site.
Originally I had hoped to have the Prepster done by that trip. Now I think I'll be lucky to have sent off the Leaf Blanket.
In either case, however, I will be in China at the end of the month. How rad is that?
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4 comments:
Yay! Have a great time. We loved our trip to China (over 3 years ago now!) and my favorite part of Beijing was probably hiking along the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai. The other best part was haggling at the Panjiayuan market. And I'd give some unnecessary body part to eat a jian bing again.
Thanks for your comments! I'm thinking of doing the Great Wall hike, as well. How long did it take you? And now I know I must try jian bing.
Also, I couldn't figure out how to message you back directly. Is there a blogger function I'm missing?
I don't think so. You can email me at pantalonesdelfuego@gmail.com if you like.
The trip report for the trip my husband and I went on is in the archives of my blog, one of the very first posts in November 2005. If I remember correctly, it took us a few hours, maybe 2.5? - longer than to walk 10K flat, because it's truly a hike up and down stairs the entire time. We did a tour through our hostel that took us to Jinshanling on a bus and picked us up at Simatai. I know there are tours that go the other way as well.
I suggest bringing your own water and food. There are lots of people all along the way who will try to sell you water, coke, beer, and tshirts, and people who will self-appoint themselves as your guides and expect money at the halfway point, and people who will try to sell you postcards. I think they are mostly Mongolian peasants who make more money bilking tourists than they do farming. We were there at the very end of October, so there weren't a lot of other tourists, which was both good (not crowded) and bad (we were easy targets).
Jian bing is a street food, consisting of a crepe/pancake with an egg cracked in it, some tasty brown sauce, sesame seeds and green onions. It is amazingly good. We ate it for breakfast every day and have been thus far unsuccessful recreating it at home.
Wow both of you- sounds like an awesome trip coming up (and taken 3 years ago).
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