Let the Games Begin!

Oh lordy, where to begin?

December 20
So I met my new best friend, Teck, on the flight from Seattle to Norita. Teck is from Singapore, has a business in Bangkok and now lives in Bellevue with his family. So, Teck and I spent about 3 hours of the 10 hour flight planning my trip to China and Thailand. What a huge help!! Thank you Teck!

I landed in Japan with a 25 minute layover (due to a late start and massive headwinds) and I was met at the plane and we ran to the gate. So my seasoned traveler friends are laughing right now because they know there is no way my luggage is making that flight but this has not dawned on me yet. Needless to say, my luggage did not make it when I landed but was delivered the next day around 5pm to the hotel.

I get in the cab and hand my driver my hotel name translated however, the women that did the translation was actually giving me the name of her car/driver business so the cab driver tried to kick me out. Then I show him the name of the hotel (which by the way is the North Garden Hotel) and after chatting with some other cabbies proceeds to take me to the Regent. Huh? How is that lost in translation? The nice valet called my hotel and they gave directions to the cabbie. This will be the first of many "lost in translation" issues with the cabbies but I am finding ways to get it right.

Sunday, December 21
I ate breakfast right across the street from my hotel at McDonald's (yes there is a god) and had the best Sausage McMuffin with Egg and OJ. I then went on a tour of the Great Wall! I met Rafael from Equador who now lives in Miami helping out with the family business. He is in a number of photos and was nice enough to take some pics of me as we climbed to the highest point possible. I am hoping I can write comments on the pictures I post so I will not be writing too much about each experience but will let the photos guide me through the day.

It was cold and windy at the Great Wall and there was quite a bit of snow on the wall. It was not very crowded as I am obviously here off season which I think made it that much more serene...

Monday, December 22
I walked across the street and ate breakfast at McDonald's. I gave my card to the manager and took some photos with the crew. I then went on a tour of the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. There was a college couple from Michigan whose families are both from China so they spoke Mandarian, a gentleman from Vietnam, a couple living in Paris who are both originally from China and another gentleman from China. So I was the only English-speaking-dumb-American-who-did-not-learn-the-language-for-her-trip-tourist. But we all smiled a lot and the Michigan couple translated for me which helped maintain internationally relations!

Tuesday, December 23
My last day in Beijing and I am starting to get my bearings so I grab a cab and head to the Olympic venues. I only had about an hour so I spent most of my time at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube which was quite frankly, very cool. I watched the Olympics every night this year and I really enjoyed visiting the stadiums. I then grabbed a cab back to the hotel to run to the airport to fly to Shanghai. I asked the cab driver to drive by Tiananmen Square which after a few tries, we got there and my camera memory chip fills up just as we are passing it!! Oh well, I got a few shots at least.

Landed in Shanghai and once again give my cabbie the translated name of my hotel, The Bund Garden Hotel and he proceeds to take me to The Bund Hotel (oops, no Garden in that translation). We eventually make it and the cab driver yells at the hotel staff about something for about 5 minutes. I checked in and went to sleep for about 12 hours.

Wednesday, December 24
Happy Christmas Eve!! There are lots of cheesy decoarations all over the city but I get the feeling that no one here is very into it. I headed out on my own since I could not determine if there are any tours available since the hotel staff does not speak a lot of English. No worries as the Bund is just down the street so I walked around the area for about three hours and then headed to the Nanjing Lu shopping street which is 6 miles long! There are huge department stores and small street vendors where you can buy anything. I did not buy one thing but had lots of folks approach me since I was the American girl who had to love shopping. I then came back to my room and have spent some time downloading pictures and doing the blog. It took me a while to get the blog page in English so it is interesting the challenges that come up unexpected.

Well, here are a few things that I find fascinating:
- Workers have badges with a number and not their name on it
- I am surprised by the number of men that smoke in public non-stop but I have yet to see a woman smoking
- The number of bikes on the road as a lot of folks use this as their main mode of transportation
- How tremendously cold it was in Beijing. I bought a funny looking coat for $50 that has saved my life
- How little talking I have done in the past five days. I am listening to a lot of music on my ipod and talking to myself non-stop!!!!

Well, that is it for now. I am going to attempt to post my photos! Thanks for the comments - it is helping me feel attached to the other end!
Kelly