China!

China

First we docked in Hong Kong, I went to Macau, Beijing and Shanghai. I spent 5 days in China and my favorite city was Hong Kong. We pulled into a port in the middle of one of the largest malls in the world including 3 Chanel stores, 2 Louis Vuitton Stores, a couple Prada’s, a couple Dolce’s, a fendi, a burberry etc... During the first day, I went to Macau, also known as the “Las Vegas” of China. Macau, like Hong Kong, is independent “special administration region” from the mainland China, so I was excited to get an extra stamp in my passport that most people didn’t get. My reason for going to Macau was not to gamble, but to jump off a sky-scraper building. 763 feet. The highest bungee jump in the world. The highest sky-scraper in Macau too. The building looks like the flying saucer building in Seattle. It was not only the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, it was also the most exhilarating thrill I’ve ever had. I jumped with my friends Rory, CJ, Eric, and Rachel. I had to convince Rachel to sign the waiver because she was almost chickened out but after she saw us dressed and ready to go, she was easily persuaded. To my disappointment, the AJ Hackett people made me jump last, so I had to watch everyone do it before me. I have a video, and some crazy pictures of the descent. They strapped us in with harnesses, and a safety double harness, and to keep from getting whiplash from the recoil, they attached cables to the bungee to slow me down. At first I wouldn’t let go of the guys hooking me in and in the video you see him ungrip my hands from his arms and held them so I couldn’t grab him again. I remember screaming for a few seconds, but then something happened where my mouth and eyes were just wide open with no noise coming out. We all had the same effect so we call it the Silent Screaming Face.

That night was the finale of the Rugby Tournament, so Hong Kong was crazzyyyy. We went to this bar strip and there were tons of people dressed up in costumes and raging in the street. My friend Dylan has a friend who lives in Hong Kong who took us to a bunch of nice bars and an authentic off-the-beaten-track Chinese dinner. One place had an ice bar inside of it, and upon entering they give everyone these huge faux-fur coats to wear. Some European men gave me theirs when they ran out, and three of them proceeded to go streaking in the ice bar…I think they were kicked out, but it was funny.

The next day I flew to Beijing with a group of people. I ate Burger King for the first time in approximately 8 years , so Ashley took a picture for proof. It was extremely hard to get through China because NOBODY speaks English. I had a translator write everything and everywhere I wanted to go in Chinese characters so I could just get in a cab, show them the characters and get there. Also to my surprise, it was freezing in China! That night I met up with Jason, Murphy, and Gabby, and we went to Banana Club where they had crazy communist security blocking people from taking pictures. I wish I snagged a picture because we were the only American’s there dancing on one of those vibrating, bumpin dance floors. I was happy that they played American music too, and every Chinese person knew the Soldier Boy dance--I guess they like our music even though they cannot understand it. The following morning, I went to the Great Wall. It was huge, obviously, and I wish I could’ve taken a helicopter tour instead of climbing it. My legs were shaking by the end of the Great Wall climb. The trek down was significantly harder than going up. We went really early in the morning for the sunrise, so there weren’t that many tourists around on the way up. There were tons of Asian tourists who wanted to take pictures with us, particularly the blond girls. Peace signs up and everything. They were fun, and I tried to talk to some of them. It’s funny because they talked to me as if I knew what they were saying.

Later that day I saw the Summer Palace, which was pretty. It was boring actually. Then I went to a Chinese acrobatics show, very similar to the stunts that they do in cirque du soleil with contortionists, and human catapults, lots of stunts, it was amazing. Close by to the venue was supposedly the best Peking Duck restaurant. Not only did we order duck, but we ordered turtle and other weird food. It was disgusting, though I’m glad I tried it. My favorite food I have tried so far is Ostrich Carpaccio style. I know I’m a weirdo--I eat a lot of raw things.

Day three I went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and I went back to the Chinese Acrobatics show again b/c it was so much fun. Interestingly enough, the Tiananmen Square “Tank Man” incident during the 1989 political protests really is a forbidden topic—if you ever go to China, my advice would be not to ask anyone about it, b/c they were almost offended by our questions. These sites were cool to see, but I was bored out of my mind, so Ashley and I made a music video at Forbidden City to a song in Mulan, the Disney movie. That night after a long day of site seeing and drinking boba bubble milk tea and eating great Chinese, Murphy, Jason, Gabby, and I went to a Chinese Karaoke club. We got our own private room, and there were lots of English karaoke songs for us to sing. The best act of the night, was Jason singing Cher, Do You Believe in Love After Love???…he didn’t even need the lyrics on the screen...I have a video of his performance which I will save for future embarrassment…PRICELESS!

The next day I left Beijing and went to the Great Panda Zoo and the Olympic birdnest and water cube. Lexi, Ashley and I each did a gymnast routine in the middle of the Olympics field, and we just hung out and walked around. The shopping we did in China was mostly counterfeit. There was a mall with five floors of just knock off EVERYTHING, called the Pearl Market. It was an incredible sight, and a sad one too that the bootleg market is so huge. Then we flew to Shanghai late that afternoon.

I woke up early in Shanghai to explore. Even though Beijing is the traditional capital of China, Shanghai is more of a business capital and trying to become more like Hong Kong status. I went to a garden/palace called Yuyuan Gardens. Surrounding that were little shops. After that Jason and I went to lunch at the Jin Mao Tower, a huge tower with the highest hotel in the world on the upper levels. I really wanted to go to the Flagship Barbie store, but I couldn’t convince him to come with me, nor any of my girls either. Instead we spent the rest of the time walking around the port area and Annie, Ashley, Mary, and I had some last minute drinks before getting on the ship.


byeee for now.
xoxo