china

night train from shanghia to beijing

yram777 — Thu, 6 Aug 2009 01:36:00 GMT

THE TRAIN STATION WAS PACKED. There were less people at the million man march and release of the WII combined than there are at this train station on an average day. Station aside the ride was spectacular. The night train made US passenger trains look like little more than loud metal in terms of both speed and comfort. The only thing US trains have on their chinese counterparts is that our trains lack a permeating garlic fish odor. Despite some unique odors the night train was the most pleasant locomotive experience ive ever had.

Club level Ritz Carlton Beijing

yram777 — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 07:44:00 GMT

The Ritz Carlton Beijing Club Level can only bedescribed as 15 degress off food.They had sanwhiches...sorta and bacon...sorta and other items?. The dessert and waffles were safe. Unfortuntley I dont have the resolve of a toddler so I was unable to go a week only eating waffles and dessert. Salvation was in sight however, for some intangible reason the buffet downstairs was amazing. The American food was correct , the italian food was good , the chinese food was great , and they knew what mayo was. Everyone at the club level was very nice though. Our trip wouldve been very differemt without the assistance of zoe and her girls.

club level Ritz Carlton Shanghia

yram777 — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 07:42:00 GMT

Shanghai was a step up fromm Beijings club level in terms of food. You cant go wrong with Peaking duck and fried rice. The sandwhiches were not covered in strange fish flavor either. The omlette station provided relentless satiation. We felt good and we were full. Despite our waking up and wandering around at ungodly hours of the night due to crippling jet lag. Once again the service at the club level was great.All the people were delightfull and more than exspected to make all your wildest dreams come true.

China's taxi cabs

yram777 — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 23:55:00 GMT

A 15 minute 2 mile cab ride in NY can run the average comsumer about $30. In China however something magicall has taken place. If you can endure the pungent smell of garlic and the outlandish Chinese sexual advertisements plastered all over the cab, you can enjoy fast transportation for around $2-$5. We loved taking the cabs in China. It felt like getting to have caviar everyday.Usually when we travel we take the subway or buses in the city. Taking the subway gives one the sensation of emerging out of a hole in the ground at your destination, with little knownlege of directions or surroundings. The subway in Beijing costs about 2RMB a person , but alot of cab rides are 10RMB, so for the 3 of us the crownded but very clean and modern sub way was not much of an advantage. None of the cab drivers really spoke any english though. So we had to use what little Chinese we knew in combination with wild gestures at a faded map.Despite this minor inconveinience cheap cab rides are one of the things we miss most about China

PS this was our driver to the great wall , his name is Hanson we took a private car

The Silk Market

yram777 — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:48:00 GMT

Disney World has got nothing on Beijings Silk Market. This place has everything from shoes , and scarveswallets to ,watches, electronics, toys,and jewelery. The Vendors here are quite enthusiastic. When traditional advertisment doesnt work these sales women will often resort to actual physical restraint. Fighting for your price at the market becomes a game, constantly challenging your self to pay less and less. We became so excited we would even argue and fight for evn just an additional dollar or two off. Shopping in the US after being exposed to the silk market just feels like a let down. The price of items in the US and at the Silk Market start about the same. The difference here is that at the Silk Market you can fight bitterly with the merchants until theyre begging you to pay 5% of what they originaly asked. Perusing China's many markets and haggling for goods is one of the most exhilarting and rewarding experiences to be had anywhere.

forbidden city fun

yram777 — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:24:00 GMT

Beijings Forbidden City is quite literally the easiest place to get lost on the planet. To cover this legendary palace an effective plan was needed. The first smart move was to set out early. By noon the Imperial palance feels less like touring an ancient monument and more like doing your best not to drown in the infinite sea of people. Touring the Forbidden City in the morning is nothing less than magnificent however. There is a lot to see though so it was important to pick our battles.If you try to see everything the palace has to offer you will be there for weeks. we decided to view the hall of clocks and the hall of treasures. The hall of clocks was quite astounding. I had never seen anything crafted so elaboratley much less a clock. Furthermore the hall of clocks has an air conditioned movie theater which made a nice break for our weary family.

The Great Wall

yram777 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:10:00 GMT

The Great Wall was a rather unique experience. For starters it was raining which made the rocky hike up toward the cable car rather difficult. Im not quite exactly sure why we had to hike up to the cable car but we did. Its like the first dude to climb the mountain decided half way up that there should be a cable car and built one there. The experince at the top was rather majestic however. Although the thick fog somewhat obscured our view it was not an experience that is easily matched. Coincidently this was the first place i saw grafitti in China. Inside every turret along the wall are hundereds of time stamps left by disrespectfull if not oxygen deprived tourists. On the way out we haggled for T-shirts and i really mean haggled. the starting price was 27 USD which we reduced to 2 USD or about 14 yuan per shirt.

Gallery: biejing

yram777 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:49:00 GMT

more food china

yram777 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:21:00 GMT

Since we are in north china now, we do not see any rice. they grow and eat wheat. We saw wheat from our train from Shanghia. it is hard to get mayonaise, they are happy to give you a sandwich and possible ketchup but no mayonaise.

The hot water pot is very popular. we have had one in each of our hotel rooms. It is very handy, it is a metal pot on a base , you press a lever on the top to start it heating it takes about 3-4 minutes to boil when you pick it up it turns itself off. now you can make tea or romin.

In Shanghia there seem to be an impromtu gay protest, very peaceful, but unexspected to see. The personel rights and freedoms of the chinese people is amazing.

Also the chinese look out for us tourest, Americans. When they see us they point us in the right direction, they know what we are tring to do and move us along. When we step of the train or out of a taxis, it seems like there is always someone standing there showing us where to go.

In general things are labled very well, Jack learned the Manderan symbols very fast and would describe them for me , like exit symbols look like a race car and the back of a truck.

food and drinks in china

yram777 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:01:00 GMT

First I have had enough congee and dumpling , dim sum for a life time. The congee is wierd but OK. it is like gitts but soupee and you put chicken slices , oinon, ginger and pickles and hight sause. the pickles are fermented in soy sause, brown pickles.This appears to be a common breakfast item. (along with breakfast wine bars in air ports lounges where offering us wine at 6:00 A.M.) Dim sum seems too popular being served at every meal. the sweet pork ones are the best and the shrimp and fish are a little too strong. Garlic must be very largly used, and most people have a strong smell of garlic.

Every thing on the street is very reasonable and very good. the bottle tea in a red bootle ,I think green tea is delicious. It cost Y4 on the street. a water bottle is usually the most Y3. fast food resturants are always a good bet, very cheap and good, a peach or mango ice cream float at McDonalds is Y8. Mango pie is served at M D instead of apple pie.

fried food looks and tastes delicious, they fry every thing and put it on a stick. but this is not served at the ritz. There is also lost of frozen fruit drink stands (mango) and milk tease. Also there is some kind of white milked fronzen drink, served in a jar with a straw sticking out of it. I think it is coconut. the coconuts are smaller here and taste more like almond. black seseamee is also a popular flavor in deserts. There are tons of ice cream shops, hagen daze and baskin and robins, we are going tonight, i hope they have red bean ice cream.

Gallery: beijing

yram777 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:41:00 GMT

Gallery: shanghia, ritz rooms, jewelery

yram777 — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:45:00 GMT

Gallery: shanghia 1

yram777 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:20:00 GMT

pearl tower pudong

safely in shanghia

yram777 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:43:00 GMT

so far so good ,no H1 N1 scares so far, as a matter of fact , on the way to China Jack would ask me do we need to worry about the food yet and I would reply "what do you mean?"fortunately or unfortunately we have drank coffee , tea , ice, water, and brushed our teeth with airport and airplane water all the way to Shanghia. No ill effects. We are prepared and use liquid silver and some homopathic anti virals. We have eaten mostly eastern foods,congee, dim sum, lots of beans ....... oh yes we have eaten salads another no no (only cooked foods or pealed foods. Tonight we may comitt the biggest adventure in food , suchi.....

it is half price at cocktail hour, the hotel has many beutiful resturants. They are big on food here, lotts of fast food places Starbucks FFC, Tony Romas......., and clothe, Max a Mara, Gucci....,

The girls dress very nice , light weight dresses, it is very hot here. the girls take pictures with Jack and tell him he is beutiful and they love his hair.