Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Return from China
My updates have been somewhat negligent since I haven't had a private Internet connection since I was in Deng Feng. Now, however, I'm sitting at home at the comfort of my own desktop computer.
To summarize the ending of the trip:
We left the Shaolin Temple at Deng Feng and went by bus to the city of Xi'an. The only real thing of note in Xi'an is that it's the home of the first Qin emperor's tomb and the home of the Terra-cotta warriors. The warriors were neat, but it's really a site that you can see in about 20 minutes and not feel like you've missed anything. Most of the pits have yet to be entirely excavated and you can't actually get anywhere near the relics.
After a day and a half in Xi'an we flew to Beijing. Beijing is a rather bustling city filled with people. The highlights from the capital included seeing the famous Peking Acrobats, the Forbidden City, the summer palace, Tienanmen Square, and the famous Hongqiao Pearl Market.
I would elaborate on these topics some more, but I figure I can do that in photo essay format when I get my digital pictures developed in photoshop and posted to the web.
At this point I'm honestly just glad to be back in the United States. The trip was a lot of fun, but China is definitely not a place that I would like to go to spend a lot of time. Two weeks is about the maximum I would like to put up with. Especially since I don't speak the language, the water isn't potable anywhere, and you are really just a fleshy bag of money to the locals.
I'm looking forward to a few days of light work and catching up so I can rebuild my energy stores. Peace out.
To summarize the ending of the trip:
We left the Shaolin Temple at Deng Feng and went by bus to the city of Xi'an. The only real thing of note in Xi'an is that it's the home of the first Qin emperor's tomb and the home of the Terra-cotta warriors. The warriors were neat, but it's really a site that you can see in about 20 minutes and not feel like you've missed anything. Most of the pits have yet to be entirely excavated and you can't actually get anywhere near the relics.
After a day and a half in Xi'an we flew to Beijing. Beijing is a rather bustling city filled with people. The highlights from the capital included seeing the famous Peking Acrobats, the Forbidden City, the summer palace, Tienanmen Square, and the famous Hongqiao Pearl Market.
I would elaborate on these topics some more, but I figure I can do that in photo essay format when I get my digital pictures developed in photoshop and posted to the web.
At this point I'm honestly just glad to be back in the United States. The trip was a lot of fun, but China is definitely not a place that I would like to go to spend a lot of time. Two weeks is about the maximum I would like to put up with. Especially since I don't speak the language, the water isn't potable anywhere, and you are really just a fleshy bag of money to the locals.
I'm looking forward to a few days of light work and catching up so I can rebuild my energy stores. Peace out.
# posted by Chris/Stewy @ Tuesday, July 11, 2006 
