We just finished our two day train ride to Chengdu. We got the "soft sleeper". This means we got a room with 4 beds (2 on each side). Despite the name, the beds weren't really that soft but the room was secure and could be locked. Half way through the trip, our two roommates got off the train and we had the place to ourselves. The bathrooms leave much to be desired. Bring your own toilet paper and lots of hand sanitizer. The smell also kept leaking from the bathroom into the sleeping areas (we were in the middle of the train and it reached us). I was sick for most of the time and couldn't eat. Brian fared at bit better but got worse when we got to the hostel.
The Mix Hostel seems to be a nice place so far. They offer free pickup from the station. The private rooms without a bathroom cost a little more than $4. They offer full tour packets to Tibet at reasonable prices. The staff is friendly and helpful and the rooms are clean. The food they serve is cheap and tasty. The only complaint so far is that they have a lack of toilet paper in the bathrooms.
-K
27 October 2006
22 October 2006
Nov 7th Florida Elections.. A request.
Although I prefer not to persuade others to vote in any particular favor, I would like you to consider approving Amendment 7. This amendment will help several disabled veterans in Florida, as well as Kristin and myself.
If you do not agree, please at least do vote, and ask the same of those around you. Yes I plan on going to the US consulate in Chengdu for an absantee ballot.
End of public service announcement, and begging (for today)
Brian
If you do not agree, please at least do vote, and ask the same of those around you. Yes I plan on going to the US consulate in Chengdu for an absantee ballot.
End of public service announcement, and begging (for today)
Brian
21 October 2006
Jade Buddha Temple
The Jade Buddha temple is a beautiful example of craftmenship. From the traditional rooftops with fu dogs lining the edges to the sidewalks with clouds and flowers carved into the concrete. This temple has both Buddhist and Taoism idols. One idol is a 6 foot buddha carved out of white jade.
On the premises of the temple is the Fo Yuan Tea House. They allow you to try a variety of teas and show you how to serve tea in the traditional Chinese style. The waitress asked us what ails us and suggested teas accordingly. Before this trip, I wasn't a big tea drinker but this tea house offers a variety of flavors. We ended up buying four different kinds of tea. Don't feel obliged to buy the tea. The samples are free and the staff is friendly.
It cost 10 yuan to get into the temple and an extra 10 to see the jade buddha.
this is not the main jade buddha, you are prohibitted from photographing it
On the premises of the temple is the Fo Yuan Tea House. They allow you to try a variety of teas and show you how to serve tea in the traditional Chinese style. The waitress asked us what ails us and suggested teas accordingly. Before this trip, I wasn't a big tea drinker but this tea house offers a variety of flavors. We ended up buying four different kinds of tea. Don't feel obliged to buy the tea. The samples are free and the staff is friendly.
It cost 10 yuan to get into the temple and an extra 10 to see the jade buddha.
this is not the main jade buddha, you are prohibitted from photographing it
20 October 2006
Tibet ... Here we come!!
Well we have been in Shanghai for 4 days now and goto Chengdu on the 25th (38 hour train ride).. we haven't done anything here yet, been a little sick and off from the time difference of western Europe..
going to see the Jade Buddha Temple today though once in Chengdu, we will start planning our Tibet trek, on the worlds highest train Qinghai-Tibet Railway (which includes oxygen). we plan to see Emeishan mountain, and a lot of temples and stay at a monastery or two, yes you can do that and they are real. we will be staying at Mix Hostel while in Chengdu
for now, staying in a nice hostel in shanghai for about $10/night in a normal hotel type room, gotta love the exchange rate and the economy, the one in Chengdu is $1.98-$4.60 a bed/night.. were opting for the private room for $4, can you blame us
We may stay in a really nice hotel here or in Beijing if the price is right, with the economy, 5 star should be rather affordable. However, for those planning on traveling, consider this, a trip to Chicago for 3 days is about 3 times more expensive than a week long trip to china.. $900 airfare, and $20-$50/night for 2-3 people in a good hotel, $2-$10 for a very filling meal. You could stay here for $90 a week and its a really nice hostel.. most tour sites cost 5-30 RMB (1 Chinese yuan = 0.126473415 U.S. dollars) so 63cents to $3.80 per attraction. just a thought.
going to see the Jade Buddha Temple today though once in Chengdu, we will start planning our Tibet trek, on the worlds highest train Qinghai-Tibet Railway (which includes oxygen). we plan to see Emeishan mountain, and a lot of temples and stay at a monastery or two, yes you can do that and they are real. we will be staying at Mix Hostel while in Chengdu
for now, staying in a nice hostel in shanghai for about $10/night in a normal hotel type room, gotta love the exchange rate and the economy, the one in Chengdu is $1.98-$4.60 a bed/night.. were opting for the private room for $4, can you blame us
We may stay in a really nice hotel here or in Beijing if the price is right, with the economy, 5 star should be rather affordable. However, for those planning on traveling, consider this, a trip to Chicago for 3 days is about 3 times more expensive than a week long trip to china.. $900 airfare, and $20-$50/night for 2-3 people in a good hotel, $2-$10 for a very filling meal. You could stay here for $90 a week and its a really nice hostel.. most tour sites cost 5-30 RMB (1 Chinese yuan = 0.126473415 U.S. dollars) so 63cents to $3.80 per attraction. just a thought.
19 October 2006
"Where have you guys been, and what have you been doing?" Plus recap..
Ok, so some of you are wondering where we are and what we've been up too, since we haven't posted a lot lately.
After we left Austria in September, we were short on cash, so we headed to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany to save up our money before moving on. We pretty much just hung around the bases, watched movies and hung out at the library for internet. I (Brian) was pretty tired and the weather was shifting so much, we didn't feel like doing much more, even going to the library or movies was a task, since they were either across base or on another one. We spent about 3 weeks just hanging out and no sight seeing.
Next we moved on to Amsterdam. We took 2 trains and the Stena Line ferry across to get there, about an 8 hour trip. It was a nice ferry though, casino 2 movie theaters, a few bars, a child play area, etc.. Pretty much a mini-cruise liner but with a twin hull. The day we arrived in Amsterdam, was the first day of rain according to Kristin's family (which lives all over Holland), and it pretty much rained every day at some point. So I didn't feel to well there, so we didn't' do much but walk around a bit, see the Red Light district and visit some "coffee shops". Of course the day we left, it stopped raining. Really didn't do a lot or take pictures, but we did see a lot of interesting things.
After the ferry to Harwich, we headed to London. The main reason we even went to London, is the cheap flights to China, it was more than double to fly out of Germany or The Netherlands. We didn't do any sight seeing except for Camden Town, which some should know, that it's a must. I felt a little better in London, but we didn't plan on seeing much and I was still a bit tired, not to mention the cost of living there is really high, seriously $4 for a bottle of water (16oz), to give you an idea. Since it cost a lot to live, we didn't really feel like blogging a lot, and internet cafe's were a bit far from us.
We flew from London to Shanghai on Qatar Airlines, 2 planes and a 5 hour delay in Qatar's capital Doha, totaling a 20 hour flight. Qatar airlines gave by far the best price, and definitely great service. You get juice, water, tea or soda all through the flight, they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, good meals (free by the way), each seat has a decent size LCD tv with FREE interactive games, a huge list of recent and old movies, also free, and a lot of music, oh yea, they don't charge you $5 for the crappy headphones like other airlines. They even give you a hot towel before your meals to clean up with. On the second flight we even got a free travel bag (toothbrush, shampoo, eye blinds, a pair of comfy socks, and a neck pouch for your stuff. My only real complaint was the seats, they are clean and nice, but tailored for the average or below average height. I would probably use this airline again.
Now we are in Shanghai, as if you didn't get that from the previous post, and between the jet lag (remember the 20hour flight), temperature change (it's 81 degrees here, was 60 or so in London), and a slight head cold, we haven't done anything but stay in are room for 3 days. The rooms at this hostel (Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel (UTEL)) are really nice though, and $5 a bed for a 4 bed dorm, huge beds, key card entry and a cafe that serves good food for $4 or so. We decided to get the private room for $20/night, it has own shower/toilet, internet in the room and a TV with 69 Chinese channels and 1 English Chinese news station, oh well Really nice rooms and staff.
So what's the goal now? Well, we are staying here till the end of October, working on getting our Travel Permit and Tour group to goto Tibet, they are required to have, so we have to find a reliable travel agent. After that, depending on our finances, we are taking a 2 day ferry ride to Osaka, Japan, then a bullet train to Yokohama (Tokyo) and goto the US Air Base. Hopefully we will fly out of there to our next destination. If we run out of money then we'll just find a flight from Shanghai to the states, probably to California. No sturdy plans yet, just seeing what's next. We figure we can afford to easily live in Japan for a month, and might fly out in December, no promises though.
Our main goal at the moment is Tibet and Mount Everest Base camp. After that, we'll know what we are doing, just need some rest before we go exploring again, sorry for the lack of pictures or blog.
Brian
After we left Austria in September, we were short on cash, so we headed to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany to save up our money before moving on. We pretty much just hung around the bases, watched movies and hung out at the library for internet. I (Brian) was pretty tired and the weather was shifting so much, we didn't feel like doing much more, even going to the library or movies was a task, since they were either across base or on another one. We spent about 3 weeks just hanging out and no sight seeing.
Next we moved on to Amsterdam. We took 2 trains and the Stena Line ferry across to get there, about an 8 hour trip. It was a nice ferry though, casino 2 movie theaters, a few bars, a child play area, etc.. Pretty much a mini-cruise liner but with a twin hull. The day we arrived in Amsterdam, was the first day of rain according to Kristin's family (which lives all over Holland), and it pretty much rained every day at some point. So I didn't feel to well there, so we didn't' do much but walk around a bit, see the Red Light district and visit some "coffee shops". Of course the day we left, it stopped raining. Really didn't do a lot or take pictures, but we did see a lot of interesting things.
After the ferry to Harwich, we headed to London. The main reason we even went to London, is the cheap flights to China, it was more than double to fly out of Germany or The Netherlands. We didn't do any sight seeing except for Camden Town, which some should know, that it's a must. I felt a little better in London, but we didn't plan on seeing much and I was still a bit tired, not to mention the cost of living there is really high, seriously $4 for a bottle of water (16oz), to give you an idea. Since it cost a lot to live, we didn't really feel like blogging a lot, and internet cafe's were a bit far from us.
We flew from London to Shanghai on Qatar Airlines, 2 planes and a 5 hour delay in Qatar's capital Doha, totaling a 20 hour flight. Qatar airlines gave by far the best price, and definitely great service. You get juice, water, tea or soda all through the flight, they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, good meals (free by the way), each seat has a decent size LCD tv with FREE interactive games, a huge list of recent and old movies, also free, and a lot of music, oh yea, they don't charge you $5 for the crappy headphones like other airlines. They even give you a hot towel before your meals to clean up with. On the second flight we even got a free travel bag (toothbrush, shampoo, eye blinds, a pair of comfy socks, and a neck pouch for your stuff. My only real complaint was the seats, they are clean and nice, but tailored for the average or below average height. I would probably use this airline again.
Now we are in Shanghai, as if you didn't get that from the previous post, and between the jet lag (remember the 20hour flight), temperature change (it's 81 degrees here, was 60 or so in London), and a slight head cold, we haven't done anything but stay in are room for 3 days. The rooms at this hostel (Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel (UTEL)) are really nice though, and $5 a bed for a 4 bed dorm, huge beds, key card entry and a cafe that serves good food for $4 or so. We decided to get the private room for $20/night, it has own shower/toilet, internet in the room and a TV with 69 Chinese channels and 1 English Chinese news station, oh well
Really nice rooms and staff.So what's the goal now? Well, we are staying here till the end of October, working on getting our Travel Permit and Tour group to goto Tibet, they are required to have, so we have to find a reliable travel agent. After that, depending on our finances, we are taking a 2 day ferry ride to Osaka, Japan, then a bullet train to Yokohama (Tokyo) and goto the US Air Base. Hopefully we will fly out of there to our next destination. If we run out of money then we'll just find a flight from Shanghai to the states, probably to California. No sturdy plans yet, just seeing what's next. We figure we can afford to easily live in Japan for a month, and might fly out in December, no promises though.
Our main goal at the moment is Tibet and Mount Everest Base camp. After that, we'll know what we are doing, just need some rest before we go exploring again, sorry for the lack of pictures or blog.
Brian
What Every Backpacker Needs
*= must have -= can survive without
Clothing
*Pants (you can survive with just one pair but laundry day can get kinda riskay)
--spend a decent amount on good outdoor pants with zip-off legs, we have World Wide Sportsman fishing/hunting pants. made from nylon an polyester like gortex. breathable, stain/odor resistant and dry very quickly.
*shirts (I sugest 2 per person. Its nice to switch to a clean shirt after a hot day)
*underwear
*PJ's (again, really nice to change into something less sweaty)
*socks (your feet are your biggest asset while backpacking. TAKE CARE OF THEM. Remember: light colored cotton sock on the inside and a dark polyester on the outside)
*windbreaker (doubles as a rain coat and jacket)
-longjohns (for cold weather only)
-long sleve shirt
- wife beater
-club clothes (Europe especially has some interesting one- of- a- kind clubs)
Papers (ths stuff is light and easy to pack and may save you a lot of trouble)
*Copy of passport (Colored would be best but black & white is fine)
*copy of any visas you have
*copy of any flight/travel info/reservations
*copy of any medical perscriptions
*list of embassies and emergency numbers
*Copy of list of vaccinations and whatnot (some countries require them. Go to the CDC to find out what is needed)
Meds
*enough perscription meds to last through the trip
*decongestion
*antifungal
*anti-diarhea
*acetemetaphin (tylenol not aspirin)
*hydrocortisone
Clothing
*Pants (you can survive with just one pair but laundry day can get kinda riskay)
--spend a decent amount on good outdoor pants with zip-off legs, we have World Wide Sportsman fishing/hunting pants. made from nylon an polyester like gortex. breathable, stain/odor resistant and dry very quickly.
*shirts (I sugest 2 per person. Its nice to switch to a clean shirt after a hot day)
*underwear
*PJ's (again, really nice to change into something less sweaty)
*socks (your feet are your biggest asset while backpacking. TAKE CARE OF THEM. Remember: light colored cotton sock on the inside and a dark polyester on the outside)
*windbreaker (doubles as a rain coat and jacket)
-longjohns (for cold weather only)
-long sleve shirt
- wife beater
-club clothes (Europe especially has some interesting one- of- a- kind clubs)
Papers (ths stuff is light and easy to pack and may save you a lot of trouble)
*Copy of passport (Colored would be best but black & white is fine)
*copy of any visas you have
*copy of any flight/travel info/reservations
*copy of any medical perscriptions
*list of embassies and emergency numbers
*Copy of list of vaccinations and whatnot (some countries require them. Go to the CDC to find out what is needed)
Meds
*enough perscription meds to last through the trip
*decongestion
*antifungal
*anti-diarhea
*acetemetaphin (tylenol not aspirin)
*hydrocortisone
17 October 2006
First Look at China
The plan ride left both me and Brian a bit tired (waking up at 6:30am didn't help eitherafter 2 flights that took about 20 hours) since neither of us really got more than an hour of sleep. We landed at Shanghi's airport and went through customs. As we waited for our bags to arrive we watched a drug/bomb sniffing dog point out a black suitcase (the dog looked like a mini irish setter). Both backpacks made the journey here but it seems the sleeping bag didn't... apparently my curse is still going strong (seems whenever I go to a foreign country I lose a bag. In Egypt, the airport lost my bag for 2 weeks). We gave them the details and moved on. The next problem was with declaring the goods. Brian sent me through the 'nothing to declare' line while he went to declare our radios. I went through without a hitch but had to go back so I could sit with security while Brian went to the post office to send the radios home. By this time I was feeling like crap. We called the hostel to get directions and jumped on the shuttle bus. When we got off the shuttle and were swarmed by people showing us pamplets for hotels. We waded through and managed to get onto the right metro line. We stumbled to the hostel and slept till 4pm the next day.
We went out looking for an ATM as soon as we woke up. The first thought that crossed my mind when we stepped out was 'Thats weird. I've never seen fog out at 4pm... whoa wait. Is that smog?... I feel dirty'. It was annoying trying to find an ATM. Some ATMs will take some friggin cards but the majority would only take chinese cards.
The economy here seems a bit lower than the USA's so we think we'll do ok here. The plan is to stay in Shanghi until the end of the month and then we have a week to get ourselves to Tibet before our visa runs out.
If you feel like making our Halloween, please donate!!!
-K
We went out looking for an ATM as soon as we woke up. The first thought that crossed my mind when we stepped out was 'Thats weird. I've never seen fog out at 4pm... whoa wait. Is that smog?... I feel dirty'. It was annoying trying to find an ATM. Some ATMs will take some friggin cards but the majority would only take chinese cards.
The economy here seems a bit lower than the USA's so we think we'll do ok here. The plan is to stay in Shanghi until the end of the month and then we have a week to get ourselves to Tibet before our visa runs out.
If you feel like making our Halloween, please donate!!!
-K
13 October 2006
London and Then CHINA!!!
We did it. We now have our visas and tickets to China. We used Lastminute.com to book the flight. We managed to get a flight from London to Shanghai for just under $1000 (yes kiddies, that was expensive for us) and we leave Sunday (Oct. 15th). We will be staying for a week at Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel for only $90... thats like $6.50 a day. Definatly an improvement over these $20 hostels we've been at (and those were the cheap ones). Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend of low living cost for us... we really need it.
We stayed at Dover Castle Hostel while in London. At first we thought it was ok. The location was a bit seedie but nothing really serious. The place was a normal London building (read narrow stairways and small rooms) and reasonably clean. Its the staff that's the problem. We were on the 'overbooked list' (which mean that we wanted a bed but had to wait for a cancellation). We went out to take care of the visas and stopped at an internet cafe and got an e-mail survey asking us what we thought of the hostel. We gave an average rating except for a poor mark for security (NO ONE locks the doors) and a little comment saying that you can't really get a wireless signal in the room like they advertise you can and the router keeps locking up. When we got back to the hostel to collect our bags and check if there was any empty rooms, the girl on staff said something to the effect of 'why do you want to stay at a hostel you rated badly?' and would not help us at all. Even when she herself admitted the wireless was faulty and they were getting a guy to come out and fix it, she was unhelpful. When we pointed out we gave them pretty much an average rating she said 'why do you want to stay at an AVERAGE place?' Then basically said 'get the fuck out'.
So anyways, we're not sure what's going to happen in China. We'll try to stick to the big cities and internet but we're also hoping to visit Tibet. We'll contact home as much as possible.
Wish us luck!
-K
P.S.- Yes, we have figured out the hyperlink button.
We stayed at Dover Castle Hostel while in London. At first we thought it was ok. The location was a bit seedie but nothing really serious. The place was a normal London building (read narrow stairways and small rooms) and reasonably clean. Its the staff that's the problem. We were on the 'overbooked list' (which mean that we wanted a bed but had to wait for a cancellation). We went out to take care of the visas and stopped at an internet cafe and got an e-mail survey asking us what we thought of the hostel. We gave an average rating except for a poor mark for security (NO ONE locks the doors) and a little comment saying that you can't really get a wireless signal in the room like they advertise you can and the router keeps locking up. When we got back to the hostel to collect our bags and check if there was any empty rooms, the girl on staff said something to the effect of 'why do you want to stay at a hostel you rated badly?' and would not help us at all. Even when she herself admitted the wireless was faulty and they were getting a guy to come out and fix it, she was unhelpful. When we pointed out we gave them pretty much an average rating she said 'why do you want to stay at an AVERAGE place?' Then basically said 'get the fuck out'.
So anyways, we're not sure what's going to happen in China. We'll try to stick to the big cities and internet but we're also hoping to visit Tibet. We'll contact home as much as possible.
Wish us luck!
-K
P.S.- Yes, we have figured out the hyperlink button.
11 October 2006
Amsterdam to London
Sorry for the short posts recently. Netherlands was fun. We tried 3 types of weed and 3 ways of smoking it. We also tried to get some Absenth but bars aren't allowed to sell it and the bottles at the liqor store where too big. If you're ever in Holland and don't really have money, there is a free boat tour that meets at the Chicago Boom Bar. If you're looking for a good placed to smoke and drink, the Bulldog resides in the Red District. There is this free tourist magazine that we found at the Stayokay hostel. Its called Boom. It will tell you ALL you need to know about Amsterdam.
If you are a backpacker and come to Amsterdam, do NOT stay at stayokay. Dispite how they advertise, it is not for backpackers. They charge for everything and don't allow you to bring your own food. We didn't have the best time there. Mostly due to inconsiderate people coming and goi ng at all hours (which is fine normally), making a lot of nose (kinda annoying) and leaving the lights on when they leave at 4am (I wanted to do them serious damage).
We took the ferry over to London and here we are now. Our phone broke so we're trying to replace it. Today we applied for our Chinese vias. They will be ready by Friday.
More Later
-K
If you are a backpacker and come to Amsterdam, do NOT stay at stayokay. Dispite how they advertise, it is not for backpackers. They charge for everything and don't allow you to bring your own food. We didn't have the best time there. Mostly due to inconsiderate people coming and goi ng at all hours (which is fine normally), making a lot of nose (kinda annoying) and leaving the lights on when they leave at 4am (I wanted to do them serious damage).
We took the ferry over to London and here we are now. Our phone broke so we're trying to replace it. Today we applied for our Chinese vias. They will be ready by Friday.
More Later
-K
06 October 2006
Adventures in the Netherlands
Wow. Amsterdam is amazing.
Well, we met up wih the family here and had a nice lunch. Unlce Fred is doing good and he has officially added Brian into the book of Elink-Schuurman. He was a bit confused about our last name but he figured it out. Freddy (uncle Fred's kid) has a great view on politics. He gave us a good prospective on how people view certain issues in the Netherlands. When I told him about finding pot when we first got here he wasn't scandlized. Nor were they put off when I told them Jason is gay. We invited him to come to Florida and crahs at our place when we get one of our own so he can visit the family over here.
We tried our first space cakes. It made us both sick. I also bough a 1/4 of purple haze for 12 euro. We've also made ourselves familiar with the Red Light distric.
Today we are going to try to get our China visa.
I'll blog later
-K
Well, we met up wih the family here and had a nice lunch. Unlce Fred is doing good and he has officially added Brian into the book of Elink-Schuurman. He was a bit confused about our last name but he figured it out. Freddy (uncle Fred's kid) has a great view on politics. He gave us a good prospective on how people view certain issues in the Netherlands. When I told him about finding pot when we first got here he wasn't scandlized. Nor were they put off when I told them Jason is gay. We invited him to come to Florida and crahs at our place when we get one of our own so he can visit the family over here.
We tried our first space cakes. It made us both sick. I also bough a 1/4 of purple haze for 12 euro. We've also made ourselves familiar with the Red Light distric.
Today we are going to try to get our China visa.
I'll blog later
-K
01 October 2006
Our First Look at Amsterdam
We made it safely to Amsterdam and managed to have a little adventure already. When we got off the trian station, Brian left me with the bags and went to the bathroom. When he came back, he walked over to a nearby ticket kyosk and plucked a bag of weed from the top of it and handed the bag to me. Not knowing exactly what to do with it, I stuffed it into my pocket and we headed to our hostel. We check in and go up to our room to put away the bags. In the room, there were two guys and one was rolling a blunt (how did I know? They had a half- empty ciggeret and an empty dime bag... some people put tabacoo in their blunts to filter it or add taste). I'll probably end up selling or giving away the bag we found. I'd perfer to buy weed from a decent place.
Tomorrow we will be meeting up with some family here.
Bye!
-K
Tomorrow we will be meeting up with some family here.
Bye!
-K
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