Shanghai to Bangkok! Whew!

Written on 4:37 AM by John

Greetings! Meredith and John are alive and well and enjoying life in Bangkok. How did we get to Bangkok, you ask, good question... Our last correspondence had us on streets of Shanghai. Since then, we have been to Hangzhou, Huangshan, Suzhou, Beijing, and the Great Wall of China.

Land of a billion, communist regime, bustling economy, culturally diverse, ecologically stimulating, China has just about everything...clouded in smog, pushing, shoving, and spitting.
Our first stop after hazy Shanghai was Hangzhou. Hangzhou is like a little Savannah with 30 acres of manicured parks surrounding a lake built for a King. Full of high end shops, expensive cuisine, and good weather, Hangzhou is a place where the elite leave Shanghai to find peace and serenity. Meredith and I found both in a quaint hostel, which included a small puppy that made us long for our little Lucas (Lucas, don't come here looking for us - they might eat you).
Meredith and I tramped the entire lake side, up the adjacent cliffs, and through the crowded streets. As wonderful a respite that this little town offered, it was still too close to Shanghai and we needed to keep moving.

Our next stop was Mount Huangshan. Mount Huangshan is one of China's greatest treasurers, offering a cooler climate and magnificent jagged peaks that thrust thousands of feet straight up. The climb requires 3 hours of steps, straight up! We started out ok, but after the first hour, the legs started to shake and we wondered "how much further." With the 70 year old porters, carrying 60lbs a piece, quickly passing by, we decided to keep some sort of self respect and tramp on without complaint. The climb was well worth the effort with Karate Kid mountain bonsai scenes giving us extra strength with each step. It was a wonderful experience and a highlight of China.

We then decided that we should take a "direct" route Beijing. Our best informants (aka Meredith) recommended the 5 hour train to Nanjing, stay the night, and another 12 hour overnight train to Beijing. Best option....we booked the train to Nanjing with our little bit of Chinese. The trains here require a specific language around the type, or I should say, speed, of the train. "Fast Train" is the key. However, "Fast" has five levels and seems to depend on some random wheel of fortune rating system. So, our "fast" train started chugging along. Luckily I was sitting next to a nice young Chinese girl (poor Meredith was stuck next to a large Chinese man with arms busting across all personal space), so, though three people to a bench seat, I wasn't over crowded. Even more lucky, she was a singer...and a dancer. Oh could she dance! She immediately took to display her skills as the train started to chug along. First, she was a bit modest, letting her cell phone mp3 player scream out on its own. Then, she began to embellish with a bit of Karaoke. Oh, her voice like that of an angel. Next, she stood on her seat, singing loud, dancing with the train as it jostled along the tracks. Not to be uncouth, she was sure to remove her shoes before the dance. Oh, the sour smell of her feet... The air was thick with a putrid funk, filling my lungs like a rotten pull from an ancient hookah. Choking, gasping, I sat, ears ringing with her mind numbing song and bouncing along with the beat of her dance moves. Feeling the spray of her food as she slopped it haphazardly, very nearly entering her mouth, on occasion, but not quite. Finally, Meredith and I decided to ditch the train. I just couldn't handle it. She, in actuality, was no dancing queen, nor was she pleasing to anyone on the train.

The next stop happened to be Suzhou. We looked to our guide books short description and grabbed a cab pointing to the name of the nicest hotel describe in our guidebook. It took the cab driver quite a while, but we finally found the hotel-Home Inn. It was about 12am, but luckily they had a room available. We took a quick look at the room and agreed on a price. Happy to be somewhere other than the train, we dropped our luggage and went to wash up. It was then that the water started pouring through the ceiling from the bathroom above. We then picked up our bags and headed back down stairs. Another room at the same price was not available, but through negotiations, at 12am after a long night mind you, we agreed at a price on another room. We headed back up three flights of stairs to find a room literally falling apart. We then headed back downstairs, negotiated our money back, and walked out of the door. Thus, we began wandering around a tiny Chinese town in the middle of the night. Luckily, we came across a MUCH nicer, albeit more expensive, hotel that was just what we needed. Clean, and as comfortable as a Chinese hard bed can get.

The next morning we headed straight to the train station. We booked the first "fast" train to Shanghai (this was actually a fast train). Four hours later we were back in Shanghai, booking the night train to Beijing. Uneventful was the trip, as we scooted along through the night and checked into a wonderful hostel in the Wangfujing district of Beijing. Wangfujing houses the infamous street food that so much of the world was mezmorized by during the side stories surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Whether you have a hankering for bull testicles, dog soup, scorpion, or silk worms, it is all available here. We chose the candied cherries. Whooooo, aren't we adventurous. Hey! they were good.

We took quick stride to wander the expansive courtyards of the forbidden city and many side temples. Side note: China needs to do a better job on the museums attached to the temples. It's really kind of annoying to look at several hundred ceramic bowls with the description "Exceptional Precious ceramic bowl circa 735 A.D. - 1600 A.D."

Where next...where else...to swim in the Water Cube of course! What? Oh my god, the water cube has a water fountain for a swimming pool. Well, at least the diving pool is open. What? No guests can't go diving...why did we come to China!!! (This is why John came to China and here is where he started to cry - real tears). The diluted sweat of Michel Phelps left untasted by the countless thirsty tourist. Forever will the gold medal essence be lost among the countless pictures and ill advised future documentaries...just one taste...What's the matter with us...the Great Wall is here!

Yeah! We are off to the Great Wall of China. This, my friends, are you all listening, is unbelievable. Seriously, the pictures don't do it justice. Just as if you have ever seen the Grand Canyon, or Machu Picchu, in person, the pictures just don't do it. The place is unreal. Our hike was about 10 kilometers of pure Great Wall magic. Unbelievably uncrowded along our remote stretch of wall, the place was more than surreal. At every turn, all we could say is "wow." That is all I can say to you, "wow, amazing, unbelievable, come see it..."

Done with the smog, now we are in Bangkok! A lovely little oasis in the city, we are at a swanky little hostel that is more like a boutique hotel (http://www.refillnow.co.th/). What a joy. The food is amazing! As much as we tried to enjoy the Chinese food we had, it was all reletive, this food is what we craved. Fresh, spicy, complex, mouth watering, we can't get enough real Thai Food. The weight will come back on, I am sure.

We have bounced around the city on a crazy Tuk Tuk ride through back alleys to forbidden temples. We prayed to the Black Buddha, pretended to shop for fine threads, and joined the locals on the water taxi through the Bangkok canals. This place is dirty, hot, and sticky, but a welcomed change. The Thai people are so welcoming, helpful, and happy, how could anyone not love to be here. Tomorrow we head to Koh Samui for some real beach time, more great Thai food, diving, and plenty of frozen drinks filled with local fruits.

Oh, we are getting very good at being retired....

| 1 comments

Last Day in Shanghai

Written on 4:33 AM by John

Today is our last day in Shanghai. We have been to the famous Bund, Old International Concession, Old Chinese City, and Former French Concession. The Bund provides an often hazy view of the east side of Shanghai divided by the Huangpu River. It’s a great place to snap pictures of the sky line and get your bounds as you set course for exploration. Just west of the Bund is the Old International Concession. This is basically all of the highend Georgtown or New York shops strung along about 8 blocks with hawlkers in the middle asking you to buy a watch, T-shirt, etc. Just south of the Old International Concession lies the Old Chinese City. This is really what you might invision a big city Chinese neighborhood to be—tons of knock offs, antiques, art, food stalls, and packs and packs of people. This was the first time we felt like this city was somewhere other than any other city, really. West of all this you have the Former French Concession. The Former French Concession seems to be an expats haven full of international cuisine and boutique shops, with less crowd and polution than many other parts of the city we had been to.

Reading the magazines and travel guides, the majority of the must see/do in Shanghai centers around food and nightlife. Being our first stop in China, we are trying to take it slow on the food adventure. Don’t worry, I will shock the world later with some Andrew Zimmerman like bizarre food stories, but for now we are taking it slow. As for the night life, well, between the jet lag and rock hard matresses, we haven’t experienced any nights outside of the hostel. A shame, I know, but we will revisit this guzty “little” city at the end of travels with plenty of steam and last night drama to tap into whatever nightlife may be had. For now, however, we are content to venture on into the real China to explore the people, landscapes and cuisine that make each province so special.

Chinese character note 1:
For some reason, we have notice a lot of spitting. Not your casual rare instance of ejectile need, but common place and quite frequent hacking up a lung spitting. Now, we may all have various views and levels of dislike to this, in my opinion, disgusting act, but, when one is personally effected....I mean, when one actual receives a direct blow....well we have all seen Seinfields rendition of the FDR shooting right? Worst of all, especially for those who know her, Meredith was tagged three times in one day! Three times! It was a battle field out there. We actually had to develop a flanking strategy to alert each other of any throat clearing. This worked for a while, but when a bus pulled up and had some shots comimg from the window, Meredith couldn’t find a path of escape. This Shanghai is one dangerous place. We will update you if other parts of China require the same deftness.

| 0 comments

We're Here!!

Written on 12:36 AM by John

After 24 hours of almost straight flying, we finally made it to Shanghai!! Flying to shanghai via Rome, Italy has to be the longest way. The first leg of our trip from Atlanta to Rome wasn't so bad -- it was only about 10 hours. Then the second leg from Rome to Shanghai was quite the experience -- John and I were sandwiched between two chinese men (who took more than their fair share of the arm rest and didn't hesitate to intrude on your personal space or try to read over your shoulder) in the middle row for 12 hours straight with nothing but a choice of cheesy B rated chinese movies or our books!! When we landed we made it to our hostel without a problem (thanks to Joe). We took the number 2 bus and ended up 10 minutes from our hostel. By the time we got here, we showered and fell asleep and didn't wake up for 10 hours! Now, this put us in a bit of a pickle. It was now nightime in China and we were just coming off of 10 hours of sleep. What else to do, we decided to go to bed...

So today, was our first real day in the city. We walked from Jingan district to the Bund, which is located on the waterfront. It was about a 3-4 mile walk each way, so we should find the pounds just dropping off any day now. Surprisingly, Shanghai reminds me a lot of NY -- it has the western influence with tons of shopping and huge buildings, but it's also a little dirtier. There's a haze in the air that we can't decide if its smog or just a foggy day.

It's close to 5:00, so it's almost time for happy hour and dinner...stay tuned for more to come. Next time we'll try to include pictures.

| 0 comments

First Stop - Leaving Lucas

Written on 6:59 AM by John

About two years ago Meredith became fully disenchanted with our lack of adventure and lack of future plans to move past a monotonous life of dull work that neither of us was enjoying. I fully agreed with her sentiment, however after being in the Army, just about anything was tolerable and better than many alternatives that I could think of. The point that I was missing, and the point that she was nice enough to share, is that life isn’t about measuring yourself against lower alternatives, but about measuring yourself against what could be. Or, even better, not what could be, but what should be.

This is when my annoyingly anal accounting side took full control. I jumped on the computer and began creating “The Life Spreadsheet.” As many of you have heard, The Life Spreadsheet has guided much of our activities over the last year and a half. This is proprietary technology at its best, folks. Our spreadsheet provided us many things: traveling options, moving location options, work scenarios, master’s program scenarios, and the budget. Ultimately, the budget became the focus. But, before that happened, we went though more cities to move to, travel options, and work/education scenarios than I care to remember. Finally, we decided on quitting work in October 2008, traveling to South East Asia for 3 months, and moving to San Francisco (I have to say that the moving thing has been by far the most controversial of all decisions).

Ok, so you decide to quit work for 3 months during the most tumultuous time of our country’s economy (at least during my lifetime). And, you really have no idea what you will do once you get back, how long it will take to find a job, or even where to live. What the hell are you thinking? Let’s go to The Life Spreadsheet and see….

The Life Spreadsheet has allowed us to calculate up front travel costs, monthly travel expenses, expected monetary needs upon return, lag time to finance during job search, etc. This gave us our budget needs, so that we could start a monthly savings rate that would be necessary to accomplish our goals. Wow, it actually works out! We can travel for 3 months move to San Francisco and have plenty of rainy day funds for any hiccups along the way or future unforeseen circumstances! The stogy accountant approves and thus Meredith’s travel plans are at the forefront of our thoughts for the next year and a half.

Now the day is here. We have quit our jobs, packed our belongings and are now sitting at a computer in High Point, NC—aka Aunt Lynn’s house. Aunt Lynn has taken on a pivotal role in The Life Spreadsheet. She has taken on keeper of the dog, Lucas, and keeper of the stuff (to be shipped to SF upon our return). How exiting it is to know be well on our way.

We will spend the next two weeks eating ourselves into obesity and drinking ourselves into oblivion to condition our bodies fully for international travel. Joking, of course, we will be visiting family.

Stay tuned! We depart for Shanghai on October 7, and will update the blog as soon as traveling commences.

Posted in First Stop Aunt Lynn Lucas | 1 comments