China ... Day 5

May 5th 2009


Woke up as we arrived Shanghai
Fell asleep for about 3 hours in Shanghai


After our second decent night of sleep, we arrived at Shanghai station around 7:30am in desperate need of a shower. We decided that we would head to our hostel and essentially beg for them to let us get clean. Lucky us because, not only did they let us check in at 8:00am, they fed us breakfast, gave us maps, simplified some directions, rented us bicycles & sent us on our merry little way. I love hostels.


Daniel and I decided to take on Shanghai via bicycle on our last day in China. It sounded like a great idea. We ride bikes in Japan every day. They're super convenient. They're way more fun than walking. All signs pointed to yes. Little did I know it was going to be terrifying.

First of all the bikes, buses, trucks, mopeds, cargo bikes, and all of the other weird transportation devices they use in China, all share the same street. There's really nothing safe about it. I don't know how many times I uttered the phrase, 'Biking in Shanghai will be the death of me' but I'm pretty sure it was at least once every time I was close enough to a moving vehicle that I could hi five the driver without fully extending my arm, which was at least 100 times. I was actually a little relieved when my bicycle was STOLEN (that's right - stolen) from the Urban Planning Center.

This video definitely doesn't show the terrifying nature of our excursion (considering that there was barely any traffic on this particular street) but just imagine this being a busy street with like 40 more bicycles and 32 double decker buses. That would make the video a more accurate dipiction.

But before my bike got stolen, we did manage to make it to Jingan Temple in downtown Shanghai. The temple dates back to something like 247 AD and contains the largest sitting jade Buddha statue in the country. The whole temple has the most amazing woodwork both inside and out.

Jingan Temple:
and on the inside:

The name translates to meaning 'Temple of Peace and Tranquility' ... the funny part about that is that the temple is located right in the center of downtown Shanghai. There's nothing really peace-like or tranquil about the constant horn honking, emergency sirens, people shouting, and running train lines while you're trying to pray.

We spent the rest of the afternoon navigating the streets (literally IN the streets) of Shanghai stopping at bookstores, taking a ride through People's Park, checking out West Nanjing Road (where I could afford absolutely nothing!! :) ), and eventually to the Urban Planning Center ... which would put an end to my bicycle riding days in Shanghai.

The Urban Planning Center was a lot cooler than it sounds. It was kind of like a museum, but a lot of the exhibits were interactive and most of the representations and dioramas were projections of the future of Shanghai and really, really interesting.

First up was the 2009 Summer & Children & Love exhibit. It was dedicated to the children who survived the earthquakes of last year and I never in a million years thought that I would get teary eyed at the Urban Planning Center, but there I was ...

reading all about children's altered hopes and dreams after the earthquakes and about the loss and the tragedy that so many kids experienced. Their summer dreams were about new schools, clean water, and houses that 'can't be quaked down'. Looking at their pictures and thinking about their stories and putting myself in their little tiny 5 year old shoes made my summer 'dreams' of a new car and a ideally located 2 bedroom apartment for under $700 seem so trivial.

I don't care who you are, or where you live, or who your dad is, or what language you speak, or how much money you have ... every child deserves to be loved every single day, and should be able to feel safe when they go to sleep every night, and has the right to be happy when they wake up each and every morning. Thinking that some of these kids don't get what they deserve was enough to make my heart break a little. And yet they smile, and they're optimistic, and they still dream about new bicycles and new books for their schools. A lot of people could learn a thing or two from these kids ... myself included.

This little girl had the most precious smile :) , but that was about it :(

Thankfully, the rest of the Urban Planning Center was a lot less emotional; no tissues needed. Upstairs was a lot of Shanghai history and then up another floor was a lot of Shanghai future. This huge model took up the entire third floor and is a projection of what Shanghai, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, will look like in the year 2020.

The whole thing was pretty impressive.

To celebrate our last night in China all we really wanted was some amazing Chinese food and a few Tsingtaos. We got a few recommendations on where to go, took a subway and a taxi, walked for a while and eventually stumbled upon the average sized bar called 'Hello Two'. Who knows what happened to the original, but I can tell you this - Hello Two was fantastic. I guarantee the Tsingtaos had something to do with it, but Daniel and I had an amazing time. We loved that band and I know for a fact they loved us back. I mean they let us do pretty much whatever we wanted including 'The Conga' on stage, they played every song we requested and they openly handed over the mic anytime we started singing along ... which was to almost every song. I don't even really remember their name, I just remember that I love them. <3

Daniel, singing one of my favorites - Hey Jude

Some things are just a little fuzzy after all of that singing and dancing, but I remember (even in the fuzziest state) thinking:

There's this quote by Helen Keller that says, "Life is either a great adventure or nothing." My life definitely classifies as a great adventure, with China being just a small (but great) part.

much love

-tara-

xx

China ... Day 4

May 4th 2009

Woke up in Beijing
Spent the morning in Mutianyu
Spent the afternoon in Beijing
Fell asleep on the way to Shanghai

The alarm went off around 7 just before our overnight train pulled in to Beijing Station. We got off the train, found somewhere to check our backpacks (which was always a little scary considering that I knew it definitely wasn't as safe as checking bags in Japan), stopped inside a Chinese McDonalds for some breakfast, cursed ourselves for not learning "where's the bathroom?" in the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, and finally made our way to the bus terminal.

Everything in Beijing was a little scary. Checking bags was a little scary. Eating McDonalds was a little scary. Getting on a bus (& praying that we were going the right way) was a little scary. Breathing was a little scary ("air pollution levels on an average day in Beijing are nearly five times above World Health Organization standards for safety" ... yea, that's scary). Beijing just had kind of a 'scary' vibe. But we were on our way (hopefully) to the Great Wall. There was nothing scary about that. (Except for the scary people on the bus).


We took this bus 70km northeast of Beijing to Huairou County. It took like two hours to get there, but we did make friends with the only other English speaker on the bus, a lady named Edva from Israel. It ended up working out nicely because we split a cab that took us from a random bus stop in Huairou County to Mutianyu. There's a limited number of sections of the Wall 'open' to the public, most of which are close to Beijing. We chose the Mutianyu area for a couple of reason ... because we had heard it was less touristy than the other sections, better preserved, there was beer at the top, and we would be able to 'slide' back down (although we didn't really know what that meant). That all sounded good though.

The Mutiyanu Map:

A little Great Wall history ... The thing is unbelievably old. Real technical, I know. :) Back in like 200 BC (see? That's so long ago) construction was ordered to build a wall to protect the empire from intrusions by these Xiongnu people who lived up north. Throughout the course of later dynasties, the Wall was repaired, rebuilt, or expanded to further defend themselves (the crazy Chinese) from those damn northern invaders. And then in the 1400's there was another push to reinforce the Wall as the Ming Dynasty battled it out with the Mongolians. Most of the effort was put into areas around the capital city of Beijing, explaining why those areas are the most well intact ... they were the areas that were built the strongest.

Seeing the Great Wall was overwhelming. It's just like breathtaking (and I hate saying that word). I can't find the words to describe what the feeling was like but it was similar to that of seeing Big Ben, or the Opera House, or the Eiffel Tower, or Kinkakuji, or walking along the D Day beaches. It was just incredible.


The Wall is approximately 4,000 miles long, although no one really knows the exact length and considering that the Wall branches in some areas and extends radically in others, some say the total length can be somewhere close to 5,500 miles. AND, just this year another 200 or so miles of the Wall were discovered. They had been submerged in sand. Who knew? At the same time, it is predicted that something like 50 miles of the Wall will disappear in the next 50 years because of sand erosion (apparently this sand is a problem). So who really knows the exact length of the Wall? No one. I can tell you the exact length of the trek Daniel and I took though ... 2,250 meters.

Daniel & I ... after dominating the Great Wall.

Oh, and that whole bit about 'sliding' down the Wall ... yea, it wasn't a joke. We took a roller toboggan all the way down (after drinking our TsingTao at the top) and it was wild.

Of course I took a million pictures of the Great Wall. I really don't understand how you couldn't, unless of course you were blind. I posted them all here ...

Great Wall Greatness

After our Great Wall extravaganza, we took the same taxi back to another random bus stop and then the bus back to scary Beijing. We had the late afternoon and evening to spend before returning to the station to catch our train, so we decided to keep the schedule pretty open so there wouldn't be any stress or running for trains or worrying about missing subways or catching a last something (like Tokyo, Daniel! :) ).

First up was the Forbidden City. This place was nuts. It was the Chinese imperial palace for forever and a day and it's huge. There are currently almost 1,000 surviving buildings covering an area the size of Chicago's Loop (3,150 ft. x 2,470 ft.), and lots and lots of guards, despite the fact that nowadays it is the Palace Museum and definitely not forbidden.

One of the 1,000 buildings. :)

Actually, this was an entrance.

We watched the guards prepare for a nightly flag ceremony and they were kind of scary. Go figure. Like everything else Beijing.

As the sun went down we made our way to Tiananmen Square ... one of, if not the biggest 'square' in the world. This are is well known for it's political activity and student protests. One of the most famous events in Tiananmen Square was the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. There were also numerous mass rallies during the cultural revolution in the 60's and 70's.

The Monument to the People's Heroes and the Great Hall of the People from Tiananmen Square:

One of the most severe protests, and biggest displays of political opposition, was in 1989 and ended in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. "The protests were sparked by the death of pro-market, pro-democracy and anti-corruption official, Hu Yaobang, whom protesters wanted to mourn. By the eve of Hu's funeral, 100,000 people had gathered on the Tiananmen square. While the protests lacked a unified cause or leadership, participants were generally against the government's authoritarianism and voiced calls for economic change and democratic reform within the structure of the government."

Basically what happened is the government stepped in, brought in tanks and troops and used excess force to end the the hunger strike, the protesting, and the opposition, causing widespread international condemnation of the PRC government. The death toll is a complete mystery. NATO Intelligence ranks the deaths around 7000 (including civilians and soldiers), while according to the Chinese government, the official figure is 241 dead, including soldiers. "Many people suspect that troops burned the bodies of many citizens to destroy the evidence of the killings." Yea, scary. I've been saying it this whole time.

The whole story is really interesting and definitely worth reading about. There's a great pictorial article from The First Post ... In Pictures: Tiananmen Square Massacre

Sitting there in the middle of the square surrounded by guards, security, and cameras all over the place (yes, that's what it's like now), was almost eerie. Thinking about people essentially being run over by tanks and risking their lives by standing up to open fire as a way to openly oppose a communist government only to have the hopes of political liberalization crushed literally right there in the square was enough to make me quiet for quite a while. I almost felt relieved when we stood up to make our way towards Beijing Station to catch the train back to Shanghai.

We were physically exhausted from climbing the Great Wall and mentally exhausted from having endured all that is Beijing, but we weren't too exhausted to have a TsingTao at the bar on the train. The plan was great, except they didn't have any Chinese beer!! How is it that in China we end up with our only choices being Heinenken, Bud Ice, and some Filipino beer? I don't know either, but hey, we were drinking beer in a bar on a train. And yea, I took the Bud Ice. What of it? :)

much love

-tara-

xx

China ... Day 3

May 3rd

Woke up in Hong Kong
Spent the afternoon in Shanghai
Went to sleep on the way to Beijing

The sunrise from the airport in Hong Kong

(yea, it was THAT early)

We took an EARLY morning flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai so we would have the entire day to spend in the city before catching the overnight train to Beijing. This was definitely the best idea for maximizing our time and not sleeping away all of China, but let me tell you ... when the alarm was going off in the fours after going to bed sometime in the twos, I was NOT happy. Of course it didn't last that long and we did manage to get some more sleep ... I think Daniel & I were both soundly sleeping (in the most comfortable way we could manage) before the plane actually took off. :)

Yet another health check ...

So the swine flu was definitely the hot news topic during the time we were in China and every English newspaper we found had 'SWINE FLU' headlines and pictures of pigs eating people and all other ridiculously blown out of proportion graphics and articles. Each time we landed we had to fill out a health check and then hold our breath to prevent us from coughing or sneezing as we exited the aircraft and approached the 'doctors' and health officials that were waiting to take our temperature and pass out facemasks. We had read so many articles and heard multiple stories about people (especially Americans) being quarantined at the airports because they appeared to be 'sick'. We were already attracting so much attention for just being American, that we really went overboard trying to look normal and 'unsickly'. Lucky for us, we didn't get stopped beyond the standard check. Whew.

Daniel and I had mapped out our afternoon in Shanghai and decided to start with The Bund. We knew that this area was considered one of the most touristy areas in Shanghai, but that was about it. Once we got there we realized that it was an area along the Huangpu River that consisted of a stretch of land approximately a mile long with 52 buildings from corporate buildings to banks to hotels. The buildings have all sorts of different architectural styles, most of which did not resemble anything Asian.

A small part of The Bund:

We spent the afternoon getting food in the park, walking along the river area and taking an underground 'people's tunnel' (that went under the river) to the other side of to a shopping area called Nanjing Road.

We walked along Nanjing Road, the main shopping street in Shanghai, from The Bund all the way to People's Square. We found all sorts of wild stuff while taking in Shanghai ...

Including a Yoshinoya!! :)

Nanjing Road is considered the world's longest shopping district, as well as one of the busiest. Apparently it attracts over 1 million visitors daily.

And I believe that.

(I also believe there are 1 million Chinese flags)

We also spent some time in People's Park which I later learned used to be part of the Shanghai horse racing course before the Communist government banned gambling and horse racing around 1950.

There may not have been horses, but there were more flags!

We decided to try our hand a real, authentic Chinese restaurant for dinner. This was being a little adventurous because the place we decided to stop at had limited pictures on the menu, absolutely zero English and the server looked at us like we were nuts when we walked in. Great (in the most sarcastic tone possible). We used our best, nonexistent Mandarin to order some sort of chicken something or another. From the looks of what everyone else had, it kind of looked like soup that was on fire with vegetables and BEER. I could do a liquid dinner if worst came to worst. :)

We ended up with this:

Everything tasted really good. We watched everyone else to learn that we were supposed to put all of the vegetables and ingredients into the pot (with the chicken) and wait a little bit. So we drank our huge TsingTaos (I still don't understand how every time we order a TsingTao it comes in a different bottle, but whatever ... beers beer) and waited for our collection of edible to cook. After the initial bite I was impressed. The flavor was really good, although I could never describe it, and the vegetables were normal-ish ... I didn't have to use my beer to choke it down, so that was a good sign. It wasn't until I started eating the 'chicken' that I was a little afraid of what was actually in the pot. There were so many bones and like every bite you took felt like you were eating some part of a bird that wasn't meant to be eaten. Like they plucked the feathers, laid the bird down, chopped it up and put it in our pot. Everything on the plates in the picture is inedible. I'm pretty sure if we would have had the time, we could have assembled the entire chicken again ... kind of like what we did with the mouse bones in the owl pellets Gutherie Center style. Yea, just like that. It was gross. AND there were two chicken feet in the pot. Like the whole claw. Nails and all. Sick.

The overall feeling in Shanghai was different from that of Hong Kong. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were now in mainland China and more a part of the 'Communist, kind of crazy China' (which definitely isn't the case in Hong Kong, obviously) or that now everyone was speaking a completely different language (Mandarin as opposed to Cantonese) or the fact that we were expected to eat chicken's feet, or that things just weren't as 'easy' as they were in Hong Kong. Whatever it was, it was definitely different. I was developing a liking to Shanghai, but I wouldn't say I was in love with it like I was with HK. I can tell you what I was in love with though ...

Daniel and I had decided to use the overnight train as our way of getting from Shanghai to Beijing and back again. We really had no idea what to expect from this train ride, all we knew was that it was going to last 10 hours and that we were tired. I was just praying for pillow.

Not only did I get a pillow ... I got a bed, blankets, slippers, bottled water, a tv AND flowers all in our own personal room - that had a lock on the door!! The rooms are designed for four people, but we got lucky and didn't have to deal with any randoms.

AND there was an actual real, clean, complete bathroom. Don't even get me started on the bathrooms/toilets/closets/holes people use in China. Just know that they were so bad that I almost shed a tear when I saw the normalness that was on the train.

Daniel and I were so excited about the sleeping arrangements ... Who would have thought that our best night of sleep thus far was going to happen on the overnight train?

I posted more pictures of our Shanghai adventure on facebook.

Click here - Shanghai

much love

-tara-

xx

China ... Day 2

May 2
Woke up in Hong Kong
Fell asleep in Hong Kong (for 2 hours)

Random thoughts on Hong Kong ...

- There are a lot of people. 'With a population of 7 million people, but only 1,108 km2 (428 sq mi) of land, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.' But also interesting is that they have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at less than one child per woman. So in order to sustain the current population they need to rely on immigration, which apparently isn't a problem. I'd thoroughly enjoy immigrating to Hong Kong. :)

- Daniel and I both agreed that Hong Kong had one of the best transportation systems out of any of the big cities that we've been to. I think I read somewhere that over 90% of daily transport in Hong Kong is done on public transportation ... and I believe that. Between taxis, the subway, ferries, peak trams, express trains, buses, and the only double decker tram system in the world, it was so easy (and cheap!!) to get from point A to point B. Cheers to that.

- Hong Kong is incredibly hilly. Everything is a steep slope, an intimidating flight of stairs, or a 'longest outdoor escalator ride in the world' away.

We had the entire day to spend in Hong Kong and a long list of things to do, so when the alarm went off at 8:00am (after just a few hours of sleep) Daniel and I were ready to rock. First up ... a temple.

Man Mo Temple was built after two gods, Man the god of literature and Mo the god of war. The temple is full of these huge coil incense that are burning to 'feed the spirits of the gods'. Well the gods certainly weren't going hungry because it was all sorts of smokey and I am pretty sure ALL of the incense were burning. I should have worn a hat because I'm pretty sure I ended up with ashes all in my hair.

Next up was Victoria Peak. This is the ultimate touristy thing to do in Hong Kong, but the view was suppose to be amazing so we put it on the list. We took a tram up to the peak and the view was just like they said, absolutely amazing.

We're kind of an international big deal ... :)

Our next stop for the day was to take a ferry across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. The weather was perfect and the view was pretty sweet and it was only like 11:00 am. Daniel and I were rocking on time.

'Hong Kong has the world's greatest number of skyscrapers, at 7,650. The high density and tall skyline of Hong Kong's urban area is due to a lack of available sprawl space. This lack of space causing demand for dense, high-rise offices and housing, has resulted in 36 of the world's 100 tallest residential buildings being in Hong Kong, and more people living or working above the 14th floor than anywhere else on Earth, making it the world's most vertical city.' And I always thought Tokyo was the move vertical city ... learn something new every day.
The skyline was stunning at night. The buildings were all lit up, as were the boats, everyone was gathered along the water, and at 8:00 there was a laser show. Called 'A Symphony of Lights', the show is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world's largest permanent light and sound show. It was pretty amazing to watch & I'm pretty sure I have some video somewhere, although we all know how good my video taking skills are. :)
We spent the day taking in the city and walking, people watching, and mingling starting with an upscale area called Jordan Road before making it to the local markets, which were an absolute riot. The people were hilarious, the bargaining was fun, the stuff was crap, but everyone was buying regardless ... it was just a lot of fun. Even more fun the the markets in Korea & Mexico. :) We made it to a few different ones ...

- The Ladies Market
'Probably Hong Kong's most famous market, and one of the best for visiting tourists to soak up the hustle and bustle of a Chinese market. Despite the name, the markets sells clothes for men and women and plenty of cheap Chinese curios, as well as being one of the locations for Hong Kong's buzzing trade in copies and fakes.' (And yes, we had the experience of being taken into a back alley closet & shown all of the 'A class' black market goods. Bags, watches, belts, jewelry, DVDs. You name it, you could find it. We didn't make any fake purchases though. Definitely not my style).

- The Golden Shopping Arcade
'Probably Hong Kong's best computer market, and there is plenty of competition, the Golden Arcade features hundreds of independent stores, flogging the best in computer technology at fairly low prices. Be prepared, the arcade is a maze and almost always packed, on top of that sellers can be aggressive. Check out our guide to buying electronics in Hong Kong, for some tips.'

and

- Temple Street Market
'A night market selling mostly gadgets and small electronic items, including a wide-range of second-hand mobile phones. The streets surrounding the market are transformed at night into one big, open-air restaurant, as street food sellers set tables for hungry shoppers.' We ate dinner and drank a lot of TsingTaos at the temple street market. :) Definitely a good time.

We made it back to the hotel well after midnight to fall asleep in Hong Kong for the last time ... only to be woken up 2 hours later by a 4:30am alarm that neither of us were excited about.

I posted more Hong Kong pictures on facebook ... here are the links:

Hong Kong Day 1

&

Hong Kong Day 2

much love

-tara-

xx

China ... Day 1

May 1

Woke up in Okayama Japan

Fell asleep in Hong Kong China

Daniel and I left Okayama on Friday afternoon and flew to Shanghai, where we had a couple hour layover in an extremely quiet airport (still don't quite get that one) and drank our first TsingTao, before catching our connecting flight to Hong Kong.

Our first China picture as we deplaned in Shanghai ...

Look at all that excitement:

The hour we spent in the Shanghai Puddong airport was used to formally introduce ourselves to TsingTao (my new favorite beer) and to plan the rest of our trip. Nothing like waiting until we were already there to plan what we were going to do. :)

All we needed was beer and a map:

We arrived in Hong Kong just after the sun had gone down, found an express train in to the city and took a taxi straight to our hotel (thank goodness for bilingual tourist maps). We checked in, dropped off our bags, changed clothes and were ready for a little Chinese nightlife. As we left our hotel and walked down Hollywood Road (that was seriously the name of the street) on our way to Soho (seriously), I fell in love with Hong Kong. I don't even really quite know how it happened. It was dark, most of the shops on the streets were closed, there was a lot of construction so it wasn't particularly beautiful, but there was something about it. Just one of those feelings. In Sex & the City Carrie described New York City as her perfect boyfriend ... if I could date a city, Hong Kong would definitely be it.

We walked to Soho, found the worlds longest outdoor escalator (I come across the most random stuff), took it all the way to the top, found a nice restaurant for a late night dinner and then headed to where the music was coming from.

The world's longest outdoor escalator ... how random, yet how Tara:

One of the Hong Kong vibes that I picked up on instantly was that the city was like Asia's international melting pot. There were all sorts of everything ... all types of people (speaking all sorts of languages), all kind of restaurants, all sorts of shops ... all of which was exciting. One of the most exciting things I picked up on right away was that a lot of people spoke English (or at least they did in the areas we were frequenting). That definitely made things a lot easier considering I was lacking serious confidence in my ability to speak Cantonese.

Daniel and I had read about Lan Kwai Fong being known as 'Hong Kong's most popular and well known area for a night out. Boasting numerous bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, it is a popular choice for the well off locals, expatriates and tourists. The high costs associated with the area makes this a relatively high class location, although the quality and reputation of this area is obvious virtually every night. Visiting on a Friday or Saturday night you may be overwhelmed by the enormous crowds that fill the streets (which are closed for several hours to vehicular traffic), with all bars having only standing room.' I don't know about the 'high class' bit, but we were definitely up for numerous bars, pubs and clubs.

We found exactly what we were looking for and it all started with a little 'Dancing Queen' from ABBA. That's how Daniel and I knew that we were in the right place. The song will forever remind us of this one crazy night of dancing in Brisbane, Australia with a group of our principals and every single time I hear it I laugh out loud really hard. Hearing it in Hong Kong was equally hilarious and made us kind of want to dance, which is excactly what you can do in Lan Kwai Fong.

And you can eat pineapple jello!! Amazing.

Of course we didn't make it back to Hollywood Street until late in the evening (more like early in the morning) and when the alarm was going off at 8:00am I couldn't even be mad because we were in Hong Kong!!

much love

-tara-

xx

C - H - I - N - A ...

China by the numbers:

1 country
2 crazy travelers
6 days
4,650 miles
3 major cities
2 languages
13 modes of transportation
654 photos
29 hours of sleep
60 TsingTao's
2 nights on an overnight train
an undisclosed amount of yuan
+ proper swine flu precautions
-----------------------------------------------
an amazing, (yet strange) awesome (yet difficult), incredible (yet exhausting) trip

much love
-tara-
xx

中國, otherwise known as China ...

So tomorrow I'm leaving for China. I think this is the most nervous I've ever been before a big trip. I have NO idea what to expect. I've heard this, I've heard that, I've heard the people are amazing, I've heard they're terrible, I've heard everything is dirty - don't drink the water, and I've heard this is the most amazing trip I'll ever take. I really don't know what I'm getting myself into.

What I do know is this ... I have an amazing travel partner that I have already conquered three countries with (& we have no plans of stopping at four), we have a flexible plan that both of us are really excited about, and we are going to drink beer on top of the Great Wall.

much love
-tara-
xx