Asthma_is_Sexy's Xanga

Friday, August 14, 2009

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:22:52 GMT

visited 30 states (60%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: Triposo Travelhacks

States I've played DDR in

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:10:42 GMT

Day 5, Xi'an with a train ride to Shanghai.

City Wall
So we woke up in Xi'an and headed to a bike ride on an ancient gate inside the city. There were individual bikes and tandem bikes. Jason and I were going to go on individual bikes... we were fighting that morning and not in a good mood, but they ran out, so we had to ride tandem!

We raced around the wall trying to beat Paul and Simon (two cool U.K. dudes) and we would have (probably) but we got a flight tire. We still rode the bike with a flat all the way to the end. The total ride was just 8 miles.

The gate we rode on (photo by Jason)

Here our our new friends on their bikes

Sean (Australia)

Amy -Australia (I couldn't get a non blurry pic!)

Paul and Tiana - U.S. (also on a tandem bike)

Great Mosque
After that, we went to a Muslim temple. We had to go down this creepy alley and it was a bit scary. More about that in a moment. Here is the Muslim Temple. Oh, interesting note, the gals that had their shoulders showing had to put on scarves.

Right outside the Muslim temple, there was some shady construction going on. This dude was lifting rocks using a pulley with a little piece of cloth attached to it.

Dude liftin' rock (photo by Jason)

Unsafe conditions!

We made our way back to the strange alley and even picked up some food there.
(All strange alley photos by Jason)

FYI, this stuff was not very good. It was okay. I'd much rather eat a delicious rice ball in china town.

Afterwards we went some place to buy stuff and eat... I think... my memory is getting blurry. Would you believe we had McDonalds AGAIN?! Jason and Sean were both feeling very ill that day and wanted Western food. Well, y'know what? They don't use breast meat for the chicken sandwiches. UGH. Worst chicken sandwich of my life. I gave up and found some weird food at this bakery. It was pretty tasty. I ate some bread that was orange on the outside with chicken on the inside. And some peach thing that had half a peach baked into it. I might have to look for those in Chinatown.

After that we headed to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

The Jasons (I dunno who took this photo, but it is awesome. )

They had chickens. I don't know why.

Indian Style Budha

Chinese style Happy Budha
They said to rub the belly for happiness, the ears for long life, the head for wisdom and the nipples (tour guide being a jokester)

On th way to the train, we saw these guys. A man handling them actually picked one up and offered to hand it to one of our tour group members. The tour guy wouldn't take it so the man tossed the chick back into the box.

Jason had somebody ( I dunno who!) take a photo of him and some employee at the train station.

On the train

Me n' the 56% alcohol (Firewater). Regina gave it to me. (photo by Jason)

Simon U.K., drunk on the train. (photo by Jason)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:31:15 GMT

Our new hotel room in Xi'an. No more twin beds!

Our first stop for today was a factory where we learned about the terracotta warriors, ate a crappy lunch (maybe... I may be making this part up), and had the opportunity to buy our own miniature (or life sized) terracotta warriors. They had these really nice globes. One was retailing for 1800 Yuan ( about $270. This dude knocked the price down to 1000 Yuan ( $150) but I really don't need a cool expensive globe.

I bought the little pig magnet. So cute.

I liked the way this looked... so I took a picture.

Hot Springs
After that, we went to some defunct hot springs that the emperor used to chill at.

Here are one of the baths.

There was a story on the wall. I didn't understand it, but I think the guide explained it... The only problem was we were outside, and it was so damn hot.

Jason

I dunno what this is.

And the cool American couple

Once again, our awesome tour guide.

We saw pomegranates growing on trees. I was excited.

Haha, in China nobody cares about your brand.

Finally, on our way to see the Terracotta Warriors!

But we passed by this cool statue.

Terracotta Warriors

The entrance to see the terracotta warriors is, like, 50 million miles long. Lucky they put this sign here.

After our long trek, and 2 or 3 entrance gates (no joke) we finally reached the warriors.

Saw this guy outside

Then back for more warriors

After that, we were all pretty tired. (Including Sammy, a cool dude from the U.K.)

While lazing about, we saw a grasshopper.

That night we went out on the town for a little bit. We ate at some gross old place that turned the lights off on us. Ended up in this private booth karaoke bar, but we left pretty quickly. We may have seen some dead puppies. I don't know, everything was pretty crazy. I think they were alive, but Amy assured me they were not. Some guy was selling them, either way.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:47:38 GMT

Day 3 in China

We headed off to the Summer Palace, which was the prettiest place we had seen so far... and I got sick. So pics are limited. Well... more limited than before.

It was bad, though. I had to use the squat pot. ;_; Actually, the squat pot wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
(Found this pic on the net)

Summer Palace
Dragon

Phoenix

I dunno

Jason

El oh el, Dragon

Lilly Pads

It was raining. Eventually a lot.

Some beautiful part of the summer palace I missed since I was being sick (photo by Jason)

Photo by Jason

Silk Road
After the summer Palace we went to the Silk Road Market Place. We bargained and bargained. It was fun, but most of the stuff was junk that we so didn't need. Junk that you find in Chinatown, really.

The people are REALLY agressive. They grab you and touch you and try to keep you in their little booths. They call you friend, and sexy and pretty and all sorts of things. It's hard to be stern and not buy a bunch of crap.

We ate at McDonald's because Amy was tired of eating rice (she'd been touring around forever before this... I think she was in Cambodia... or Mongolia... I dunno where). I didn't want ANY food, but I ate some fries.

Mc Donalds (photos by Jason)

Then we headed out to the train for an overnight ride to Xi'an. We shared the cabin with this really cool American couple, Tiana and Paul.

The train station in Beijing (photo by Jason)

Our tour guide, Regina, got drunk on 77% alcohol. She was hilarious. We were all drinking and she was like "I can't blame you, I am... drunk mom"

Monday, July 27, 2009

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:17:18 GMT

Day 2, packed in just like day 1.

Jason and I on the bus headed towards...

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!
or "Chong Ling" which I guess is more like... long wall... but I dunno.

Well let me tell you what. The Great wall is total disappointment. Okay, not total. It is pretty cool, BUT

1. There are butlloads of people on it
2. Parts of it smell like pee
3. There is so much "fog" (pollution) that it is hard to get nice shots. Or at least, there was on the day we went.

You fail to visit China if a stranger doesn't ask you to take a photo with them. (Happened to me as well, but on a different day)

We were startin' to make som friends. The gal waving is Amy, and next to here is Paul.

Amy. Total badass. Has backpacked over, like, a million countries.

Sean, Amy, Jason, another Paul. There were three Paul's.
I could have also labeled this pic
Australia, Australia, U.S.A, U.S.A Where were all our U.K. friends that day?

me on the great wall (photo by Jason)

The majestic great wall behind us. We could see it. Through the smog.
-_-

Later that day we went to a
Cloisonne Workshop

They kept taking us to these sucky places for lunch with gift shops in the back. Anyway, we learned about Cloisonne. They use copper and then... I dunno. I wasn't paying attn.

Cloisonne stuff you could buy (photo by Jason)

Then we went to the
Tomb of the Ming Emperors

Our awesome tour guide, Regina, our beautiful Chinese queen and mom.

Some teeth.

Some money. Thrown out for ... I dunno why.

Some more animals.

Stepping over the... Ling? Gate with the left foot for good luck. Ladies had to use the right.

Did you know that if you were the emperors favorite concubine and he kicked the bucket, they'd through you into a pit so you could die and keep him company? At least, that is what I think they said. Sounds crappy.

Beijing, Day 1 and 1/2

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:01:11 GMT

So we left for Beijing on Monday the 13th at 11:40 AM from NYC and got into Beijing on Tuesday the 14th at 4:00PM.

Of course, when we got to the airport they wouldn't let us off the plane until they took our temperature (SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!). At this point, I'm sneezing up a storm because I've been inside the plane for far too many hours, so I'm kinda worried. But we all pass! Yay! and they let us in to China.

Of course, I have no luck, and they pull me aside for a random 2nd temperature inspection. Jason didn't see that they took me aside, so he kept on going. They guided me into a little section screened from everyone else and made me put on a mask and put a thermometer in my armpit. Then they took my passport. I, being the softass that I am, started crying, and then of course, sniffling, which is exactly what I didn't want to be doing. The girl next to me is being told she will have to go to the hospital (which means 7 days quarantine for her) I'm completely worried. To make the situation worse, I coughed, and the gal inspecting me comes over and asks "do you have a cough?" I immediately reply "no" even though I just coughed right there in the inspection room. After several more questions they let me go, and we were on our way to the hotel.

We stayed at the Rainbow Hotel while in Beijing. One of the tour guides, Jin, an older, very polite Chinese man, apologized that he couldn't get us a room with a bigger bed. So Jason and I shared a twin bed. Amazingly uncomfortable.

View from the room (photo by Jason)

A lot of the items in China were much smaller. Notice Jason's head peeking over the shower.

The first evening we just slept some really odd hours. The next morning we woke up, super early, and decided to explore a little bit. We found this

We ate breakfast at the hotel and then met up with our tour group for a very, very, full day.

Tiananmen Square

First, we went to Tiananmen Square The place is huge and hot, and huge. It can hold half a million people. It is the biggest public square in the world. Too ****ing big. There were buttloads of people there. You can't tell from my photos, but good god, the place was crawling with masses of people.

I saw this little guy, and had to snap a photo of him.

Butts (photo by Jason)

Anyway, Tiananmen Square sucked, we were dying of thirst, and incredibly paranoid of being ripped off at this point. With good reason, several people on the trip got back change that wasn't Chinese money on the tour.

Us (photo by Jason)

Forbidden Palace

The Forbidden Palace was also huge, hot and crawling with people, but a little more interesting. I'm no history buff, and I can't honestly say I paid a ton of attention to the guide, but I remember that the Forbidden Palace has 9999 rooms.

Forbidden Palace (photo by Jason)

There was also this imperial garden that was very pretty. But we totally bombed on getting photos of it.

FINALLY! Something to drink!

Hutong

After the Forbidden Palace we went to a Hutong, which is some kind of traditional courtyard dwelling that is really super ****ing expensive, but totally looks like a horrible place to live.

We all crowded in to this gals place.

She told us about her life there and her father who paints on the inside of little bottles. Apparently, the govt asked him to do 700 inner paintings for the Beijing 08' Olympics. They were pretty badass.

Rickshaw Ride
After that, we went on a rickshaw ride. Our driver was a total badass. He kept bumping (purposefully) into other drivers, or grabbing their rickshaw so he could be lazy and not peddle.

Peking Duck

That evening, the entire tour went out to eat at a Peking Duck restaurant. It was pretty tasty. One of the few tasty meals we would have, sadly. I was so ***ing tired, I'm surprised I didn't die.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccckkkkkkk!

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:47:37 GMT

There will be a deluge of pictures, eventually. All I've been doing lately is sleeping. All the time.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:09:24 GMT

I go to China tomorrow. In the meantime... Your story in a nutshell.

Post a quick rundown of your life.

I was born in 1983 to a white mother and a black father. My youth was chaotic, my first memories were of living with a man who was my "uncle" until my family came together for a short period under one home. After another prison stint, my father came home for good until his death at age 50. I moved around heavily afterward, living in a mix of towns, one over 500 K persons, another only 12 houses and several inbetween sized towns. I became a Mormon and later defected. In high school I asked my bf to marry me and became engaged at the age of 18 to a boy attending a local community college. I graduated valedictorian from HS. Shortly after I moved in with my fiance and went to college myself, where I graduated with a degree in Mathematics. I got married and things went smoothly until I decided to move to NYC to become a teacher in the Bronx.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:37:18 GMT

So, I cleaned my room.

This is what I've been up to the past few days

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:16:07 GMT

Cleaning

blowing up pictures to 18 x 24

taking photos ans drawing