[Miaoli] Tongluo

I went to a friend's relatives house for the afternoon. Lunch included rice and vegetables grown here:



A creepy-looking swallow nest inside a shrine:


Firecracker remains are a common sight these days.


Then we visited this shrine. It was much busier than this photo makes it look. There was tea, noodles, and candy offered in part of the NY celebrations.


Tree branch, or Guanyin?

Day 5: Beijing

No digital photos from my last day.

I checked out, and proceeded to take a cab to the Temple of Heaven Park. I went during appropriate hours this time. Nice day for a visit to a sacrificial altar, wouldn't you say?

Visited the main buildings and then left. Took a cab to the airport shuttle station, and then (you guessed it) caught the shuttle to the airport. The ride was very quick which meant that I was even earlier than the early early I had intended on being.

I hung around the airport for several hours before hopping on a plane to Macau. I sat at the very back of the plane and had the row of seats to myself. During my layover in Macau I tried to exchange my RMB to NT, but the teller had run out. As I've been told, there's only one place in Taiwan where I can exchange my money. I guess I'll just wait till I go to Japan.

Fly from Macau --------> to Taiwan. It was night, and I'd missed the last bus to Zhongli by several hours. I ended up taking a cab back to the Zhong. The driver didn't really know where I lived and so, as soon as I was within walking distance of the train station I had him drop me off.



A good trip to an interesting city. I got to practice my Mandarin more than usual. I mean, we're talking extremely basic Mandarin, but it was a lot of fun. A few times I slipped a French word in by accident.

Day 4: Beijing

Might actually be crazy for getting up so early. Walked to Beihai Park. By the time I got there the park was open, but the white bagoda on Jade Islet wasn't. I waited until it was open and hiked to the top.

The park is beautiful, even on a cold morning. I didn't have enough time to explore the whole park, however.





In Beijing I felt like a vampire because I was planning my outings around daylight hours. (Except, I was more like the opposite of a vampire, since I was avoiding hours without light). Must! have! light! for photo-taking!

Many of my pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd wanted. Maybe the pollution was a contributing factor.

Caught the bus to the Summer Palace. For over an hour bus ride the fare was 2RMB.

The Summer Palace is also huge. I was fast-walking much of the time and still didn't have enough time to cover the grounds. There are endless halls, bridges, stairs, water displays, trails, shops, etc. to explore. Another place where photos do little justice.

Stage:



The Long Corridor:



The lake was frozen and many people went out for a waddle.


Marble Boat:


How sad that I ran out of memory space on my camera :( I was already trying to be careful not to go too crazy and take too many photos. I ended up buying a few disposable cameras. Currently, I anxiously await the day that the photo shops open and I may develop my film. The day I got back to Taiwan I bought more memory for my camera.

At night (and in the morning) I watched part of a ceremony the military was performing. From there I walked around the neighbourhood of my hostel and found a popular snacking street.

Day 3: Beijing

Began the day early with a stroll through the Forbidden City. SO cold. My fingers were like fish sticks (without breading). Some areas were off limits due to ongoing construction.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace:


Lots of police and military present.

Meridian Gate:




Golden Stream:


It's a huge place. The halls and gates seemed endless.



From there I caught the subway to the Ming City Wall Ruins Park.


At the end of the park there's a watchtower. From the tower you can see the incredible width of the crumbling wall, as well as other sights around the city.


The Red Gate Gallery has a home atop the tower.


Subway back to the Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square/my hostel area. Tiananmen Square exploration. Another massive space.


Zheng Yangmen Gate:


Qianmen Archery Tower:

Three more semi-successful ventures:

1) I found (the well-camouflaged) Beijing Underground City. Unfortunately, when I went in, a staff member showed me a note written in English explaining that the site was closed for renovations over the holiday.

2) Took the subway to see an Ancient Observatory. Closed.

3) Went to the Temple of Heaven Park. It was getting late, but, according to my guide book I would have just enough time to see the park. It turns out that the park was open, but the attractions inside were not. I decided to walk around the park for awhile, but that I most definitely needed to come back another day.

Hutong sampling:


A lot of walking today.

Day 2: Beijing; my blood is on the Great Wall

Slept in to some degree. Caught a tour bus to the Badaling section of the Great Wall.


'Museum' visit included in tour. It wasn't much of a museum, and thanks to my Beijing tour book, I knew what was coming after the jade 'museum.'


We had to pass through the heated and brightly lit jade shopping centre before heading upstairs.


Our tour included a free lunch. This place looked more like a store than a restaurant.


We were fed, however.


Badaling:


It's about 70 km outside the city. Very cold, especially with the winds sweeping through the mountains. Still, I'm glad I went during the low season.




I wanted to visit another section of the Wall as well, but time wasn't permitting.

To get close to a walking section of the wall we rode a pulley/roller coaster up the mountain. This is how we came down:


I was jogging down a hill on the Wall and fell on my ass. A finger cut and blood gush ensued.


The visit to the Great Wall took up most of the day. I wanted to visit another place when we got back to the city, but it was too dark for taking pictures.

Day 1: Beijing

After work on Friday I went to bed early and forced myself to sleep for five hours before waking up and meeting my ride to the airport at 2am. I was at the airport before 3am and spent the next five hours waiting for my flight.

When the currency counter opened, I went to exchange my NT dollars for Renminbi, but I was informed "No China!"

A quick two hour flight later and I was at the airport in Macau. I exchanged my money into RMB there.



I had a two hour layover. From Macau I flew to Beijing, which took about three hours. I then caught a shuttle bus to Xidan. That took over an hour, thanks to the wonderful traffic in Beijing.

I approached a man who I thought was a taxi driver and showed him where my hostel was. He led me to a rickshaw. What the hell, I thought. In case he was planning on harvesting my organs, I thought about the best way for me to escape: jumping through the 'window' at the back. (Knapsack, then body).

Made it to my hostel, organs intact. I was overcharged but didn't mind because I had to be at the hostel by a certain time and it was getting late.


The hostel is part of a hutong and was very clean and mellow. My room was toasty warm and had a comfy bed. I was staying in a four-bed dorm with two roommates. That night we went to a western bar that had live music and male and female pole dancing. The bar was on a street where there were over a dozen other bars offering almost exactly the same things.


Not the most exciting place. From there we took a cab to the nightclub Vics.




By the end of the night I was all kinds of tired.

End day/beginning day

Last day of Winter Camp. Vacation time. The latter includes getting up early and going to the airport ;)