Granada – July 20-22

Took the train from Madrid to Granada on Saturday July 20. We were up and out so early that we encountered people who had not even been to bed yet, still partying or on their way home from the clubs!

Our hotel in Granada was at the base of the hill where the Alhambra is located. Great location, once again.

On Sunday July 21 we went to the Alhambra. We had forgotten to buy our tickets before leaving the states and when we went online to buy them they were sold out. We had a brief moment of panic and then started doing research. We discovered we could buy a Granada Card and that would give us access to the Alhambra. It was more money than we wanted to spend but it was really our only option. The card gave us free entry to some other sites, a ride on the tourist train, and 9 rides on the city bus.

The Alhambra was beautiful. The Islamic influences and architecture were amazing. We also visited the gardens which in themselves were spectacular. It was a very hot day so we took our time and eventually made it back to the air conditioned confines of our hotel room!

We discovered that in Granada when you order a drink at a bar or restaurant they give you free tapas. So we had some fun drinking and being surprised by what they would bring us. We got some meatballs, a fried fish, a little sandwich, and a few other things over the three nights we were there.

On Monday we walked around Granada just exploring the city and visiting some of the cathedrals and churches. And then we used our ticket on the tourist train to take a ride around the city. The tourist train was so boring and there was no actual dialogue to tell us what we were seeing.

Granada is a small city and I wouldn’t recommend spending more than two days there. But I would definitely recommend, if you are in Spain and near Granada, you really should go to the Alhambra.

Madrid – July 15-20

Madrid was great. Not all that different from any capital city; lots of people, large boulevards, busy tourist sites, etc. But still, I really enjoyed the five days I had there.

The first day was mostly a wash because of travel. I arrived on a red-eye flight and then proceeded to try to kill 9 hours from landing to check-in. I spent some time visiting the botanical gardens and then Thyssen Art Museum. Lucky for me the Thyssen is free on Mondays.

Finding the hotel was super easy. We stayed at the Petit Palace Hotel in Puerta del Sol. It was literally a two minute walk from the plaza and metro station. Highly recommend it if you are going to Madrid. It was centrally located near lots of restaurants and shopping.

Steph arrived around 5pm and we relaxed until about 9:30 when we went for dinner. 9:30-10:30 is pretty normal dinner time. The sun doesn’t even set until nearly 10pm. We shared some traditional tapas and had some beers before dragging ourselves back to the hotel for much needed sleep!

Tuesday, we slept in and then went to visit some sites in the city. We visited the Bull Fighting Arena, the Library/museum, walked through Retiro – a large city park, and then returned to our hotel for siesta.

Wednesday, we did a day trip to Toledo. It was 25 minutes on the fast train. The oldest part of the city is located mainly on a hill. There are buses and escalators that take you up to the city. We wandered the city and visited the El Greco museum which for some reason was free that day! Then we went to see the famous bridge. We gave ourselves scare by almost missing the bus that would return us to the train. After enjoying a brief siesta we went to the Reina Sophia Museum because at night admission is free from 7-9. We wanted to see Picasso’s Guernica painting which is at the Reina Sophia. It was one of the most amazing pieces art and I could have stood there looking at it for hours. We also got to see some other Picasso’s, Miro’s, Dali’s, and some other.

Thursday, another day trip. We got up and went to the train station hoping to catch a 10am train to Segovia, but it was sold out. So we bought tickets for the noon train instead. We got to Segovia around 12:45 and took the bus into the town. We were greeted by the sight of the ancient roman aqueduct. It was a spectacular sight and we were both in awe of it’s size and the fact it was still standing strong for nearly 2000yrs. We wandered the town and then decided to eat a delicacy of Segovia- suckling pig. We had been given a recommendation of a restaurant by a guy we met in the train station so we went there and had suckling pig. We both felt bad about eating a baby pig but did it anyway! It kinda tasted like turkey! Because we took a later train to Segovia we had to take a later train back, so we missed our siesta. Upon arriving back in Madrid we immediately went to the Prado, also free at night from 6-8. We only spent about an hour there as we had only a few specific pieces we both wanted to see.

Friday was our last day in Madrid. We spent much of the morning and early afternoon wandering the city, visiting plazas and walking to the Palace. We had a easy day to end our week.

I’ve posted pictures on my destination_known_photos IG account in you want to see some of the places we’ve been.

Summer vacation 2019!

It’s that time of year again….summer vacation time!

This trip came about after being rejected from every summer nerd workshop I applied to. Until late March/ early April I wasn’t planning on traveling internationally this year. But with those rejections I decided I couldn’t spend the entire summer at home, so I quickly settled on a three week trip to Spain, Portugal, and France. I chose Spain because have only been to Barcelona and really wanted to see more of Spain and Portugal because it is the only country in Western Europe not been to. I added France as this is the 20th anniversary of me living there for the summer after graduating from college.

For the second year in a row I am not traveling solo. This year I am traveling with a colleague/friend, Stephanie. We co-taught this past school year and became friends along the way. When I told her I was going to Spain and Portugal she said she wanted to go, so I told her to come with me! And before I knew it we were planning the trip together. Traveling with someone has its advantages…someone to share the experience with, someone to share the cost with, and someone to eat and drink with!

Our itinerary includes stays in Madrid, Granada, Seville, and Lisbon and then I go to Lyon on my own. We hope to make day trips to Segovia, Toledo, and Cordoba.

This year, instead of posting pics on this blog I have started an Instagram account for my photos. The account is Destination_known_photos , so follow it to see some pics.

Adios!

Why you should/shouldn’t visit China!

Let’s start with the reasons one may not want to visit China.

Don’t go to China if….

You don’t like crowds; there are crowds every where!

You like personal space….it doesn’t exist!

You want to blend in….not gonna happen; grandmas to toddlers will look at you funny, point at you, and even take pictures of/with you.

Don’t like heat and humidity…at least in the summer, can’t comment on the rest of the year.

You are not an adventurous eater…sure you could McDonald’s the whole time but what fun would that be!

You want unobstructed access to the internet…unless you get a VPN.

Now for the reasons to visit China. You should visit China if….

You want to see a country that is just different enough from America/Europe that it’s a bit uncomfortable.

You want to see history that is older than probably anywhere else in the world.

You want to feel safe. There is CCTV everywhere,security checkpoints in places you expect and don’t expect, and air marshal on every flight.

You want to eat things you may never try at home and for little money.

You want to go off the grid(email, cell phone, internet access)!

And finally, if you want to have an adventure like none you’ve ever had!

And like that, it’s over…

How fast a month goes when you are busy and having fun.

Tuesday, I flew from Shanghai to Beijing. Quick flight, less than 2 hours. Arrived in Beijing and went to the hotel for a quick, barely 12 hour, stay.

Wednesday morning up and out early to the airport. Flight left around 9:30am. 13.5 hour flight from Beijing to Newark. Quite a bit of turbulence, which I hate but otherwise not a bad flight. Again, sitting in business class makes any flight, but especially the long ones, not so bad. Arrived in Newark and made it through passport control, customs, transfered my luggage, and made it to a different terminal for my flight to Boston with one hour to wait. But then discovered my flight to Boston was delayed an hour and a half. I was not happy! I just wanted to be home at this point. Finally got into Boston and home to Lynn at about 5 pm. By that point I had been awake for the greater part of 23 hours!

Happy to be home. My pups were so happy to see me, as I was them. Had a nice home cooked meal courtesy of my mom.

I’ve been home two full days and luckily I have had little to no jet lag.

This trip was such a different experience than anything I’ve done in the past. The culture, the food, the climate, the people, was nothing like I have experienced in Europe or really anywhere I’ve been. I am so glad I went and got to experience all of the things I did. I have a totally new view and understanding of China now that I’ve been able to see it for myself.

I don’t think I would necessarily recommend traveling to China unless you are a seasoned traveller or
going with a tour group. It is so different in many ways, especially language, from the US and Europe that it could be overwhelming and even scary to the non-traveller. I think China is still some years away from being completely ready for the western traveller. While their infrastructure is way better and easier to use than that here in the USA, they still lack things that make places travel friendly. They lack tourist information bureaus in most/all cities, and the lack of signage, menus, etc in English makes things difficult. They are having a potty revolution, where they are adding more sit down toilets in public places in order to help with tourism. I think in the not so far future China will make some changes and travelling there will be much easier and even if they don’t, I still would go back! I am so glad I took the risk and went on this trip. Everything I experienced over the last month will be with me for a long time and I can’t wait to share it with anyone who will listen!

Thanks for everyone’s support and thank you for following and reading about my journey. Now it’s time to start thinking about where my next journey will take me!

Shanghai July 20-24

Got here Friday afternoon. Settled into my hotel room and then decided I needed to find something to eat for dinner. I checked Trip advisor and found a Montreal style deli (NY style deli) with rave reviews and it was about a mile from my hotel. I went there, and it was delicious. I was craving something other than noods, dumplings, rice, cooked veggies, etc and this turned out to be the answer. They are known for their smoked meats, as soon as you sit down they bring you a sample and it definitely influenced my choice. I got a rueben, smoked meat and slaw on rye. It came with fries. It was just what I needed!

Saturday…I spent much of the day just walking around the city. It is a very large city so I had mapped out a route that would take me to some of the sites. I had checked the weather forecast and Sunday and possibly parts of monday are supposed to rain so I wanted to do outdoors things today. I walked through the People’s Square(a park), the down E. Nanjing St( a massive shopping street, with ever store imaginable), and ended up at the Bund(basically the bank of the river, which has a beautiful promenade). I walked a couple of kilometers along the river before heading to Yuyuan Garden and shopping bazaar. It was massively crowded and passed through there pretty quickly with the idea that I will go back on Monday when hopefully it’ll be less crowded. Eventually I ended up back at my hotel just as the skies opened up and it started pouring.

Sunday…was a complete wash out. There was a typhoon warning and it torrential rain pretty much all day. As much as I want to go out, I also had no desire to get soaked. So I stayed in my hotel room for much of the day reading and planning my day for Monday. I went out around 5pm and while out it rain a bit and then stop, but most light rain so I avoided getting soaked.

Monday…the sun came out and it is hot again. I was up and out early to make the most of my day. First, I headed to the Jewish Refugees Museum. Until a few months ago I had no idea that during WWII many Jews found refuge in Shanghai. I learned this while watching a show on PBS and since learning about it I knew when I came to Shanghai I wanted to see what else I could learn. The museum is in a former synagogue in the area of Shanghai that became home to many of the Jews and eventually, after the Japanese invaded, it became the Jewish ghetto. It was small and did not have much information that I didn’t already know, but I still found it very interesting. From there I took the metro to the French Concession neighborhood and followed a route back to the bazaar that I had mapped out. The route took me through very European looking buildings in the French Concession, through a small park, down a off the beaten path street to a Confucian Temple, past a mosque, and eventually to the shopping area in Yuyuan Gardens. I really had no desire to shop but I knew I wanted to pick up a few last minute souvenirs for myself. The main thing I was looking for was to get my name in Chinese characters. I had nearly given up and then cane across a stall where a guy would make a scroll with your Chinese name. I probably payed more for it than I should have and might have found it cheaper in another city but whatever! Had my final Chinese dinner tonight. I got some dumplings from a highly recommended restaurant. They were a bit different from others I’ve had because these were fried on the top and has a soupy mixture inside, which turned out to be very yummy!

Today is coming to a close and marks the end of my travels. Tomorrow and Wednesday are travel days, no sightseeing. Tomorrow afternoon I fly to Beijing and Wednesday morning I fly Beijing to Newark, Newark to Boston. How fast a month goes by when you are having fun and keeping very busy. I am looking forward to getting home, sleeping in my own bed, snuggling with Daisy and Neena, eating recognizable food, and catching up on current events. This is not my final post, I will have another one or two with some final thoughts on traveling in China.

Hangzhou July 17-20

Only five more days of children pointing at me like I am some sort of circus freak… because I am white!

Currently waiting at the Hangzhou train station for my train to Shanghai. Hangzhou was wonderful.

I arrived from Shenzhen on Tuesday afternoon. It was a fairly short flight…less than two hours from Shenzhen. My hotel was pretty much right across the street from West Lake. West Lake is the reason why people seem to visit Hangzhou, or at least the reason I did.

One Wednesday, I walked half of the lake. The lake is about 10 miles around. Being as hot and humid as it is, I knew that doing the whole lake in one day would be too much. The lake is surrounded by a walking path which for the most part hugs the bank of the lake. In a few spots it moves a little away from the lake. Most of the path is lined with matute trees. It was nice because even though it was hot you were able to find shade along the way. There were some historic bridges and piers along the way. There was a large Pagoda but I didn’t feel like paying to go see it so I passed by it and kept walking. When I got about halfway I bought a ticket for one of the boats that sail on the lake and take visitors to some of the islands on the lake. I went to the islands and eventually on to where I began the day. The lake and the path around it were just so nice. It was definitely rejuvenating after so many days in big cities.

Thursday was much of the same. First, though, I went to the train station to buy my ticket for the train to Shanghai. Then I went back to the lake and walked most of the other half. It made for a pretty uneventful day. I did go back to the lake later to watch the sunset. It was beautiful and set over the hills.

Today is a travel day. I had a 1:07 train from Hangzhou. I am currently on the train and there are two little monsters (neither more than 5 or 6yo)sitting across from me. A few minutes ago they were pointing at me and chanting something that I assume was inappropriate because the girl sitting next to me gave them a dirty look and shook her head at them. Eventually the mother said something to them and they stopped. Thank goodness the train ride is only about an hour otherwise I might have had to throw the monsters from the train!

Shenzhen July 16

I got to Shenzhen on Sunday July 15. I took the metro from HK to the border, then had to go through border control, no different than if I was entering through the airport. From there I could board the Shenzhen metro and go to my hotel. The directions to get from the metro were simple…exit through exit H and turn left. I turned left and didn’t see anything. There was a busy road and what looked like a mall. I was contemplating crossing the street because there were some hotel looking buildings across the way. I took out the address so I would know what to look for and then for some reason I looked up and there on the side of the building I thought was a mall was the sign for the hotel. I was literally standing ten feet from the door!

The hotel is in a very busy shopping district. There are hundreds of shops and sellers. They are selling everything imaginable but nothing that I need or want! It is actually overwhelming the amount of shops and people in this area. There is also a small Salem Willows of old type of park. They have some rides and games for kids. It’s pretty cute.

Quick story before I continue with my day in Shenzhen….While waiting in line to go through passport control, a guy standing next to me noticed my passport and made a comment to me about Donald Trump. I rolled my eyes at him and made a comment about not voting for him. This same guy waited for me as I got through and said he would like to have a drink and discuss Trump. I said I would rather not! I couldn’t tell if he liked Trump or not and being from Liberia, which I know little about, it may have been an interesting conversation.

Monday…Today was my only full day in Shenzhen and don’t have a good travel book and I can’t access the internet so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. So, I do did one of the few things listed in my travel book, I went to Dafen oil painting village. It is a neighborhood in Shenzhen where people paint oil paintings, many like the ones we see in Marshalls, TJMaxx, or HomeGoods. I have a total new respect for those paintings. These people are standing in alleys painting. They paint incredible copies of famous paintings and many original paintings. I sure these people are not making that much money, yet buying these paintings at home will set you back hundreds of dollars. It is pretty amazing the talent that many of the people have, even if it is just replicating a famous painting. If I had a way to bring some home with me I probably would have bought a couple of paintings.

Dining is no fun without Erin. She at least could order food in Chinese and provided good company while eating. In HK it wasn’t so hard since most people spoke some English, but being back on the mainland is a whole different story! Last night, I resorted to doing something I never do – not even at home- I ate at McDonald’s! I wasn’t in the mood to search for a restaurant with pictures so it was just easy and in a weird way a bit comforting. Tonight I walked around the market looking for good, which really is everywhere but if you don’t speak the language it’s hard. I finally saw a place that had pictures that I could point to…I think it was a chain restaurant, but regardless I was determined to eat and not at McDonald’s. I went in and looked at the pictures above the counter and had no idea what most of the were, they we’re all noodles with stuff on them. So I went with the only recognizable one, mushrooms and noodles. It was more like spaghetti, a few mushrooms, and a bowl of broth. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the best meal either, but it was a meal!

I am surprised how few white people I have seen in Shenzhen. I kind of expected to see more since it is so close to HK and a special economic zone. I think I have seen less than five so far! Even though I haven’t seen many white people, people here, minus a small handful, don’t seem too fazed by me. So maybe there are more white people somewhere else in the city!

Staying in a nice American brand hotel has it’s upsides…clean, someone speaks English…but a downside is they want you to login to the internet through their web portal. I can’t access the portal because all I have on my phone is Chrome and it is blocked. So I have no access to anything on phone, not even text. I can get them but not send them. I went into the mall under my hotel and tried the free WiFi from a bunch of stores til I got one I didn’t need a login for. I felt bad, my mom had texted and I didn’t want her to worry if she didn’t hear from me. Luckily, I stood outside of MAC cosmetics and was able to use their WiFi. I am learning to be creative!

I am definitely beginning to hit my travel limit. I am craving my own bed, snuggles with my pups, home cooked food, unobstructed access to the internet, etc. But on the other hand, I can’t believe I only have a week left…time sure does fly when you are having fun!

Hong Kong July 10-14

Hong Kong has been great. It is much different from the mainland. I have a busy four and half days and feel like I could spend another four here and still not see everything.

Tuesday July 10…I flew from Chengdu to HK. It was about 2.5 hrs flying. Airlines in China still serve meals on the plane and don’t charge you! I felt like I had gone back in time about 20 years! The food was rather gross but still it was a free meal. After going through passport control and collecting my luggage I took the airport express train into HK. From the station I thought I was going to have to walk but found out they have a free shuttle to the different hotels. So I was able to take the shuttle directly to my hotel. But it was only about noon at this time so I wasn’t able to check in. I left my luggage and went off exploring. I found a great promenade along the harbor and sat and watched the boats come and go. Later I explored other areas and realized how walkable HK really is.

Wed July 11…the big adventure today was going to Victoria Peak. HK is an island that is very hilly and Victoria Peak is one of the highest. You can walk, take the bus, or even drive but the best way to get to the top is by tram. It’s one of those old fashioned trams that is historic and a must do if you are in HK. It’s very similar to the one in Wellington NZ. So I went to the top and enjoyed the view of the harbor, HK, and Kowloon. I also visited a Buddhist temple and some other things that I stumbled upon as I walked around the city.

Thurs July 12…went to Lantau Island. I wanted to go see the Big Buddha. I took the ferry over to the island and then had to take a bus to the village where the Buddha is located. I thought it would be a five minute bus ride turned out it was about 35 minutes. I was one of only two passengers on the entire bus. The driver had to drive this huge bus on these terribly narrow roads along the side of mountains. For much of the ride I felt like I was on a caribbean island, it was so lush and green, it reminded me of Jamaica. Once at the village I climbed the nearly 300 steps up to the Buddha. It was amazing. He was huge and the view was outstanding. Then I walked around the temple grounds and just took my time absorbing everything. I could have returned the way I came but instead I took a cable car/gondola back to the base of the island. It took about 25 minutes and as you all know by now I don’t really like heights this was a bit unnerving for me at times. After returning to HK I sought out a restaurant that Erin had recommended. It is a Michelin star restaurant but super inexpensive. I found it and ordered some food to go. The food was delicious and cost me less than $15usd.

Fri July 13…rain. Took the famous Star Ferry across the harbor to Kowloon. The ferry is the cheapest way to get from HK to Kowloon, it cost less than 1usd. I then walked in the drizzle along the harbor and made my way to the Hong Kong History museum. I spent a few hours there learning the history of Hong Kong before, during, and after British control. When I emerged from the museum it had stopped raining so I walked around Kowloon and explored some of streets that were suggested in my travel book. I wanted to hangout in the neighborhood I was exploring because they have a night market that I wanted to explore. So I grabbed some dinner and then walked to the far end of where the market was. No sooner did I get to the furthest point the skies opened up and it began to pour rain. It was coming down so heavy that my umbrella barely helped! At this point I lost interest in the market and zoomed down the street as quick as I could to get to a metro stop and get out of the rain.

Saturday July 14…rain again. I woke up and saw that it was still raining. I contemplated by plans for the day…explore more of HK and Kowloon or go to Macau(which had been my original plan). I couldn’t decide if I would regret not going to Macau. I decided I would go. I got to the ferry pier at 11:15 but the next available ferry was not until 12:45. They leave pretty much every 15 minutes. So I had to wait for the ferry. Then the ride there was about an hour. When I got there I only had 2.5 hours to explore before I had to be back on the ferry to HK. Don’t ask…I kinda screwed up when buying my return ticket. As it turned out I had enough time to get a city bus to the ruins of St Paul’s cathedral and see that and get annoyed with the crowds of people. Then I had an hour left so I go back on the bus only to realize the bus didn’t make a loop like I thought it did. I ended up not getting back to the ferry terminal until 4:50 for my 5pm ferry, luckily I got there and they hadn’t even boarded yet. I got back to HK grabbed dinner in the mall attached to the ferry terminal and then took the Star Ferry to Kowloon to see the symphony of lights. At night the buildings in HK all light up and have a light show at 8pm. I got there at 7:50 and found a spot along the railing, there was probably thousands of people there. After about 15 minutes I had seen enough and been pushed and jostled enough that I left and went to grab the ferry to go back across the harbor. No sooner had I got in line to board the skys opened up and it started pouring, again! If I had waited a few more minutes I would have been soaked or trampled by everyone trying to run for cover!

My time in HK is up, I return to the mainland tomorrow for the last nine days of my trip. It’ll be tough being alone and not having internet access for the next nine days but I will survive! Tomorrow is a short travel day, just a metro ride to the border and then a metro ride to my hotel in Shenzhen. Tuesday, I fly to Hangzhou and Friday I take a short train ride to Shanghai for my final stop.

Chengdu July 7-10

Arrived in Chengdu in the late afternoon on Saturday. We took the high speed train from Xi’an. Some of the landscape between Xi’an and Chengdu was absolutely beautiful. When we weren’t going through mountain tunnels we were traveling along rivers, hills, and farms. We saw temples on hills and ancient buildings built into a hillside. Upon arriving in Chengdu we took the metro from the train station to our hotel. The hotel was less than 50 yards from the metro exit.

This hotel was very nice. There was English speaking staff at the front desk which made check in very easy. Soon after checking in we went out to get dinner. We went to a restaurant that specializes in fish. We got a whole fish, it was stuffed with veggies and tofu and served in a delicious sauce. After dinner we thought we’d go explore but instead decided to head back to the hotel and it was a good thing we did because as soon as we stepped out of the metro it started pouring rain. And this rain didn’t stop for pretty much the entire 2 days in Chengdu.

Sunday, July 8…we got up at 6:30am so we could be out and on our way to the Panda Research Base by 7am. Neither Erin nor I are much of a morning person but we pulled ourselves together and we were on the metro by 7am. We made it to the Panda Ave metro stop by 7:45 where there was a shuttle to the Research Base. We wanted to get there early to try to avoid some crowds but also because we read that the pandas are more active in the morning and they eat early as well. The research base was beautiful and had so many pandas. We saw some young pandas that we’re about one years old. There were many adults and some adults and young ones together. It was so fun watching them eat. I wanted to climb over the barrier and hug and rub their chubby belly’s…of course I didn’t though! The most adorable thing we saw were the infant pandas. They had a few pandas in incubators and the were tiny. The research base is doing great things for pandas and are working hard to increase the number of pandas.

By the time we saw all we wanted to see it started pouring rain. We decided we really didn’t want to be out in the rain so we went back to the hotel. Later we went to a night market that turned to be more like a street out of Disneyland and not a real night market. So we left there disappointed and went to a bar with real beer…not gross Chinese beer. We spent our final evening together drinking beer and eating a really bad pizza!

Monday July 9 – pouring rain again. We slept in and then had some lunch before Erin left for her flight to Shenzhen and eventually on the USA. After Erin left I took a walk in the rain and then spent the rest of the day resting and reading.

Tuesday July 10… I had a 7:30am flight to Hong Kong. It was still raining in Chengdu when I left. And later in the day I got an email from the US State Dept (I had registered my trip on their website) warning of the continuous rain in Chengdu and flooding in the Sichuan region, guess it was good that I left when I did.