Hong Kong - Farewell China

Hello again!

Guess I am just gunna post a bunch at once (gotta take advantage of that free wifi ya know?!)

Answered comments in one of the other ones I am posting with this one.

Picture – this picture is of me atop Victoria’s Peak looking out over the entire city of Hong Kong on a decently clear night (rarity for China). It was our last evening in China and it was the perfect ending to a truly amazing country.

Well my time in China ended almost as abruptly as it began. Day 7 in China (6th day of our SAS adventure, February 22nd) consisted of an early wakeup call at our hotel 3:45 a.m. to be exact. That was an experience getting to see 100 people, most of which you haven’t known for longer than a week, fresh out of bed. Definitely saw some people’s true colors during the whole process of loading the bus, leaving the bus, going through customs, clearing immigration, and boarding the plane. I thought it was fine at the airport, definitely one of the easier customs at an airport, and there was no line to wait in. Some people however (the morning grouches) were not happy to do anything and just complained the whole time, personally I don’t see what there was to complain about; we were in China and had just had quite possibly the best 6 days anyone could ever hope to have in a foreign country. How could we be unhappy?!?!? It just didn’t make sense to me.

The plane ride to Hong Kong lasted 4.5 hours and the majority of our SAS group slept. I only managed to get an hour of shut eye and spent the remainder of the flight listening to music and reflecting on my journey. Sitting on the ship 3 days later I still can’t believe some of the things I got to experience! I truly had an adventure of a lifetime inside of an experience of a lifetime (Semester at Sea). How did I get to lucky? What did I do to deserve this? I kept making spiritual parallels with the worldly opportunity I had just been given and the spiritual opportunity I was given some 2000 years ago. God gave us the ultimate gift, He gave up his one and only son to die on the cross as payment for our sins, sins we have already committed and sins we have yet to commit. Again I ask…how did we get so lucky? What did we do to deserve this? The simply answer…nothing. We are completely undeserving.

Upon arriving at Hong Kong it was about a 1 hour bus ride to the ship where it took another hour for the ship security to screen all of our bags and allow us to board. By this time it was 1 p.m. and Jeremy, Kevin, and I decided to unpack, change out of the clothes we had been wearing for 3 days, and regroup around 3:30 to go out and see stuff. We were told that some must see places in and around Hong Kong were the markets in the temple district and Victoria’s Peak, so that is what we decided to do. We headed to the temple markets which have absolutely nothing to do with a temple, the street they are on is simple called Temple Street. There was a ladies market, a flower market, a goldfish market, a food market, and an everything market. We walked up and down the vendor lined street for about 3 hours taking in the sights and smells. I personally didn’t buy anything but a soda because we had already loaded up on souvenirs in Beijing and I didn’t want to spend any more money in China that I had to. Oh let me tell you about the Hong Kong subway. Ok so it was crazy crowded!! We were told in pre-port that this would be an issue in Hong Kong and you will never believe what they told us to do. They literally told us to shove people aside to get onto the subway train or you wouldn’t make it in. I had experienced some pretty packed subways in Russia before but this was different. It wasn’t so much that people couldn’t fit but that people would step into the subway and just kinda stop. Apparently the Chinese push each other too so it isn’t considered rude or inappropriate, simply something you have to do. Luckily it was just the 3 of us so we didn’t have to worry about leaving anyone and it wasn’t too big of an issue because the 3 of us were taller than most of the Chinese so we could muscle our way in pretty easy. Just another way of experiencing Chinese culture I guess lol.

After seeing the extent of the various markets we hopped back on the subway to return to the port area in search of dinner before hopping on the ferry to Victoria’s peak. The port terminal that our ship was docked at just happened to be the biggest 21st Century shopping mall in Hong Kong. They had all the major stores that you would expect to find in any mall in America (over 1,000 stores in all). Honestly I looked at a registry and except for regional stores back in Oklahoma there wasn’t one main store that I could name that wasn’t in this mall. Well we just so happened to an American burger joint. The three of us had all had our fair share of authentic Chinese food for the past 6 days so we were craving something different and we couldn’t have asked for anything better. They even had A&W Rootbeer…only my favorite Rootbeer!!! Ahhhhhh I can still taste that bacon, cheeseburger. SO worth it!

With full stomachs we headed to the end of the terminal/mall to the ferry dock and loaded up for our trip across the harbor. The boat ride took all of 6 minutes and we were on Hong Kong Island. Our ship was docked on Knowloon island, which is still Hong Kong, all the islands are just separated by the bays. From the Ferry Dock on Hong Kong Island we hopped on a bus which took us to the cable car station at the bottom of Victoria’s Peak which we rode straight up (literally almost a vertical incline) to the top. Everyone who knows about Hong Kong will tell you to go up Victoria’s Peak at night and they definitely know what they are talking about. It was INCREDIBLE!! You can see the ENTIRE city lit up! We could even see our ship sitting across the harbor gleaming in the night. Then you could walk around on top of the building overlook and look to the south and see ships coming into the harbor and ships sailing out to sea. It was awesome. The pictures I took don’t quite give the view the respect it deserves but I mean what can I say, I just can’t live up to the standards my Dad has imposed on me in the picture taking category, so I apologize if this picture isn't up to snuff pops. Haha oh well I have moved on. We chilled on top of the mountain for awhile just taking it all in before making our way back down the cable car, hopping back on the bus, taking the ferry across the bay, and walking through the mall to our ship. Jeremy decided to stay out later and went his own way at the bottom of the peak when Kevin and I hopped on the bus. By the time both of us returned to the ship is was nearly midnight and we were both about ready to drop like a sack of potatoes. 7 days in China, 6 of which were on a non-stop SAS trip including a 3:45 wake up that morning had finally taken its toll on the 2 of us. It was the best night of sleep I have had on Semester at Sea yet!!

My last day in China was honestly very uneventful. I slept until about 1030, I thought I had set an alarm but honestly I might have turned it off and rolled over because I was so tired I just don’t remember. There really wasn’t much left to do in the city of Hong Kong itself unless you wanted to shop or go outside of the city which I didn’t have a whole lot of time for before on-ship time. So I decided to take advantage of the free wifi in the mall/terminal our ship was docked at. This was the point where I uploaded my first two China blogs. After starting the China blogging process, I did some major research on some of the other ports I am visiting here in the next 2 months because I had access to the good travel sights and not just wikitravel. Before you knew it I had accomplished everything I needed to online and it was rapidly approaching time for me to be on the ship. I re-boarded the ship and said goodbye to China from the back decks of the ship, taking in the lights of Hong Kong harbor one last time.

As I have finished writing about my China travels I am currently in my next port…VIETNAM!! It was only a short 2 day sail and after 1 A day of classes and 1 B day of classes we woke up in Ho Chi Minh City!! Crazy huh?!? I stepped out of one world and into another in the blink of an eye it seems like. I still can’t believe all of this is happening so fast! Well I’m off to explore Vietnam, enjoy the three blogs I just uploaded, sorry again for not being as thorough with some things as some of you might like. If you have any questions about specific things that I might not have mentioned (sorry everything seems to kind of mesh together when I have written so much about China) just make a comment about it on the most recent blog post and I will try my best to address it in the next blog.

Love you and praying for you all!!!

T

“Lord I wanna feel with your heart……see the world through Your eyes.” – Casting Crowns

The Great Wall...Nough Said

Hey again!

I know I just posted another blog simultaneously but I am trying to take advantage of as much free internet as I can because it is expensive on the ship! This blog is about the greatest day I had in China so I felt it was necessary to dedicate an entire post to it.

I responded to comments on the other Beijing blog that I posted right before this one at the same time so no point in doing it again.

The picture I chose is me on the wall and there is a story behind it but I explained it in detail below so I will just let you read it.

Okay so our final day in Beijing (Day 6 in China, Day 5 of the trip, February 21st, and my dad’s Birthday!!) was my most memorable day on the trip so far!!! We woke up early as usual for breakfast at the hotel before loading up the buses and heading outside the city. Our first stop of the day was at the Beijing International Kungfu School!! It was crazy!! The students at this school focus on learning the art of Kungfu. To pay for their schooling, they put on demonstrations and even act as stunt doubles/extras in Hollywood movies. The campus was a simple dormitory building, a courtyard used for training and exercise, and two smaller demonstration building used for performances and competitions. We weren’t exactly given a tour of the facilities but we kind of got one because we had to walk through the courtyard to get to the demonstration building where the students put on a private demonstration for us. Yeah we got to see a Kungfu Demonstration!! Kungfu is widely known as a martial arts form but not many people are aware of the artistic nature behind the skill. Our demonstration was composed of 5+ segments. It’s hard to describe exactly what they were doing but it involved a lot of flips, kicks, jabs, and rolls. It was SICK!! The coolest part in my opinion was watching them do the session where they broke a lot of stuff. To name a few: one guy broke an iron plate on his forehead and another snapped a wooden pole in half with his adams apple. With his ADAMS APPLE?!!?!?! If you don’t believe the last one (I wouldn’t either if someone told me so I don’t blame you) I have a video to prove it. After the demonstration we were allowed to hang out with the monks and take pictures as well as get a small lesson in simple moves that we could practice. Some of the pics we took were sick because the monks would like act like they were kicking us or poses where they jumped over us. Definitely a cool experience to see them perform, and then get a chance to interact with them.

From the school we headed out of town a ways and stopped at lunch at a local restaurant that was located in a greenhouse. It was a little weird eating in a greenhouse and something I never thought that I would do personally. The lunch was the normal family style Chinese cuisine but for some reason we all really like the rice at this place. Don’t know what it was but the rice was just really good! They also gave us this pork dish with peanuts, let me just tell you it was hotter than anything I have ever had before. Nothing in Mexico compared to this stuff. My sinuses cleared up so fast! Then none of us could get the taste out of our mouth lol. My friend Allison and me where two of the first people to try it, so everyone got a good laugh when we started freaking out and chugging water. I mentioned earlier that the Chinese serve a lot of vegetables with their meals. Well you all would be very proud of me, I branched out and ate a good majority of the vegetables. It was a big joke because I bet I ate more green vegetables in the past 8 days than I ate all last year. Haha oh well…when in China, do as the Chinese do!!

After lunch it was time for the highlight of the day. THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!
Ahhhhhh I don’t even know where to start?!?! It was indescribable! The section of the wall that we went to was the Mutianyu Great Wall. For this section you have to take a gondola from the parking lot up to the wall because this is a section that is nestled into the mountains. Getting to explore this mountainous section of the wall was special for a couple reasons. First, the views were incredible. I love being in the mountains and then to be standing on the GREAT WALL of China and seeing it winding between mountain peaks and disappearing in both directions was just surreal. Second, there were no other tourists around. This section isn’t the most easily accessible section and far enough away from Beijing that not many foreign tourists visit the spot. Besides some Chinese tourists it was basically just our SAS group and the wall. We hiked along 8 stations of the wall (a station is the section between 2 guard towers) and took more photos than any of us know what to do with.

Okay mom don’t read the next part cause it might upset you. Haha just kidding…kinda. So the guard towers that I just mentioned were situated along the walls at intervals but there was no way to get to the top of them because the ladders had been removed. Well I really wanted to get on top of one! Soooooo, Jeremy and I noticed that there weren’t any signs saying we couldn’t climb on the wall, and there was no police or “wall guards” (I mean it is a pretty big wall, it would take a lot of cops to guard) so we were like, “Let’s climb it!” If you climbed up on the side of the actual wall, which was easy, then you could walk across the side and get over to the tower where we found a foot-hold to propel ourselves up high enough to grip the edge and climb on top. The only dangerous part was that if you slipped you feel off the wall and about 70+ feet to the mountain side below. Oh well we made it and it was AWESOME!!! We got some really sweet pics, including the picture that I did for this blog post. The reason I like this picture so much is because it is very similar to a pic I took outside Barcelona a couple summer ago (except for the fact that The Great Wall is WAY cooler!!!). You can kind of tell but I am standing on the edge of the wall in a little nook, but the edge none the less, with a straight drop behind me. Sorry mom…kinda lol. Well we had been ahead of most of the SAS group so when they saw us up on the tower a lot of people decided they wanted to do it too. That’s right…trend setta baby!!! The views were sweet from on top of the tower and it was awesome getting to chill up there for a little bit. Getting down from the tower was a little hairy but we all made it down safe and sound for the most part (couple people scraped themselves up but nothing serious) and continued hiking around.

Gahhhhhhh I still can’t believe I got to experience the Great Wall!! A year ago I had no clue I would get the opportunity to go on Semester at Sea, let alone see the Great Wall! A couple of us were talking about it as we were walking along and it was so weird thinking that we were actually there. We were actually walking on the Great Wall of China!! After 2 hours of hiking around it was time to head back down to the base of the mountain to do a little market shopping before boarding the buses. I mentioned that we used a gondola to get up, but to get down we got to ride in little single person toboggans on a steel track! Okay that was fun…all you have is a hand break and using it is optional. Yeah I didn’t use mine except for when I came flying around a corner and Jeremy, who was in front of me, had stopped because there was a slow Chinese family making their way down in front of us. Yeah I didn’t stop in time and plowed into Jeremy but we just laughed and kept going. The toboggan was just another random surprise that none of us knew about that was so sweet!!

The bus ride back to Beijing was a little over 1.5 hours so a lot of people slept (not me, how could I sleep after seeing THE Great Wall?!?!). Our last dinner of the trip was at a local restaurant that was similar to everywhere else we had been. But the real finale to the trip was after dinner. Our last activity as a group was to specially attend an authentic Chinese Acrobatic show. The show was held in a theater much like you would expect to watch a Broadway show in. Okay these acrobats made the Kungfu dudes (which were wicked sweet) look lame. They were doing things that were amazing!! A couple of people in our SAS group had seen Cirque De So Le before and they said it didn’t even compare to what we all saw. They said that these acrobats made the Cirque De So Le people look like amateurs. I personally don’t know about that but because I haven’t seen Cirque De So Le, but all I know it that whatever I saw was outstanding. We were all sitting on the edge of our seats the whole time just waiting to see what they would do next. It was the perfect ending to the best SAS trip we could have ever asked for!!

Looking at the Great Wall, I couldn’t help but think about my tower and source of protection…Jesus Christ. Compared to Christ, even something as Immense and Incredible as the Great Wall is reduced to nothing. The protection provided by the Great Wall pales in comparison to the protection provided by our Lord and Savior. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” Proverbs 18:10. “Jesus, Jesus, you are my tower Lord. Jesus, Jesus, the rock I stand on. Jesus, Jesus, there is no other name, like Your name…there is no other name, like Your name…ohhhhh Looorrrddddd and, I am weak, but, YOU are strong, and, I know I must learn to wait on YOU!!!” Brad Kilman. Christ will never leave us nor forsake us and His power is second to no one.

Love you guys and hope all is well back home!

T

Beijing - Where to Begin...

Yo Yo Yo!!

How are you all?!?! I know I am posting these super fast but I am getting the chance to use free internet so I figured I would just load all the China blogs that I have typed in the past 2 days. After this it will slow down for awhile because I will be living it up in Vietnam. Enjoy!

Shout Out Comments – JT – Haha yeah I got really lucky and got to see a ton in China! That market was crazy cool and they were really good with their English. It’s weird to think that we probably bartered with some of the same people haha. Yeah I am actually uploading these blogs from a hotel business center in Vietnam while waiting for the War Museum across the street to open. I already love Vietnam and can’t wait to spend the next 5 days here taking in the culture. Vietnam is beautiful and the people are awesome!

The picture I chose for this section of the blog is of Kara and I in front of the famous gate separating Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Square (read on for a better description). You can see the famous picture of Mao Zedong in the background. Kara and I were in front of this little dragon/lion figure (it is over my left shoulder, kinda looks like it is biting me actually) so we decided to give our best impersonation attempt. Got some weird looks from people but it’s whatever! Not like we will ever see those people again right lol.

Hope you all enjoyed the first couple China blogs. As I start to write about the rest of my journey I am overwhelmed by the fact that I have no clue where to begin. Guess I will just start writing and see what happens so here goes nothing!

Alright so day 3 of my China tour trip (overall it was day 4 in China and February 19th). The morning consisted solely of transferring to the airport in our buses and taking a 1.5 hour flight to Beijing. All three groups were together on the same flight this time so that vast majority of the plane was all the SASers traveling in a huge group. We flew with a different airline this time but the experience was pretty much the same. The cabin crew was excellent and the food was even better! They definitely blow the American airline companies out of the water as far as good food being served. Upon arrival in Beijing we were transferred by buses (still in the same 3 groups as in Xi’an…Bus C for life!!) to our hotel for the duration of our stay, the Courtyard Marriot Hotel. On the way to our hotel we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. Very similar to all the other Chinese meals up to this point: family style food (lots of it), chopsticks only, and your basic meats and vegetables.

After eating our group meal we proceeded to the hotel to drop off our suitcases (wait didn’t have suitcases, basically just our backpacks lol) then we had the rest of the day to do as we wanted. This was the only part of our China SAS trip that we had as free time and they chose to give it to us at the beginning of Beijing so that if there was anything specific we wanted to see we could do it first. The group I ended up hanging out with for the remainder of the day was Kevin, Jeremy, Jose (my roommate for the 3 nights in Beijing), and Gabby. So the five of us took off as soon as we could because by the time we got to the hotel it was already close to 3 and we wanted as much time as we could while we had freedom. For the first couple hours we wandered around the city trying to make our way to the local market district. This was actually quite entertaining because we definitely got lost. Jeremy was the one who “knew where we were going” but this didn’t turn out to be true. Somehow we ended up at Tiananmen Square which was where we were going the next day so we didn’t want to waste time viewing it when it was built into our tour later on. We also ran into another group of 3 girls (Stephanie, Lauren, and forgot the 3rd girl’s name) who were trying to make their way to the same spot we were. We spent time trying to find someone who spoke English to give us directions and ended up finding a group of tourists from Iran who took some time to point out the right direction. They told us to go south of the Square for about half a mile and then head east and we would run into it. So off we went, blindly following some random tour guide’s advice and hoping that Jeremy would get us there. Kevin and I were convinced that we needed to head north despite what the tour guide said but our advice fell on deaf ears. Well I don’t know what kind of tour guide this guy was or if he was just a major rookie but he sent us in the totally opposite direction. We walked for about a mile and a half in the wrong direction before realizing that Kevin and I had been right all along. It actually ended up being quite funny and we had found some random shops to head into on the way so we didn’t really care but it was fun giving Jeremy and Jose crap the rest of the night and bragging that we (Kevin and I) had been right. At this point it was getting close to 6 so we decided to take a taxi to where we wanted to go instead of backtracking what we had just walked.

We ended up at the right place somehow after a taxi ride (split into 2 groups of 4) that included us passing the exact same spot we were at Tian’an men Square which gave us more ammo to hassle Jeremy with lol. Okay this night market was so legit!! There was a giant avenue that was closed to traffic. On one side there was a 21st Century mall with all your high dollar stores then on the other side it was like a totally different world with all these little allies filled with street vendors selling everything from fake hand bags to every type of street-fair-food imaginable. We headed for the vendors because that was just way more appealing to all of us. Okay the food was dirt cheap so we decided to try all sorts of things. I tried the Chinese version of a Gyro (nothing compared to a Gyro in the Muslim quarter in Spain), some basic pork buns which were INCREDIBLE, these candy coated strawberries which were like little drops of heaven on a skewer stick, then for the best item of the night…SCORPION ON A STICK!!! Alright I definitely had to try that, I mean how many chances do you get to try scorpion on a stick?!?! The scorpions on a stick came with 4 on one skewer for like $1.50 which was perfect because I wanted one, Kevin, Jeremy, and the other girl whose name I forgot wanted one; which was a perfect 4! Oh and I should also mention that the scorpions are alive and squirming on the stick and then when you pay for it they fry them in front of you and season them with something. So that was cool seeing them squirm and then eating them 2 minutes later. No one wanted to be the first one to try it so I was like shoot I’ll do it! So I did and it wasn’t bad at all, definitely had worse things before lol. With the seasoning and it being fried it was nothing we couldn’t handle. Jeremy and Kevin did fine with theirs too but the one girl struggled. She did not like it at all!! I actually have a video of all 4 of us eating it for all you doubters back home; just made sure I would have proof! Sampling the street food was awesome; I’m actually surprised it didn’t get sick the next day because they were like legit back alley street fair vendors. Oh well I guess Pepto really does work!

After our experience travelling through the various vendors it was closer to 8 and we were ready for dinner because we had all just snacked on the various small vendor foods. The three girls that had met us at the square earlier went and did their own thing because they weren’t hungry enough to eat dinner yet. We headed back out onto the avenue in search of a restaurant. Nothing was close by and eventually we settled on McDonalds because there were no legit restaurants anywhere close and Jeremy and I wanted to try a Chinese Big Mac to compare it to an American one. Honestly I didn’t think there was much of a difference except that the American Big Mac is definitely greasier. Jeremy swears that the Chinese Big Mac was better so I mean who really knows. Another bonus was the fact that the Olympics were on so we were able to enjoy some Women’s Snowboard Super-pipe while we ate which was nice cause it was a sport that was actually fun to watch, unlike curling that always seemed to be on at the hotels. It was nice having an American meal after 4 straight days of Chinese food and everyone enjoyed their meal. Afterwards we walked around the hotel a little more, found a nice tea shop where Jeremy bought some tea (I found cheap loose leaf tea the day before so I had already bought my bag of tea for China). Then Gabby got a Starbucks cause of course there was one of those in the mall. By the time we left the mall and walked around the city for a little longer, it had gotten pretty chilly so we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel. We hung out for another hour or two in the hotel before calling it a night.

Day 5 in China (4 of the trip, February 20th) was jam-packed with sights to see and things to do. Breakfast was served in our hotel like every other morning and then we loaded the buses for transportation to our first stop of the day – Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City! I was really excited for this because whenever you see pictures of Beijing or hear about people going to Beijing you hear about the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The Square was huge!! We found out that it is the largest public square in the world. It is famous because on the north end is where Mao Zedong gave his famous speech founding the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949. We spent about an hour getting a tour of the square, a history lesson from our tour guide Jason, and then taking pictures with all our friends in front of the famous gate on the north end.

After the tour of the square, which was mainly spent walking across it, we entered the Forbidden City through the Rostrum (Tiananmen Gate) which is the big building connecting the north side of Tiananmen Square to the south end of the Forbidden City that has the giant picture of Mao Zedong on it. The Forbidden City was created in 1420 by Emperor Yongle and was home to 24 emperors after him. The entire complex consists of 8,706 rooms all within 170 acres that are surrounded by walls more than 30 feet high and within a 160 foot moat. The Forbidden City is split into an inner courtyard (where the emperor used to stay) and the outer courtyard which was for public events, guests, and the governmental leaders at the time. No one has lived in the Forbidden City since 1924 and its purpose now is a cultural landmark open to tourists and interested Chinese visitors. Like I said the city is situated on 160 acres so it took us awhile to cross from the south end to the north end while constantly stopping for pictures and explanations of the purpose behind certain building and/or structures. After 2+ hours of taking in the Forbidden City we exited through the north gate and walked a little ways to our buses that were parked down the street.

The next part of our day was truly as treat for everyone. We were split up into small groups of about 15 people and taken to individual families to experience a customary meal that would be served to visiting family and friends. It was awesome to get to see the inside of an average Chinese household, meet the family, and experience the famous Chinese hospitality firsthand. Before the meal we were given a private lesson on how to make Chinese dumplings (Jiaozi) by hand like the Chinese people have been doing for decades. The lady was very patient with us despite our inability to do it right; eventually we finished our lesson and were served all sorts of veggies and then the dumplings! They made us SO much food!! Chinese custom is to always make more food than is necessary to show that you are capable of being hospitable and providing enough food to satisfy your guests. It was very different from the customs of countries like Mexico where leaving food on the table is a sign of disrespect so it was a unique experience to me and I was privileged to have gotten the opportunity. The family also had a talking bird hanging above their doorway that would say “knee-how” (hello) back to you if you said it to him. That was also entertaining because the bird spoke more Chinese than all of us haha.

After spending time with our individual families and eating more dumplings than I could count, we were met by a fleet of Trishaw for a Trishaw tour of Hutong, a narrow network of lanes created by closely built quadrangular homes. The Trishaws were much like what you would find in New York City with a bicycle that was attached to a little carriage that could hold 2 people. We all paired up and went for our little tour of Hutong area. Mom it wasn’t quite as crazy as our ride through NYC as we didn’t have to dodge taxis, just other trishaws that our friends were in. My driver was named MAO and he was legit! I was riding with Ali and we would cheer and stuff and he would cut the other trishaws off and pass them if they went to slow. It was fun riding around and saying “knee-how” to the people as we drove by. It was cool seeing a more relaxed area of the city with fewer people and no traffic because the streets were too narrow for cars. Our trishaw tour was followed by a short stop at a local silk factory. Alright the silk factory was the biggest waste of time EVER and was totally unnecessary. It was just a modern tourist trap where they gave us a short 10 min talk on the process of getting silk and what they do with it; then they expect you to buy stuff at the store like scarves and blankets that were ridiculously overpriced. I think only one person bought something and it was a life-long learner so that doesn’t count. No one really enjoyed it and we were all ready to leave as soon as we got there lol.

The last stop of the day for our group was the Beijing 2008 Olympic Village. Alright that was way cooler than I thought it would be! I was looking forward to it but once we got there and were staring at the Bird’s Nest, Torch Tower, and the Bubble Aquatics Centre it really hit me where I was!! We got to walk down the streets where the marathons were held leading into the Bird’s Nest for the finish line. We weren’t given a tour of the village but simply got free time to explore the Bird’s Nest and surrounding area. The Bubble Aquatics Centre where Phelps won all his medals was undergoing renovation at the time so we weren’t allowed to tour the inside. Definitely a bummer but at least we still got to see. Ok so the Bird’s Nest was incredible!! We weren’t allowed to go on the floor because there was a winter festival going on and it would have cost a lot of money to go onto the floor which was covered with fake snow for the kids. So a group of us did the next best thing…we went all the way up to the far corner of the building on the top row to get some sweet pics! It was quite a hike up there but well worth it!! The architecture of the building is insane and it was just cool to know that so many Olympic events were held in the building, especially the amazing opening ceremonies with all the lights and drums. Very, very cool and we were all stoked to see the Bird’s Nest in its entirety. Just something about being there were so many people were a year and a half ago and imagining what they saw and the excitement in the air, it was so tight!!

Following our time at the Olympic Village, we loaded up and headed to our dinner location. This night we got the privilege of enjoying a traditional Beijing dinner…the Beijing Duck Dinner. We were taken to the Tangyuan Restaurant which specializes in preparing this duck. The customary way to cook this duck consists of slow roasting the duck in an oven at a certain temperature for a certain length of time in order to get the outside crispy but the inside extremely tender. I really like duck so I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner. Some people at our table weren’t too crazy about the duck meat which was fine because Chris and I did like it so we ate all the leftovers. The chef also was standing in the middle of the room constantly carving more strips off the duck to disperse among the tables. That was cool too because we got to see the entire duck before he started carving it, not really anything new to me cause I am around dead ducks all the time but it was cool to see their method of cooking and serving the duck. Much different than we do it at the ranch, but tasty nonetheless. Although I will definitely stay with the way we do back in Oklahoma pops. Nothing like a good marinade, so says the good Doc himself! Oh and I won’t go into detail right now, but there was also an incident between me and a waitress due to a language barrier but I will save that one for this summer. Just ask me about it when you see me if you wanna know. Dinner went late and afterwards I decided to call it a night after briefly chilling with some people in the hotel when we got back.

Well I just wrote 5 pages about 2 days in China and I feel like I didn’t do it justice. I could write so much more about what I talked about and then there are probably over 100 smaller stories that I could spout off but that would take FOREVER!! So this will just have to do for now I guess. Hope you all enjoyed it!

In Joshua 1:8-9 it says “For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Wherever I go. Even in China, surrounded by over 1 billion people, God never left my side. Little, insignificant me. God was with me. How flipping crazy is that?!?! One in a sea of many and God never took his eyes off of what I was doing. This truth is so incredible to think about, yet something that we so easily take for granted as we go through our daily lives. Think of how differently we would lead our lives if we dwelt on the fact that Christ was always right by our side? I guarantee you that it would make a difference! A drastic difference! Think about it, I know I did when I was overwhelmed by the mass of people everywhere in China.

Miss you all and hope everything is going great! Love you guys!!

T

Xi'an - I'm so Excited, I Just Can't Hide It!

Hello again!

Guess I was able to post this a lot quicker than I thought haha. I’m taking advantage of some free wifi in Hong Kong. I’m actually posting this at the same time as the one before it so if you are reading this one before the first China one I would recommend going back one blog so that everything makes sense. The Shanghai blog is the first China blog and you will be able to find it by just going back one blog.

No point in Comment Shout-Outs because I answered the previous ones in the Shanghai blog that I just posted and no one has had time to comment yet lol.
The picture I chose for Xi’an is of me standing in front of the terra cotta warriors!! It was the highlight and main attraction in Xi’an so I definitely wanted to make it my pic! You can read more about the warriors below so I won’t ruin it. But yeah it was SICK!!

So Day 2 in China (February 17) was the beginning of my 6 Day/5 Night SAS trip to Xi’an and Beijing. Everyone on the trip was required to meet in the Union at 830 am to acquire our itineraries and check in. Once everyone was there they split us into 3 groups alphabetically and these were the groups we would be with for the rest of the trip as far as being assigned to a tour guide and bus. I was in the 3rd group…the one and only group C! We actually had a really bomb group and I am glad I was in Group C! We loaded up in the buses and headed to the airport. On the bus my friend Ali started singing “I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it,” which was true for everyone so we made that our motto for the beginning of the trip. Groups A and B were both on the noon flight to Xi’an while Group C was on the 1 pm flight to Xi’an an hour later. Some people in our group complained about this because their friends were on the other flight but I was the opposite and was excited because then we didn’t have to keep track of as many people; and we had assigned seats anyway so it’s not like you could choose to sit by your friends. I really like to travel so it was exciting flying on a Chinese airline for the first time and seeing their way of doing things on the plane. Honestly the plane was the exact same, the majority of stuff was in English; the only major difference was the food and beverage service. The Chinese know how to do it man, their airplane food was bomb!! It was actually real food and I didn’t hear anyone in our group complain.

Something you all should know, this was a 6 day/5 night trip and we were all only allowed to bring carry-ons. On all SAS overnight trips you are only allowed carry-ons so that we don’t run the risk of losing bags in transit and being slowed down at the airport. This of course did not sit well with some of the girls, because they were limited to either a backpack or small duffel, and then their purses. Haha it was really funny to see what some people considered priorities for a 6 day China trip, definitely had people from all ends of the spectrum as far as what was packed. I didn’t think it was that bad, but Mike Wall prepared me for this 3 years ago when we all just had a carry-on for the Nicaragua mission trip. Thank you Senor! And of course we had people who didn’t like flying but you always do in big groups.

The flight lasted 2.5 hours and was uneventful for the most part. No one really slept because we were all so stoked about the awesome trip we were starting!! At the Xi’an airport we met up with our tour guides and headed to our respected buses. The first stop of the day was to the Tang Dynasty Art Museum where we received personalized lessons in the art of Chinese calligraphy. Okay I didn’t expect it to be easy or anything but calligraphy is NOT easy. It took me 15 minutes just to get one symbol to where it didn’t look like a baby wrote it (Daryl I’m pretty sure Logan could do this stuff better than me haha). We were told it takes years of constantly writing the language to perfect it. The cool part was that there are only 8 basic strokes that are combined in various ways to make all the symbols; what they don’t tell you is that 5 of those 8 strokes are ridiculously hard. It was really cool getting a calligraphy lesson and a nice little surprise to start our trip off with.

After the art museum and calligraphy lesson we headed to our first meal of the trip. Every meal on this trip was included in the prepaid price and they were all much better than any of us could have hoped for. This first dinner was a Dim sum dinner at De Fa Chang. Okay so De Fa Chang’s is the most famous dumpling restaurant in all of Xi’an and is a multiple story restaurant. We met up with the other 2 groups and sat down to enjoy our meal. We didn’t get to order anything but our drinks and literally as soon as we sat down food was brought to us and placed in front of us. In China all the meals are family style except for the Westernized restaurants so the food is just placed on platters in the center of the table. Our dinner consisted of 18 different types of dumplings with fillings ranging from duck to pork to veggies. I every dumpling I tried which was 17 of them (I gave my buddy my vegetarian one for his spicy chicken one). It’s amazing how unique the different ones were and how awesome they all tasted!

The restaurant was located in the center of the inner city of Xi’an (Xi’an is formatted exactly like Jerusalem with an inner and outer city separated by a wall) and it was crazy! Like I said previously it was the end of Chinese New Year so they were people everywhere. Fireworks were going off like every other minute and the coolest part was the lanterns. They were all over the place, just floating up into the air with the little flame inside. It was like we walked into a movie, I can’t even describe was it was like to see the sky lit up with fireworks, building lights, and hundreds of lanterns. How did we get so lucky? We didn’t expect any of this and it was just good timing that it all happened when we were there. Crazy huh?!?! We had the option of returning to the hotel with the buses or heading out on our own and finding our own way back. I headed off with a group of people to wander around the inner city while the festivities were going on for about an hour then we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. We stayed the night in the Xi’an Jianguo Hotel which was insanely nice and none of us really expected to be staying in such a nice hotel. I fell asleep to the sweet sound of fireworks which is something that was quite alright with me even though some people weren’t okay with it the next morning haha.

Day 2 in Xi’an (February 18th) was packed with stuff. Like I said earlier there is no way I can describe everything in as much detail as I want to but I will do my best. We ate breakfast at our hotel then headed out bright and early to start our day. The first stop was the Xi’an city wall that separated the outer and inner city. We were given free time to hike around, take pictures, and climb one of the bell towers that was used as a guard tower back when the city wall protected the city. There was also this really cool bell we were allowed to ring with the old wooden pendulum that you swung into it. That was cool cause the bell was really loud and it was cool cause it was still mounted on the wall! We were only there for about 45 minutes so we didn’t have too much time to really walk along the wall but we were all able to see enough of it to get a feel for the history and significance behind the wall.

After the Xi’an wall, we headed to the Muslim district of the city to see the Great Mosque and Old Bazaar areas. The district was nestled into a corner of the city and it was weird going from the busy city streets to this religious area within just 25 yards. The Mosque was situated behind the Bazaar and was comprised of rectangular courtyards lined up in a row. Each courtyard contained some sort of wooden or stone alter/statue in the middle with buildings lining the sides and gates separating the courtyards. After touring the Mosque grounds we headed through the old Bazaar area on our way back to the buses. The Bazaar was lined with vendors trying to sell all kinds of stuff. We had some free time to shop around and see what we could find and then try to barter for a lower price. It was really cold in Xi’an that day so a lot of people were buying fake name brand gloves for extremely cheap and warm, fur-lined hats to wear around. The atmosphere was fun because we were with all 100 SAS kids and adults from the trip and everyone was bartering and trying to get the best deal.

Once everyone was assembled back at the buses we made our way out of Xi’an an hour or so to a restaurant on the way to our next destination. The lunch was another traditional family style setting but the food was totally different. Pork and chicken are the main meats served in China and are accompanied with various forms of vegetables, and of course, RICE! I have never been a real big fan of sticky rice but I sure am a fan of Chinese sticky rice! It was so good! Oh and did I mention that we ate every meal with chopsticks?!?! Yeah there is no such thing as western silverware at the places we went to. It took awhile to get good enough to pick up some of the stuff but after 8 days of chopstick usage I can honestly say that I can now eat a meal using only chopsticks! The best part of this specific meal was these potato lumps that were glazed with honey, and not just a hint of honey, like a legit honey coat over them. SOOOOOOO TASTY!!

Everyone was full and satisfied heading back to the buses as we made our way to the highlight of Xi’an…THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS!! Ok they were indescribable! I don’t even know where to start. Basically everything you have ever heard about them is true. For those of you who don’t know, the Terra Cotta Warriors were constructed by the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (no relation to Jimmy, sorry man haha), Qin Shi Huangdi. They were buried with him in order to protect him after death as well guard his tomb. The estimated 8,000 terra cotta soldiers are a testament to his power and megalomania. Each figure is the same height and every face is constructed completely unique. Our guide told us that if a carver made the features of any face even remotely similar the carver would be killed on the spot. The warriors were discovered by peasants in 1974 while trying to dig a well. In the main and most impressive vault (Pit 1), the majority of the warriors has been uncovered and remains in their typical battle formation in 11 columns comprised of officers, soldiers holding spears and swords, and others steering horse-drawn chariots. The pit is huge! My best guess is around 7-9 football fields lined up like hotdogs (which by the way sounds amazing right now), and a building has been built around it to protect the warriors from Mother Nature. In addition to Pit 1, there is also Pits 2 and 3 which are at different stages of excavations and then a 4 building called the treasure room which has smaller artifacts that were discovered intact with the warriors. Including two bronze chariots consisting of 4 horses each and unique chariot styles. It’s crazy that these were just discovered only 36 years ago?!?! Considered by many to be the “8th Wonder of the World,” it was truly a treat to get to experience these warriors and view them in person. I don’t really know what else to say about the warriors except WOW, I still can’t believe I actually saw them a couple days ago. It’s insane!!!! I will be able to go into more detail in person when I see you all and have pictures but for now hopefully this gives you an idea.

After spending a couple hours taking in the warriors and everything associated with them, we headed out into a small village for a visit to one of the Xi’an Orphanages. The orphanage was very nice compared to some places I have visited and the kids actually had beds with sheets and blankets as well as indoor plumbing in each building. This specific orphanage is currently home to around 100 orphans whose parents are either in prison or who abandoned them at an early age. Two young boys that I met had been found last year around New Years by a police man on the street. The boys were abandoned by their parents and their names and ages are unknown. The best guess by the orphanage is that one is around 6 and the other around 3. It was heart-breaking to see these kids who were simply left by their parents. Just makes you appreciate what we have and the amazing parents God blessed us with. We were giving a tour of the orphanage and then they put on a little show for us. It was really cool to see these little kids excited that we were there. The hardest part was the language barrier. I have dealt with language barriers in Mexico before and usually sign language was enough to get by. Man not with these kids, I have never had such a hard time trying to communicate simple things. It was difficult and frustrating but eventually it got easier.

We had to leave the orphanage shortly after arrival which was lame, we all wanted to stay with the kids! The drive back to Xi’an took around an hour and a half and most people either slept or listened to music. Tonight’s dinner just happened to be the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. The meal was first and was a 7 course meal served in a Westernized fashion with our own individual plates. Okay this was the best food I have eaten since I left Oklahoma. We had everything from soup to duck to some sort of really tender beef. It was sooooooo good. After enjoying a more relaxed dinner and chilling with traditional Chinese string music playing on the stage, the show really started. The performance consisted of Chang’an music and dance with originated in China’s Tang Dynasty over 1000 years ago. The show was rich with tradition and truly unique to China. It was Crazy Cool and just another example of something cool that none of us expected 2 months ago when we signed up for this trip. The dinner and show lasted around 2.5 hours and afterwards most people decided to just chill at the hotel because we were all beat from walking around all day and seeing everything. It was also nice cause we got to catch bits and pieces of the Olympics in the hotel which made a lot of people extremely happy lol. And this concluded my second day in Xi’an.

I know I could have said more and was really vague in some points but I promise I will explain more this summer when I see you all. If there are any specific questions you want answered just comment and I will do my best to answer it in one of the next blogs.

Love you guys and wish you were all here with me!!

T

“The greatest and best man in the world must say, ‘By the grace of God I am, what I am,’ but God says absolutely…‘I am that I am.’” - Matthew Henry

Shanghai in a Day

Knee-How! (Hello in Chinese…not how you spell it but this gives you a better idea of what it sounds like)

First and foremost, we have a birthday to celebrate. For those of you that didn’t know, my dad (also known as “Slick Willie” to some of you) turned 50 on Sunday, February 21, 2010. I want to wish you a very happy birthday dad and I am sorry I missed your party. I wish I could have been there! I still can’t believe your 50!?! Not many people have dads like you and I thank God each and every day for you! Love ya more than you know pops, I couldn’t have asked for a better dad and I am who I am today because of you. Love you and hope you had a great birthday!!

The picture above is from our day of shopping and walking around (you will read about all of this below). From left to right you have Austin, Me, Kevin, and Buddy. The picture was taken right before another one and we were all cracking up at something Austin had said so one of the girls took a pic and it turned out to be a really good candid shot. Behind us is Shanghai harbor and you can see some of the giant buildings on the other side of the water in the distance.

Comment Shout-Outs!! – Everyone from Henderson Hills. I was thinking about you all a lot last weekend during Big Weekend, and it killed me to not be there with you guys. I pray that God spoke to each and every one of you and that your weekend was incredible. Love you and miss you all!! Nat – sorry about the sushi thing, guess we will just have to hit up the other normal food places haha. It’s amazing how much I miss the Norman food joints, I will just have to come up during finals week and distract you! Hope all is well in Theta world…miss ya girl! Logan – Brotha what’s up?!?!? So since I had some free internet time in port I was able to go back over the past blogs and I noticed your one from like 5 posts ago that I must have just barely missed. My bad man I feel bad, but I get really limited time on the ship so I just log on long enough to check the comments from the last blog and then post my new one. I didn’t hear that you all had switched to middle school worship leaders but that is really cool! I know it might be weird at times cause you miss the high schoolers but that is another area that you will have experience in that God will use to help you in the future. He is preparing you man! As far as Valentine’s Day goes, I’m sure you didn’t have 1 date but more like 8, and don’t lie to me because I will find out. If Natalie Parker and Hollis are reading this keep it up! Alex I know you are bugging him so just do it double and blame it on me haha. Dude that is sick that you guys got a 6 day weekend. I bet that was much appreciated by all you guys. Dude N64 is where it’s at on snow days! That’s awesome! Never saw Up, heard good things tho. Star Trek is so tight, glad you finally experienced it! And Book of Eli was so freaking good wasn’t it! My second favorite Denzel movie behind Remember the Titans! Heck yeah you are still being harassed! Because it is true and there is no escaping that reality!! Know I am messing with you in spirit every time Alex says something! Dude God is mysterious but it is a wonderful type of mysterious! I wish I was there to talk about it too man…but we got all summer coming up! Hope you are enjoying school (as much as you can lol), love ya bro!

Alright so I know it has been awhile since I last blogged and I am sorry about that! I have been on the China trip of a lifetime the past 8 days and haven’t had access to a computer until yesterday. As I sit down to write about my time in China I have no clue where to begin. I have literally been going non-stop for the past 7.5 days and I am worn out in the best way imaginable. Seeing that I have 8 days worth of stuff to tell you all about there is no way I can fit it all in one blog without writing an overwhelming amount. I have decided to simply split my China adventure into 1, 2, or 3 day segments as I see fit and upload the posts as quickly as I can get them done (after all I only have 2 days until I reach Vietnam). So basically what I am saying is that I might be posting 3-5 different blogs about China I just don’t know yet; and I don’t know how fast I will be able to write them so I might upload more than one in the span of a day or it might take me a week to finally upload everything about China. Just have to wait and see I guess haha. Alright no enough talk…let me tell you about China!!!!!

I didn’t make any expectations going into China because I didn’t know what to expect in a country that is so diverse and different than anywhere I have ever been. Definitely a great idea!! China was awesome and mainly because I let myself experience it for what it really was, not what I wanted it to be or expected it to be. Another big bonus was the fact that the first couple days we were there happened to be the last few days of the Chinese New Year celebration. Yeah I said Chinese New Year, and you know what that means…….fireworks!!!!!!! During this specific span of time you can set off fireworks anywhere in the city and it is completely legal! So we would be walking or driving down the street and all of the sudden a strand of blackcats would go off or a mortar would explode right over your head. Definitely something I could get used to!! Jarrett let me just tell ya, we definitely could have gotten into some serious trouble together!! America needs to take notes and allow this kind of behavior in our city streets…I mean only like a couple days around the 4th of July…think of how awesome that would be?!?!

China was a unique country in many ways. First off the food is absolutely incredible! It wasn’t hard at all to simply eat the Chinese food. A lot of the dishes we were served/purchased were similar but different enough so that we didn’t get bored. Second, the air quality in China is pretty much what you hear about on the news. Every day there is just thick smog hanging in the air which prevents you from seeing the blue sky and sun. Think of a real thick fog right above the building that doesn’t leave and is constantly there. I personally didn’t like this and would rather have an Oklahoma sky any day; and since none of us were used to it we all had really runny noses the whole trip because of the amount of dust and crap in the air. Another thing was the people. They were way friendlier than the Japanese as far as simply passing someone on the street. If you smiled and waved at someone they would smile back and acknowledge you instead of avoiding eye contact. It was also cool because we were at a lot of the big touristy spots in Xi’an, Beijing, and Hong Kong (you will read about these cities in the coming blogs) so we also were running into Chinese tour groups. It was fun waving to them from the buses and seeing them get excited to see American tourists doing the same thing as them. The Chinese people were amazing, hospitable, and considerate which makes leaving China even more difficult.

Day 1 in China was so much fun! The morning started with a mandatory diplomatic briefing at 8 am where two members of the U.S. consulate in Shanghai came aboard to brief us on certain Chinese customs, rules, regulations, etc. that we should be aware of as Americans traveling throughout the country. Some of the information was helpful but most of it was routine stuff that applies to traveling anywhere and not just China. The briefing lasted a little over an hour and afterwards we sat around the ship waiting for the customs/immigration process to begin. We were called according to our seas starting around 10 am and the ship was cleared (we were allowed to get off) around noon. Clearing customs/immigration was very easy despite having to get our temperature taken to get off. The group I hung out with for the first day consisted of Austin, Buddy, Kevin, Natalie, Abby, Allyssa, and Mem. Our first priority was to get Yuan (Chinese Currency) and our second priority was to get food…I mean the food was really priority numero uno but to get food we had to have Yuan to pay with so getting money became priority number one by default. There was a ton of SASers at the ATMs so that took awhile but eventually we were able to get cash and start our search for an authentic Chinese restaurant. We walked up to this one restaurant and realized that it was a hot-pot restaurant; the only thing written in English on the outside of the building was a sign that said “Come a pot of lamb spinal cord” so we were like “Yep, we have to eat here now.” Two of the girls weren’t too excited at first because of the sign but soon realized that it was a normal restaurant. We walked in, got a table, and luckily our waiter spoke a little English. He was really cool and was more interested in where we were from and what we were doing than taking our order. It was nice seeing hospitality like that in a waiter right off the bat and made the experience much more enjoyable. The restaurant was very traditional and our meal was awesome! It was a huge pot of broth with mutton (lamb), cabbage, yams, potatoes, some random Chinese veggies, and then we added some dumplings and beef for good measure. You let everything boil in the pot in the center of the table and then help yourselves as you get hungry. Ahhhhhh it was soooooooo bomb!!! Then I got this huge 1.5 liter coke with my meal that was less than $1 U.S. In total, when it was all said and done, we each paid around $6 U.S. for the whole meal and our drinks and we were stuffed!!

After lunch we headed out into Shanghai to do some shopping. We started out just walking around aimlessly and seeing what we could find to do. After seeing the port area and some random stuff we decided to take these motorized rickshaws to an area called the Tao Bao Market. Okay so these motorcycle rickshaw things were intense!! There were 8 of us so we split up into 4 pairs and headed off. The part where we sat was facing backwards so we couldn’t see where we were going. Austin and I were in the front so I was able to get a really cool video of us swerving in and out of traffic with the other 3 rickshaw things (don’t really know what they are called cause they are definitely not traditional rickshaws) trying to keep up. That was a cool experience and I’m pretty sure I could have died because we were cutting off buses and other cars and since we were facing backwards we didn’t even know it until we were passing the bus that almost hit us.

Anyways we eventually made it to the Tao Bao Market safe and sound and without getting lost. The market was indoors and consisted of a 5 story building that was full of individual vendors lined up in rows with escalators in the middle. You could barter for everything in the market and most vendors sold the same things so you could shop around till you found the best deal. My favorite was finding people close to each other that had the exact same stuff and pitting them against each other to see which one would give you the best deal. We all bought souvenirs…oh and Daniel, if you are reading this I got you the SWEETEST gift ever!! Like I almost got myself the same thing but I didn’t want to spend that much. After shopping for a couple hours we walked around the streets a little more before starting a search for a place to eat dinner. We were set on finding another authentic Chinese restaurant and refused to eat at one of the numerous KFCs or Pizza Huts we passed. We decided to try our hand at a version of Shanghai “fast food.” Luckily they had picture point menus so we were able to order by pointing and holding up fingers for what we wanted and how many of each. I got this teriyaki chicken with steamed rice and Chinese Mango Tea. Everyone got various things and Kevin even got a plate of pig’s ear for all of us to try; everyone tried it and was able to get it down, but some people definitely did not like it. I on the other hand actually thought it tasted pretty good…oh well, guess I’m just weird (but you guys already knew that I’m sure).

After our Chinese fast food adventure we headed back to the ship to drop off our souveniers and meet up with more people who had done different things during the day. Oh and sidenote about China – taxis were so cheap! For a ride across town back to the port it was less than $3 U.S., AND we got to split it between 4 of us (8 people, 2 cabs) so we all ended up paying less than a buck when it was all said and done. Much better than Hawaii and Japan…I never even took a cab in Japan cause it was so expensive. Anyways, after meeting up with more people on the ship we headed out into the city to see what we could find to do. We ended up at a nightclub called G2 that was in this shopping mall. I stayed long enough to try duck tongue (which was actually good too believe it or not haha) then I left because I didn’t want to spend my time in China at a club. I would rather walk around and see the city in a different light (literally haha). I wandered around the city for awhile enjoying some time to myself, took some pics, then hitched a ride with one of the cheap taxis back to the ship to pack and get some sleep for my awesome trip to Xi’an
and Beijing the next day!!

I could write for the next month and not even scratch the surface of the things I witnessed, the friends I made, the adventures, the laughs, the close-calls, the breathtaking scenery, the indescribable experiences, even the traveling from place to place. Like I said earlier I didn’t really know what to write and this is just a taste of what I did. When I see you all in person and I have pictures I will be able to go into greater detail but this will have to do for now.

As I look back on the hustle and bustle of China, one thing constantly sticks out. The immense amounts of people everywhere! Everyone knows China is the most populous country in the world but I guess it finally just hit me as we were squeezing through the crowds and making our way through literally millions of people. The coolest part for me was the fact that each and every one of those Chinese people was individually created by Christ. I mean God knows each one of them by name, millions and millions of people, think about that for a second. It’s crazy cool!!!!! Even in something seemingly tiny and insignificant such as a name, God’s omniscience and glory are constantly on display. Just some food for thought.

I will post again ASAP. This is just the start of my China blogs. Hope you all are doing awesome! Praying for ya!

T