for freeeeeeeeeeeeeee :rockon:

i'm nervous though :(

you ever been?

you know how use chopstick, roundeye?

fuk you woundeye!

How did you manage that?

i had to blow a few guys for her.

work is sending me. fully paid trip and i get my regular paycheck on top of it!

16 days - 4 of them cruising on the Yangtze river. HIYOOOOOOOOO!

Well holy shit!

Are you supposed to sneak some work in there somewhere or is it all pleasure?

That's really cool. I hope you enjoy your trip. The airport code for Beijing is PEK. Also, my rat Beej is from Beijing. She did her dodge training there. I hope you go to Beijing, Shannon.

Well holy shit!

Are you supposed to sneak some work in there somewhere or is it all pleasure?

it's a tour, so i have to "represent the company well" and that's pretty much it!

i'm super nervous about flying though!

here is my agenda:

That's really cool. I hope you enjoy your trip. The airport code for Beijing is PEK. Also, my rat Beej is from Beijing. She did her dodge training there. I hope you go to Beijing, Shannon.

why thank ya

BEEJ, well isn't that cute : )

maybe Beej can give me some pointers... show me the ropes!

Bonnie you know everything

Congrats Shannon

thanks!

while i am super gracious to be going on their dime, i am quite nervous... i have never been out of the country before so this is a pretty big step for me!

:mrpimp:

i might just go balls to the wall and even poop in one of those little ground holes motherfuckers!!!

why thank ya

BEEJ, well isn't that cute : )

maybe Beej can give me some pointers... show me the ropes!
Here is a picture I took of her:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9571/img1047i.jpg

She says just make sure you do not get stepped on or caught eating garbage and you will be okay.

I'd shit in a hole, wipe my ass with my left hand, eat dog stew, fuck with the lights on, drive down the middle of the road without breaks, put rubberbands around my balls until they expand like grapefruits and turn purple, snort ground up scorpions to get a hard on, kill and eat a dolphin raw

all that shit they do. I'd fucking do it. I love the fucking Chinese.

woah, thanks for all of the good ideas.

oh and thanks to you too, beej... no garbage for me!

I'm sorry for posting a picture of a rat in your thread, Shannon. I promise I am not trying to make this about me. If you would like me to take it down, please PM me.

Rats are pretty phallic pets.

I mean they're pretty, phallic pets.

don't smuggle in drugs. they don't go for those kind of shenanigans

bye, shannon!

ni hao motherfucker

Yeah, no. Let it go, man.

work is sending me. fully paid trip and i get my regular paycheck on top of it!

16 days - 4 of them cruising on the Yangtze river. HIYOOOOOOOOO!

my mum did something like this a few years back. Cool thing about the yangtze river: floating vendors selling 50c cans of beer.

Great news Shannon - take lots of pictures :)

Oh and Flspnut - lol at you following Sonic around the board. You seem really butthurt. All that money couldn't buy you thicker skin I see.

Oh and Flspnut - lol at you following Sonic around the board. You seem really butthurt. All that money couldn't buy you thicker skin I see.

Oh, but he's bluffing.

lol flipnut is really on a mission now.

Oh, but he's bluffing.

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which great wall site are you going to? don't go to Badaling, it is majorly cramped and touristy. go to Mutianyu or Jiankou, if you have a choice.

anyways. China is interesting to see. go to Dadong Duck Restaurant in Beijing! And...uh...yeah. the Yangtze was one of the scariest/weirdest things i've ever seen. i was somewhere near nanjing hiking and came across it near some pagoda thing. the river was covered in gigantic tankers, and on both sides there were at least 6 coal power plants and 300 other smoke towers from a number of factories. it was so dirty and loud even from 3000 feet above.

my mum did something like this a few years back. Cool thing about the yangtze river: floating vendors selling 50c cans of beer.

sounds awesome! :rockon:

which great wall site are you going to? don't go to Badaling, it is majorly cramped and touristy. go to Mutianyu or Jiankou, if you have a choice.

anyways. China is interesting to see. go to Dadong Duck Restaurant in Beijing! And...uh...yeah. the Yangtze was one of the scariest/weirdest things i've ever seen. i was somewhere near nanjing hiking and came across it near some pagoda thing. the river was covered in gigantic tankers, and on both sides there were at least 6 coal power plants and 300 other smoke towers from a number of factories. it was so dirty and loud even from 3000 feet above.

i will be visiting the the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. have you been?

yeah, the Yangtze looks pretty wild. i'm kind of glad the cruise is only 4 nights and then the rest are hotel stays. in looking at my itinerary, it doesn't look like i'm going to have much time to myself other than one free day in Guilin! lots of bouncing around doing touristy stuff.

here are the "highlights":

Shanghai, Acrobatic Show, Yangtze River Cruise, The Three Gorges, Guilin, Reed Flute Caves, Xian, Terra-Cotta Warriors, Beijing, The Great Wall, Peking Opera Show, Rickshaw Tour, Snow Jade Cave

and yes, Kahlo! lots of pictures. i need to get myself a camera >_<

"enjoy an imperial lunch today with 20 courses of dumplings!"

ooooooooo! :Pakula:

the way pet rats continuously sniff the air, i dunno, it's SO CUTE

my former step-brother moved to china like 6 years ago. he loves it there

^ at least that's what you heard after the chinese purified his emails.

haha

waiguoren

I went to China once—I got shot!

i will be visiting the the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. have you been?

Juyongguan is supposed to be one of the sections that is 'over-renovated' - it is the closest one to Beijing, but still should have less tourists than the locations peabody mentioned. I guess it would be as good as what you can get going with an organized trip.

When do you go? I think it could be an interesting experience on its own going together with other people like that - what they would be like - could be good stories :)
Are you going alone or with your boyfriend?

i go from October 8 - October 23

boyfriend is not coming, unfortunately. it's going to be tough to be away for 16 days but we'll manage. luckily i'm rooming with a girl that i've worked with for a bit and we get along alright.

have you been to any of the areas i'm going? i know you've done your fair share of traveling :)

i go from October 8 - October 23

boyfriend is not coming, unfortunately. it's going to be tough to be away for 16 days but we'll manage. luckily i'm rooming with a girl that i've worked with for a bit and we get along alright.

have you been to any of the areas i'm going? i know you've done your fair share of traveling :) I only spent one week in Beijing, working. I got to see Beijing only in the evenings, so I don't know that much. On Friday I went to the Great Wall at Badaling - it was insane how crowded the wall could get at certain sections - and I was told this was nothing, that weekends are even worse. On the other hand, I walked for few kilometers on the wall from the tourist entrance, and there was no one. There were also some female tourists from South Africa in African dresses, and the crowd went apeshit -everybody wanted to take picture with them. Black guys seemed to be very popular in Beijing, too.

I took a photo with Paul Hem on the Great Wall as well ;):
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/phinchina.jpg


The stay greatly improved my impression of the ordinary Chinese people, though - they are very very friendly smiling people, having absolutely no problem with strangers - quite to the opposite. They always looked very eager to chat with strangers. It's like everywhere - the leaders are pigs, and the common folk are normal, nice people. I also found Beijing very safe - I was walking around unlit streets way past 11pm and felt totally safe.

It surely looks like a fun trip. could you pick up some other destination?

ok, embedding doesn't work. look at the links!




<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/4240336216/in/set-72157623002508339/">BEIJING, Behai Park
</a> - it was frozen and such (it was dead winter), but it's very peaceful and lifts you out of Beijing

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/4240267554/in/set-72157623127057566/">
Beijing, Forbidden City (duh) - the not the big parts mainly, follow the back alleys, they lead to fun things like this..and old gate!:</a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/4240052070/in/set-72157623002436699/">
The Yangtze River....gross...</a>


hold...more coming!

I took a photo with Paul Hem on the Great Wall as well ;):
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/phinchina.jpg

.

ask them if you can take an overnight train instead of fly.

it's so fucking awesome. our 4-berth sleeper:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/4240228448/in/set-72157623002436699/"> china sleeper train</a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/sets/72157623127025576/">the whole great wall set (at Mutianyu). </a> if you have a free day, it's super easy to get there but off the track enough to not be super crowded (although june will be different than december). but still.

and go to the forbidden city! <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/4233495708/in/set-72157623002397341/"> here are pictures.</a>



this must look like a mess of links and shit.

anywho. china is wonderful to visit. they're so nice and ready to help (and stare). you can never get lost.

How much it was crowded on Friday+ you can see the stupid Beijing Olympics logo on the right, which made it almost impossible to take any picture without it at that time.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/wall_crowd.jpg

Mao in front of the Tienanmen square. Check the white guys above they are watching no one throws any anti-communist flyers from the wall or paint over the great Mao.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/mao.jpg


Winter palace peabody was talking about: yes, it was very nice, and I don't think any organized tour skips it. The haze is smog, though.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2summerpalace_north.jpg

Oh, be aware: Chinese are horrible drivers and it is jungle out there on the roads. They don't give a shit about lights, especially lights for pedestrians. They have this mentality 'I have a car=I am the boss, you pedestrian are nothing'. Really, watch out while crossing the roads!
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2intersection.jpg

Great wall could be nice, hopefully you get some nice dust-free weather - it should be if you go in October.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2great_wall.jpg

Forbidden palace entrance - check the basketball court on the right - it is where soldiers are stationed in case any troubles arise.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2forbidden_city_entrance.jpg

Huge forbidden city - it offers great perspectives on scale. When I was there, the main building was in scaffolding because of the Olympics renovations, I assume you would get a view of nice, renovated buildings.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2forbidden_city_100000.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2forbidden_city_back.jpg

I found central Beijing surprisingly green, there were little trees spread out between houses/along alleys/lakes everywhere.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_mosaics/2drumtower_south.jpg

oh, by the way, please be ready:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_selection/29toilet.jpg

I took a photo with Paul Hem on the Great Wall as well ;):
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/phinchina.jpg


ha!!

It surely looks like a fun trip. could you pick up some other destination?

probably not... i'm thinking i have to stick to the itinerary. it's jam packed, and i kind of wish it was a bit more leisurely, but i guess i can't really complain.

thanks for the pictures, guys. i'm getting more excited now and the nervousness is starting to wear off a bit.

the Yangtze does look funky as hell!!

oh, by the way, please be ready:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/pisekdusan/beijing/beijing_selection/29toilet.jpg

oh and fuck this

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/awashko/4240228448/in/set-72157623002436699/"> china sleeper train</a>


rawr