Visit The Forbidden City And Tiananmen Square In Beijing

Tiananmen Square is a large open area in the city of Beijing adjacent to the Forbidden City.  It was built in 1651, and has grown 4 times in size since its original design.  In 1974 after the leader Mao passed away, the people built a mausoleum under the square.  There his body lays embalmed and open for public viewing.   Seeing Mao's body didn't really tickle my fancy, so I skipped out on that.

The square is most popular for the number of protests and demonstrations that have occurred on the square. The most famous occurring in 1989.  Students went on hunger strikes and occupied the area for several weeks, and at the end of the debacle hundreds to thousands of protesters were killed.  The media often referred to it as a "massacre."  When people are being randomly shot,  being run over by military tanks, and being burned alive, I think the media has every right to call it that.

Nowadays, apparently the square is used as a meeting place for some locals, although I don't see how you can find anyone in the vast sea of people.  It's like finding a needle in a two ton haystack.

A view of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

North of Tiananmen Square is the Forbidden City, and it is faaaaaar more impressive than the Square.  Built during the Ming Dynasty and housing 24 emperors over a course of hundreds of years, the Forbidden City is located in the heart of Beijing. 

The Forbidden City consists of almost 1000 buildings, and nearly 9000 rooms!  Imagine having to clean that place!  I have a difficult enough time with my 3 bedroom home!  The city is also surrounded by a high wall and moats.

It is mind boggling to think that the Forbidden City took only 14 years to be built considering how massive it is.  La Sagrada Familia in Spain has been under construction since 1882, and even with modern technology it will still take an approximate 15 more years to complete!!  The manpower to build the City was an apparent million hard working souls!

Walking through the city was majestic.  The ornate construction of the buildings, and just the sheer size of the place would make anyone stop with awe.  Most of the city is off limits, and you are not allowed to see much of the interior of the buildings (besides going through the buildings to get to the next square).  Even though most of the city is restricted it still took 3 hours to walk one end to the other.

If you are a history buff, I suggest getting the audio guide or hiring a local guide.  The buildings do start to look alike otherwise; and getting a history lesson of each help in deciphering the buildings.

Date Accomplished:  March 5th 2012

Visit "The Sound Of Music" Sites In Austria

"The Sound Of Music" was one of my favorite flicks growing up.  My dad was too cheap to buy the actual movie, and I had to rely on my bootleg VHS.   I had watched the movie so much that the VHS ripped from the end of the reel, and every time I wanted to watch it I had to open up the VHS and tape the film together.  Nowadays I have the movie on DVD.

I took a two hour train ride to Salzburg from Munich.  I met a chick named Casey from New York on the train who had tried traveling to Russia without a visa (she didn't think she needed one).  She got stuck in an immigration room for almost 2 days without food until a Russian woman finally helped her purchase airline tickets to Munich.  We decided to tour Salzburg together, while trying to focus on some of the sites from "The Sound Of Music" (thank goodness she was a fan as well).

Our first stop was the Mirabell Gardens, one of the primary locations of the "Do Re Mi" scene.

The Mirabell Gardens is a beautiful garden that is free to enter.  I couldn't help myself by singing "Do Re Mi" while walking around the gardens.

My new pal, Casey, even got into the spirit.  She was asking me, "How should I pose?"  I told her to just hum the song in her head and a fun pose would come out of her...

Also, doesn't she look like Blake Lively?  Blake is totally her Doppelganger.

Do you remember this scene?  When Maria and the Von Trapp kids go running down a garden tunnel?

Well that garden tunnel is still there....and maybe it isn't as lush as it once was, but it still made me go  skipping down it....

Also during the Do Re Mi song, the children visited the hilarious Dwarf Garden.  The Dwarf Garden is filled with borderline creepy dwarf statues.  Some of them have tumors, hunchbacks, and one looked like he was ready to hurl.....

...and you know what they say....when you see a statue ready to hurl, you imitate it....

At the opposite end of Mirabell Gardens was this beautiful entrance where this famous scene was filmed....

Unfortunately, I didn't have the Von Trapp kids to make this shot extra fun, but just imagine them in spirit....

One of the best views of Salzburg is from the Monchberg.  From the Monchberg you get a great view of the Dom and the Festung Hohensalzburg. 

To get this amazing view you can hike to the top, or take an elevator lift for a few euros each way.  It is definitely worth it, and it beats the view from the fortress since you can actually SEE the fortress from this viewpoint!

If I had more time in Salzburg I would have loved to visit the "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" gazebo, and the Von Trapp house.   Just another reason to visit the beautiful Salzburg again!

Date Accomplished:  April 22nd, 2013

Visit The Cape Of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, is where the Atlantic Ocean (cold water) and Indian Ocean (warm water) merge.

The Cape is also famous to many sailors, who often call it "The Cape."

The Cape itself is beautiful, but the thing that will take your breath away is the drive down the Cape Peninsula.

Before heading to the Cape we visited the Cape Fur Seals on Diuker Island and watched a seal take a piece of a fish from a man's mouth.  No big deal.

The drive down the Peninsula will make you want to relocate there.  If you have driven the California Coast, I guarantee that portions of the drive will remind you of it.

Our next stop was a small naval town called Simonstown off the shores of False Bay.  Right before hitting the town's main strip we spotted Southern Right Whales!  We pulled over, ran through some train tracks, and watched the spectacle in front of us.  Some of the whales were mere FEET from where we were standing.  It was incredible.

We had some time to spend in Simonstown, and I took that time to find an ATM Machine, and walk into some of the cute shops along the main road.  Just a short drive from Simonstown was Boulder Beach, home of the Jackass Penguins.

Once we arrived at Cape Point I had a bite to eat, but I ate my meal with extra caution.  There were several warning signs about keeping an eye on your food because of the baboons.  The baboons can cause havoc in the Cape, and they don't appear fearful of humans at all.  They climb onto cars, try to sneak into open windows, and they show no mercy.  If you Youtube "Baboons in Cape Point" you will see an endless amount of videos of recorded baboon attacks.

Once I finished my baboon-less lunch I took the funicular up to Cape Point.   I recommend this option if you are on a time constraint, otherwise you can hike up to the top.  I wanted to spend as much time at Cape Point as possible.  From the drop off point, there is short hike up a few flights of stairs to get to the lighthouse, and from the lighthouse you have a 360 view of the entire area.

I must warn you about one thing......

It gets mighty windy up there, so get ready to take some attractive combover shots.  I'm sure I am making all balding men jealous.

After visiting Cape Point we headed down the hill to visit the Cape of Good Hope.  While driving down we saw wild ostriches, and more baboons causing havoc. 

The drive back reminded me a lot of Big Sur in California, especially the large coastal cliffs with roads etched onto the sides of the mountains.

If I ever make it back to Cape Town (and one day I sure hope I do), I'd love to make it back down to the Cape!   I didn't think it was possible to see so much nature, animals, and breathtaking views in ONE day!

Date Accomplished:  September 3rd, 2010

Disclaimer: I used them to make the trek down the Peninsula, and I paid for it with my own hard earned money.

See The Terracotta Warriors

Me hanging with some fake terracotta warriors

The Number 1 reason people flock to Xi'an is to visit the famous Terracotta Warriors (sometimes called the Terracotta Army).  It is one of the greatest archaeological excavations of modern time.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago (210 BC)....the first emperor of China pissed off a lot of people.  In order to protect himself during the afterlife he created an army made out of terracotta that would be buried with him.   It took over 700,000 workers in a span of  37 years to finish building his army.

In 1974 a group of farmers discovered the warriors while digging a well near Qin Emperor's Tomb.  One of the farmers was Yang Xinman, and I met him. In order to please the tourists, the surviving farmers all take turns sitting in the souvenir shop taking photos and signing autographs.

In all, there are three pits.  Inside these pits live 8,000 life-sized warriors, 130 chariots, and nearly 700 horses. 

• Pit One is the largest and most impressive of the bunch.  It houses long rows of thousands of warriors.
• Pit Two has more cavalry and infantry units, and still very much a work in progress.
• Pit Three is the command post with the high ranking officers, and the smallest of all the pits.

After taking a loop around Pit One you have the option to pay to have your photo taken in front of the pit.  The photographer attempted to bamboozle us out of an exuberant amount of money.  So naturally, we threw a fit.  The guy wouldn't budge with his price, so we walked away and created our own group photo.

We grabbed a young Chinese man walking by who spoke no English.  We then shoved our camera in his hands, and asked him to climb on a bench and take several pics of us.   I felt sorry for him for a second, but remembered the Chinese and their fascination of randomly taking photos of us.  We were probably the highlight of his day life. After taking our photos he scurried away with a big grin on his face.  I don't think he will ever see such a large group of ridiculously good-looking people again.  Just sayin.'

After that things got a little silly.  I don't know if the bitterly cold air was numbing our brain cells from functioning properly, or we had a severe acute case of ADHD. 

All jokes and silly photo poses aside, it was a pleasure to see such a huge part of Ancient Chinese history.  Despite the IMAX movie (if I could even call it that) being a huge letdown, the museum was a great way to see the warriors up close and to learn more about the history behind the warriors.

It's no surprise why The Terracotta Warriors are often referred to as the Eight World Wonder.

Date Accomplished:  March 11th 2012

Destination Uncovered: Chuandixia & Lingshui // China

August 16th, 2012

About a 2-3 hour drive away from Beijing are the UNESCO villages of Chuandixia and Lingshui.  If you have extra time in Beijing a trip to the ancient villages are worth a peek. My friend Elizabeth and I took the trip with a local guide, Cathy, and hired a driver for the day.

Our first stop was Chuandixia.  In the summer, the locals drive from Beijing to the village to get away from the chaos of the city.  We were the only tourists in the entire town.  The snow made it a challenge getting up and down the uneven ancient steps, and I even slipped at one point with my camera falling out of my pocket.   I blame it on the nonexistent banana peel underneath the snow.  Just sayin'.

When it was time for lunch, Cathy went from restaurant to restaurant yelling from the entrance if any were open.  Because of the poor weather, and the lack of tourists, most of the restaurants were closed.  We finally found one "restaurant."  I use the word restaurant lightly because it was pretty much like having lunch at someones home.  Inside the "restaurant" was a bed, a few tables, and an old TV aka a Studio Apartment.  My seat was the families bed that had an old, tattered comforter that had poorly translated English quotes on it.  If you think about it, it's pretty much genius, you get the best of both worlds, eating in bed and sitting around the table with family.

We gave Cathy free reign to pick our lunch.  She ordered us a few things that were forgettable, but the Chinese pancakes were fantastic.  The family worriedly stared at us as we ate, looking for signs of approval, or maybe because they were still trying to figure out how I slipped on that nonexistent banana peel.

I smiled, nodded my head, and they looked relieved.  Yes, the clumsy American girl likes our food!  High Five!

The second village we visited was Lingshui, and again we were the only tourists.  Cathy asked us if we wanted to pay $3 USD to have a local of the village tour us around.  Our local guide was Mr Tan who grew up in the village and didn't speak any English, so Cathy translated for us.  The village has been featured in several Chinese movies, and has unfortunately fallen apart since Mr Tan was a child.

He took us around his entire village, his old school, the new school, and we climbed up a hill to visit an old 2000 year old tree that supposedly gives people luck.  On our way down I asked Mr Tan if he lived nearby.  He asked me if I wanted to visit his home.  I said I did.  For the record, I don't normally invite myself into strangers homes, but Mr Tan was a pretty cool dude. He was like a Chinese Mr Miyagi.  He took us to his home, offering us potatoes he had cooked that morning, and introducing us to his father.  The experience was $3 well spent.

The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square are places you need to see while in Beijing,  but you don't gain an insight of the locals like you do with a visit to the ancient villages.  It truly was a peek into their lives, and into their homes as well.  :)

Visit A Panda Sanctuary

As China's national treasure, the Giant Pandas are one of the most loved animals on the planet.  I recently saw a photo making its way through Facebook with an image of a Panda and the caption reading, "Dude, Racism is Stupid, I'm white, black and asian."  Okay, maybe I was the only person that thought that was funny.

In 2007 a report showed that their were 27 pandas living outside China in zoos around the world.  The remaining 1800 were in China either in captivity or the wild.  The San Diego Zoo is home to some of those pandas, but every time I've visited the panda exhibit they were difficult to see, or not in sight at all.  Unimpressive at the very least.

Chengdu, China is home to Sichuan food (spicy!), Sichuan Opera (real weird stuff), and the Panda Sanctuary.  Chengdu loves their pandas, and it is rare to walk more than two blocks without spotting some Panda paraphernalia. Even the traffic signs have pandas on them; I wish we had panda-inspired traffic signs....

The Chengdu Panda Base is dedicated in panda conservation, and enables the public to see the pandas in an environment that imitates their natural habitat.  The best time to visit the sanctuary is in the morning as the pandas are most active during this time.

We first went to the toddler exhibit just as they were taken out to have breakfast.  We watched them eat and munch on their bamboo for more than 30 minutes.  I never knew I would be so fascinated to watch an animal eat.

Then as some of my friends were busy paying $200 to hold a panda for a minute, I watched the baby pandas.  I didn't know pandas could get any cuter.  They were cuter than cute.  I watched one little guy (or gal) for more than 30 minutes trying to climb a bamboo stick, and maneuver its way up and down a ladder.  Fascinating, right? If I were to do that no one would care, if a baby panda does it, you have a herd of paparazzi like tourist treating you like your Suri Cruise.

I wanted to make a short video of my panda experience, however I found it mighty difficult to crop all the adorable-ness....so my planned one minute video became nearly 3 1/2 minutes.  



If you ever make your way to China a visit to the panda sanctuary is an absolute must.  The pandas are so well taken care of, and their living spaces are clean and open.  I must warn you that you will fall totally in love with them, and evidently, you must fight the desire to smuggle one of them back home with you.

Date Accomplished:  March 13th, 2012

Visit Gaudí's Work In Spain

Casa Batlló

Antoni Gaudí was a Spanish mastermind in architecture.  He integrated all his skills such as stained glass, ceramics, ironwork and carpentry into his masterpieces.  He used architecture to express himself in a cultural movement called Catalan Modernism.  Most of his work is scattered all over Barcelona, but a few can be found in other cities in Spain. To me, it almost looks like he and Dr Seuss collaborated and made the buildings in Seuss' books come alive. 

Casa Milà

In order to not get burned out by Gaudí architecture I spread out my visits in a span of three days.   My friend and I were on a budget so we skipped out on going inside Casa Batlló and forked our money to see Casa Milà instead.  I heard that the rooftop of Casa Milà was amazing, and because the sun was beginning to set I knew our views would be spectacular.  

Casa Milà

My assumption was correct.  It was like a magical land up there with crazy sculptures, funky arched walkways, and stunning views of the city.    After checking out the rooftop we took the stairs down that lead us into other rooms of Casa Milà.  The other rooms were also filled with eccentric furniture and designs fitting to be living under a Gaudí roof.

Park Güell

The following day we hopped on the metro towards Park Güell.  There is no metro stop that can drop you off right at Park Güell, regardless of where you stop you will have to walk....uphill.  We took the metro stop Vallarca that stopped near the side of Park Güell, and on the way up they had a few escalators to help you reach the steep top.  The other metro stop (Lesseps) is near the bottom of Park Güell and is a good 20 minute hike up to the entrance.  I saw many people give up and hail a taxi to get to the main entrance.  Because we took the Vallarca stop we entered Park Güell near the top, so we climbed another 10 minutes to a lookout that gave us a panoramic view of Barcelona.

Park Güell

Afterwards we headed down towards the entrance, and stopped at the Gardens, intricate walkways, and even stopped to watch a man create huge bubbles for the local children to go nuts over!  We nestled our tired bums at a large area lined with tiled benches to people watch and enjoy the scenery.  Just mind close attention to your belongings because as we were leaving we saw a few men running away with people's bags (we learned the reality of it just hours prior!).  Definitely prepare to spend a few hours at Park Güell to see everything, and you want to hear the best part?  It's FREE!

La Sagrada Familia

Our last Gaudí stop was La Sagrada Familia, the most famous of the bunch!  Most people arrive at Sagrada Familia early in the morning for fear of the long lines.  The lines are NO JOKE.  It wrapped around the entire church, and we waited for over an hour to finally get inside.  When Gaudí passed away in 1926 the church was only 15-25% complete.  The church is still not complete as you can see from the giant cranes hovering over the church in the photo above.  The projected completion date is between 2026-2028.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia is not only massive but it is painfully ornate.  It's no wonder that it is still under construction after all these years.  As soon as you enter the cathedral you see the countless hours, days, years, and decades it has taken to built.

In my personal opinion, you haven't truly visited Barcelona if you haven't visited something created by Gaudí.  I'd love to go back one day to see the Sagrada Familia complete!

Date Accomplished:  October 22nd-24th, 2011

Climb The Great Wall Of China

Climbing the Great Wall of China has been one of my most favorite life list items that I have completed.  I've seen a lot of old stuff during my travels, but this huge chunk of old bricks was pretty impressive.  The construction of the wall started in 7th century BC, and today it stretches 5,500 miles through deserts, towns, and mountains.  Unfortunately, many sections of the wall are now in ruins, or have simply disappeared.  Around Beijing, you can easily take a day trip to visit sections of the Great Wall that have been preserved.

The section I chose to visit was the Mutianyu section which is a little further away from Beijing and less crowded than some of the other sections.  There are two ways to get up to the Mutianyu section, the first is a 30 minute hike up hundreds of stairs, and the second is a cable car that cost about $10 USD to go up one way.  I knew the Great Wall was filled with stairs, so I chose to do the cable car in order to conserve my energy on the actual wall. 

The cable car ends at Tower 14.  From Tower 14 you can either go left and go up to Tower 21, or go right all the way to Tower 6 to take the Toboggan ride down (yes a toboggan on the Great Wall...more about that later).  

Steps, Steps, Steps!  Get ready to walk, climb and in my case slip and slide!  Not only did I have the obstacle of steps (some VERY steep), but it was also snowing!  In my personal opinion walking around the Great Wall as it was snowing made it only more beautiful, but it also made it more difficult to walk through. 

 

My goal was to make it all the way to the end of Tower 21, but as soon as I got to Tower 18 I knew the snow was going to win this round. The snow from that part of the tower had not been paved and was like a giant accident waiting to happen.

I turned back around and made my way to Tower 6. I have read that during the Summer the Towers are great little resting areas to get a bit of shade and to cool off.  I have also heard that during the summer the wall is infested with people.  Do you see anyone else in the photo above?  Nope.  Several times during my walk around the wall I truly felt like I had it all to myself!  

Well, I wasn't on the Wall completely by myself.  I was sharing it with some new friends.  New friends that loved to photo bomb!   It was the birthday of one of the gals and so we sang happy birthday to her on the wall.  How many people can say they celebrated their birthday on one of the Wonders of the World?!

After our trek to Tower 6 we were ready to ride the Toboggan!  For about another $10 USD I would be able to toboggan down a very unstable looking sled.  I was willing to take my chances because how many times can I say I took a Toboggan down the Great Wall of China!

Before taking our Toboggan ride we watched a few locals make their way down.  They were REALLY slow.  So we waited approximately 10 minutes before getting onto our sleds in order to avoid the slow pokes on our way down.  The first half of the ride was uneventful, it wasn't steep enough to go at a decent pace, but the second half was FAST!  Once I really got my momentum going it was exhilarating, and I even got a few "Slow Down" looks from the workers on my way down.  Jason, who went down first in our group, had gone so fast he caught up with the slow locals that we had waited 10 minutes prior to going!

If you aren't keen on Toboggan rides they even have a ski lift option that you can take down.  After our Great Wall adventure we treated ourselves to some hot chocolate and coffee, and bargained for some "pancakes" (more like crepe wraps) that many of the food vendors sell at the bottom of the hill.  In China, you can bargain for just about anything, including the pancakes! Can you believe they even have a Subway at the Great Wall of China?  True Story!

Despite the Great Wall having some very touristy quirks, it was still a wonderful experience! Definite must do!

Date Accomplished:  March 5th, 2012

Visit The Silver Mines Of Potosi, Bolivia

The Silver Mines...aka Cerro Rico

Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world at over 13,000 feet, and is usually visited while on the way to the Salt Flats of Bolivia.  The city is most widely known for Cerro Rico (meaning Rich Hill).  Cerro Rico was founded in the 1500's as a mining town for silver, and it became the main source of silver for Spain during that time.  Similar to the Gold Rush in the United States, people rushed to Potosi to take advantage of the copious amounts of silver.  At one point in time it became one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world.

People of the Mines

After 1800 the mountain was drastically depleted of its supply of silver.  The working conditions were extremely poor, and the conditions have not improved much till this day.  Nowadays it takes more than it gives.  It is said that over 8 million people have died due to mining-related illnesses and accidents.  The average age of a miner is 40 years old.   Most miners die of Silicosis due to the elements they are exposed to every day. It is no surprise that the other name for Cerro Rico is "The Mountain that Eats Men."

Buying Dynamite for the Miners

Before heading up the mountain our local guide asked us if we wanted to buy a care package for the miners.  We each bought a care package, and inside were packages of crackers, dynamite, and a bag of coca leaves that the miners like to chew on as they work (it helps fight hunger and fatigue).

An elderly woman who works at the mines

One of our first stops was to visit the lady above.  She waits weeks in hopes that tourists will come visit her so she could share her story.  She has seen her husband, her children, and several other loved ones die due to the conditions of the mines.  In fact, she continues to work at the mines even with a broken hip.  She told us that despite knowing the dangers of the mines, she will continue working there until she dies.  In her eyes, and for many others living in the city, they do not have another option.

One of the many entrances into the mines

I opted to not go inside the actual mines as I was warned that the conditions were bad, and some areas were extremely narrow and not great for people who are claustrophobic.  I saw many of the miners walking out, tired, worn out, and nearing the end of their short lives.  How can anyone really say they hate their jobs after experiencing meeting these people?  Next time you are looking out your window at work while sitting in your ergonomic chair remember these faces. 

As soon as I stepped out of the truck we were bombarded by smiling and eager kids that were selling us rocks. The kids clinged to us, and with my "Spanglish" I learned a little more about these boys.  They loved our cameras, and our oversized sunglasses.  They had these infectious smiles, and cute giggles as we tried communicating with them.  I know that many of the young boys I met that day are now probably working inside the mines.  There are about 800 children that work in the mines.

Photo taken by one of the local kids

It really was a somber experience,  and if you have Netflix you can instantly watch The Devil's Miner, a movie about a child of the mines. 

Date Accomplished:  October 16th, 2009