gritty teeth and great breakfasts
erin just fixed me the most amazing breakfast of our entire trip. no joke.
after weeks of granola bars and pigs in doughy blankets, we have arrived in Xining, and much to our advantage, we have a stove at the ready.
imagine: a hearty scramble comprised of eggs, fried lamb wonton/dumplings, and muslim curried fried potatoes. and we have ketchup. it's the stuff dreams are made of, and i think we're ready to begin our day.
our lovely friends jeff and carrianne have opened their home to us here while they are staying in Beijing, and together with their housesitter Cathy we are forging a convincing family.
it is such a blessing to have a place to call 'home' for a piece of time.
our last few days in Beijing were spent lolling about a bit, but we did do a few things worth mentioning:
-we left jeff and carrianne and our fort building friends caleb and jacob on sunday, as their family had arrived to care for the kids. we had a great time with them, it was really nice to be around children and a steady family after just being with travelers and tourists for so long.
-we went back to our hostel, and were welcomed by our friends who remained.
-i am so proud of our last few days in beijing because we figured our the subway and the busses. beijing is really spread out, so it is easy to wait till the last minute and take a cab (they are really cheap compared to american cabs, but expensive compared to other beijing transport options). the last few days we took the subway everywhere! it made us feel really accomplished.
-we went to the summer palace, home of elaborate chinese gardens, man-made lakes, a marble boat, and tons of history. i think erin's favorite part about the summer palace (and maybe mine too) was that they had drained most of the lake, and the few feet that remained froze to a slippery surface, so we spent a few hours sliding around on the lake. also, we almost snuck into one of the temples that had closed for the day.
-we went back to our favorite place in all of beijing. a small park near the forbidden city with little hiking trails. at the top of the tallest hill there is a temple that houses a buddist shrine. outside the temple though, is the most amazing view of beijing. we got there right as the sun was going down, and we spent about an hour just sitting and looking over the city. we could see down into the forbidden city, we could see the bell tower and the circular city, and we could see into a number of hutongs, which are perhaps my other favorite part of beijing. it was really peaceful, and probably the best way to end our time there.
on wednesday we packed up, checked out, and hopped on the train to Xining. it took about a day, and i think i may have slept seventeen of the twenty six hour ride. we took the hard sleeper again, and met some really nice girls from our compartment.
we arrived in xining on thursday afternoon, and erin got us to the place we are staying. she's pretty much a pro at Xining busses because she spent a few weeks here last summer.
so now we're safe, happy and well. we're meeting up with the orphanage on monday, and we're really excited to see how we can help there.
xining is dusty and diverse, and i think i really love it here.
i'll write more about it later, because it is deserving of an entry for its own.
after weeks of granola bars and pigs in doughy blankets, we have arrived in Xining, and much to our advantage, we have a stove at the ready.
imagine: a hearty scramble comprised of eggs, fried lamb wonton/dumplings, and muslim curried fried potatoes. and we have ketchup. it's the stuff dreams are made of, and i think we're ready to begin our day.
our lovely friends jeff and carrianne have opened their home to us here while they are staying in Beijing, and together with their housesitter Cathy we are forging a convincing family.
it is such a blessing to have a place to call 'home' for a piece of time.
our last few days in Beijing were spent lolling about a bit, but we did do a few things worth mentioning:
-we left jeff and carrianne and our fort building friends caleb and jacob on sunday, as their family had arrived to care for the kids. we had a great time with them, it was really nice to be around children and a steady family after just being with travelers and tourists for so long.
-we went back to our hostel, and were welcomed by our friends who remained.
-i am so proud of our last few days in beijing because we figured our the subway and the busses. beijing is really spread out, so it is easy to wait till the last minute and take a cab (they are really cheap compared to american cabs, but expensive compared to other beijing transport options). the last few days we took the subway everywhere! it made us feel really accomplished.
-we went to the summer palace, home of elaborate chinese gardens, man-made lakes, a marble boat, and tons of history. i think erin's favorite part about the summer palace (and maybe mine too) was that they had drained most of the lake, and the few feet that remained froze to a slippery surface, so we spent a few hours sliding around on the lake. also, we almost snuck into one of the temples that had closed for the day.
-we went back to our favorite place in all of beijing. a small park near the forbidden city with little hiking trails. at the top of the tallest hill there is a temple that houses a buddist shrine. outside the temple though, is the most amazing view of beijing. we got there right as the sun was going down, and we spent about an hour just sitting and looking over the city. we could see down into the forbidden city, we could see the bell tower and the circular city, and we could see into a number of hutongs, which are perhaps my other favorite part of beijing. it was really peaceful, and probably the best way to end our time there.
on wednesday we packed up, checked out, and hopped on the train to Xining. it took about a day, and i think i may have slept seventeen of the twenty six hour ride. we took the hard sleeper again, and met some really nice girls from our compartment.
we arrived in xining on thursday afternoon, and erin got us to the place we are staying. she's pretty much a pro at Xining busses because she spent a few weeks here last summer.
so now we're safe, happy and well. we're meeting up with the orphanage on monday, and we're really excited to see how we can help there.
xining is dusty and diverse, and i think i really love it here.
i'll write more about it later, because it is deserving of an entry for its own.
posted by Amy Gibson at 6:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home