The end of March and beginning of April you could find me on the other side of the world: China!  It was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to return. 

Sometime at the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010, my friend Sarah asked me if I wanted to go with her to visit some friends in China.  Never one to turn down a free place to stay in another country, I jumped on the opportunity.  It was only a couple of short months later that we had our visas in hand and hopped on an airplane for what ended up being one of the longest flights I had ever been on.  But it was all worth it.

We arrived in Shanghai, but quickly made our way to the bus stop so we could be transported to the regional airport to catch our flight to Beijing.  Of course, no trip to China is complete without the most important beverage made in any Asian country:

Milk Tea!

Oh I could wax poetic on the joys and pleasures of milk tea. But I won’t.  I will tell you this, I ended up checking luggage (gasp!) for the flight home so that I might transport 6 bottles of this stuff back with me to America.  Seriously, I love it!

After a brief bus ride, we made it to the regional airport and boarded what would be the first of a handful of regional flights.  Flying foreign airlines always makes me a little grumpy.  US airlines nickel and dime you for everything, but foreign airlines pamper you with food on the shortest of flights. With real utensils too! But I digress.

In Beijing, Sarah and I enjoyed the wonders of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, a Beijing Opera and the Great Wall.  We discovered sweet taro pies from McDonald’s and Szechuan peppercorns. We were traumatized by co-ed dorms rooms that included a bathroom with only a half door and a wastebasket for your toilet paper!

After a few nights in Beijing, we boarded an overnight train (Sarah’s first) and headed to Xi’an and took in the majesty of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

After Xi’an, we made our way south to Guilin and Yangshuo to bask in the beauty of the karst mountains by bamboo raft and mountain bike.

With another regional flight under our belts, we finally arrived in Hangzhou to stay with Sarah’s friends Juliane and Stan.  We ended up enjoying the company of many other people who went to the same undergrad the Sarah and I went to.  We had sushi, went to a night market, visited West Lake, rode in a rickshaw, ate a durian and enjoyed the tulip garden.

Finally, we made a quick trip to Shanghai before riding the Maglev train and boarding another long flight back to America.

There it is! A very brief look at my trip to China!