Hey everyone,

 

 

Sorry its been a while since I updated my blog. Its so hard because the internet on the ship is TERRIBLE!!!! So CHINA was amazing. I had such a great time. Ill just give you a little snippet on what we did.

 

The first day we were in Hong Kong which is a beautiful city. I went to Disneyland Hong Kong!!! Shocker to all of you, I know. But we had such a great time. It was just like home though. It was ttinnnnny though. I had such a good time despite the lack of rides. the next day I headed off to my trip with the company the china guide. If you ever go on SAS or just go to China in general I suggest going through this company, it was SO much fun. We headed to Beijing and just went to the hotel that night and went to bed. The next day we went sight seeing and saw Tiananmen square and the forbidden city. That was cool and the place was huge. After that we went and had our first official Chinese cuisine. Nothing like in America haha. it was delicious though I have a feeling I will never like the Chinese back home after having the real deal. We later traveled went to a fake market which was awesome!! So much fake stuff for so cheap. I could have spent all day there.

 

After we went to the great wall. What a freaking sight. We hiked up to where we got to sleep which no one gets approved to sleep on the wall only this company gets to sleep not he great wall which is another bonus to travel with them. We got up and set up our beds and then just had fun dancing and hanging out with everyone. Not to mention that it was only about 5 degrees Celsius. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COLDDDDD. I thought I had frostbite. I seriously cant describe how cold it was sleeping outside with just a sleeping bag and nothing else on a mat on the great wall. We woke up at sunrise and just got to appreciate our surroundings which was so amazing. After that we hiked 4 miles on the wall. It was SOOOO hard. Some of the areas are at about an 8 or 85 degree incline too. mind you most of it is just broken cement or broken steps so you literally have to crawl up the wall. It was really scary. It was amazing to finish it though after such a hard hike!!!!

 

The next day was just spent in Beijing exploring going to the Olympic stadium, another market and a few more places to see. Its kind of hard thinking back on it I cant even remember what I did practically haha!! We went to Xian to see the terracotta war solders which were really cool. we got to meet the guy who discovered them too. They are still excavating them which we also got to see. It was really crazy. We also went to the city wall and just biked around there which me and my friend got a tandem bike. Hilarious to say the least. We spent 2 nights in a sleeper train too. One to Xian from Beijing and one from Xian to Shanghai. It wasn't that gross actually. The second night we met some guys from Holland who were soooo fun! They were in their 20s and thirties though but it was a blast. I talked to them about field hockey a lot which was interesting since that is the number 2 sport in Holland behind soccer of course.

 

Shanghai was also really really cool. I just spent the day shopping really but it was succcccch a beautiful city especially at night. the skyline was GORGEOUS.

 

We just left Taiwan. It actually was the worst port as far as activities go. I didn't get any souvenirs there because there was NONE. nowhere to buy any souvenirs. How annoying. I had so much fun though just traveling the country independently with some friends.

 

We are now headed back to America. Its crazy to think that ill be home in less than 20 days. I really wanted to be home but now its like wow... its almost over. Its really upsetting. yikessss!! Im so happy to see everyone that I miss so much back at home though. Ill let you know how these next 11 days at sea will be since I have SOOO much work to do during that time before finals. Ah! Miss everyone!!!