I love Peking Duck and was excited that we had a Peking Duck Dinner included in our tour of Beijing. Our guide took us to a lovely park and Ian and I had a walk around before dinner.
The restaurant was nice and the food was probably some of the nicer stuff that we had in Beijing. But the Peking Duck was exactly the same as Peking Duck that we've had everywhere else. I wanted/expected something to be different.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
8. Walk On The Great Wall Of China
This was one of the things that I really wanted to do when we were in China but in reality I hated every minute of it.
I have no idea why I didn't really think about how high it was but it just never crossed my mind. You would have thought that reading about cable cars in the guide book might have given me a clue. And it's not like I haven't seen it on the TV or in magazines before.
But nope, had no idea. Even riding in the cable car on the way up the mountain with my eyes closed didn't make me think that it wasn't a good idea. All I was thinking was "I'm going to walk on the Great Wall of China!" when I should have been thinking 'oh, this is a bit high". A bit high is an understatment! Considering that I don't like to climb on a the first run of a step ladder this was not the best place for me.
It was so busy with people on the wall and it was pretty narrow and very steep in some parts. It gets to about 80 degrees in some part, luckily not that step where we were but pretty step.
All I wanted to do was lie down on the ground and cry. I tried so hard to be brave so that Ian could look around and not worry about me. I basically plastered myself against the wall (the high side) and clung on while he wandered around a bit.
I have no idea why I didn't really think about how high it was but it just never crossed my mind. You would have thought that reading about cable cars in the guide book might have given me a clue. And it's not like I haven't seen it on the TV or in magazines before.
But nope, had no idea. Even riding in the cable car on the way up the mountain with my eyes closed didn't make me think that it wasn't a good idea. All I was thinking was "I'm going to walk on the Great Wall of China!" when I should have been thinking 'oh, this is a bit high". A bit high is an understatment! Considering that I don't like to climb on a the first run of a step ladder this was not the best place for me.
It was so busy with people on the wall and it was pretty narrow and very steep in some parts. It gets to about 80 degrees in some part, luckily not that step where we were but pretty step.
All I wanted to do was lie down on the ground and cry. I tried so hard to be brave so that Ian could look around and not worry about me. I basically plastered myself against the wall (the high side) and clung on while he wandered around a bit.
7. Visit China - May 10
Ian and I decided to do a last minute trip to China in May. Luckily I had been researching it for ages (not surprise there) so we were able to put it together in a couple of days.
Ian was dispatched to the Chinese embassy in the Hague with our passports to organise the visas that we needed, luckily it's just around the corner from his work and we got them the same day. We book our trip with a tour company based in Beijing and they organised everything - hotels, guides, internal flights. All we had to do was to get ourselves to Beijing airport.
On the whole I enjoyed the trip but there were certain things that I didn't like - people staring at us all of the time for one. Not even subtle staring, they come right up to you and stand staring. Apparently it's not rude, maybe not but it's flipping annoying!
I also didn't like the way the we went every where via a 'museum' which turned out to be a tacky souvenir shop where you had to haggle over the price of everything. Luckily as Ian and I were with our own private tour guides we told them to stop taking us to the 'museums'. Some places even had separate entrances for overseas visitors and domestic visitors - guess which ones didn't go through the shop, sorry, the 'museum'?
Over all it was a good trip but at a frantic pace but I found it hard not to compare it to Japan and it didn't come out the winner....
Ian was dispatched to the Chinese embassy in the Hague with our passports to organise the visas that we needed, luckily it's just around the corner from his work and we got them the same day. We book our trip with a tour company based in Beijing and they organised everything - hotels, guides, internal flights. All we had to do was to get ourselves to Beijing airport.
On the whole I enjoyed the trip but there were certain things that I didn't like - people staring at us all of the time for one. Not even subtle staring, they come right up to you and stand staring. Apparently it's not rude, maybe not but it's flipping annoying!
I also didn't like the way the we went every where via a 'museum' which turned out to be a tacky souvenir shop where you had to haggle over the price of everything. Luckily as Ian and I were with our own private tour guides we told them to stop taking us to the 'museums'. Some places even had separate entrances for overseas visitors and domestic visitors - guess which ones didn't go through the shop, sorry, the 'museum'?
Over all it was a good trip but at a frantic pace but I found it hard not to compare it to Japan and it didn't come out the winner....
I'm a Bad Blogger!
I can't believe that I haven't update this in months! I have still (sort of) being doing the 101 things but stupid things like work and life keep getting in the way.
How I miss the days when I had nothing to do at work and actually had time do things like this...
Not really, I like my new job but it seems to take up such a huge amount of my time - oh, yeah, that's what works suppose to do ;-)
Of to do some proper updates now.
How I miss the days when I had nothing to do at work and actually had time do things like this...
Not really, I like my new job but it seems to take up such a huge amount of my time - oh, yeah, that's what works suppose to do ;-)
Of to do some proper updates now.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
40. Visit Luxemburg
Ian and I decided to visit Luxembourg during the Easter weekend. It took us about 3.5 hours to drive there on Saturday morning. The weather wasn't too bad when we left home but the near we got to Luxembourg the worse the weather got. We had booked to stay at Le Grand Ducal hotel so we headed straight there so we could park the car. The hotel was lovely and we had a stunning view out over the Petrusse Valley into the old town from our room.
As it was raining we decided that the best thing to do would be to take a sight-seeing bus tour which lasted about an hour. To be honest after the bus tour I was feeling a bit undecided about Luxembourg, there just didn't seem to be much to it and the highlight of the tour was the financial district. We wandered around for a little bit after the tour but it was so cold and rainy that we headed back to the hotel pretty soon.
After breakfast the next morning we decided to head down into the Petrusse valley and risk a walk around, it was still raining on and off but not as bad as the previous day. And finally we found a really picturesque part of Luxembourg!
I think that the roads down into the valley were too narrow, steep and winding for the bus so that was why we missed it the day before. We managed to wander around for a while before it started to rain again.
I'm pretty sure that Luxembourg would have been much more interesting if it hadn't rained so much and been slightly warmer. Maybe one day we'll venture back that way but only after we check the weather forecast first!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
57. Go For A Walk In The Rain And Not Care That My Hair Will Frizz
I forgot to write about this one when it happened, better late than never I guess.
Ian and I went to an ice scultping exhibition in the south of Holland and it was a really stormy day. After we went for a walk and there was absolutely no point in even attempting to use an umbrella as it was so windy. Plus I only had my lovely Lulu Guiness umbrella that I got for Christmas with me and I wasn't risking it being destroyed on it's first outing. So we walked in the rain and wind and I ended up with 'interesting' hair. Luckily as it's so long I can easily tie it up so it doesn't scare small children.
We decided to have some lunch while we were there and we could see people struggling with umbrellas and little kids nearly getting blown over. Then the chairs from outside one of the other restaurants started flying along the street too.
Oh, and the ice sculptures were good too ;-)
Ian and I went to an ice scultping exhibition in the south of Holland and it was a really stormy day. After we went for a walk and there was absolutely no point in even attempting to use an umbrella as it was so windy. Plus I only had my lovely Lulu Guiness umbrella that I got for Christmas with me and I wasn't risking it being destroyed on it's first outing. So we walked in the rain and wind and I ended up with 'interesting' hair. Luckily as it's so long I can easily tie it up so it doesn't scare small children.
We decided to have some lunch while we were there and we could see people struggling with umbrellas and little kids nearly getting blown over. Then the chairs from outside one of the other restaurants started flying along the street too.
Oh, and the ice sculptures were good too ;-)
Friday, March 26, 2010
101. Grow A Vegetable
After the success of last years chilli growing, I decided that I would try to grow red onions, beetroot and strawberries.
I planted all of the seeds and was really impressed that the beetroot sprouted within a couple of days. They looked very pretty with their bright purple stalks but unfortunately they all proceed to die on me :-( The red onions are looking better and some of the strawberries have appeared now but they are teeny tiny things.
Watch this space for a progress report...
I planted all of the seeds and was really impressed that the beetroot sprouted within a couple of days. They looked very pretty with their bright purple stalks but unfortunately they all proceed to die on me :-( The red onions are looking better and some of the strawberries have appeared now but they are teeny tiny things.
Watch this space for a progress report...
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