PaleOrchid

This country/province (depending on your political persuasian), is absolutely a wonderful place to visit. However, I must admit I feel the countryside is much better than the cities. Lhasa was fun, but the other cities I was in were quite dirty, even by Chinese standards. But by all means, go camping while you’re there! It’s an absolutely fantastic experience!

This country/province (depending on your political persuasian), is absolutely a wonderful place to visit. However, I must admit I feel the countryside is much better than the cities. Lhasa was fun, but the other cities I was in were quite dirty, even by Chinese standards. But by all means, go camping while you’re there! It’s an absolutely fantastic experience!

Go on a drizzley day, this monument is so haunting, just one look and it definately hits home.

I just spent last weekend in Shanghai! It was great! But definately worth spending more than 2 days there!

Absolutely an amazing site! Though I’ve only been to one section of the wall, I have already been totally amazed by it! I can’t wait to go see more sections!

It’s a great city, takes some getting used to (in terms of pollution), but one clear blue day makes up for 2 weeks of hazy ones! Plus the city is always in motion, always changing!
I can’t wait for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, it’ll be so great to see how much the city has changed since then.

Food poisoning, cold and rainly, and the flu. Suffice it to say it was memorable in all the wrong ways.

Having lived there for most of two years (just a few blocks from the White House and National Mall) here’s some advice:
1. Don’t go during most of the summer (late June, July, and all of August), the city is sweltering and the only people who stay in the 110 degree heat and 50% humidity are those who do not know better.
2. If you’re going to play around the mall and the Smithsonians, most are open 10am-5pm, every day, and morning is better as most of the school trips full of screaming adolescents haven’t unloaded yet.
3. Do not buy a pink, baby blue, or any other pastel colored FBI, CIA, or Secret Service item of clothing. No, they are not cute.
4. The FDR memorial is one of the trickiest to find, but easily the best of all of them!
5. Wear comfortable shoes. Unless you intend to spend an enourmous amount of money on cabs, you will be walking a lot! Sneakers are a must have!!!
6. Don’t take cabs unless neccessary. This is not NYC, they will rip you off if they even smell tourist on you. Heck, I still get ripped off by them.
7. STAND ON THE RIGHT, WALK ON THE LEFT!!! This is VERY important for all escalators! If you mistakenly stand on the left, you will automatically tick off everyone and get sent waves of bad kharma from all the commuters who are already grumpy from spending half an hour on the Metro to get home.
8. Speaking of the Metro, do not call it the subway. You can “metro” it to places or take a metro, but you cannot subway it unless you want a sandwich.

Okay, that’s all I can come up w/ off hand. :-D

Yes, so it may be very flat, and depending on what part you’re driving through, it can be kinda bland, but nothing is prettier than trees covered in two inches of ice during the winter or a hundred acres of bright red milo against a blue sky. Yes, we have our fair share of home-grown fanatics, but they’re like protesters in DC, you just learn to ignor them. All in all, there’s just something comforting about being able to see three miles down the road on a a clear day. (Extra perk-the lack of hills saves on gas, which is already 10-20 cents cheaper than the national average)

Absolutely breath taking! You won’t regret it!