Beginning in Beijing

Sunday April 28 10:30am

Well the journey begins whether I have regained my health or not.  I'm hoping a different climate will elevate my itchy hives and nasty cough.  I have to admit getting to just sit and sleep for another 11  hours is extremely appealing!  N always loves flying.  Any excuse to sit and read and watch TV guilt free he loves.  The airport layovers are always the time I have the most to write but the least to write about.  So instead of rambling I'll leave off here.  

11:30 am

Just boarded our double decker plane!  Crazy!  Unfortunately we're on the lower level  so no lay down beds for us, which they have upstairs.  

7:00 pm

We finally made it after a long rough flight.  There was so much turbulence that on the landing three people around us vomited...a lot.  And the pilot made about four announcements about leaving your bags behind if we crash, which did not give the impression of confidence.  

We landed at 3pm but didn't get our of she airport until 5pm because we are have no visas which you can do for a 72 hour stay but for some reason it was very complicated.  Then it was about an hour drive to the hotel, in rather pricey cab.  The driver spoke no English but we think we must be in a sort of non touristy part of the city.  The drive through the city we pretty,  lots if tall buildings some very pretty others a bit run down.  We were suprised by how many trees there are.  All along e drive from the airport we were surrounded by aspen and some very pretty deep fusion shrub like trees with flowers.  We've also been shocked at how quiet it is.  In the airport there was none of he usually buzz you get from large groups it was just so quiet.  

Our impression of Beijing has been quite positive, so far.  We are a bit surprised to discover how little English is spoke here.  

N scored a hotel for 85% off so we ended up in quite a swanky place for $15 a night which is a lovely way to start out our trip.  I especially love clean sheets when I am jet-lagged.  

N went out for water and take out and rather ironically could not find any takeout food.  That was unexpected.  He did come back with water that someone paid him to take. He paid the guy and was given back more change than he had paid.  He tried to explain the situation to the patron but finally gave up and came back with the water.  

We found out that the whole time we are here is national labour day holidays so all the sites will likely be packed.  All part of the experience I guess!

 View from the hotel

 Amazing tasting pineapple bread

 

Unexpectedly Beijing has amazing bakeries!

Wanderlust

Wow it's been over a year since I have posted anything here.  As our South East Asia Trip fast approaches I'll dust off this blog and ready it for travel updates.  

Our Indian visas, for this trip, arrived April 14 and the stamp inside from our last trip marked April 14 2012 as our departure date from India last year.  This is the kind of deja vu we live for!

This trip hardly feels real!  It has come together very suddenly! 

We were waiting on several factors to determine if the trip was feasible.  Admittedly I hardly expected everything to have turned out so ideally!  The two main things was the Indian visa and we were waiting to hear if N would get an engineering position.  When he did get offered a job we were shocked at how willing the firm was for him take this trip before starting. 

Deuter Futura 28 Daypack

Now that everything has come together we plan to leave next Sunday April 28 and hopefully we’re ready to go! (Fortunately we have all our vaccines because some of those have to be done several weeks before you enter a country.)

We are trying to pack everything in carryon because you have to pay $20+ per piece of checked luggage on these internal flight and we plan to take a lot flight.  Packing for two months in only should be interesting.  I’m hoping it’s not hard to find razors in these places.  If not I’m going European for the summer, ick!  I’m not sure how wise it is to travel with no knife or scissors but we are going to give it a go.  We found an amazing daypack at MEC that I cannot wait to try out! 

It’s going to be a busy week as I finish up my IPT teaching practicum 

on Friday. (Needless to say not the greatest time for me to have contracted 

Best part!  Mesh against the back
to hopefully reduce sweat stains
in +35°C heat

strep throat.)  Nils has his last final exam on Monday and then he’s finished his degree! 

This is our rough travel itinerary: April 28-June 24

(Mostly for my parents so they can stalk us throughout our journey)

We leave Edmonton Sunday April 28 2013 at 7:30 am

2 hour layover in San Francisco

18 hour flight

Fly to Beijing, China arrive Monday April 29 at 3:15 pm

-check out the great wall

-sleep off our jetlag

Leave Beijing May 2 at 2 am to fly Singapore, Singapore May 2 at 6 am

-get jetlag again …not the most well planned

-meet up with some friends who will tour us around their new homeland J

Leave Singapore May 4 at 1:30 pm - Fly Chennai, India arrive same day at 5:00 pm

Train to Vijayawada, India arrive May 5 late afternoon

-visit Metropolitan Mission!

-we plan to see some of the recently dug wells and rice sponsored through the CHILD foundation

May 12 Train back to Chennai, leaving in the afternoon and arrive in the evening

-spend the night and the fully day of May 13

Leave Chennai, India on May 13 at 10 pm - Fly Bangkok, Thailand arrive at 1 am

Leave Bangkok, Thailand May 16 - Bus to Siemreap, Cambodia

-check out “Angkor Wok” – It’s one of the 8 Wonders of the Ancient World huge kingdom/temple ruins

May 19 boat to (the capital) Phnom Penh, Cambodia

-maybe see the “Killing Fields”

Leave Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 22 at 4 pm  - Fly Kuching, Malaysia arrive on May 23 at 1 am

-orangutan sanctuary (rehabilitation centre)

Gunumulu Park, Malaysia

- explore the jungle

- go caving

Leave Malaysia May 27-28ish fly to Bali, Indonesia

-meet up with some friends J

-hit up the beach!

Travel a bit more around the rest of Indonesia

Pop back Malaysia

Arrive in Tokyo, Japan on June 16

Leave Tokyo June 18 at 4:30 pm – Fly to Chicago 2:15pm the same day

…meaning we go back in time 2 hours and 15 minutes? Haha

Fly to Winnipeg, Canada arrive Tuesday June 18 at 8 pm

-visit N’s brother and family 

-visit my Aunt and family 

Rent a car and drive up to Sioux Lookout, Ontario Friday June 21 Morning for a friends wedding Saturday June 22!!!

-N is standing up as a groomsmen 

 Plan to be back in Edmonton Monday June 24 

N starts his new Engineering job Tuesday June 25

Itching to get back into my Birkenstocks and hit the road again!

I will plan to post lots of pictures and bold anything important for those who like to skim read haha!