May 24, 2004
China

I have been in China the past two weeks. I started in Xi'an and saw the terracotta warriors. 6,000 of them were burried in tombs to help the emperor fight in the afterlife. They were found by a farmer in 1974 and uncovered. They are immaculate and look like they could spring to life at the snap of your fingers. Each warrior has a unique face. Xi'an was very friendly. It was the first capital of China, but less crowded and touristry than Beijing is now. I had tons of the local dumplings and the best duck ever; Peking Duck.

After Xi'an, I trained it to Beijing. Much more hectic there. I saw Mao at the "Mao"soleum, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. Beijing is building at such a fast rate and it already feels like Los Angeles. I would love to be a construction crane salesman there. The highlight was walking 10kms of the Great Wall. Many of these "main attractions" can be letdowns, but this did not disappoint. The wall snakes and winds all over these green mountains. It was in very good shape at some points, and crumbling in others. The section ended Simatai. The locals tag along with you trying to sell you drinks and T-Shirts and trying to point out stuff, like pointing to the northern side of the wall and saying, "Mongolia".

Next I trained it to Mongolia. That was an adventure because I got left behind at the border. I met two great Israeli guys, Tomer and Odeb, because they got left at the border too. Long story as to why, but we had a good adventure crossing the border the next day in a mini van filled to the brim with people, luggage, and fruit. We also had to battle it out in line to buy train tickets with the locals. The little old ladies were the worst cutters of all. Asia is competitive, let me tell you.

I've been in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia for the past few days arranging a Jeep tour. I finally found some other guys to join me, Greg and Sebastian, from France. We leave tomorrow at 9 am and start our 10 day drive across the Steppes. We just went to an outdoor market and bought our supplies. Mongolia is very cool so far.

Posted by Craig at 04:04 AM