Shanghai and Xi'an: 2012

Once we had left Nanjing and Jason had finished his classes we had a mad dash through China to finish our sightseeing.  

The first place we went was Shanghai.  It's hard to describe how puny you feel in the world's largest city, with a population of over 23 million.  The weirdest feeling is when we went up in the skyscrapers and we couldn't even see the edge of the city.  It was an amazing sight and it made you feel so tiny.  

We went up the World Financial Center, which is the 2nd tallest building in the world.  But it has the highest observation tower in the world, which meant that Jason and I had the best view in the world that night we watched the sunset over Shanghai.  I also have to admit that we shared the world's highest kiss.    

Here are some views from the Fincancial Center.

A panoramic view of Shanghai.  

This is what the World Financial Center building looks like.  It's so tall you have to arch your back to see the top, and from the ground you can't see the square hole at the top that makes it look like a bottlecap opener. 



Here is a view of the Financial Center next to the Jinmao Tower next to it.  I love that you can't even see the tops of these building because they are too high. 

We then went to a part of town called "The Bund."  This is right next to the Yangtze River and has a ton of classic European architecture and looks lovely at night.  But I think the main appeal of The Bund is that it looks across the river to downtown Shanghai and it has the best view of these skyscrapers from the ground.  We saw a ton of ads out in China with this background in the pictures.

A view of downtown Shanghai.  Can you see the Financial Center that looks like the bottlecap opener in the middle of the picture? 

Here are some pictures of Shanghai in the daytime.  We were so lucky with the weather here because we were talking with some buisnessmen from Chicago who said that they haven't seen a clear sky in Shanghai for 5 months.  When we got there the smog lifted up and we had a weekend of beautiful skies.  

My smokin hot husband!  

A panoramic view of the Shanghai from The Bund.  

We went to this cool bar called "The Alchemist" where you can buy these crazy cool drinks.  Of course we had  non-alcoholic drinks, but it was still a blast to be with everyone.  

As you can read on the sign behind us, we had some delicious Texas BBQ  in Shanghai.  We can't  even tell you how wonderful it tasted to have some BBQ after weeks of rice and noodles.  

Here is Jason outside of this expensive store.  He is hoping that someday we can go inside it.  

Our next stop was a short flight away in the city of Xi'an.  There really is nothing in Xi'an except for the singular reason we flew there: The Terracotta Warriors.  

A view from our hotel.  Xi'an seemed pretty isolated and very dry, even though there is a river behind Jason.  

Jason Burrows: The missing Terracotta Warrior

All of the original Terracotta Warriors were made out of clay and then cooked to solidify the  material.  Here is an example of how this process was completed, with one of the ovens they used to cook the warriors.  

Here are some pictures of the Terracotta Warriors.  We went from pit to pit where the warriors were originally found and where many are still located.  We weren't allowed to get too close, but we enjoyed our view from afar.  

After spending the morning seeing the Terracotta Warriors we had some local lunch.  Xi'an is known for their noodles, which actually tasted pretty good, but we had a ton of noodles by this point.  

We really enjoyed both of these cities, but I think we preferred Shanghai because there is so much to do there and I could definitely see us returning to the skyscraper city.  Seeing the Terracotta warriors was amazing as well, but we were informed by our guide in Xi'an that there is still more to uncover with the warriors, and that they expect to be done with the excavations in 50 years.  So we both looked at our guide and said "Well, then we will see you in 50 years."  

Just a couple more posts about China and then the trip will be officially over!  

Favorite Picture Friday: August 17th, 2012

We are both so excited that Jason is going to be starting his 2nd Year of Law School!  So he is officially a 2L in 2 weeks.  We celebrated this a bit early since I am starting work next week and Jason is starting an internship with the Federal Judge at the same time.  He works so hard and I am so proud of him in all that he does.  

Beijing: 2012

Jason has been enjoying his law school classes he has been taking so far here in Nanjing.  But we were both very excited when it came to leaving Nanjing and heading to Beijing for a weekend journey.  Beijing is further North than Nanjing, so it felt so nice to escape the hot humidity we have been experiencing here.

Beijing is a much larger city, with about 23 million people living there.  Our hotel room was very nice and we were excited to go and explore a new city.  We didn't have much time there so we wanted to just hit the necessities.  

We took a bullet train from Nanjing to Beijing.  Here is a picture of the fastest speed  they displayed on the train.  

I don't see any point in beating around the bush, so here are some pictures from the Great Wall of China.

Every new country we visit that has a major site we try to add a lock to the location.  We couldn't be on the Great Wall without locking our love.

Not sure what's going on in this picture.  Apparently these are our ninja poses.  

I could't believe how much my heart skipped when I saw the first glimpse of the wall in the distance.  As we kept getting closer and closer I started getting a dizzy feeling as if I were in a dream.  We climbed and hiked up the steep slopes and staircases but we were so excited to be there it didn't matter.

On our way back down from one of the towers we were walking down a staircase with a ton of Chinese tourists coming up the hill.  I guess I was too busy enjoying the beautiful view that I took a mistep and tumbled down a few steps.  Trust me, it wasn't graceful!  I ended up twisting my ankle, bruising my knee, tearing a hole in my backpack, and I fell onto the railing so I actually dislocated my right shoulder.  It was kind of funny because all at once I heard a giant Chinese *gasp* from the crowd.  I could feel a thousand eyes on me, so I jumped up, smiled and waved to everyone and just kept walking.  In my mind I was thinking about how I was going to watch my fall on YouTube the next day.  We still had to walk clear down the Great Wall to the main gate so I toughed it out and kept going with my bad ankle.  Really I was so excited I didn't feel a thing.  Jason likes to call this part of our trip: The Great Fall at the Great Wall.  Looking back on that it's nothing I regret, just another unique Jason and Lisa story.

I bought me a pet out in China.  Here is my new pet dragon whom I call "Mushu."

We heard about a deal in Beijing to get a 90 minute back massage for only $24.  Yes please!  So Jason spoiled me and got me a massage that felt so amazing!

Some of the other sights we saw were the Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Tienanmen Square and The Forbidden City.  Here are pictures from all of those places.

Outside the Ming Tombs.  

A view of the rooftops.  

 

Kissing outside the Ming Tombs.  

The Temple of Heaven.  

   

Outside the Forbidden City.  

Chairman Mao.  

Jason in Tienanmen Square.   

Lisa in Tienanmen Square.  

Jason doing his kung fu in the Forbidden City.  

Inside the Forbidden City.  

Shhh... It's forbidden.  

Lisa and Whitney in the Forbidden City.  

The Lake at the Summer Palace.  

A view of the Summer Palace.  

We were also lucky enough to meet up with two of our friends that are from China that we met when they came to St. George to do an externship at Jason's old law firm.  They were so sweet and it was a blast to hear about what they are doing in Beijing and to get great advice from them.  It always makes me feel better when we know someone local when we travel just in case something happens.  Thanks so much Yao and Francis!

Basically it was an exhausting trip with beautiful but hot weather.  We are watching the news now and seeing how Beijing has been hit with a terrible rain storm and they are evacuating people from the city and even some people have died.  We are so grateful that we were able to have such an amazing time in Beijing and that our trip so far has been a success. We loved being in Beijing and we were so happy to see the Great Wall and check that off our bucket list!  Our next stop is in Shanghai!