Adventures in Asia

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Lama Temple

This is our group outside of the Lama Temple with one of the Buddhist monks. The temple was absolutely gorgeous - one of them housed a 4-story Buddha made from the trunk of a white sandalwood tree. Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures inside the temples, so I couldn't get the Buddha. Good thing many of the 120 monks that lived there liked taking pictures with us - here's one:

Beijing Olympics: Water Cube and Birds Nest

Today we got to see the Olympic sites around Beijing including the Water Cube (swimming and diving competitions) and the Birds Nest (Opening Ceremonies, track and field and other events). They are quite possibly the coolest places on EARTH!

Olympic Sites

A Few More of the Water Cube

Monday, June 1, 2009

Out and About

This is me with a thermometer in my mouth because we had to check our temperature for swine flu. Our plane was quarantined and people ine masks and lab coats (looking like a haz-mat team) shot these 'guns' (thermometers) at our foreheads to check our temperature. It was scary.

I also had to walk in front of thermal cameras when i went through customs.

Funny story: Ellen has a cold, was actually quarantined for about an hour and a half but then let go. It was a terrifying experience, I have been told.

A bus with Chinese writing. I just though it was cool.

A building with cool, castle looking dome roofs. Just a fun shot.

People riding their bikes? Everyone rides a bike here...in the middle of the street too... and going the wrong way. It's kind of scary. I would hate to drive here.

My First Dinner in Beijing - Meat, Meat and More Meat!

Finding food has been a little difficult - tonight's dinner was a lot of meat (see below). I had some fried rice until the second bowl the servers brought out had shrimp in it. One of the other vegetarian dishes was cucumber in vinegar, not exactly my cup of tea. I might be eating a whole lot of rice for the next 6 weeks!

A.C. Embassy Hotel

This is the exterior of my hotel.

It's a 4 star hotel in China in or near Beijing (I don't have my bearings just yet - I just got in).

This is the view outside of my hotel room!

Another view outside my room! Like I said, I'm not sure if we're actually downtown Beijing or what, but it looks like a city to me.

I'm rooming with Ellen while we're at the hotel and this is our bathroom covered in our laundry - we had a laundry party yesterday. The water turned blackish-brown. YUCK.