Next stop: Shanghai!

Here is a small update about what I did while in Shanghai...

 

Shanghai reminded me a lot of New York City! We took a tour bus and rode all around Shanghai, a majority of Shanghai is strictly business buildings or malls. Shanghai astonishes you a bit though when you find a surprisingly small spot filled with a lot of history. Such as Buddhist temples that have been around for ages, or the Yu Gardens.

 

 

Man were the Yu Gardens beautiful! There were lots of ponds filled with Koi fish and turtles. I love turtles, so it was fun to see lots of fully grown red eared sliders!  The Yu Gardens were built to house royalty in the past. We walked through there and took lots of pictures of the statues and Asian styled buildings. We also dressed up in fun, traditional Chinese clothes and took pictures. We thought we were cool ninjas. ;) Be sure to look at my pictures, words can't describe how beautiful Shanghai was!

 

 

The hostel we stayed at served some American food, so as you can imagine, we had the American breakfast every morning while there! It had eggs, bread, bacon, and sausage. Of course it didn’t taste as good as it would if you were in the states, but it was pretty close! I finally got a little bit of bacon! It’s funny what you crave when you’re abroad. I crave things I’ve never really loved before!  We also had the chance of eating at a subway in Shanghai, it felt so good to order a foot long! We were pretty spoiled while there, though I have to say I got sick after every meal. I am no longer use to the preservatives or the amount of sugar in the foods we eat in America. I couldn’t help but eat it though because I have missed it so much! Well, I hope all of you have a great week this week! Miss you and love you!

-Amber Toy

PS. To see the rest of my pictures, click here.

The Adventure Continues!

 After seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors, we got on a train to take us to Beijing. We noticed on our ticket that it only had that we were in cab 2 so we thought perhaps it just meant that there was no assigned seating.  All six of us are running like crazy to get to cab 2 so that we can sit together. Well, when we get there we soon discover that we actually don’t have seats!  The other girls kept asking people where our seat was and everyone just kept saying mayo in Chinese, which means we have none.  So for the thirteen hours we were planning on getting sleep for, we had to stand. Ha! It was quite the ride let me tell you. We ended up sleeping on the stairwell with A LOT of other Chinese people.

Tour group for the Great Wall

After the treacherous 13 hour train ride, we finally made it to Beijing!! I was able to see the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square. Seeing the Great Wall of China was astonishing. We went through a small village about three hours away from Beijing. Why would we spend three hours to get to the Great Wall? Well, the part of the Great Wall that a majority of tourists visit has been completely reconstructed only 20 years ago. We decided we wanted to go to the section of the Great Wall that has not been reconstructed like the touristy section of the Great Wall. It was incredible to see how much work these people put into making the Great Wall! They built the wall by bringing bricks up the steep mountain through horses. A little known fact, when a worker would die while building the Great Wall, the other workers would put his body in between the bricks to help fill up more space. Kinda creepy huh? Well the hike to get there was a challenge! It was so steep! I enjoyed every second of it though I promise you!

I also had the wonderful opportunity to go to the ForbiddenCity and Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City was full of so many people! It was really neat to see the amount of buildings and startling architecture. I enjoyed the small figurines carved at the top of the buildings; they symbolized the status of the building. Usually had a man riding a phoenix at the front (the symbol for the female) and the dragon at the back (the symbol for the male). These buildings served as homes for emperors for over 500 years! The Forbidden City was built in 1406, and there are 980 buildings to see! We were within the Forbidden City for about three hours, and then…we found Tiananmen Square.

Forbidden Palace

Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world! Its known for housing a famous pro-democracy movement, of which I’m sure you all know plenty about! While on Tiananmen Square we were treated as though we were celebrities! Every Chinese person at Tiananmen Square wanted pictures with us, so it took us much longer than we thought it would to get through Tiananmen Square. There was a wonderful feel about Tiananmen Square; I enjoyed walking the grounds while there! I tried to imagine what it would have been like to be there on June 4^th of 1989. I also enjoyed viewing the statues on the grounds of brave heroes. I will write next about the Yu Gardens and Shanghai. I love you and I miss you all terribly! Only 40 more days and I’m home!

 

 

-Amber Toy

P.S. To see the rest of my pictures, click here.

Happy Mother's Day!

I would like to take a moment and dedicate a blog post specifically for my Mother. I won’t be able to send her a letter or send her her gift so I just wanted to be able to tell her how much I appreciate her on Mothers day.

 

I found this necklace in a random Tibetan shop in the middle of Beijing. I saw it and couldn’t put it back down. It reminded me of you, I hope that you like it! It is a small token to remind you of how much I love you.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have you as my Mother. You have done so much for me, and yet you continue to do so much for me. You have always put your children before yourself. That never ceased to amaze me. I remember the many times that you would pick up a shirt in a store, admire it, and then put it back down to buy a pair of pants for one of your children. You were and are a remarkable mother. You always tried your hardest, and you never gave up. I have always looked up to you for an example, even when I was a stubborn teenager. ;)

One of the things I love about you the most is your ability to serve others. You serve with a heart full of charity. You are also very good at making the people around you feel important. You lift others up and you let them know there is hope for a better day. You have a compassionate heart, always reaching out to those in need-no matter their color or background. You have changed my life in so many ways. There were and are many small things that you have done or do that make me want to be a better person. I will always admire you and look to you for counsel. You are so important to me, never forget that. I hope you know how amazing a mother you are. I love you forever and always, my Mother you’ll be. : ) Miss you! Have a happy Mother’s day!

-Amber Toy

My Dream

 When I first learned about the Terracotta warriors when I was small I dreamed about seeing them afterwards. I have always wanted to see them, but thought it would forever be a day dream. Well guess what!!! I saw them! But I’ll start from the beginning of our journey…

 

 We took a thirty hour train ride to get to Xi’an. When we got on the bus and figured everything out, we found out that we are on the very top bunk! There was not enough space in that top bunk to sit up so we ended up spending most of our time sitting by the other beds. The scenery on the way to Xi'an was breathtaking. We passed by a lot of different parts of China while on the train, so it was fun to look out the window! We saw what the countryside of China looks like, it was like flipping through pages of the National Geographic! I wish you all could have been there looking out that window with me! 

 

I met a lot of great people on that train. I made friends with a group of lawyers from Tibet traveling across China for their vacation. I loved listening to their stories and learning more of their culture. While on the train with them, they asked a lot of questions about America and in return I asked a lot about Tibet! They talked about how much they wanted to be free.  That was their biggest dream, to be free from the tight grasps of the government. How sad that they wish every night that they could be free. Something we in America take for granted every day of our lives.  They touched my heart in many ways, I will miss them!

 My Tibetan friends

 

 Our whole tour group

So far my favorite part about this trip has been the Terracotta warriors. The history about the terracotta warriors is remarkable. Just think, they stayed hidden from the world for over 2,000 years!  Each statue is different, and when the statue was done, (which took about seven days) the emperor would have that solider killed so he couldn’t tell anyone about the tomb.  He also killed all of the artists that carved the statues! He was a bit of a crazy emperor, he was obsessed with death. This is why he made such a remarkable tomb. I won’t bore you with more history, but know that pictures do not do the terracotta warriors justice! I can’t explain how remarkable it felt to be standing so close to so many different warriors, or horses. I loved every second of that day! After Xi'an we went to Beijing and then Shanghai, I will write about those two places soon! I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all and miss you!

 

 

My roommates and I outside the Emperor's Tomb

Just a picture of average life in China :)

-Amber Toy

PS. For more pictures, click here.