Naive Bear Paradise

While in China I have gotten used to seeing the English language used in interesting ways. But when I came upon a sign labeled naive bear paradise I had no idea of what to make of it.


So I decided that the only thing to do was follow were it lead me and figure it out for myself.

My original thought was it had something to do with beer. But then that doesn't make sense either. Why would the beer be naive.

After following a little longer, it came to me that it could have been "native" bear paradise. I was in northern China, only about a five hour ride from the Russian border. So having an exhibition of bear native to the area made absolute sense.

But I was wrong still the same. Naive Bear Paradise was in fact an...





Amusement park.

Beijing

The country capital, and one of the haziest and smoggiest cities I have ever been in. Was all in all a lot of fun! Great wall, tian mien square, the forbidden city, summer palace, and miles of maze like hutongs to explore. Being pulled around scenic ponds in bike power carts.


Like all of the cities that I have been to in china, the food was amazing and very distinct to the region. On the suggestion of a girl I meet who is a budding travel food journalist, the Aussies and I went to a place that was a little bit more on the beaten path then I normally head to.


Granted you cant see any of the food that we had, belief me when I say it was good. Not the best in China nut still good all of the same. The most peculiar thing we has was a pitted bitter melon, with a ball of pork stuffed into the middle of it.

On my last full day in Beijing I went to see the 2008 Olympic stadium and park.


You can see the characteristic grayness that is Beijing, it was a sunny day then too.


The building housing the swimming pool in which Michel Phelps owned every event he was in.

Great Wall of China

The tour of the Great Wall that a group of people in the dorm took was awesome! We went to a section of the great wall that wasn't fully restored. The only reason way some places of it were restored was to allow people to keep walking along without having to get off.



It took us about two hours, leaving at 8:30am, to get to the section of the wall that we would be trekking. The weather outside was beautiful with the sun shining through and burning off the little bit of haze in the atmosphere. The temperature was a hot 35 degrees; but there was a breeze constantly going, and plenty of watch towers to go in an cool off in the shade for a little bit.


There was about a hundred foot drop behind me!



All of us from the hostel
Left to right
Lloyd, Jordan, John, and me.

Pictures!

Hangzhou



Train ride



Nanjing



Shanghai

Party at the Expo

Through networking and luck I was able to attend a party hosted by the Angola pavilion. There was only supposed to be expo employees at the party, but by the time we got there no one was checking for badges anymore and I don't think anyone would have cared anyway. But the party was just like any other partying a club, only there was people from all over the world having the time of a lifetime.

USA Pavilion Review

I went to the USA pavilion a little ambivalent, having heard from foreigners and Americans alike that it wasn't so good. I say nay to the nay sayers of the USA pavilion. It was one of the best that I had seen up to this point, not because I am an American (which certainly doesn't hurt my appreciation of it) but because it was one of the few that I felt stuck with the theme of the expo "Better City, Better Life". It wasn't an ad for tourism or trying to showcase why moving their or building up industry would be beneficial to ones self.
It was welcoming to all that came to the pavilion, and tried to showcase what it has done to improve the way people in America live, and how to create a sense of community. The underlying theme of the expo was green technology, and how to keep expanding while improving the environment around us. The USA did this with through the use of three videos that all gave examples of green technologies, and the conservation of resources.

The USA pavilion did stile a cord with me, as a person, as tourist, and as an American.

Nanjing

A city of great historic significance throughout China's long existence. It was the capital of China twice during two different dynasties. As well as being the capital for a short time of the rebel Taiping government in the 1800s. The father of modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, was placed to rest here with a huge mausoleum built in his honour. Also one of the biggest displays of wartime brutality happened here when it was occupied by the Japanese during WWII, with the Nanjing massacre.
But aside from all of the history that surrounds Nanjing it still had a really interesting, and fun night life. I went through a couple of different night markets, and also had some awesome food at more then one street stall. While there I also re-meet a Danish couple that I had last seen about a thousand miles away in the south. What else is cool is I am supposed to meet them again sometime soon in Shanghai!