Doubt creeps in, am I in over my head?

-
When I make my travel plans, I don't usually think about how daunting or crazy the idea is, and I think it's because I'm focused on the goal, and I don't let things get in my way. Maybe I should. I also don't usually get home sick. I'm not going to lie, Harbin almost got the best of me. The minute I walked off the plane and down the ladder (no jetway) and it was so cold, and I immediately felt like I was getting sick. Are you kidding me right now? My guide and driver picked me up, took me to the hotel and I knew I had to crash. I had that afternoon and the next day free, and knew I would be sleeping, willing the cold to leave my head. Um, just so you know, it doesn't work. It also didn't help that my way of keeping in contact with my friends, blogging, Instagram and occasionally Facebook, were not working, so that made me feel more isolated. I did email people, and that helped, but then it seems so pathetic. I also wasn't eating all that great, as in, just my granola bars. There was a breakfast included in my hotel stay, but I'm used to Frosted Flakes or eggs and toast, not whatever it was. I'm not judging either, but I like to know what I'm eating, and I couldn't ask because the people at the hotel didn't speak English, and I got the sense that the food was more in the savory spectrum, which I can't do in the morning. So: sick, isolated and hungry. A combination for disaster and self-doubt. But, China isn't Chicago or Milwaukee, you can't just hop on a plane and go home, so I coped. And it got better and I slowly started to feel a little more human.

I had four full days in Heilongjiang province, mostly in Harbin. Harbin is in northeast China, maybe 6 hours drive from the Russian border, and one of the snowiest and coldest places in China. My first day of the tour, we headed up to Snow Town, which is about a five hour drive from Harbin; I spent the night there, doing a lot on my own, then we headed back to Harbin. Day Three was very full: Siberian Tiger Park, Sun Island and incredible snow sculptures, a quick run through the old Russian part of the city, and then the highlight which was the Ice City with the sculptures and ice buildings. The last day was through another part of the city with Baroque style buildings over a century old.

I wanted to give you a run through because the next several posts will have little narrative and hopefully, if blogger cooperates, a lot of pictures.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Barcelona - the first two days

-
Day two of Mr. Magoo Does Europe, and it's been pretty awesome so far. But one of these days, I am going to get where I'm going on the first or second try. Maybe even the third. Honestly though, I'm so used to it, I don't even know what I would do if it happened. I walked around Barcelona yesterday, just trying to get my bearings (insert belly laugh), but I did eat some pretty amazing food, like chocolate filled churro (omg), and seafood paella, which I'm not sure how authentic it was, but I liked it; and I got in over 17,000 steps, not bad for getting here around noon and taking a siesta later in the day. Today was my big day, meaning I got up at 7:00 am to take a three country tour that lasted until 7:30 in the evening. For me the focus was getting to Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees surrounded by Spain and France, and in fact, co-ruled by the two countries. First stop was Baga, in Spain, where I had the most delicious chocolate filled pastry that was was n...
Read more

A little more of Paris Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Montparnasse Tour

-
Image
Have I mentioned it was hot in Paris? Have I mentioned, since we're friends, that I sweated in places I didn't know could sweat? I didn't know my knuckles could sweat, yet they did. Aside from the heat, which was a dry heat, so, you know, hot, but not humid, I really enjoyed my time in Paris, but I did feel rushed, my three days weren't enough. I did not consume nearly enough delicious croissants or other pastries, or crepes...oh, I could go on. My one set thing I really had to do, stop me if I told you already, but I wanted to climb to the top of Notre Dame; in fact, I trained for it. I booked a tour of Ile de Cite and Notre Dame so I could ensure getting the chance without spending hours in line. It was totally worth it; the guide for the tour was excellent, actually an Englishman, with a great background in medieval French history and iconography, and full of fabulous information about France through the centuries. We went into Notre Dame, which is magnificent, and l...
Read more

All aboard to Marrakech

-
Image
 I will spare you all the details of the seemingly endless drive from Fes to Marrakech; I don’t mind long drives, I mean the drive from Apple Valley to South Dakota is long and mostly boring, but this was interminable. Nothing to be done about it, however, and we did get a distant glimpse to the High Atlas Mountains and experienced quite a number of service station facilities. We finally arrived in Marrakech in time for dinner and an early night for me. It was another full day of experiencing a centuries old city in less than 24 hours; sensory overload would be the theme of this trip - the pictures don’t do it justice because you don’t get the sounds, the smells and even the feel of the thousand year old stones under your feet, but I’m trying. We met our local guide Abdullah who was like a walking fortune cookie, he had aphorisms for every situation, a great sense of humor and history and the coolest accent. Our first stop was the Koutubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, and it’...
Read more