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Hiking Outside Beijing

Group Photo Last Sunday Lu and I spent the day hiking with a local hiking club.  I knew we where going to hike a mountain and have lunch at the top but, I didn’t expect to hike four mountains. 太累了!

That being said, it was beautiful.  We where at the very western edge of the city and walked through several abandoned villages.  One of the villages, I called rooster city because it was literally nothing but roosters everywhere.  I’m talking hundreds of roosters. Read More ›

Snowboarding!

A few weeks ago a friend and I spent the day snowboarding outside Beijing.  It only cost about 80 RMB ($11.70) for the whole day and included the bus ride , lift ticket and equipment rental.  Compared to spending $100 just for a lift ticket in Colorado, it was a hell of a deal.  Check out [...]

Great Hall of the People

Great Hall of the People 2Originally, I planned to visit Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum but we didn’t realize that the Mausoleum closed early.  So, we visited The Great Hall of the People.  The building was constructed in in 1959 in just ten months by volunteers and is the home of the national peoples congress.

Tourist are not allowed access to all of the building’s rooms however, the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People is well worth the visit.  It can seat all 10,000 representatives of China Parliament. In addition, there is a banquet room that can entertain up to 7,000 guest and several regional halls decorated in the  local style. Read More ›

Catalina 2009

Little HarborWatching the plane you are supposed to get on pull away at 6:30 in the morning, for a vacation, is not the way to start a vacation.  At least that is what I thought at 6:31 when Lu and I realized there was no way we would be taking our plane.  I was so pissed!  Why did I have to park at the cheap lot?  Why did we have to have so much luggage?  Why didn’t I tell security we were going to miss our plane?  Why does southwest actually leave on time?  I sat and simmered for about an hour until I realized that missing our plane might actually work out for the best.
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Scuba Diving in Lanai

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA This was my first time scuba diving in the ocean.  I was certified the weekend before I left for Hawaii in a private quarry in the middle of missouri.  The water was so cloudy I could barely see my hand in front of my face, so swimming in the clear water of hawaii was amazing.  Read More ›