Tour of Beijing

Culture Shock:
noun

a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment.

For example, Sarah and Kayla experienced quite a culture shock upon arriving in China.

It took Kayla and I a few days to really start enjoying Beijing. This is due in part to the fact that our first 3 days were filled with torrential downpours, strange food, and inability to speak the local language (or find anyone else that could), and really rude roommates. We had a few moments where we really thought we were going to have to move up our flight and leave China early. However, we moved to a new hostel in a different part of the city on our 4th day and it changed our entire outlook. Our new place, Sanlitun Hostel, was in a very relaxed part of Beijing and was close to both sightseeing areas and fun nightlife scenes. We were also very fortunate to meet two girls, Anna & Ellie, and they really helped us to enjoy our stay. Ellie has been studying Chinese for years and she kindly helped us do things like order food and talk to taxi drivers. She had also lived in Beijing for a year so she was able to give us some insight on things to do and places to see. Overall we really enjoyed our trip and are looking forward to meeting up with our new friends in Europe!

Here are some photos of Beijing Hot Spots:

Great Wall of China

Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City

 Olympic Park

Kayla & Anna 

The Water Cube & The Bird's Nest

The side of the Water Cube

The Summer Palace

Just for fun

Girls Night

Anna, Sarah, & Kayla

Anna, Kayla, & Ellie

Kayla's new best friend.

A picture is worth a thousand words...our first days in China

Jakarta, Indonesia

After leaving beautiful Bali we had a few days to relax in Jakarta, Indonesia before heading off to China. I think the fact that we loved Bali and really were not ready to leave caused us to feel a little indifferent to Jakarta. However, our spirits were lifted when we pulled up to our hostel and saw "Texas" painted on a wall outside....it was like a little sign that it would all work out. Our hostel was on a small back street with nothing really to see. We spent the first day trudging around the area and decided that we wanted to go straight back to Bali. Then we met a guy named Brad in the hostel. Everything changes when you make a new friend. It was nice to meet someone so down to Earth and that has traveled all over. We hung out and swapped stories and travel disasters (like having our passports stolen in South America.) One day we walked down to one of the many malls that Jakarta has to offer and WOW....they know how to build a mall in Jakarta. I have never seen anything like it....it was like its own little city. Even though we were all impressed with the mall nothing mattered after we walked around the corner and saw a Chili's sign glowing in the night sky. Kayla thought she had died and gone to heaven. Brad had never even heard of Chili's so we were more than willing to spend a little more money and introduce him to the place. We took no prisoners and gorged ourselves on an amazing meal and all the sweet tea we could drink. Overall we had a lot of fun in Jakarta but were excited to start the next adventure.

This scary guy with the monkey mask just jumped up in our window....I thought Kayla was going to die, cry, or pee in her pants.

Kayla's favorite statue in Jakarta. It is just so happy.

We stumbled upon a festival surrounding a monument one night.

My dad's section at Top Shop.

What happens when 3 people are bored in a hostel after awhile? Make Kayla look crazy- that's what.

I think Brad may have found a new profession.

Making sure Kayla's beard is perfect.

This passes as a Taxi in Jakarta.

Walking to the mall. The Giant and the Shrimp.

Kayla is in heaven in this picture :)

Blocked by China

Hello all of our trusty followers. Apologies on our long absence. We arrived in China and then realized that not only does the Chinese government block facebook and youtube but also any blogs. This meant that we were completely without most of our means of communication. I am happy to say that we have arrived in Germany and will be filling you in on all of the adventures we had in Jakarta and China very soon!