Misc China Pics

Here are some random photos that didn't fit in to any other entries.

The yellow flowers are from canola plants.

Funny sign.

Stopping for a drink while shopping.

Last Day in China

  After a night of good, oxygen full rest, I felt fantastic for my last day in China.  The extra red blood cells I acquired at high altitude appeared to more than make up for any fatigue from my challenging travels in Tibet.

  I went exploring and shopping with Andrea and Hannah.  We decided to take taxis around instead of taking the subway because the taxis were cheap and the subways didn't go anywhere near where we wanted to go.  I think I was most scared in the taxi than any other place driving.  We were going really fast with lots of near collisions and no seat belts.  I swear one black mercedes had us on a hit list or something.  They kept cutting us off and swerving into us.  Good think the driver knew his stuff!

  We first stopped at the touristy market.  There were lots of fun souvenirs and handicrafts to look at there.  

  Our tummies were rumbling so we stopped at one of the few non-western places to get some food.  I chose the creepiest looking thing on the menu, a whole dead chicken which I described as, "that thing looks like it died horribly."

  Tasted good though!  Not much meat, but other than that, no complaints.  My friends and the food vendors laughed at me, but they don't know that I got my training from Bizarre Foods.

Our second stop was to the bootleg market where I definitely didn't buy anything because that would be wrong.  :0P

Moving on...taxi ride back to the boat was as exciting as the first.  We had to stop a few blocks before the ship because the meter was rigged and the driver would hike up the price when he thought we were distracted and we ran out of money.  Oh well, it allowed us to walk through the nice spring day.  :0)

Mother-In-Law bush!

Back on the ship we had some burgers, took some pictures at the city at night, and then the roomie and I settled down to watch The Help.  Excellent movie by the way!  It was a nice day and a nice way to leave China.  I will definitely have to be back for some more exploring as soon as possible!

Tibet to Shanghai

  Another long day of traveling.  I really don't know how I still continued to function at this point.  Traveling in a wheelchair in some of these airports was exceedingly difficult.  There were all of these rules that made no sense to me.  For example, I checked in for the first flight and was told to bring my wheelchair to the gate.  Then in security, the lady said I had to go back and check it and it would cost money.  The life long learners who "adopted" me were such a big help running back and forth through the airport so I could get to the flight on time.

  We had a several hour layover at one of the airports and that was another challenge.  Only one wheelchair was ordered for our group, but two of us needed one.  (One of the life long learners had gotten severe altitude sickness and was still recovering.)  I gave him the chair and told the lady pushing his chair that I needed one too.  That wee-otch looked me up and down, curled her lip, and haughtily walked away.  I was really mad.  I could tell she was judging me because of my age and she had no right to do that.  Plus she seemed like she had a giant stick up her butt even on a good day.  

  I made it in from the plane to security and asked again for a wheelchair.  The lady at security said there was only one in the whole airport.  I politely told her that I highly doubted that and I would be sitting beside her station until someone found me a chair.  There were many an annoyed look exchanged but I finally did get a chair.  I really hate being annoying like that, but sometimes I have no choice.  It's not like I could crawl through the airport (at least not without good kneepads).  

  We arrived back at the boat in the evening and had some time to take in the crazy awesome city lights.