Video Goodness

Ok, so this is the first set of videos I've uploaded, ranging from Seoul before we left through our hike along the Great Wall of China. Enjoy!


Just before our trip to China, we stopped for some more sightseeing in Seoul. When we went to Korea's national war memorial, we found these guys drilling.



On our first day in Beijing (day 2 of our China experience), we walked down to Tiananmen square. It was certainly a strange experience. I looked up and down the (huge) street and easily recreated the famous "protester vs tanks" photo in my mind. Anyway, this video is basically a 360 view from inside the square.



We were in Beijing at the during the Lantern festival, which is the first major holiday of the lunar new year. I was tempted to buy some dry ice and join in the festivities, but decided against.


We took a series of three clips as we hiked along the Great Wall. The last one was meant to be the longest and include reflections, but the hike took longer than we anticipated (and we'd used up too much of the memory with photos) so the last is actually the shortest. Still, we hope you enjoy them:


Part 1/3


Part 2/3


Part 3/3

To be continued...

Thoughts that have passed through my head since entering China. Part the First.

1. "This place smells like fish. Does this whole country smell like fish? I hope this whole country doesn´t smell like fish."

2. "This train is huge! I´m taking a picture!"

3. "OHMIGOSH I WANT A SEASHELL HEDGEHOG!!!"

4. "It´s conspicuously easier to get into the world´s largest Communist country than it is to get into my own home country. . ."

5. "Mmm, it smells like spices in here. Not like fish at all!"

6. "I miss Korean letters."

7. "Stalin should have let his moustache grow out. He would have taken a better picture."

8. "I like Chinese food."

9. "Chinese people are nice."

10. "Chinese money is way more colorful than American or Korean. Stylish."

11."Holy crap I´m in Beijing. Score."

To be elaborated upon later.

We're here!!!

Qindao - We're here!!! We've been keeping notes on our observations. More to come when we have more than 10 minutes at a computer terminal.

Beijing- We've just arrived in Beijing. It's 6:30 and we were on a long train ride. Look for a story involving a boat, a German-Chinese city, a train and a day in Beijing (or as much as I have energy to type) in about 14 hours.

A (slightly) more refined Itinerary

(Dates and times are in China Standard time, so GMT +8)

Tuesday, Feb 3rd: 15:30- Leave Gwangju for Seoul [Check]

02/05 16:30- Board a ferry bound for Qindao, China. [Half Checked.] We're sitting in the terminal, tickets in hand, waiting to board the ferry. It was an ordeal getting here though. Two taxi drivers at the station refused to roll down their windows or talk to us. Four more drove off when they found out that we were travelling in a group, and 2 just pretended not to recognize the directions (written in Korean) that we had taken down from the ferry company's website. Jerks.

02/06 am- Arrive in Qindao, look at the German architecture

02/06 pm- Board train bound for Beijing

02/07 am- Arrive in Beijing, check into Peking International Youth Hostel, begin poking around the city the size of Belgium.

02/11 pm- Board a train bound for Xi'an.

02/12 am- Arrive in Xi'an, begin searching for tombs and clay warriors

02/15 pm- Leave Xi'an by some mode of transportation heading in a general Southeasterly direction.

02/15 pm -02/20 am Make our way down to Hong Kong, seeing what we can see along the way.

02/23 noon- Board a Korean Air flight bound for Seoul/Incheon.

02/24- Becky returns to Hwasun

02-25- Josh and Cory return to Hwasun