China
We visited Beijing and saw all the sites including the Great Wall of China
June 17th: Travel Day 10
My day started at 2:11 in the morning when I heard Ansley exclaim "Help I can't see!It's too dark I'm lost"I was able to be awake enough to hear her and think through the situation, but sh was right it was pitch black and all I could see was her phone flashlight which looked like one big blur of light.Still confused why she couldn't use her flashlight to navigate herself back I whispered "Ansley,follow my voice back to your bed,I'll guide you" she responded,"You're not helping!"I was wondering if I should get up and help her back when the blur of light stopped in front of the couch which is right in front her bed, and next, I heard her going through a bag of some sort.A bit creeped out I asked,"Ansley what are you doing?"I gulped, the white blur moved positions so I guess she was staring at we when she said:"Wouldn't you like to know?"I went to grab my phone to record her when she said"What are you doing?Don't record me!" I put the phone down trying to discover if I was dreaming then hit myself a few times, this was real.I mumbled then suddenly got stricter"Ansley go to bed." As she walked over I was scared she would attack me or one those things you see in a horror movie, but no she got in bed,turned her light off, and fell asleep.Confused at what happened,I forced myself to fall asleep.In the morning I found it was a strange night for all of us, we all coughed and felt our nose being stuffed up all night, Aleisha had vomit goes up her nose, then was up an hour numbing the painful feeling, then went to drink water and spilled it all over herself, we all woke up 3/4 times, and for Ansley she said she remembered waking up 3 times out of fear to use her light to check her surrounding and one time,the one I saw, she got to check her surrounding but didn't remember anything after that, Aleisha and I believe she was sleep walking.In the morning after our buffet breakfast, another crazy thing happened to me,I fainted. It started out as straightening my hair then turned bad really quick first the heat mixed with dehydration got to me I said "Aleisha I need a water now" after asking me if I was okay she got me one,but before she returned I yelled to turn the straightener off, please I'm overheating and before I knew it Aleisha ran in but her face split apart she turned white right down the middle, I remember she became a blur, everything did then I don't remember much more.I remember looking up seeing the world spinning, one big blur Aleisha set me on the bed and the world began to return to me,drinking lots of water and a medicine thing dropped in water, I loaded down for ten minutes and by then I had drunk a whole bottle of water and half of the medicine water.Ansley told me my legs and arms went out of control and I almost fell, yet Aleisha grabbed me and carried me to the bed.After that we went to the Forbidden Palace and Tienanmen Square though it was hot out, he had a hard enough time taking photos, we weren't planning on staying long, we took a few pictures with us and others who asked for a photo then left for lunch.We jumped on a subway and headed to silk street where we went in the LG mall and found a subway to eat at.Okay maybe we should not have done subway in China,that's American food!we were starving and needed food quick so subway it was. I ate my whole veggie sandwich and oatmeal cookie.Next, we went to silk market, where we finished the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floor then went back to the1st and 2nd. Ansley got a pair of Rocha shoes that were originally 900 yon, but we bargained down to 150 yon. Then the guy was so mad we made him go so low in the price he threw the box on the floor.We took the shoes and left. For Aleisha she wanted a really nice purse that matched her new wallet so she fell in love with a light gray leather purse that was the same color as her wallet, there was only one problem it was 3,000 yon.We bargained, bargained, and bargained the lady down to 350 yon.No wonder they call us difficult.Ansley and I split our money to buy my mom a gift, which I can't say in case she's reading this blog, but in was 1,000 yon and we got it for 100 yon. After bargaining for a couple of hours we went back to the hotel to relax.Our old tour guide,the nice one,asked if we wanted to go to dinner.We said,"Of course". We got a driver to bring us to the lake we were going to meet at.When we met up we agreed on a rooftop, Vietnamese/ Chinese restaurant.We ordered then Ansley complained about the smoking , so our tour guide told the people to stop smoking.We stayed longer than expected, Ansley fell asleep then I woke her by yelling"Cluck, cluck" like a chicken in her ear and we all burst out laughing.After dinner, we walked a mile and a half taking 30/ 40 minutes to a taxi stop. On the way we photo bombed a lot of people, one girl turned and saw my dad standing over her shoulder and screamed.I would have too. We couldn't get a taxi, so we called a driver to come pick us up.Aleisha went out with a friend while My dad, Ansley, and I went back to the hotel and fell asleep watching TV.
Bye For Now,
Riley Jaye
(PS I am flying back to Texas for Ansley's cheer,but will resume my trip the 28th, so my blogs may be one every couple days or so until my trip resumes)
June 16th: Travel Day 9
Today we woke up at 7:00 or so then went to you guessed it the buffet after Ansley did Alisha's makeup.We waited until about 10:00 to wait out the time our tour guide was supposed to come, ignoring all calls and knocks on the door.Then we noticed as we were getting ready to go. that Ansley left her retainer in a napkin down at the buffet.We ran down stairs,well more like took the elevator but still, then rushed into the buffet and the workers went through all the trash for like 20 minutes then we discovered her retainer went down the garbage disposal so it was a goner.Yet even though that was a tragic loss of high quality dental technology, Ansley rediscovered my phone under the couch making only one item missing. We called her off because of a few reasons like hard to understand English, too long lectures, she just got up and walked away without telling us were she was going, rushed us, etc.We went to a mall called APM first we got Starbucks, they have my favorite desert macaroons(5) and a Carmel frappuccino!We then went to a Chinese food place for lunch, I got spaghetti with some basil sauce of some kind.It original had shrimp, yet we asked for them to remove it. Aleisha and Ansley went to the restrooms and on their ways came upon a macaroon cart , so you can guess what I did; I got a chocolate macaroon. Then we wondered around the mall for a hour or so then went back to our hotel.We relaxed for an hour or so, then went to Wang Funjing market were Aleisha ate a scorpion, no two scorpions, witch she explained to taste like burnt popcorn.Talk about gross!We looked at all the different stands set up with everything you can imagine: fans, robots, clothes, stuff animals,key chains etc.We counted and just at the market 106 people took photos of us.We went to McDonalds, yes I know your not supposed to go to American food when you take a once in a life time trip to China, but in our defense we wanted icecream, it was hot out(100 degrees about). We got back and headed to the executive lounge were we sat down and the people there already knew our drink orders, that's how you know you go to a place to much. My dad met us their and from their wewent back to our room.Ansley did my makeup an well she did my eye shadow(decent), then the horror started, my eyebrows. Ansley used a eyebrow pencil and well by the end it was so dark that I looked like a clown.Ansley said"AleishaI think I ruined Riley's makeup" and well Aleisha said she never laughed so hard in her life.She took a snap chat with me and many photos.After Aleisha washed all the makeup off my face we went to silk market.There we did lots of bargaining, all three of us Ansley, Aleisha , and I all got wallets, mine was a Michel Korse wallet original about 4,000 yon or equivalent to $700 dollars.We ended up getting it for 150 yon aka 25 dollars. Ansley and I got converse originally 500 yon, yet we got it for 100 yon or 15 dollars.The people called us difficult.After silk market, witch we decided to come back tomorrow, we went to an Asian Restaurant.I got fried rice and two types of noodles.After dinner, I showed my dad the macaroons, and we each got one,I got a banana flavored one to try something new.Then Aleisha picked Ansley and I up, throwing us over her shoulder, and carried us out of the mall.We then all went to bed.
Bye for now,
Riley Jaye
June 15th: Travel Day 8
Dear Journal,
We woke Aleisha up at 8:30 to go to breakfast on the 5th floor. She told us all about her get together with the guy that asked her out, she said it was boring. Then we went to the lobby and our new tour guide picked us up (Our old tour guide had to leave somewhere). Our new tour guide escorted us to our car and our driver drove us to our first stop, the zoo. We went straight to the Gaint Panda exebit (Fun Fact: China owns every panda in the world and panda’s tails are white) we got tickets and ran to the panda’s they were eating, the cutest thing, they prefer carrots over bamboo by the way. They ate, slept, and repeated. They had the coolest habitat with a playground nets, bridges, swings etc. but they preferred to sleep, sleep.They slept with their butts to the peoplehiding their faces, camera shy, no, they just don’t like the flash and attention when their trying to sleep. Ansley and I went into a gift store; I purchased a panda stuffed animal I named Junior, and Ansley got a gift for Ava I can’t announce just in case Ava is reading this right now. We wanted to see the tigers, yet our tour guide rushed us out literally we spent ten minutes in the zoo then we were out. We all wanted to stay longer. We were off to the summer palace. The tour guide was giving us a history lesson on the palace but I really don’t think any of us lessoned we were all looking out the window in our own heads. At the palace we entered, it was gorgeous, we walked around but then our tour guide stopped us to explain some bird and 3 animals combined dragon. Yet I had little engagement in that observation due to her thick accent that I went off looking at all the people taking photos of us, yes us. In china because were American we get a lot of attention there were at least ten or twenty people taking photos of us, Aleisha later described a man right in front her face taking a photo of us. It was like we were an exhibit. At the zoo already we took like 5 photos with other people and their children. I posed for the cameras hardly noticing we were moving to the next place. Even more people took photos of us as we walked down the sidewalk to the next artifact of the garden. One person took a photo of us and his flash went off so he ran and hid behind a tree, another went right up to our faces with an Ipad some even ran in front of us and took a selfie. As many as we could we said do you want a photo then they replied yes and jumped up and down some were more casual some acted like they won the lottery. We took as many photos as we could to remember each monument and when our guide took photos of us, other people lined up to take photos of us there were crowds of at least 5 at most 15. Then when we were done they did the same pose as us in the same spot. Let’s just say we learned a lot about history each place we had a 30-minute lecture on its significance by our tour guide. The dragon boats were my personal favorite. We went to eat at a Chinese chain restaurant, we went to wash our hands and use the restroom witch in china are holes in the ground, very interesting. After lunch we had a bit of a disappointment/devastation encounter with one of Aleisha’s close friends who disrespected her. I won’t say much other than she won’t be hearing from him ever again. To numb the sorrow and just because Starbucks is awesome we went there. I got cholate cake then we went over to Forever 21 to do a bit of shopping, Aleisha bought a pair of shoes and earrings. Next because Ansley discovered she was great at photography, we had a photo shoot. Aleisha and I were models posing in the courtyard as Ansley took our photos in the garden and in the swimming pool area. I’ll post all photos to the modeling page of my blog. Next we meaning Ansley and I jumped in the pool as Aleisha read. Then we went up to the executive lounge and Ansley and I got pasta. We went back to the room and Aleisha went up to the bar as I blogged and Ansley watched YouTube or something like that. We fell asleep within 10 minutes or so.
Bye for Now,
Riley Jaye
June 14th:Travel Day 7
We woke up, then went to breakfast at a buffet. After breakfast we rushed to get ready to go to the Great Wall of China, our tour guide picked us up at 8:00 and then we headed over to the wall. It was a two-hour drive that we passed the time learning about china's rich history. When we got to where the wall was, we got on a gondola to get to the top of the mountain where the wall is. We ran some, walked some, and crawled some up and back down one 2 kilometer section of the wall we were at. It was so cool, you could see how the people have restored and renovated the great wall by the network cables, don't think those were there when the Mongolians tried to attack China, also you could tell the new bricks were greyer. I thought I was going to fall so many times when walking up the wall, the stairs were so narrow and crooked. Anyway, we went down to the street on toboggans, so fun yet the people in front of u were so slow like seriously they were barely moving. So when we got to the bottom we began our hike to find the School Yard restaurant it was far down the mountain. When we finally got there they were all booked even though where we were was so deserted. We walked out planning on waiting for a bus to take us down the mountain than out of nowhere the cutest dog ever runs up to us and lays down so we scratch her for like ten minutes literally she was acting like it was the best day of her life, who we later name Zing(I named her),the bus never came and we didn't want to leave Zing so we walked down the mountain for like 30 minutes or an hour with zing by our feet or exploring or showing off by running up a hill then reappearing through the forest and running down, even my dad loved Zing. We made her the travel the world squad mascot and a member, we took photos with Zing, which I will soon post under memories, we loved Zing when we got to the bottom the bus driver said something to Zing in Japanize we asked if it was his dog, and he said that Zing was a mountain dog who roamed the streets, he also said everyone loved Zing. Zing followed us to the tiny village were zing stole this feather toy from a person store, luckily Zing gave it to us t return to the annoyed store owners we laughed, but then had to leave Zing and go our separate ways to a burger king were Ansley wanted to get food, it broke our hearts. Aleisha and Ithought a Burger King at the bottom of one of the 7 wonders was crazy, so my dad gave us some money to buy a souvenir, first Aleisha looked at shot glasses which she thought was over priced so we moved on even though the lady ran after us trying to get us to buy it. Then we saw robes, Chinese robes that Aleisha and I so badly wanted so we asked how much they were and the lady said 500 yen which is like 85 American dollars and that didn't settle well for us so we asked if they were homemade they weren't so we said no and began to walk away then they yelled they would lower it to 300 but we only had 100 yen each so we said 70 yen we would pay they said no so and they went to 150 yen and we said we only had 100 yen so we made a deal. We went from 500 yen to 100 yen pretty well done. I got red Aleisha got White. Ansley went over with our travel guide and managed to buy a Chinese gown for 50 yen, Aleisha and I thought we were good. So then we went to lunch and then drove back to our hotel getting back around 2:00. So when we got back Aleisha worked out while I journaled. My dad sent Aleisha a text saying we'll wait for her for dinner, so she decided to come back just as Ansley and I were going up to the executive lounge to get some tea. Aleisha came along and as we were getting drinks a guy came up to Aleisha and started flirting with her; finally asking her out and she said yes! They exchanged numbers and we hurried back to our room. We told my dad and so instead of going out we ordered room serviceso we could get Aleisha ready, we dressed Aleisha up with makeup and did her hair. At 10:00 she left on her date and by 10:30 Ansley and I were sound asleep.
Bye For Now,
Riley Jaye
June 13th:Travel Day 6
Mondays, summer time Mondays sleeping in, dreaming, pure happiness, well that wasn't the deal for June 13th."Wake up! Everyone wake up" I remember Aleisha's voice ringing in my ears at 2:30 am, yes 2:30! We had a 5 o'clock flight to China and still had to get ready and check in by 5:00.I got up like a zombie then got dressed, brushed my teeth receiving a call and text from my dad making sure we were up. When he came to our room and knocked on the door we were off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of Oz, well not exactly we were off to the airport the wonderful airport of Tokyo. When we passed security, we went on our search to find a restaurant which fun fact not a single café was open, yet multiple noodle places were. We found a place on a map, a area with lots of restaurants and while we were heading over we jumped onto a people mover and when we went to pose for my dad, who was taking photos, we didn't notice that the people mover got to the end and we all literally fell off to the ground as my dad burst out laughing. We found a 24-hour restaurant where we ate, also were we discovered are flight was delayed until 7:30, so yeah we woke up for no reason. I passed the time by journaling and then going with Aleisha to find a souvenir for her brother, she ended up getting him two magnets and a comic book. We got on our flight slept, ate, edited, slept some more then we arrived! We got our luggage and went to have our luggage scanned by the terrorist protection China team. Two people cut in front of us, yes just walked up and got in front of us in line, that raged us. Well, we got in a car that smell like smoke which Ansley says" I can't breathe it smells so bad "We experienced the streets of China which contain a lot of honking and crazy driving. When we got to our hotel we checked it out then went to lunch well,l attempted to find lunch;we ran all around a huge populated area and barely found any restaurants the ones we found were fast food. There were so many buildings that looked like restaurants but they were actually stores. It started to rain and we had no umbrellas or coats. We ran through the rain getting drenched then out of no were my dad slipped on a turn then caught balance doing a ballerina spin move of some kind, it was funny but awesome. We found a Chinese place finally. There I ordered an orange juice and they brought out an entire carton of orange juice that made us all laugh. Then we ordered a bunch of food expecting small portions boy were we wrong we had a feast with like ten different dishes, for example, the dumplings we ordered contained like 50 dumplings huge portions. We then went back to the hotel had a karate lesson from Aleisha, youngest black belt at the age of 11 in all her dojo. Then we had a massive, long pillow fight between Aleisha and Ansley and I. Aleisha won after knocking me so hard into Ansley taking both of us out. Aleisha is so strong and was a tough competitor at the art of pillow fighting. We ordered room service for dinner and dessert eating our dessert first so the ice cream won't melt. Then we called it a night at 8:00 after we finished our vlog, which checks out by the way. Aleisha FaceTime a friend and I joined in the conversation then Aleisha and I was so tired we fell asleep with the lamp on.
Bye for Now,
Riley Jaye