It took exactly 24 hours to get from my hotel in Shanghai to my apartment in Boston on Monday. Our trip took us through Tokyo and lovely Detroit, where we spent an hour on the runway before taking off for home. I took roughly 1,000 pictures during the trip, which included stops in Beijing, Xian and Hong Kong. It will probably take a week or so for the other jokers to get me their pictures and to pull together a complete photo album here on the site. In the meantime, here’s a little teaser and a brief synopsis of what went down…

First, if you’re thinking of going to China, don’t go in July. The temperature barely dipped below 85 at night and we had a couple of days with highs well over 100. Add in the humidity and the massive amounts of pollution, and this is the kind of view you’re going to see out of your window every morning…

Cool looking, yes. Hazardous to your health, most definitely.

The locals love seeing westerners, especially when they find out you’re from America. That’s because most of them want your money. But some of them are just wide-eyed and excited over seeing Americans in the flesh, especially blond-haired, blue-eyed ones. They’ll pose with you, take your picture like you’re a celebrity, and even throw their babies at you…

Traffic is insanely chaotic. I can’t even begin to explain it. Do not rent a car here, do not ride a bike here, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

They love McDonald’s (where Mac the Night is still hawking burgers), KFC, and Pizza Hut. And for some reason, Pizza Hut is a pirate-themed establishment (see hostess below).

The Great Wall can only be appreciated in person. This picture is at Mutianyu outside of Beijing.

Mount Hua outside of Xian is amazing, but be prepared to sweat about 20 gallons during the hike to the peak, a steep climb of over 6,000 feet.

And finally, watch out for brain eating devil birds.

I waaaaant the kniiiiiiiiife….. pleeeease

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 7.54 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.