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Blog 25: A Wrinkle in Time

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About 10 years ago Amanda and I visited an exhibit at the Houston Museum featuring the Terracotta warriors.  It was cool, I loved the lesson, and I bought a book.  In Xian, we got to see the real thing.  We arrived in Xian at around 11pm and then got to our apartment around 12:30.  Everything takes longer than you expect especially when you don’t want it to. On this short trip to the apartment, the parking garage shutdown, the van died 3 times, and our guide seemed lost.  On the upside, Xian has a much cooler vibe than Beijing… Not sure what it was exactly; maybe cheaper, cleaner, friendlier… it just seemed nicer.  This apartment was a lot nicer too;  33% cheaper, nice view of the goose pagoda, and the landlord was great.  At first we thought the hot water was out, but that moment of despair was quickly reversed.  And, the AC worked like a champ.  The next morning, we started a bit late and didn’t really have breakfast… not...
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Blog 24: Sandstorms and Ancient History

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I’ve been looking forward to this trip since we arrived.  The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, and the Temple of Heaven are all spots that everyone knows about.  You see these sites in movies, advertisements, and cartoons.  In most of the world’s eyes, this is China.  The train left at 7am which is early considering we didn’t fall asleep until around 1am.  As a foreigner, you have to pick up your tickets at the train station counter with your passport as opposed to the kiosk for the Chinese nationals.  I was a bit worried we could have lines or trouble once we got there.  But, lucky for us, the lines were manageable and the tickets were easy.  All of our seats were near one another and so it made a nice, easy 5hr ride to Beijing.  The landscape between Shanghai and Beijing is pretty nice, but normally only accentuates the pollution problems in the country.  You find yourself saying, “the picture would be great ...
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Blog 23 - Dixon's take the China challenge

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You can take people out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the people.   Leaving the USA for the first time is a bit tough… making China your first destination is kind of ridiculous.   China is just really, really foreign; the characters, the congestion, the communication, the internet, and the smog all make it harder than most international trips.    Still they did it.   They started the 10-day trek on early Monday morning and arrived mid-day Tuesday.   I met them at the airport with our driver and then we motored home.   It took a bit of time getting through customs, but they did it like champs.   Traffic on the way home, however was horrible so we didn’t get to the house until 4:30pm.   The kids (both ours and theirs) were so excited to see one another.   They instantly returned to friend mode and immediately ran around the house giving tours and playing at the same time.   Amanda prepared pulled p...
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