Category Archives: Holidays

Day 497 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands: Horse and Carriage Videos.

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The view from our carriage of the Sea of Marmara.

The view from our carriage of the Sea of Marmara.

 

Jill and I love taking pictures, but as the kids today say, videos are more interesting and alive.

Therefore, we decided to take a few videos of our horse and carriage ride to give everyone a more fully interactive experience.

The roads are very smoothly paved and there weren’t very many potholes which is another benefit of not having cars on the island.

There were a few other horses out and about and we were able to actually have a bit of a race with another carriage driver and it was fun.

The horses can really get moving, when they want to, and it is pretty exciting to be racing along with the sun on your face, the wind in your hair, and the clippity clappity of the horses’ hooves hitting the pavement.

Some of the other roads we went on were paved with cobblestones so that was a bit more bumpy but the sound of the hooves hitting cobblestones took us back to another time when this was the only transportation around.

It was truly wonderful to just allow ourselves to disappear into a peaceful little world for a day or so.

 

 

Day 496 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands: Horse and Carriage Ride.

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A horse wandering down the street.

A horse wandering down the street.

 

Jill and I couldn’t wait to hop on a horse drawn carriage and cruise around Buyukada.

We had arrived on Sunday morning, and would be leaving on Monday afternoon, so the weekend crowds were gone and it was very quiet.

There were lots of horses, carriages, and drivers, just hanging around and talking to each other as we walked up.

The prices are printed on a poster near the entryway and we decided to do a 1.5 hour ride to see most of the island and get away from the town.

We loved being driven around this gorgeous island with almost no one else around us.

Except, of course, the other carriages and horses, especially the single one walking around by itself as we climbed the first massive hill to the top of Buyukada.

We also went by an area with a bunch of massive barns for the horses but the picture didn’t turn out that well so I didn’t post it.

Just have to go back and take another one soon!

 

 

Day 495 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands, Part 4.

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Another house in disrepair.

Another house in disrepair.

 

Jill and I wandered around the port area for most of the rest of the day.

It was very relaxing, calm and beautiful.

We really miss being near water, since we are so used to it living in San Francisco and the Bay Area for much of our lives, and this was wonderful.

We just walked, for a few hours, and took pictures of the people, the sights, and the scenery.

Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for more and it was just another fantastic memory that we will have from this trip.

One of the great benefits of being hired to work in China is that we get to travel to so many places and see so many different cultures.

So far, in just over one year, we’ve been to Malaysia twice, Singapore twice, Shanghai, Xian, Tianjin, Turkey, Greece, and Mongolia.  Add in all the places we’ve visited in Beijing and it has been a very eventful year to say the least considering Jill and I met only 8 days before I moved to Beijing and she had no intention of moving away from San Francisco until she met me.

I truly love ports, and the small boats, that are all over these little islands and would love to learn how to sail someday as that would give us another way to find freedom and visit places that others don’t get to very often.

I was thinking of doing that, but then was hired for my job, and that has been put on hold.

Who knows, maybe when I get back to the states, I will follow through with it and become a sailor.

Just one more thing to add to the bucket list.

 

Day 494 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands, Part 3.

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One of my favorite houses on Buyukada.

One of my favorite houses on Buyukada.

Jill and I decided to walk around the town and get a bit of exercise.

When I say a bit, I mean a lot.

Buyukada is mostly hills and some of them are quite steep.

It was also July in the Mediterranean and you can guess what the heat and humidity felt like.

We got nice and sweaty and it was worth every drop.

The houses, and the views, were amazing.

We actually stopped, many times, just to watch the horse drawn carriages, and their owners, cruising past us.

Some were at full gallop and others were just leisurely cruising and taking their time.

We were a bit jealous of the people that were sitting in the carriages because we were sweating away but not too much because it gave us time to look at the houses, and the flora, as we took our time and rested.

At one point, we crested the top of the hill and started going down.

It was also quite steep and we thought it would be nice to go for a swim.

Sadly, we didn’t have our swimsuits but we noticed a man made beach at the bottom of the hill and roadway.

We went in, asked if we could wade in the sea in our shorts, and they realized we didn’t have suits so they offered to sell us suits.

I’ve never liked Jill’s swimsuit (she can tell you more about it) and she found a super cute blue one and I bought some decent shorts.

All in all, it cost us about 20 bucks for two nice swim suits.

And then we jumped in the water and it was like jumping into perfection.

 

 

Day 493 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands, Part 2.

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A horse drawn carriage in front of one of the beautiful houses.

A horse drawn carriage in front of one of the beautiful houses.

Jill and I arrived at Buyukada and and checked into our room.

It was about a 3 minute walk from the port and we have a wonderful view of the rooftops, the walking street below our balcony, and the Sea of Marmara.

We loved that they had set up the bed with red roses petals and made a very cute heart design on it.

They also had a complimentary bottle of wine and a fruit and cheese plate for us in our room when we arrived.

It was a perfect way to start our island getaway and “vacation” from our vacation.

We love Istanbul but there is so much construction going on that it is quite loud.

There are also lots of cars, and with lots of cars, you get lots of horns honking.

We both grew up in small towns and forget how wonderful peace and quiet is when we don’t have it for so long.

Well, Buyukada is about as peaceful and quiet as they come.

Why?  Because cars are not allowed on the island.

It is all horse drawn carriages and a few electric vehicles.

It is wonderful because it is so quiet other than the click-clacking of hooves on stone roads.

They have paved some of the “main” roads (which are two lanes so still not very big) that circle the island but many of the streets in the town are just cobblestone.

It is truly wonderful.

We walked by the horse drawn carriage station and took a few pictures but decided to wait until tomorrow because we wanted to hang out and just take in this little town.

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Day 492 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands, Part 1.

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I love capturing peoples' emotions and personalities.

I love capturing peoples’ emotions and personalities.

 

After leaving the funicular, Jill and I hopped on the ferry to Princes’ Island.

Buyukada was the specific island we wanted to visit and it was a about a two hour ferry ride.

We were hoping to get a good seat, outside, and be able to enjoy the trip.

For the first few minutes, since it was so hot, we decided to stay inside and watched through the windows.

However, we love the fresh air (something that is desperately missed living in Beijing) and decided to go out in the sunshine and do some real people, and scenery, watching.

We absolutely made the right choice and we are very thankful we did.

Each step in life is a step towards adventure or a step towards complacency.

We choose adventure.

 

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Day 491 In Beijing: The Istanbul Funicular.

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The view from inside the funicular.

The view from inside the funicular.  I love the look on his face.

Jill and I love trains and subways.

It just makes life so much easier when you can let someone else do the transport and not have traffic.

That is one of the true benefits of Istanbul and other major cities in that we can just relax, cruise around, and see the sights instead of stressing out and driving.

Our plan, when we return back the USA, is to live carless and be as mobile as possible.

As I’ve written before, we stayed for a full month in Turkey and Greece with only one carry on luggage each.

We don’t want to stay locked down to one particular location and want to be as free as possible.

Jill’s business, San Francisco Tourism Tips, is one of the ways we can accomplish this endeavor.

Istanbul has a funicular underneath one of the major hills and it makes travel very easy.

The hill that it hides under is the same hill that has the Galata Tower on top of it.

It isn’t a terribly tall hill, but it is steep, and in the heat and humidity of the Turkish summer, it can be a nice little respite.

We ended up taking the funicular about 10 different times, in our 2 week stay, and it cost about 2 USD per ride and took only about 60-90 seconds. It travels about 2000 feet.  If you see the hill we were able to remove from our travels, it was worth it.

By the way, make sure to watch until the end of the video as the gears that move the funicular are quite beautiful and painted by people that are very artistic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 490 In Beijing: Protests at the Israeli Embassy.

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The protest in front of the Israeli Embassy.

The protest in front of the Israeli Embassy.

Even though it is a few months ago now, there was a major event going on between the Palestinians and Israelis.

As you can guess, Turkey, being that it is somewhere between 95-99% Muslim, was on the side of the Palestinians.

We had no idea, when we were returning from Nate’s house, that we’d drive right by the Israeli Embassy.

All we knew was that we were stuck in major traffic for about 20 minutes or so.

As we got closer to the embassy, we realized that the flags were Palestinian and the people were chanting slogans, which we couldn’t understand, but we got the idea.

There was no violence or discord, other than people speaking their minds, and I can only imagine what these people think about the situation in the Middle East.

I can only imagine it is very different than most people in the USA, and definitely different from people in China.

The one exception might be in Xinjiang, which is the Uyghur and Muslim region of China.

Our ex-roommate, Gulzar, was from Xinjiang and told us a lot about what is happening to her people, her culture, and her religion and it is sad.

I’ve always disliked when people are subjected to a rule of another country and what this means for the indigenous culture, and this means even in the USA where the native people have been subjected to reservations and their culture being taken from them, and I’m always interested in how people respond to this dilemma.

I’ve often joined protests in my home country of the USA and feel that the freedom of speech is incredibly important and sacred.  Even if I disagree with what you want to say.

We didn’t get out of the cab, since we don’t speak Turkish, even though I would have loved to been a fly on the wall to this whole demonstration and to have seen how it ended.

I’m guessing, from what I could see, it was peaceful and quite reasonable.

Also, I’m not giving any political statements or opinions here.

Just showing a slice of life in another part of the world that most people probably don’t see.

 

 

 

 

Day 489 In Beijing: Massage in Istanbul.

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The view from Nate's house of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.

The view from Nate’s house of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.

Jill and I head back to Turkey, figuratively, not literally, starting again on my blog.

We have about a month, or two, of blogs about Turkey, and Greece, to catch you all up on, so wait no longer!

I was having some serious back pain for the last month and my distant cousin, Nate Shanok, lives in Istanbul and suggested an amazing massage therapist, Nemrut.

Nate is a great guy and Jill and I got to hang out at his house the night before.  Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of them, but we later had dinner with he and his wife, Emily, and I’ll post about that in the future.

I did get a picture of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, which is actually just called, “The Second Bridge” by everyone we know, including our Turkish friends.

The story is that, about 5 years ago, I was up in Tahoe.  I was with a bunch of buddies and we were going to have a little party up in the snow.

The ground was very icy and I happened to slip and slammed my elbow and shoulder into the ground.

I was later diagnosed as injuring my ribs and the muscles around my back and chest.

So, every so often, this pops up and causes a lot of pain.

Sadly, it started about a week before the trip and it was making traveling uncomfortable and limiting what we could do.

So, when Nate suggested I get a massage from his guy, I agreed instantly.

Nemrut is a slab of a man and about as strong as anyone I’ve met.

His hands are huge also.

He, however, was incredibly tender and even the deep tissue work wasn’t painful.

During the massage, it started to rain and I’ve always loved getting massages in the rain.

It just allows me to let go and feel the flow.

I actually am a Certified Massage Therapist, back in California, and I’m very critical of the massages I’m given since I have a very high standard.

Nemrut was amazing.  We actually had him come back, 2 more times, and my back felt about 95% better each time.

Here’s a little video of the rain and then you can see Nemrut running to his car at the very end of it.

I had no idea I’d catch him in the video and it just seemed cute.

 

 

 

Day 488 In Beijing: Trip To Tianjin, Part 5.

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A "view" of the fireworks. And of the pollution.

A “view” of the fireworks. And of the pollution.

Fireworks.

Jill, Nuria and I love fireworks.

So do the Chinese people.

Fireworks actually started in China and they know what they are doing.

Strangely enough, there is a fireworks factory near Nuria’s apartment.

The zoning regulations in China are a bit different than in the USA.

They go off, from what we can tell, about every 2 hours, without a specific reason or time, and last for about 1 minute or so.

We think they are just testing them, but we can’t see them, and we aren’t sure why they would need to test them that often.

We are guessing someone at the factory just likes blowing stuff up and realized they can fire them off, whenever they want, as long as they made up a darn good reason, like “We need to test them every 2.33 hours of the day.”

This includes at night when they are still working.

Luckily, the windows are thick enough that we don’t really hear them while we are trying to sleep.

I do feel bad for the people that live closer to the factory and don’t live in a modern apartment building like the one Nuria lives in.

That would be a bit tiresome to hear these explosions throughout the night.