Oh my goodness. I can’t even describe how excited I am! China! Yay! *happy dance* I’ve been wanting to go to China for YEARS! I love history and ancient cultures. Ever since I saw the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, I’ve wanted to go to China and see all the amazing buildings and experience their culture. Before that, I wasn’t too interested. I mean, I thought it would be neat to go there, but it wasn’t on my list of places I HAD to go to. After the Games, though, it went on my list. I love ancient architecture and places of historical impact. Once the Olympic Games aired and they did pieces about the culture and the country, I became really interested in the Chinese people and their history. I’ve read a few things about them and have really wanted to go there. I just never thought I really would. But then, Troy got transferred to Malaysia.
When Troy and I decided I was going to go with him to Malaysia, we started talking about all the countries we wanted to visit. China was the top of my list. Well, sort of. A bunch of the European countries were the top of my list, but Troy said we had to stick to the inexpensive places in Southeast Asia since we were going to hit as many as possible. China, Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia became my top picks. We both had China as a top place we wanted to go, but once we saw the ticket prices, it became clear that China may not be an option. Troy has been looking at airline prices for China ever since we first got here, but they’ve been so expensive the entire time, so he said we probably wouldn’t be able to go. It was pretty depressing to both of us. A few weeks ago, though, Troy decided he was going to try to make it happen.
Several weeks ago, Troy emailed me and told me to start looking up things to do in China. I asked him for a specific region and he just told me to look things up all over the country. So, I did. haha. He came home, looked at my list and said, “You do know we can’t do all of these, right? They’re too spread out.” lol. So, we narrowed it down to the Terracotta Warriors, the panda reserve in Chengdu, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, the Great Wall and a couple other places in the same cities. Troy looked up ticket prices to all those places and said we couldn’t do the panda reserve because ticket prices there were too expensive and we already have to do multiple flights to hit all the places we want to go, so something had to go. I was pretty bummed because I REALLY wanted to see the pandas. But, I couldn’t really complain because there are so many other places in China we were planning to go to. I told him it was fine if we skipped the pandas because the ticket prices were really expensive and that I was just excited to be going to China at all.
After our initial discussion, Troy said he was going to hold off on buying tickets because he wanted to see if they went down in price. He has been checking prices every few days and they haven’t changed much. Finally, a few days ago, he finished work and started looking at ticket prices again. After he picked a flight and was buying it, I asked him for the details so I could put it on the calendar. Imagine my surprise (and delight!) when he said the first place we are going is Chengdu! He bought tickets so I can see the pandas!!!!!! I’m so excited!!!!!! Pandas! They’re so cute! I really really REALLY hope we can hold one.
Aside from the pandas, we’ve got a great itinerary planned out. We’re going to be in Chengdu for three days and then we’re going to Xian, which is where the Terracotta Warriors are. That’s the one Troy really wanted to see. I think that will be so great! I’m super excited to see these, too. After Xian, I’m not entirely sure where we are going or even how long we’ll be in Xian. We had talked about Leshan to see the giant Buddha, but Troy is thinking about cutting that one. He wants to see it, but he’s heard that it isn’t quite worth going out of the way for, so I’m not sure what he’s decided about that. We are going to Beijing at some point (yay!), but I’m not sure when. We fly home from Beijing, but I’m not sure when we get there. Troy said we are going to take a train to Beijing, we’re just not sure where from. lol. So all we have planned for sure is Chengdu, Xian and Beijing.
Overall, I am just so dang excited to be going to China. I had stopped thinking about going there because of how expensive it is, so I have just been beyond thrilled ever since Troy said he was going to make it happen. It is going to be a really great trip. Our friend, Scott, is going there, too, and we’re going to meet up with him for a few places. I’m not sure if we’re all doing the exact same trip or just a few of the same locations. Either way, it will be fun. I can’t even express how excited I am about this. I just want to jump up and down and squeal like a little girl. haha. This trip will be so great. Yay for pandas!
