Karen's EasyCare & Endurance Musings

Driving to the airport

This was one of the more clear moments driving through Washoe Valley this evening on the way to the Reno airport  Made it!  Not everybody did, we saw the outlines of some wrecks and upside down vehicles

Now I just have to hope the flight goes - so far it's on time, though most other flights listed are delayed a couple of hours.  Fortunately they have free wi-fi here, and I've also got a book to read

Looking forward to nicer weather in Southern California! 

Going to Equine Affaire in California

I'm leaving in a couple of hours on my way to Pomona, California for the Equine Affaire.  If you are going to be in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello to us in the EasyCare booth - I'll be there with Nancy and Marcie and also one of our Team Easyboot members.  We are in booth 841 in building 8.  I'll be back in the office on Tuesday the 5th.  I can't wait to see all the new horse related goodies!  It is always fun to window shop, even if I rarely buy anything. I should probably go ask the horses if they want anything - if they could talk, they would probably tell me that they'd like to get fed more. 

Hong Kong and China Trip Photos

Click here for a photo album.  There are photos from several cities in China including Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Zhujiang, Yangshou, Guangzhou, and also Hong Kong - we had a great time seeing so many wonderful things!  The culture and history of China is amazing, and it was a good experience for us.  If anybody wants to know what any of the photos are from, just let me know.  We got to see so many things, it's hard to label them all.   

Hong Kong

We've been having fun exploring the city of Hong Kong.  Today we took a tour and got to see several things and learn a lot about the history of the area.  There are 7 million people living here, in 1100 km. 

Last night we roamed around the streets and ended up eating at Outback Steakhouse.  I'd never been to one before, and it was really good!  I don't know if it was normally that good or if we were just dying for some good American food after ten days of eating Chinese and Cantonese. 

Horse racing is really big here.  Last year 64 billion dollars was spent betting on horse racing.  Only the very rich can afford to have a horse here too - it costs about 40,000 to 50,000 Hong Kong dollars a month to keep a horse, if you can even get in to the place to keep one (not very likely). 

We visited some of the beaches and other areas of the island today - went up to the highest peak and then rode the tram down.  It's a very beautiful place, a great place to get a lot of ideas.  We're heading back home tomorrow.  I miss my dogs and horses but am not looking forward to going back already. 

Spelunking in Asia

We visited the Reed Flute Cave in Guilin.  It's a very beautiful cave, with lots of stalagmites and stalactites.  Here is a photo I took of the cave's reflection in water.  In 100 years the stalagmites have grown only 1 cm, so it is a very old cave.  It was beautiful!  There are a couple of other photos below as well.  This cave was interesting and unique like the one in New Mexico that we visited while at the Fort Stanton endurance ride a couple of years ago, and also like Jewel Cave which we visited this year in SD.  Below the cave photos are a couple from a night cruise we took on the river last night. 

How they stopped advancing armies

This is a "jour", a sharp bronze weapon scattered on the ground to hurt horses hoof.  From the Shu Kingdom (221-263).  Excavated from Hanzhong. 

We have been seeing a lot of culture and history of the Chinese people.  Today we are in Xian and have seen the 6000 Terracotta Warriors and Horses.  It's incredible to think that these lifesize figures were buried here 2,200 years ago complete with weapons.  It was interesting to learn that the weapons were chrome plated - something that wasn't discovered in the modern world until 1937!

Horses, Travel in China, Misc.

This is the closest I've come to a real horse since arriving in China.  This one even outweighs Chief!  These mystical beasts served the emperor in his afterlife, and are on the "Sacred Road", which we visited after the Ming Tombs (the burial site of the emperor Wanli, the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled for 48 years until his death in 1620, it is the only underground tomb of the thirteen Ming tombs of the emperors ever excavated) yesterday.  We stopped at a Chinese tea house on the way back to our hotel.  The dinner we had (Chinese food) was the best we've ever had.  Including two very large beers, it came to US $8.50.

Horses played a roll in China's history and we saw several displays of them at the Shaanxi Provincial Museum today in Xian.  The museum exhibits over 3,000 unearthed historical relics, a small fraction of their collection, most of the exhibited items are rare treasures, showing the  Chinese culture.  We also got to visit a Buddism temple today. 

On the flight to Xian from Beijing today they fed us lunch, even though the flight was under two hours long.  Security on domesetic flights here is much like it was in the US pre-9/11.  We can carry water with us, don't have to take off our shoes, etc. 

Tomorrow we are going to get to visit the Terracotta Warriors and Horses - there are 6,000 of them, all lifesize.  It's been called the 8th wonder of the world. 

Beijing is going to be hosting the 2008 Olympics.  The city of Xian is going to be hosting the rowing event.  It also has a lot of construction going on, but not as much as Beijng and the traffic is a little better here.   Western influence is everywhere here, especially in the UPS ads.... that horse really needs to get some Easyboots on!

 

The Great Wall

Sightseeing

We had a busy day yesterday and got to see a lot of the attractions in Beijing.  First we started with Tiena men Square, the  Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.  Along the way we also stopped and toured a silk factory and saw how the make silk. 

I am still amazed at how they drive here.  Lots of horn honking!  Nobody waits, they just go.  There are cars, buses, bicycles and other odd wheeled things going every which way all of the time. 

I learned that Karen+Chinese noodles+Chopsticks are not a good mix.  The waitress came and put a fork in my hand at the restaurant yesterday.  Luckily we have an English speaking guide or I would have ended up with eel rather than chicken.  Hey it looked good in the picture on the menu!  The food is very good actually, though we are sticking to a more Americanized version of Chinese food.  There are lots of KFC's, McDonald's, Starbucks and Pizza Huts here so even if we didn't like Chinese food we wouldn't go hungry. 

Took a lot of photos which I will try to assemble into an album later.  There are a LOT of tourists here, most of them are Chinese from all over the country.  They have only one written language but several dialects so even our guide cannot understand them all.  I had a lot of people really looking at me yesterday, I guess there aren't very many people with blond colored hair so I stand out, even though I'm short, lol! 

Today we are off to see the Great Wall.

6,000 Miles In One Day

We made it safely to Beijing!  I think we traveled around 6000 miles today.  Everything went well, and it was a pretty easy day.  The flight seemed to go by really quickly considering how long it was.  I think it seemed to go by so quickly because I was listening to a good book.  I'm probably about 2/3 of the way through Atlas Shrugged now.  It's 36 hours long on the audiobook version.  I wasn't really ready to turn it off yet just to get through customs!  I also spent some time getting things done on the laptop - that worked out well because I was just mainly using Excel.  So I set it to power saver mode and worked for a couple of hours and checked the battery - I still had over 6 hours left!  So I played a couple of games while listening to the book, and also took some time to read one of the guidebooks on China.  Seemed like the airline was feeding us or giving us something to drink constantly too. 

The city of Beijing is amazing.  It's large - our guide told us 13 million people live here. They are doing a lot of construction and expansion for the 2008 Olympics.  One of the first things the guide told us at the airport was that cars have the right of way - boy she wasn't kidding.  It is almost funny how fast the pedestrians jump out of the way of the moving vehicles!   The cars here are all pretty new - they can't keep them if they are older than 10 years.

On the way to our hotel we drove past a large wall.  When we asked how old she said it was from the 1420's.  There is so much history here to learn about.  Everybody has been really friendly so far and helpful.  Tomorrow we get to start our tour.  I think we are supposed to be tired from traveling so far, but I have too much energy to sleep yet.  Hard to get tired just lounging around relaxing, eh!??

Can't wait for tomorrow!  We're supposed to bring walking shoes and cameras.  :) 

Leaving on vacation!

Tomorrow morning we are flying from Reno to Beijing.  I will probably be out of touch from email and cell phone for the next two weeks.  We're going to get to do a lot of sight-seeing and I'll also do a little work. 

Here is the first days itinerary.  The next day after that we get to see the Great Wall.  We finish up in Hong Kong and then fly back from there to Reno.   I can't wait!

Today you will first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City. In the afternoon, you will marvel at Beijing's splendid Temple of Heaven.
- The Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) Square: the largest city square in the world and the spiritual heart of China, where the national flag is raised exactly at sunrise everyday.
- The Forbidden City: located in the center of Beijing, used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties with a history of around 600 years, it is the grandest integral palace complex still remaining in China.
- The Temple of Heaven: the place which was visited yearly by the emperors who performed intricate rituals to insure a good harvest for the whole nation at ancient times.

Useful Travel Website

Farecast.  Search flights From/to Anywhere. 

Book List, EasyCare stuff

I just updated a couple of the newest books to my book list -it's in the right hand column of this blog.  I read about half the books and listen (audio books) to the other half when I am traveling.  I haven't been adding some of the ones I've read recently that were chores to get through though.  Most of the time I get through at least two books a week, more when I am doing a lot of driving.  I get many of the audiobooks from my library, download them to my laptop and then over to my Zen for listening. 

Speaking of traveling, I just spent several days last week in Tucson at EasyCare headquarters.  We've got a lot of work ahead of us with new product launches planned for 2008.  Next week I'm leaving for the Bryce Canyon XP ride where I hope to ride all 5 days on Chief and Tigger, and where we'll also be doing one of our annual photo shoots, for the upcoming 2008 catalog and other graphics needs. 

This might be fun :) - Barefoot or Shod -- trail ride

Know before you go

If you are planning on flying anytime soon, check out the Transportation Security Administration website for up to date information on travel do's and don'ts. 

I'm on my way to Equine Affaire in Massachusetts's.  Stop by and say hello if you are going to be there!   Click here to see the EasyCare Event Schedule.