We started off the morning with breakfast at a cool cafe in town called the Laundromat, where we met up with Katie and her boyfriend Jesper, a composer.  It’s always interesting to see an old friend after so many years of not keeping in touch, but I love it when you get past the initial awkwardness of it all, asking questions like, “So, what have you been doing for the last 15 years?”, and then somehow finding yourself and your friend reverting back to the way you were when you first knew each other.  We had a really fantastic morning catching up, learning about her life in Reykjavik, gaining insight on their perspectives of the country, and talking about everything Icelandic, from language, to music to politics.

As we wrapped up our meal, Katie offered to give us a tour of the new concert hall, the Harpa, which had only recently opened this past spring.  On our walk to the hall, we passed by the weekend flea market, which sold everything from handicrafts, to woolen goods, to fermented shark meat…

The Harpa is a magnificent glass and steel structure, designed by Henning Larsen Architects, and it sits right on the edge of the harbor, offering amazing views of snowy Mt. Eysa across the water.

The exterior facade is paneled with interesting geometric shapes of blueish glass, placed at angles to form hexagonal patterns if you view them from underneath.

From the inside, I had the distinct impression of being inside a glass beehive.

Katie got us in backstage to check out the choir that was rehearsing for a holiday concert.

She is one of the few musicians in the orchestra who has her own practice room right in the concert hall.  Below, she shows us her electric harp.

Since she has been playing in the orchestra for 6 years now, I sort of wondered if the powers that be took her into account when they named the concert hall the Harpa?

The main gallery was impressive and open, while the clear glass walls offered amazing views of the natural splendor just outside.

We caught a glimpse of the sun, peaking out from the clouds.

At 3pm, we bid Katie and Jesper farewell, vowing to call them up again when we returned someday to Iceland.  Jack and I made our way over to the small pond in the center of town, where ducks, swans, pigeons, and geese were having an all out battle for waterfront property.  Check out this noisy video of them fighting…

Next, we headed uphill towards the cathedral, and passed this newspaper display, featuring Bjork and the Harpa concert hall.

The cathedral sits on top of a small hill in the center of town.

From the top of the steeple, you could see some beautiful views of the city, the harbor, and the mountains.

Not many shops were open on Sunday, so we spent another hour or so roaming the streets, checking out store windows and street art.

By late afternoon, we were freezing, so we popped into this quirky little cafe to warm up, and chatted a bit with the British owner.

With the sun fully set by 4pm, the evening chill hit us as soon as we left the cafe, so we went straight to this funny little bar to warm up again!  We stepped inside of Truno’s and were pretty much assaulted by Christmas lights, ornaments and decorations everywhere, but they had a great happy hour, and after reading some tips on Foursquare, we learned that it was apparently a pretty happening gay bar on most nights.  Most of the folks inside on this particular afternoon happened to be other tourists, also trying to warm up.

We had a great time at the bar, talking about some of the sights we’d seen, and processing a lot of the things that we love about this beautiful little country.  At 6pm, we headed back to the hotel to meet Jack’s mom and sister for dinner at the hotel restaurant Vox, which is apparently one of the best restaurants in town.  Only the bistro side was open on Sundays, but fortunately, I still got to try Icelandic lamb, which I’ve seen advertised at Whole Foods Market here in Seattle, so I figured that it must be pretty good.  Very flavorful and tender!

The following morning, we used the spa credit that was included in our vacation package, and went down to the Nordic Spa (inside our hotel) to sit in the multiple hot baths.  It was pretty awesome, especially because while you’re sitting in the tub, massage therapists will come up to you and offer to give you a neck and shoulder massage!  What a wonderful concept!

Soon enough, it was time for us to check out and take the shuttle to the airport.  The trip back on the plane was smooth, though eventful, especially when the drunk guy a few rows in front of us started poking the guy across the aisle from him, causing everybody sitting around him to start punching their overhead call buttons, which lead the flight attendant to come over and say to him, “Sir, you are very inebriated,” moments before he threw up into a barf bag, and then passed out for the rest of the flight.  Sigh.  I was just glad for the girl sitting next to him, who got moved up to first class.

In the end, our impressions of Iceland overwhelmingly exceeded all of our highest expectations.  We loved the snow-swept winter landscapes, the dramatic sunlight at all times of the day, the warm and friendly people, the quaint small-village feel of town, the fresh and delicious food, and all of the creative ways that the people have learned to make use of their natural geothermal resources.  Even the language, which is confusing and jumbled sounding when you first hear it, turned out to be sonorous and rhythmic upon second listen, once we got past all of the syllables.  I don’t think I’ll ever pronounce  Eyjafjallajökull correctly, although after a few days of trying, Jack got pretty good at it.

What made this trip particularly special was that we had the chance to travel with Jack’s mom and his sister Caroline.  It was the first time that the four of us have spent so much time together so intensely, and especially since it was Thanksgiving, I was particularly thankful that we were able to see that spectacular sunset on the glacier together, and to spend an afternoon soaking in the hot springs while rubbing minerals on our faces and posing for funny pictures.   Travel is always made so much more meaningful when you are able to share it with people that you love.

Filed under: 2011 Iceland, Uncategorized ]]> http://lavjaktravels.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/iceland-day-3-finding-an-old-friend-in-reykjavik/feed/ 3 012 mellocello 001 002 003 lav and harpa 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 017 018 019 020 21 022 023 024 025 http://lavjaktravels.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/iceland-day-2-the-road-to-solheimajokull/ http://lavjaktravels.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/iceland-day-2-the-road-to-solheimajokull/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:40:17 +0000 mellocello http://lavjaktravels.wordpress.com/?p=1331 Continue reading »]]> After a restful night in the comfortable and cozy Hilton Nordica, I swept the curtains open the next morning at 9 am to discover… darkness.  Slowly, and gradually, the sun began to creep it’s way into day, and by 10:30 am, we finally saw “daybreak.”

I took a walk around the hotel while the rest of the family slept in, and came back with water, pringles, and some pastries and sandwiches from the bakery around the corner.  At 11:30, we were picked up from our hotel for our glacier hiking excursion to the Sólheimajökull ice fields.  When we were packing for our trip, we opted to leave our big camera at home, since our main activities would be sitting in hot springs, and trekking through snow on crampons.  It was nice not to have to lug around the big gun, but at the same time, I kind of missed it.  Oh well, the little guy takes some pretty great landscape pictures.  Most of the following were taken through the window of our moving bus!

Most of the vegetables in Iceland are grown in hydroponic greenhouses such as these, which we spotted when we passed through a small village.

Caught this shot of a quaint town church as we rounded a corner.  There is no separation of church and state in the country, where most people belong to the Lutheran church, which means that the church also benefits greatly from the income taxes of residents.  However, you can apparently declare yourself an atheist and then elect to have your tax contributions allotted to the education system instead.

At 1 pm, the sun sits as high in the sky as it’s going to get.

Passed these grazing Icelandic horses!  Apart from being extra furry and quite squat, these guys also have an extra gait… they can walk like camels, where both of their legs on one side of their body will move together, and then the other side.

It started to snow when we were almost at the glacier, but that didn’t stop our bus driver from doing a bit of off-roading in the snow!

Once at Sólheimajökull, we got fitted for crampons, and ice axes.

Though most of the landscape was covered with fresh snow, some of the crevasses revealed the dazzling blue ice of the glacier underneath.

This snowy white dome and the blue archway of the ice cave actually reminds me of a similar picture I took in Greece a few years ago… except instead of glacier and ice, it was the white-washed walls of a domed cathedral, and the quintessential blue door so common through the Greek Isles.

Our awesome guide Jonar.

At 3:30 pm, we were treated to an amazing sunset!  The weather didn’t hold up for us to catch any of the Northern Lights on this trip, but this sunset on the glacier more than makes up for that!

After a few hours on the glacier, we made our way slowly down the icy slopes in the dusky darkness.  To warm us up, our guides dropped us off at a “famous seafood restaurant,” where we were treated to a lobster bisque.

The last part of our excursion included a “hunt for the Aurora Borealis,” but after an hour and a half of hunting, we saw only a faint green glow on the horizon, before the clouds covered over and it began to snow.  We made it back to Reykjavik by midnight, at which point, Jack, Caroline and I decided to go check out the night life in town.  It was Saturday night, after all, and Reykjavik is reputed to have one of the craziest party scenes in Scandinavia.  At 1am, there were still plenty of folks roaming the streets, many already inebriated, bar hopping in mini skirts and stiletto heels, as I tried to keep from slipping on the icy sidewalks in my snow boots.  As we were walking on the sidewalk, one guy slipped, did a little spin, caught himself, and gracefully landed on his feet again, as a flurry of Icelandic words came out of his mouth, a smile, a wave, and then he was on his way.  I’m so curious as to what he could have said in what sounded like at least 20 syllables.

We were kind of hungry, and though most restaurants were open, they were only serving drinks, no food.  At least we found the world famous hot dog stand in the town square, with hot dogs made out of lamb, and covered in grilled onions and a sweet mustard gravy.

We walked by this cool piece of wall art…

…spotted these mini snowmen…

…and then capped off the night with a cinnamon sugar waffle from this waffle truck!

We headed back to our hotel, with techno beats blaring behind us into the night, as locals and tourists alike partied on till morning.

We began with a small turkey and sticky rice meal, that Jack’s mom brought up with her from California, and we ate it in the hour and a half that we had at home with her and Caroline before we had to head back to the airport to catch our flight to Reykjavik.

We were all pretty giddy as we awaited our flight.

The flight from Seattle was easy- only 7 hours on Iceland Air, which passed by easily with plenty of movies, reading, and catnaps.  As soon as we had checked into our hotel, we also bought tickets to take a shuttle bus out to the Blue Lagoon, about a 45 minute ride from Reykjavik.  Along the way, we passed by some austere looking lava fields, which would have made a for a dark and foreboding landscape except for the heavy blanket of Iceland’s first snow, which had only fallen a few days earlier.

One of the coolest things about Iceland at this time of year is that the amount of daylight is minimal- the sun rises at 10:30 in the morning, and then sets again at 4pm!  As such, the light seems to always be in a state of flux, transitioning between sunrise and sunset, which results in some truly dramatic vistas.

The Blue Lagoon is a small, geothermal lake filled with glacial minerals and deposits, which has been built out to accomodate spa goers of all shapes and sizes.

You can wade up to the bar set in the middle of the lake, and order drinks, or procure a small ball of minerals and give yourself a facial.

We learned that except for gas, Iceland is pretty much completely energy independent, using natural geothermal activity to heat homes, generate electricity, and power just about everything.  They even use heated waste water underneath the streets to melt the snow and ice in the winter time.  From the Blue Lagoon, we had a great view of a geothermal power plant.

Just having some fun…

For dinner on our first night in Iceland, we visited a restaurant called Dill, which served up some beautiful Icelandic dishes, including a tender white fish called plaice, and featuring a main course of big-footed goose.  The food was delicious, although after 7 courses, we were ready to burst.

After a full day of flying, an entire afternoon sitting in thermal hot springs, and then an inventive and delicious dinner, we were pretty excited about all that Iceland had to offer.

As we entered, we caught a shot of these soldiers on their way to relieve their counterparts from duty.

It happened to be the May 1st weekend, a national holiday across China, so the throngs were particularly thick this morning.

It’s hard to believe that these imperial palaces have been around since the 1400s.  The detail along the walls, the rooftops and corridors were stunning, and well-preserved.

 After we left the imperial gardens, we passed this happy couple taking wedding photos along the riverfront.

Across the street from the northeast corner of the Imperial Gardens, we came across the Old Beijing Noodle House, where we ordered a huge bowl of za-jian mien.  The food definitely perked us up after our big morning of walking like emperors.

In the afternoon, we took a guided tour of the hutong area around the Drum and Bell Towers in the middle of Old Beijing.  Hutongs are the old, traditional, courtyard style homes that were shared by families.  Most have disappeared and been converted into more modern housing developments, but a few neighborhoods still exist and are sustained by residents who have owned their homes for centuries in their families.  We were able to check out the inside of one of these homes, and met this man, and his son, who open up their house to tourists. When the man heard that we were from the US, he pulled out a picture of his older son, who owns a Wushu studio in Houston.

At that point, we turned around and noticed this impressive array of martial arts weapons on the wall behind us.  The man smiled shyly and said that he, too, was a Wushu master, and he performed a little jab and kick move which startled us all.

Next up, we climbed to the top of the drum tower, just in time to catch the afternoon drum performance!  Check out this video:

Via an intricate water dripping system, this little statue is tuned to clap his cymbals at certain times of the day.

At this point in the afternoon, strong winds started to stir and blow over sidewalk signs, and from up in the drum tower, the gusts made a strange howling sound.  As we gazed over the city, we could see that the air was full of a fine dust, the first hint of a major sand storm that had blown in from the Gobi desert, and blanketed much of northern China on that day.  Back on the street, we ducked into a local market, which revealed fresh, colorful vegetables, some familiar, some not so familiar.

The butcher shop displayed meat along a long wooden counter- no styrofoam, no plastic, no refridgeration.  Just tell the ladies what you want, and they wrap it up in paper.

Amidst the small lanes of the hutongs, a number of new, modern shops are opening up, like this tea boutique.  We stopped in for a tasting.

Strangely enough, it was in this lovely little shop that we heard a tragic story of China’s one-child law.  Up to this point, we’d heard from various people that if a family wanted to have a second child, the parents would have to pay a lot of money- upwards of $20,000.  The tea attendant mentioned that when she was little, her mother would call her “son,” and dressed her up in boy clothes, and gave her a boy haircut.  Our tour guide asked her why, and the attendant said that her mother had actually been pregnant with a son, but the family did not pay the fee, and at 8 months into her pregnancy, she was forced to abort.  I was astounded by the harshness of this act, but she told the story in a straight, even tone of voice, as she continued to brew different teas.  When my mom asked if her mother was still hurt by this, she answered that of course, there was some anguish in the family, but they didn’t pay the fee, so what could they do?

To test the heat of the water, the tea attendant poured a little bit of water over this small ceramic boy, which “peed” to show us that, yup, the temperature was ready.

The best way to tour the hutongs… by rickshaw!

Here is our tour guide, the appropriately named “Merry.”  This girl was hilarious!  When she talked, it was like watching a Chinese sitcom.  At one point, she turned to me, and we had the following conversation in Chinese.

For our last dinner in Beijing, our last meal in China, and our last night with Mom and Dad, we went to one of the many Mongolian hot pot restaurants in the city, and shared a bubbling pot of broth with sliced lamb, beef, and loads of vegetables and spices.

As for our last activity in China, Jack and I walked to the Beijing branch of Dragonfly, the spa where we’d gotten massages in Shanghai, and got one final rubdown before the end of the night.  The spa was only a few doors down from our hotel, Hotel Kapok, and along the way, we passed this artists’ studio.  He talked a mile a minute and told us the stories of at least 6 different paintings, until he finally convinced us to buy one.  Here, he works on a piece for Jack.

The next morning, we woke up extra early to head out to the airport for our 8am flight.  But just as we were checking out of our hotel, I checked my email and saw that Delta had delayed our flight by 3 hours!  Good thing we hadn’t checked out yet.  We went back upstairs and slept for another hour, then came back downstairs and had a nice, leisurely breakfast.

We got to the airport in plenty of time, but it was one of those delays that doesn’t really have a definitive departure time, so Delta gave us vouchers to one of the airport restaurants.  We had some fun with cell phone cameras while we waited.

And then finally, finally, we were up in the air.  Where we saw blue skies for the first time in 2 weeks.

It’s hard to believe that our two week trip is over.  I always have so much fun traveling, that time passes by faster than I’m used to, and when the last day creeps up on me, I’m always taken by surprise and fall into my “end of vacation blues.”

China is such a vast country with so much history and culture, not to mention geography.  Though we had a packed and intensive two weeks of constant exploration and discovery, I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface.  Every province, every city, every neighborhood and even every street has it’s own character and story to tell.  I wish we could have stayed longer, and yet, I love the fact that I can leave this country wanting more, with a strong desire to come back someday.

One of the travelers we encountered during our trip made the comment that she had chosen to travel in China this time around because she “wanted to see China before it disappeared.”  But China won’t disappear.  It’s changing for sure, undergoing transformations and modernizing faster than probably any other country on earth, making it an exciting and dynamic place to experience, because you see both the ancient, historical traditions and culture mixing fluidly with cutting-edge modernity.  Although outsiders like us might long for the preservation of how we imagine life should be in a certain culture, I’m uncomfortable with the idea that in doing so, we’re not allowing the place to evolve and to grow.  So yes, the Three Gorges Dam project displaced millions of ethnic minorities from their homes in ancient villages, but on the other hand, the government placed them in modern housing and installed their electricity for free, which actually improved their quality of life.  The Yau women of Ping An have discovered the lucrative joys of selling souvenirs and handicrafts to the bane of some tourists, but at the same time, it is a livelihood that is beginning to replace the old ways of farming, a dying economy in a country that is quickly leaving it behind.

No matter how much a place changes, however, you get the sense that the essence of the place lives on in the hearts and perspectives of the people.  In the end, I believe that it’s for their stories that we live to travel.

This morning, we put on our sneakers and headed out the door in the early morning for a trip to the Great Wall of China! Since we only have a few days in Beijing, we decided to go to the closest access point for the Great Wall in Badaling. Our guide picked us up in a comfortable van, and within an hour and a half, we were at the base of the wall. A small gondola took us up to the first fortress, from where we began to climb amidst a huge horde of people. Some of the steps were steep while others were shallow, so we really had to pay attention to each stair, which was extra difficult given that every inch of the steps near the gondola stop was covered with people taking photographs. After a while, I realized that I couldn’t keep stopping to dodge a photograph, since the people behind me would bump into me, so I just kept walking, and I’m probably the rude girl in the background of everyone’s pictures.

The Great Wall was built over a period of thousands of years, first begun during the Qin dynasty sometime between 221-210 BC, to ward off Mongolian invaders. It is an intense zigzag spanning thousands of miles, at first just small sections built by different villages, but then unified during the Ming Dynasty. Although it is certainly impressive and imposing, in the end, it proved ineffective against Ghengis Kan, and there was a period of Mongol rule in China during the 13th century.

Where’s Waldo?

Once we got past the first fortress, the crowds thinned out, and at some points, we were able to get some pictures that looked like we were the only people on the wall!  But soon enough, we were joined by a few more hearty hikers.

We didn’t have much time to continue hiking to the next fortress, so we got about half way, before we had to turn around. Next up, our guide brought us to a government run jade factory, where we learned how to tell real jade from the fake stuff: it’s colder in temperature, heavier than plastic, and if you hold it up to the light, you can see the veins of the minerals in the stone. Jade is as precious to the Chinese as gold, and once we were ushered into the shopping area, I saw just how expensive it was. I had grand plans of bringing back some jade bracelets for a few of my friends, but at $400 US a pop, sorry ladies, I’ll have you all over to share some of my Longjing tea instead.  The main frame of this ship was carved out a single piece of jade!

After a quick lunch, our next stop was the summer palace, a vacation destination for royalty, located in a national park just outside of Beijing. With colorful, ornate buildings surrounding a tranquil lake, this ancient “resort” was a favorite of Empress Cixi, a ruthless, former concubine, who managed to manipulate the government, the emperor, and the cabinet, which eventually lead to the fall of the Qing dynasty, the last period of empirical rule in China.

The grounds were beautiful, but it was interesting to see where Cixi had inserted her own character into the surroundings, like a stone statue of the phoenix, traditionally a female character, sitting higher on a pedestal than a dragon statue, traditionally a male character. Mom and Jack, both born in the year of the Dragon, pose in front of the little statue.

We stopped in at a local sillk shop, but Jack and I were more interested in these fat pandas than the silk.

Back in the van at the end of our trip, our guide commented on some of the current political events from a Chinese point of view. I was surprised to hear him say that although Taiwan is technically considered a republic of China, actually, they rule themselves with their own government. He also said that he admires Obama, but most Chinese are concerned about him and his policies. On the political situation in China, he said that he hoped that someday the country would be able to have multiple parties, but for right now, it is best that there is only one, since there is so much progress to be made, and to have more than one would only slow them down. Of course we asked him about Facebook, and he did know about it, but he said that it was banned by the government, who thought it would cause civil unrest if young people were able to garner unpatriotic ideas from other young people around the world. There was no bitterness- just an attitude of matter of factness- it’s just the way things are.

 Once back in the city, we took a cab over to the Olympic Bird’s Nest, where we also saw the Water Cube and the gymnasium used in the 2008 Olympics. It was a little depressing, this large, grand space that had been the focus of such international hype and excitement just a few years ago, now a little bit neglected, a little bit unkept, and strangely unused.

Mom and Jack carry in the Olympic torch.

Across the street from the Olympic complex was the IBM building- an example of some of the crazy, cool architecture going up in New Beijing.

After 20 minutes of taking photos, we’d had enough, and since it was starting to rain, we tried to catch a cab.  But to no avail. It was the beginning of traffic hour, and all of the cabs were either occupied, or refused to stop. Eventually, we resorted to taking the bus, which my Mom discovered would make a stop on the street of our hotel. We shoved our way on amidst a throng of Beijingers and proceeded to ride from one end of the line to the other. We were crammed in, person to person, everyone shoving and elbowing each other, negotiating for space, and I was concerned about the comfort level of my parents. But once we finally got off, they surprised me by exclaiming, “That was fun! What a real, Chinese experience!”

It has definitely been a lot of fun traveling with my parents- they’re so easy going, have a lot of energy, and have their own ideas of what they want to do. Having them order food for us certainly takes off a lot of the pressure that I felt before when it was just me and Jack, and it was my responsibility to make sure that we knew what we were getting. For dinner, we walked over to the street market, and grazed our way through the night. Some steamed buns, za-jian mien, (noodles in a black bean sauce), and rice dumplings in a rice wine soup capped off a long, full, but happy day.