The Great Wall of the World

Jeg tog omkring 300 billeder i løbet af de fire timer, vi spenderede på Muren. Alligevel er der kun et fåtal, der faktisk vidner bare lidt om, hvor smukt det var. Jeg ville sådan ønske, at der fandtes kameraer, der kunne skyde et billede præcis som vi ser det med vores øjne. Med alle detajlerne, kontrasterne, skyggerne.. Men desværre findes der ikke noget kamera i hele verden, der kan gengive det syn, som betog os.

Vi fandt et perfekt sted at spise vores medbragte frokost fra 7 Eleven bestående af nudler (hvad ellers), og lige der, ved Jinshanling-delen af Muren, der var udsigten og billedet helt perfekt.
Ingen mennesker, helt vindstille, tåge og smog i horisonten.
Det var perfektion.
Hvad jeg ikke ville gøre for at kunne fange det på kamera ned til mindste detajle. Jeg, der ellers næsten altid rejser alene, må godt nok indrømme, at jeg er så glad for, at jeg delte oplevelsen med en anden sjæl. Man er nødt til at have en, der kan lægge øre til, hvor fantastisk man synes, det er.

Vi (Laura og jeg, en dansk pige jeg var så heldig at falde over på Instagram et par uger inden jeg ankom til Kina) tog bussen fra Wangjing West-stationen, som har en busstation tilknyttet (exit C fra metroen - jeg kunne ikke finde den, så jeg endte med at gå ud, og så følge menneskemængden over på den anden side af vejen. Der er ret øde derude, så der er ikke så meget at gå efter!) hvis nogen er interesserede, til Jinshanling delen af Muren, som ligger 2 timer væk i bus. Det er helt klart en mere uturistet måde at gøre det på, og jeg vil helt klart foretrække denne del af Muren fremfor eksempelvis Badaling og Mutianyu. Vi mødte maks 30 mennesker og der var mange tidspunkter, hvor vi ikke kunne spotte et andet menneske fra vores position. Jeg har ikke hørt gode ting om de sektioner, der er tættere på Beijing, da der naturligvis er flere mennesker, der besøger de dele pga. afstanden og det, at den er meget let tilgængeligk da den er blevet fuldt restaureret. Jinshanling er et rigtig godt bud! Billigt og behageligt. Der var liiiige langt nok derop, tænkte vi, da vi ankom. Det så ud af meget. Vi skulle op af mange trapper, igennem en jungle. Men der gik alligevel kun 15 minutter, og så var vi på toppen. Det hele tog lige lidt ekstra tid, da en meget ivrig lokal sælger prøvede at udnytte de godtroende turister. "Håndlavet", var hendes salgspitch. Håndlavet af en maskine, måske. Jeg så det præcis samme tasker i en million andre butikker, så det var ikke godt nok! Jeg fik mig dog tilsneget en billig magnet. Lidt turist er man vel?

There is no possible way in which I, or anyone for that matter, could ever capture this beauty with a camera. Words might do the trick, but I am not yet that eloquent. I wish I was. But all I can say is.. wauw. Holy muthafucking wauw. I believe this is what I muttered for the entirety of the four hours we spent on the wall, and even now, if I try to imagine being there all over again, it's still all I can say. It was amazing. Breathtaking. I was in awe. We both were. The natural beauty that surrounds the wall compliments it perfectly. I mean, the Great Wall of China is just a.. a wall, right? But it looks like, and feels like, something big. Something truly great. It feels ancient, it feels like history. China is indeed a great nation, but more than anything, China's an ancient nation, and you feel it, when you're on the Wall. It's beautiful.

I went with a fellow Dane that I got to talk to on Instagram a few weeks before I arrived. We visited the Jinshanling section of the Wall, and I honestly couldn't have thought of a better setup. Almost no people and we ended up talking to almost all of the people we met. Mostly, they wanted to pose for a photo with us. We were in China, after all. You just gotta go with the flow. This part of the Wall hasn't been restored as much as the more popular parts, such as Badaling. There were some pretty steep hills and some very uneven steps. But as long as you bring sturdy shoes, you'll be fine. We hiked with an older Chinese man for some time, politely exchanging smiles and the famous 'I hope we all get through this in one piece'-looks. It was nice. No language was needed. Just gestures. 

So, to sum up, anyone who's able to dedicate their entire day to climbing the Wall, go to Jinshanling. Take the bus from the bus station opposite the Wangjing West metro station (exit C), walk until you see a sign that says "Jinshanling Great Wall Scenic Area" or something (might be worded differently, but we had no trouble finding it). We expected a huge queue when we got there at 7.30am, but we were less than 10 people when the bus left. I never figured out exactly how much this bus was, but most websites say it's 32RMB one way and I think that's accurate. If you have a Beijing subway card, give it to the driver and they might give you a discount. I'm pretty sure there are busses running every half hour from 7am or at least this is what I read on a lot of different sites before taking the trip myself, but to be on the safe site, aim for the 8am designated tourist bus that'll take you directly to the ticket booth which is the closest you'll get to the actual wall. It leaves from the plaza in front of the ticket booth where it dropped you off at 3pm. This gives you about 4 hours to climb the wall and enjoy the view, which is plenty of time. You'll be back in Beijing at around 5pm. And you've just had the most amazing day ever. Enjoy!

Den smaragdgrønne ø // The Emerald Isle

Hvis der var nogen, der ikke vidste det, så bliver Irland kaldt 'den grønne ø.' Velkommen til tour de Irland!
Første del: hovedstaden. Det er jo oplagt at starte med hovedstaden, når man skal udforske et nyt land. Så det gjorde vi. Ryanair flyver uhørt billigt fra Glasgow til Dublin, så det var den option, jeg gik efter. Jeg tog toget ned til Glasgow fra Aberdeen d. 4. april og dagen efter, en dejlig tirsdag morgen (meget tidligt), sad jeg på flyet til Irland. Og så var den spring break begyndt! Overstående billeder viser nogle af de ting, man næsten skal besøge, hvis man befinder sig i Dublin:
St. Patrick's katedral, irske whiskey distillerier, Temple Bar, en masse lækre restauranter (i særdeleshed en masse veganske/vegetariske restauranter. Det er de gode til!) og forfattermuseum med de mange kendte irske forfattere, der har brugt Dublin som deres inspirationskilde. Vidste I godt, at både George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce og Oscar Wilde var irere? Man lærer noget nyt hver dag.

Vi havde tre nætter i Dublin, inden turen gik videre sydpå. Vi havde lejet en bil, og der blev modigt kørt på de irske landeveje.

Part one of our tour de Ireland: the capital. Fairly self-explanatory. Always a good idea to start with the capital when embarking on the journey that is exploring a whole new country. Low cost European airline Ryanair (actually, Ryanair's Irish.. I had no idea) flies from Glasgow to Dublin for about 10 quid, so that was my best option. I took the train to Glasgow from Aberdeen on April 4th (ticket was £5, total steal!), and the very next day, very early in the morning, I was on the plane to Ireland. Springbreak! The pictures above depict some of the things, I think capture the essence of Dublin: St. Patrick's Cathedral, some of the many whiskey distilleries, the famous Temple Bar, the Irish parliament buildings, tacky souvenirs and the Irish writers museum and the National Gallery of Ireland, which is definitely worth a visit. Did you guys know that George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce AND Oscar Wilde were all Irish? I sure didn't. I guess you learn something new every day. 

After three nights in Dublin, we moved on. South. In a rental car. I've had plenty of experience with driving in the 'wrong' side of the road. Well, I say plenty.. I drove for a couple of days last year when the fam visited and we drove down to Edinburgh and up through the Cairngorms while driving back to Aberdeen. I feel like I have a lot of experience. Anyways, it went well! Off we went.. 

Næste stop på vores tour de Irland var Cork, men vi havde et stop på vejen: Wicklow Mountains National Park. Parken ligger godt en halv times kørsel lige syd for Dublin. Hvis man alligevel skal den vej, anbefaler jeg virkelig, at man ligger turen forbi. Den er meget let tilgængelig og man kan både stoppe en 10 minutters tid, eller man kan tage hele oplevelsen og tage på en vandretur. Der er noget for alle. Vejret var ægte irsk, som billederne så gråt vidner om, men det gjorde faktisk ingenting. Det gjorde det egentlig bare endnu smukkere. Naturen i parken passede perfekt til et dystert og mørk vejr.

Da vi forlod Wicklow, var klokken omkring 14.30. Vi havde kort og alt muligt, så vi var helt sikre på, at vi saaaagtens kunne finde ned til Cork via de små landeveje. Kunne vi det? Gæt selv.

Next stop: Wicklow Mountains National Park. One of the many Irish nature treasures and only half an hour of a drive from Dublin. Although Wicklow was only a quick stop on our way down to Cork, it was worth it all. It's worth a stop if you're close or passing through while driving down to Waterford or Cork. You can either stop for half an hour, like we did, or take a hike, even camp. Whatever you feel like. The weather was, as you can clearly see, very Irish. But I really wasn't bothered. It only made everything more beautiful. It kinda reminded me of Forks, the location from Twilight. Dark and gloomy and not really suitable for sunshine and a blue sky.

It was half two when we left Wicklow, en route to Cork. We decided we had plenty of time. Which we did, in reality. It just wasn't enough for all the detours and mistakes and errors we were going to have to make to finally make our way to Cork. We had a map, so it wouldn't be a biggie to navigate. We decided to take the country roads and ditch the motorway. We did make it. Eventually.

Vi fandt ned til Cork. Det tog bare rundt regnet 10 timer, i stedet for de omtrent 3-4 timer, vi regnede med, det højest ville tage. Google Maps havde lovet mig, at turen fra Dublin til Cork kunne gøres på 2 timer og 38 minutter. Det kan den også. Med sømmet i bund på motorvejen. Vi havde hverken sømmet i bund eller befandt os på motorvejen, så 10 timer var måske ikke engang så slemt. Vi ankom til vores destination og kunne endelig indlogere os på vores virkeligt lækre guesthouse, som kan ses her. At klokken var 22 om aftenen, det behøver vi ikke nævne. Cork var meget anderledes fra Dublin: meget mere stille og rolig og mere autentisk. Cork er nok mest kendt for deres universitet, University College Cork (UCC). Eller måske er det bare mig, der i min universitetsboble tror, at det er verdenskendt. Jeg har i hvert fald tit hørt om det, og har også hørt fra mine irske medstuderende, at det er en ok skole og at den er ret så svær at komme ind på. At den så også er ekstremt pæn og ligger i meget smukke omgivelser gav os jo bare endnu mere lyst til at se den i virkeligheden. Så det gjorde vi. Ellers stod Cork på afslapning, shopping og gåture.

Imens vi var i Cork, skulle vi jo også ud og se noget, så det var næste stop på turen. Vi var godt nok også ude i et shoppingcenter en af dagene, da det regnede hele dagen lang. Man skal jo udnytte, at man har en bil til rådighed, ikke? Dagen efter var vejret helt perfekt, så vi kørte vestpå. Til Ring of Kerry.

Like I said, we did make it. It took us no less than 10 hours, but we did make it. Google Maps had foolishly let me to believe that this would've been a 3-4 hour trip. It would've been, had we been on the highway going 130 km/h. Seeing as we took the small and narrow country roads almost all the way there, 10 hours wasn't too bad. And we got to see some pretty amazing scenery, so it was worth all the trouble. The point is, we made it. It was 10pm when we finally rolled down the driveway of our guesthouse (which was a really nice place, if anyone's interested, you can find it here). 
Cork is very different from Dublin. I guess you can't even make the comparison, given that Ireland is such a small country. Cork is quieter, less buzzing and more authentic. For me, Cork is best known for the university, University College Cork (UCC). Perhaps it's just me, but I've heard a lot about it from fellow students and most of my Irish friends have told me it's a pretty hard school to get into. It's also gorgeous as hell. By far one of the prettiest schools I've ever seen. So of course, we had to venture there so see it with our own eyes. We were not disappointed. Besides envying all the students at this institution, we spent our days in Cork shopping, relazing and walking around the city.

While in Cork, we had to take advantage of having a car, so we had a few day trips. The first one was a trip to a nearby mall - no better way to spend a rainy day, right? The very next day the weather was no less than perfect, so we embarked on a new journey. To one of the most beautiful places in Ireland - Ring of Kerry!

Hvis der er nogen, der ikke vidste, hvor smuk Irland er, så burde I vide det nu. Selvom vi kun fik udforsket en brøkdel af den strækning, de kalder Ring of Kerry, så fik vi meget ud af det. Vi kørte først til Killarney, hvor jeg desværre ikke fik taget nogen billeder, hvorefter vi kørte ned igennem Killarney National Park, hvor de fleste billeder er fra. De har det berømte Ladies View, som jeg fik anbefalet at stoppe ved. Jeg forstår godt hvorfor. Det var sindssygt smukt. Historien bag det er også lidt sjov, som I kan se på skiltet. Bare det at køre igennem parken var et syn for sig selv. Vi kørte ned til Kenmare, som ligger tæt på kysten, for at få lidt at spise og kigge os omkring. Selvom jeg aldrig selv kunne bo ude i sådan en isoleret landsby, så kan jeg godt se det charmerende ved det. At have al den natur på sit dørtrin, det må da være okay rart.

In case there's still some of you who are unaware of how beautiful Ireland is.. y'all should know by now. I mean, look at it. Even though we only did a fraction of the massive area of Ring of Kerry, we felt like we saw a good deal and what we saw was definitely worth the drive. We started off in Killarney. I didn't get any pictures, but Killarney is so cute and definitely worth a visit. We merely stopped there to fix some car problems, and then we were off to Killarney National Park, where most of the pictures were taken. About half way through the park you have the famous Ladies View. The story behind it is quite entertaining and the view itself is amazing. Definitely the highlight of the area. However, merely driving through the park was incredible. Through mountains on very very narrow roads with the occasional sheep blocking the traffic. What's not to like? We drove down to Kenmare, a tiny village close to the main sights of the Ring of Kerry. Also worth a visit. We hung out with the construction workers in the main square while eating our lunch. Even though I could never live in such an isolated place myself, I am by no means blind to the charm and the peace and quiet such residence would permit. Being a second away from breathtaking nature.. I wouldn't mind that.

Dagen efter Ring of Kerry var det tilbage til Dublin igen. Denne her gang tog turen de forventede 3 timer. Kun fordi vi kørte på motorvejen hele vejen. Så havde Google Maps ret alligevel. Vi boede på et mega lækkert hotel, som jeg havde fundet på Booking til halvdelen af den originale pris (Maldron Parnell Square, hvis nogen skulle lægge vejen forbi!). Det var den perfekte afslutning på en dejlig ferie i et smukt land. Dagen efter var det så Danmark, der skulle lægge ramme for min forårsferie. Jeg havde jo ferie i tre uger, så det skulle udnyttes.

Fast forward a couple of days, and we're back in Dublin again. This time is actually took three hours to make the journey. I guess Google Maps was right. Staying in a really nice hotel for our last night in the country (Maldron Parnell Square, if anyone's interested!) was the perfect way to end our stay in Ireland. Beautiful country. Kinda like a pseudo United Kingdom, but very different. The next day we flew to Denmark. After all, my spring break lasted three weeks, so I had to take a trip to the motherland.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Arkansas

Arkansas er muligvis min nye yndlingsstat. Hold nu op, der er smukt. Og det er så tæt på Tennessee! Memphis ligger faktisk lige ved siden at statsgrænsen til Arkansas, hvis I var i tvivl. West Memphis, ligger i Arkansas, så tæt på er det, fik jeg fortalt i dag. Lidt sejt. Så ja. Vores 'efterårsferie' startede i fredags og skolen starter igen imorgen, så jeg tog nogle venner under armen og vi kørte til Arkansas. To nætter i Little Rock på en ok lækker La Quinta med en søndagsudflugt til Pinnacle Mountain State Park, der ligger en halv times kørsel nordøst fra Little Rock (som er Arkansas' hovedstad, hvis der var nogen, der var i tvivl). Arkansas er ikke umiddelbart nogen kendt stat, men den er helt klart undervurderet. Den har mange naturområder og Pinnacle er en ud af mange. Endda en meget lille en af slagsen, så det siger noget om hvad Arkansas kan byde på. Det var den perfekte måde at slappe lidt af på, inden vi tager hul på sidste halvdel af semesteret imorgen.. wish me luck!

Pictures from Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Arkansas, where I went for fall break with a couple of friends. We rented a Zipcar and left Memphis Saturday morning, destination Little Rock, state capital of Arkansas. From what I gather, Arkansas is not a very famous state nor is it a place where people tend to go for breaks. But I loved it! The 180 miles pr. day limit with a Zipcar forced us to pick a place relatively close to Mmephis, so Arkansas it was! We stayed at La Quinta Inn for two nights and drove to Pinnacle Sunday morning and spent the day there. It was the perfect getaway and Pinnacle (and Arkansas, for that matter), is so underrated. I loved it there! It's the perfect place for people who don't want to go on huge hikes, but just want nice views. Of course, you can also hike the mountain, if that's your thing. There's something for everybody! And now I can cross one more state off my list!