The Travels of WhiteGhost Farstrider

[Manarelle]

Wasn't expecting to run across Russian on your thread. Is it common to find Russian sweets in China? Love the pictures, and glad you're having a good trip. 

[WhiteGhost]

11 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

He's not wrong about the scenery, it's indeed lovely.

 

8 hours ago, Harriet said:

Love the cathedral and love love love the waterfall. So beautiful. 

 

7 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Oooh that waterfall!!

 

7 hours ago, raptron said:

Ahhh, gorgeous waterfall. 

 

I honestly didn't expect people would be excited about scenery pictures.  I guess I can post more of them

 

10 hours ago, sylph said:

11 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I love the fish plate, something about the pattern and the light makes it look like it's photoshopped right on top of everything else.

 

I thought the same thing. Like it's some celestial, holy fish or something.

it probably looks that way because it is sitting in a bed of dry ice.   Pretty cool effect and it looked even better live. 

 

I probably should have identified the other things around the table too.   Starting from the decanter going anti-clockwise there was:

酸菜饺子(SuanCai Jiaozi) - these are sauerkraut dumplings 

锅包肉(GuoBaoRou) - these are crispy breaded pork cutlets covered in a white vinegar & honey sauce. The restaurant we were at claims to have invented this, which is now probably the most famous Dongbei food dish

酸菜白肉米粉(SuanCai Bairou Mifen) - sauerkraut and glass noodles with pork belly

大拉皮(DaLaPir) Thick clear flour noodles with dried tofu strips and other mixed vegetables with a vinegar based dressing (another standard of Dongbei food) 

干炒肉丸(GanChao RouWan) - pan fried meatballs

地三鲜(DiSanXian) - Potato, eggplant, and green pepper stir fry

豆沙铁饼(DouSha TieBing) Fried cornbread with red bean paste filling

鱼香肉丝(YuXiang RouSi) - sour & spicy pork

I don't know what the fish in the middle was called but it was a kind of candied fish, which is also popular here

 

7 hours ago, deftona said:

oh my word that waterfall. I have a false memory of standing behind a waterfall when I was a child but I am pretty sure it is actually a scene in Disney's Robin Hood which to be fair would explain the fox. 

I think you should just claim that memory as your own and run with it

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

4 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Wasn't expecting to run across Russian on your thread. Is it common to find Russian sweets in China? Love the pictures, and glad you're having a good trip. 

Not normally, but we have spent the last week or so traveling in the Northern part of HeiLongJiang Province up near the Russian border.  Russian treats and other suveneirs (and Russian people!) are everywhere there. 

[KB Girl]

You have good taste in chocolate

And yes, loving all the pictures, including the scenery. 

[WhiteGhost]

Well,  it wasn't European dark chocolate, but it wasn't bad

 

Today we started out with a cruise around the JingBo Lake,  which is the lake that feeds the waterfall from yesterday. 

 

After the lake we had lunch and then hopped back on the bus and headed south to our next stop, 长白山(ChangBaiShan).  I wasn't sure where it was but as we kept driving I noticed road signs started having Korean on the instead of English,  and then later started having the Korean on top.   I decided to check a map,  and was a little bit shocked to discover that ChangBai is also known as Paektu Mountain, which is considered the origin if the Korean people,  and is claimed by both North and South Korea as Korean territory by divine right. In terms of Established international borders,  ChangBaiShan has 4 peaks and 3 of them are within China and 1 is within North Korea.  The lake in the volcanic crater at the top is the border between the two countries

At first I was a little worried for my safety being an American visiting the North Korean border,  but when we got to the resort it was full of western hotels and restaurants, including a McDonalds, a Pizza Hut, and a KFC. 

 

We got here in time for dinner (dumplings) and a quick dip in the "hot springs" which were more of a glorified swimming pool and highly disappointing. 

 

[Wild Wolf]

On 7/28/2019 at 10:47 PM, WhiteGhost said:

then later next week we will be heading to the US where we will be until almost the end of August

 

Any stops near the DFW?? Following regardless, but it would be hella cool to finally meet you IRL  

 

Wolf

[WhiteGhost]

1 minute ago, SheriffWolfpool said:

 

Any stops near the DFW?? Following regardless, but it would be hella cool to finally meet you IRL  

 

Wolf

Unfortunately not this time. We will be taking Route 66 (for realsies this time) but only as far as the Grand Canyon,  and the heading north to Salt Lake City. 

[KB Girl]

I'm getting a bit of travel envy now  's all good. 

Too bad the hot springs were a dissapointment, but that lake is beautiful! 

[WhiteGhost]

18 hours ago, KB Girl said:

I'm getting a bit of travel envy now  's all good. 

Too bad the hot springs were a dissapointment, but that lake is beautiful! 

Following this challenge is not going to help your travel envy

 

Today we drove out to the base of ChangBai mountain and when into the gate for the North Face. We then got on a different bus and drove up to the first scenic spot - the waterfall and hot spring

 

The waterfall was not as impressive as the one a few days ago, but was still quite nice. We couldn't get very close to it though, because they have very strict rules about getting off the fixed trails.  This is a very reasonable rule given the high volume of visitors.   All the tickets for today were sold out, which means there were about 300,000 people on the mountain today (although luckily not all on the north face). 

 

The hot springs were tiny but very colorful

 

Next we hopped on another bus to get to the transfer station where we switch to minivans to get to the peak. ChangBai mountain is an active volcano (last eruption just over 300 years ago)  and there is a large lake in the crater at the top.   Weather at the peak is very unpredictable and about 100 days of the year it is too bad to see the lake.   My in-laws had been to the mountain 3 times before but had never seen the lake. Luckily for is,  the weather was perfect and we had a great view of the lake

 

I ended up carrying two bags full of cold weather clothes for nothing, but I would much rather that then end up in thunderstorm (which is what the forecast was as of yesterday) 

 

Pictures 8 and 9 are close ups of the guard facilities on the North Korean side of the crater, and 10 gives an idea of the crowds we faced during the day. 

 

After the peak, we hopped back on the bus and drove down to the last scenic area on the north face, which was a path through a section of virgin forest, leading past grand vistas and hidden rivers snaking through narrow canyons.  The pictures do not do justice to the beauty of this area in the slightest. 

Because the forest is sitting on top of volcanic rock, the roots on the trees cannot go very deep, reaching only 5 meters at the deepest. Most of them are only a few feet deep,  so when the storms come through it doesn't take much to topple a bunch of trees. I also saw a pair of deer (a doe and a buck) but I couldn't get a very good picture of them. 

[Harriet]

Oooh, lovely. I like the crater lake.

[Manarelle]

Beautiful, and glad the weather cooperated. 

[KB Girl]

Wauw! That fallen tree is also beautiful and the hot springs are very interesting. How do they get like that? 

 

5 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Following this challenge is not going to help your travel envy

I'll live also the shot of the crowd you faced helped a little. 

[WhiteGhost]

9 hours ago, Harriet said:

Oooh, lovely. I like the crater lake.

Me too.  The pictures don't really capture how blue it was, almost like a tropical ocean color

 

7 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Beautiful, and glad the weather cooperated. 

We couldn't have asked for better weather

 

5 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Wauw! That fallen tree is also beautiful and the hot springs are very interesting. How do they get like that? 

 

I'll live also the shot of the crowd you faced helped a little. 

The colors come from the various bacteria that grow there.  Many of them are super sensitive to temperature and can only survive in a narrow band, so as the water cools further from the source,  the kinds if bacteria (each of which have their own color) changes.  In Yellowstone the water flows away in concentric circles so you get a kind of rainbow effect, but here the flows are much more irregular creating more of a? mosaic. 

 

I was actually surprised at how light the crowds were. When we went to see the Terra Cotta warriors last year there was also 300k people but with everyone trying to see the same thing at the same time. 

 

I also forgot to mention in my last update: we were all tired of Dongbei food, so we had Pizza Hut for dinner

 

[WhiteGhost]

Today the other 2 families left for the airport in the morning and we were planning on wandering around the resort but Ghoslet had an part stomach so we just rested in the hotel room.  

 

After lunch we packed up our bags and then played Uno until it was time to go to the airport.  We landed back in Beijing around midnight and are now on our way back into the city. 

 

It was a very fun trip, but I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. 

[WhiteGhost]

Yesterday was pretty low key day,  most of which was spent doing laundry, unpacking suitcases, and reading. 

 

I had good intentions for food,  but the reality ended up being some awful takeout and tons of leftover snacks (chocolate) from the trip. 

[@mu]

Great travel log  

 

4 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I had good intentions for food,  but the reality ended up being some awful takeout and tons of leftover snacks (chocolate) from the trip. 

 

Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

[Mad Hatter]

So pretty! Love your travel stories.  It's really awesome that you're able to do so much traveling, and hanging out in general, with your family.

[WhiteGhost]

8 hours ago, @mu said:

Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

It is indeed  

 

3 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

So pretty! Love your travel stories.  It's really awesome that you're able to do so much traveling, and hanging out in general, with your family.

Thanks, it really was enjoyable.  Part two (visiting my family in the US and traveling around) will start later this week

 

Today started out really well.  I got up and was about to walk out the door for a park workout only to see that it was pouring rain.  Instead, I just stayed home and worked on some simple stuff.  I didn't want to over do it, seeing as I have not done anything for 2 weeks.  I did a bunch of dead hangs with various grips, and then some pullups and dips.  I even worked a few front & back tuck levers because it has been a while.  TO finish up I did some handstands and they were tough.  Of the 5 that were longer than 10 seconds, 4 were less than 15.  I did get one good one that was somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds.

 

After my workout, I did the MyFlex pike module.  I specifically did that one because my hamstrings were so freaking tight after spending the last week on a bus.  

 

The afternoon was not nearly as productive.  I spent some time helping Ghostlet with his English homework and then pretty much spent the rest of the day playing Diablo.  I enjoyed it, though, so honestly I don't even feel bad about wasting the day that way  

 

Lunch was an "Adventure Meal" consisting of 2 roasted chicken legs, a few small slices of beef (both of which had previously been cooked and I just reheated them), a pickle, a block of cheese, and a handful of raisins.  I haven't had dinner yet, but it probably going to be peach cobbler and ice cream   

[Manarelle]

55 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

Lunch was an "Adventure Meal" consisting of 2 roasted chicken legs, a few small slices of beef (both of which had previously been cooked and I just reheated them), a pickle, a block of cheese, and a handful of raisins.  I haven't had dinner yet, but it probably going to be peach cobbler and ice cream   

 

Does "adventure meal" mean "whatever leftovers need to be eaten  up"?  Those are often fun meals. Welcome home.

[raptron]

NICE park workout.  

 

The inter-travel period sounds like a good time to just get your bearings and catch up with some personal life administration stuff anyway.

[Wild Wolf]

On 8/1/2019 at 10:49 AM, WhiteGhost said:

Unfortunately not this time. We will be taking Route 66 (for realsies this time) but only as far as the Grand Canyon,  and the heading north to Salt Lake City. 

 

No worries my friend. It'll happen one day!

 

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I specifically did that one because my hamstrings were so freaking tight after spending the last week on a bus. 

 

I need this in my life. My day job consists of sitting a lot and I hate it. I KNOW my hammies are tight lol.

 

Wolf

[WhiteGhost]

13 hours ago, Manarelle said:

 

Does "adventure meal" mean "whatever leftovers need to be eaten  up"?  Those are often fun meals. Welcome home.

"Adventure Meals" for me are meals that imagine trevelers would eat on the road in a fantasy adventure story, stuff that cold reasonably be carried in a saddlebag or on a pack mule. 

 

12 hours ago, raptron said:

NICE park workout.  

 

The inter-travel period sounds like a good time to just get your bearings and catch up with some personal life administration stuff anyway.

Absolutely. Just trying to get things settled a bit before setting off again on another adventure

 

11 hours ago, SheriffWolfpool said:

 

No worries my friend. It'll happen one day!

 

 

I need this in my life. My day job consists of sitting a lot and I hate it. I KNOW my hammies are tight lol.

 

Wolf

Yeah,  I spend way too much time sitting in normal life so my poor gannies are always tight.   The last week was so bad though, that I had trouble sleeping if I tried to lay in a position that made them angry (and pretty much every position made them angry ) 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

So adventure meals are lembas, cram, and double-baked honey cakes?

[raptron]

6 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

So adventure meals are lembas, cram, and double-baked honey cakes?

I mean, if you’re lucky! Sometimes all you wind up with is dwarf bread :

 

Quote

The dwarf bread was brought out for inspection. But it was miraculous, the dwarf bread. No one ever went hungry when they had some dwarf bread to avoid. You only had to look at it for a moment, and instantly you could think of dozens of things you'd rather eat. You're boots, for example. Mountains. Raw sheep. Your own foot.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

48 minutes ago, raptron said:

Quote

The dwarf bread was brought out for inspection. But it was miraculous, the dwarf bread. No one ever went hungry when they had some dwarf bread to avoid. You only had to look at it for a moment, and instantly you could think of dozens of things you'd rather eat. You're boots, for example. Mountains. Raw sheep. Your own foot.

"Bet it's a long time since you've had proper dwarf bread, then," said Granny.
The spokesdwarf's eyes misted over.
"Baked from the finest stone-ground grit, just like mother used to jump up and down on it," Granny went on.
A sort of collective sigh went up from the dwarfs.
"you just can't get it down here," said the spokesdwarf, to the ground. "It's the water, or something. It falls to bits after hardly any years at all."
"They puts flour in it," said someone behind him, sourly.
"It's worse'n that. The baker over in Genua puts dried fruit in it," said another dwarf.
"Well, now," said Granny, rubbing her hands together, "I may be able to help you here. Could be I've got some dwarf bread to spare."
"Nah. Not proper dwarf bread, " said the spokesdwarf moodily. "Proper dwarf bread's got to be dropped in rivers and dried out and sat on and left and looked at every day and put away again. You just can't get it down here."
"This could be," said Granny Weatherwax, "your lucky day."
"To be frank," said Nanny Ogg, "I think the cat pissed on some of it."
The spokesdwarf looked up, his eyes aglow.
"Hot damn!"