"Chairman Mao says...

...you're not a man unless you've been to the Great Wall." I met a Chinese man at a restaurant a few weeks ago who told me that :-) My plan is to live out Chairman Mao's expectations and I hope to fulfill my 'manhood' very soon.

I'm planning a trip to Beijing with some friends. We're thinking a long weekend trip would be perfect, Friday to Monday, and we're trying to do it as inexpensive as possible. Because of the World Expo, and increased demand for flying to/from Shanghai, it seems that prices for flights within China have sky-rocketed, so we're taking the cheap route - train. We're going to take the train from Shanghai on Thursday night (next Thursday, I believe) and we'll arrive on Friday morning in Beijing. There are some really great things to do and see in China's capital...obviously the Great Wall is pretty close, and it's a must see, then there's Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Beijing Zoo (where I would assume you can find an extensive amount of pandas!), and probably much more.

I am also planning a trip to South Korea, with the same friends. I don't know much about South Korea, but I have a couple of fraternity brothers (Kyle Wulf and Dave Knox) living in Incheon working as English language teachers, and a good friend of mine who I met here is actually moving back to his hometown - Seoul, South Korea - on July 30th. So we're planning on going from July 30th to Aug 2nd to spend time with all of them. Another Friday to Monday trip. Tickets to fly roundtrip to Incheon from Shanghai are only $170 USD, so I figure while I'm out here I might as well see another country, you never know when you'll get another chance like this, ya know. Seoul and Incheon are only about 30 miles apart, I believe, so it should be easy to maneuver from one to the other. Seoul is supposed to be a really cool city to see, with some great historical sites, nice palaces to tour, and just a lot going on both during the day and at night. Incheon is apparently pretty great as well. I've read that there is an awesome 'Chinatown' in Incheon, which is interesting...I've been to American Chinatowns, and I've been to real China towns in China, but I've never been to a Chinatown outside of China in Asia. It should be fun to see! :-)

If anyone who reads this has ever been to Beijing, Incheon, and/or Seoul and knows of anything that we should see/go to/do etc, please leave a comment and share your wisdom and experiences with me!!! Any insight you have is much appreciated.

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PMM