What a month. These type of travel months don’t come around very often, and for that we’re grateful. While it’s fun and exciting to see ancient wonders of the world and explore markets and struggle with languages other than Chinese, it’s also tiring. Jet lag is a beast. We were apart this month for ten days, which is potentially a new record for us (we can’t remember exactly), but we spend a lot of time together normally, so it’s an adjustment.

So many things happened this month, let’s dig right in.

Where We’ve Been

Julie: Taipei, Taiwan (4 days), Mexico City, Mexico (5 days), Guadalajara, Mexico (5 days), Minneapolis, USA (2 days), Beijing, China (4 days), Shenzhen, China (10 days)

Drew: Taipei, Taiwan (4 days), Bangkok, Thailand (4 days), Minneapolis, USA (3 days), Beijing, China (4 days), Shenzhen, China (15 days)

Highlights

Great Wall of China: Drew’s visit to the Great Wall, on a one-day guided tour with Great Wall Tours, was a bucket list item for many years that finally got ticked off the list. He explored a less popular stretch of wall, and got to have that experience of feeling like he was the only person standing on an ancient wonder. I hear it’s a special feeling (ha ha, I was at a meeting), and I’m so happy that he was able to see the wall as it’s meant to be seen. We’ll definitely have to go back soon because now I’m jealous.

Working the Business Trip: This month I went on business trips for half of the month. When traveling for work, it’s really (really, really) easy to not explore a new place. With a busy schedule, the idea of waking up extra early to visit a museum or venturing out for a fun dinner after a long day is frankly exhausting. Add in emails and phone calls, and forget about it. Over the years, I’ve tried really hard to strike a balance on work trips by fitting in a few fun things around the edges. Sometimes I arrive a day early or leave a day late, to take advantage of the hotels and flights I’ve already booked. During my time in Beijing and in Mexico, I used jet lag to my advantage, going to a few monuments and tourist attractions before work started.

Taipei Food Tour: I almost forgot that our weekend in Taipei was in April. It feels so long ago! We both really enjoyed this bustling city, with its unique mix of cultural influences. In particular, we were all in for the food. In addition to visiting the original location of Din Tai Fung, we supplemented our food exploration with a fantastic food tour. We basically tried every important Taiwanese dish, from bubble tea to bao. So fantastic.

Lowlights

Stinky Tofu: Our regrettable taste of stinky tofu happened on a fun food tour, so the two experiences basically cancel each other out, right? The funky stench of stinky tofu permeates night markets and waifs from various restaurants that specialize in the stuff. The smell is basically the worst thing I’ve ever smelt – a mix of raw sewage and dead animal carcass. I wish I was kidding. It’s really all you can do to take a bite of something so revolting. If you plug your nose, the taste is mostly hidden, the texture kinda like a crumbly cheese (like feta). But once you take a breath, be ready for that smell to hit hard. It took a massive bubble milk tea for the taste to finally dissipate.

So Much Plane Time: We’ve spent a lot of time on planes this month. While I don’t hate our time at 30,000+ feet, it’s also pretty boring, cramped, and generally uncomfortable. Each of our long hauls to the US went fine, and we watched 8 movies between the two of us. I also read seven books in April, thanks to plenty of time in the air. So that’s positive.

What We’re Loving Lately

English Everywhere: We’re in the US, land of native English speakers. We’re talking with strangers, modifying restaurant orders, making phone calls, and asking for directions, all with ease. It is such a luxury to speak fast and with no modifications (dropping slang, simplifying sentences to make ourselves easier to understand). We’re extremely sensitive to language differences and normally I spend a lot of mental energy working to understand and be understood. Today I’m not thinking about it at all, and that, my friends, is a lovely feeling indeed.

Coming Up in May

We’re in the US for the next ten days, in Minnesota, Boston and Portland, Maine. Family, friends, and lobster rolls, we are soaking in every minute. Once we’re back in Shenzhen, we’re staying put. In fact, our summer is still wide open, with no travel on the near horizon. We’ll land in China just in time for the summer heat to set in, which, if you remember from last year, is my favorite season. Ha. I’m sweating just thinking about it. I anticipate slow weekends, evening walks around the neighborhood, nightly ice cream, lots of visits to malls and movie theaters.

Cheers, friends! Enjoy the spring.