A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. - Laozi

I sure hope Laozi knew what he was talking about because my plans are kind of sketchy right now.

Welcome armchair travelers: fasten your seat-belts because this is going to be another one of my great adventures and you will have a front row view of what is going on. I look forward to you joining me for the next weeks, as I document my adventures traveling through China by myself on a budget.

Wednesday begins my next travel adventure. To say that I am excited, is an understatement, I am ECSTATIC.

This time I am off to China. It is massive country, obviously, one with which I am struggling on getting a handle of where I am headed once I get there. So far I have had some good advice, let’s see what transpires once I am there and start heading from Shanghai towards Chengdu.

The Preparations

Flights

I am booked: Houston to London to Shanghai and return the middle of June Beijing-Vancouver-Phoenix-Houston. On the way out I fly Continental, then Virgin Air.

I arrive in Shanghai on Friday after a layover in London. A special shout out goes to Continental Airlines for telling me in my itinerary that I was arriving in London and Shanghai on Thursday, when in fact I arrive in Shanghai on Friday, therefore messing up my reservations for accommodations in Shanghai. On the other hand, fortunately, I was able to cash in my Continental frequent flyer mile enabling me to fly business class, most likely my last brush with luxury. But one never knows?

Packing

The packing ritual has begun. At this point I have pretty much packed the large backpack, the day pack is next.

I think I will be taking:

• 2 pairs of travelers pants
• Skirt
• Long sleeve shirt
• 3 camisoles
• 2 short sleeve button down shirts
• Black t-shirt
• Hoodie
• Windbreaker/rain jacket
• Black scarf
• Long underwear
• Pareo (doubles as a sheet, makeshift towel and cover-up)
• Sunhat
• 3 bras
• 4 panties
• 2 sets of socks
• 2 sets of pajamas
• Umbrella
• Day hikers
• Chaco sandals
• 12 packages of tissues
• Toilet paper
• Converters for electrical plugs, 1 Euro, 2 Chinese, 1 American 3 prong to 2 prong
• Charger that works with Kindle and Blackberry
• Headlamp
• Bike lock
• Duck tape
• Pens, paperclip[p, rubber bands
• Plastic bags
• Metal chop sticks and spoon
• Pocket knife
  
• Business cards
• Suntan lotion
• Deet
• Med kit:

o Cipro

o Malaria

o Ibuprofen

o Acetaminophen

o Jet Lag herbal medicine

o Anti- diarrhea medicine

o Pepto-Bismol

o Cough drops

o Earplugs

o 2 disposable syringes and alcohol wipes

o Band aids

o Antihistamine

o Decongestant

o Anti-itch cream

o Benadryl creme

o Mosquito coil

o Baggies

o Cortisone creme

• Money belt
• China Guidebook
• Kindle
• DLSR camera with 2 lenses
• Mini laptop
• Back-up drive
• Extra batteries for Blackberry, camera and headlamp
• 2 Books on history of China
  
• Deck of cards
• Compass
• Toiletries

o Hairbrush

o Comb

o Deodorant

o Soap

o Shampoo

o Razor

o Dental floss

o Toothbrush

o Tooth paste

o Night guard

o Eyeshades

o Earplugs

• Wash cloth
• Eyeglass case
• Copies of all credit cards and passport
• Eyeglass prescription
• Passport with Chinese visa
• 2 credit cards and 2 ATM cards
• Drivers license
• $150 in cash
• Small diary

There may be a few adjustments, some technology additions and hopefully I can eliminate some clothes and maybe some stuff in the med kit, because it feels like I am taking a lot.

Accommodations

In Shanghai, I am staying at Le Tour Traveler's Rest Youth Hostel for around $11 a night in a 6 bed female dorm room. I have made arrangements for the hostel in Shanghai to pick me up at the airport. Past experience has taught me that after traveling for two days, I am usually a bit disoriented and I would rather skip the challenge of finding my hostel.

Look for my next post after Wednesday. I will be available on Skype as well as email: Cyberprincess713.

Watch This Spot: Traveling to China this Spring

In three weeks, I will begin my trip to Mainland China. Yes I will be backpacking, staying in hostels and traveling by myself.

Stay tune.

It’s Quiet Around Here

In case you didn’t know, I have a writing gig with 29-95 .com. I have been writing up a storm over there. Go catch my latest posts: http://www.29-95.com/users/foodprincess.

It’s pretty exciting being a professional writer. Another one crossed off my bucket list. At this rate I will have to start adding more things.

Life is pretty darn good.

The Day That Cocktails Really Caught My Eye

Please note that I plan to be writing for a Houston on-line publication shortly. Quite frankly I was embarrassed that while I have been actively twittering my dining experiences, I had not written in this blog since traveling this summer. I choose to write about Anvil as my bridge article because there is so much similarity between my experiences at Anvil and those traveling.

The other day someone asked me what my passion about food and travel have in common. I would say it is simply this; I enjoy history, tradition, architecture, innovation, beauty, and being around people who enjoy it. There is no food or drink establishment in Houston that captures these feelings more than Anvil.

A visit to Anvil can be a place one where you go to meet friends or a chance to leave the outside world behind and be transformed. When I walk in Anvil, I want to be wearing my little black dress, pearls, gloves, high heals, and a pill box hat. I love sitting at the bar and sipping my drink out of the antique cocktail glasses, watching the bartenders mix the various libations, gazing around the room at the other patrons, and giggling with my friends.

Do you know that they serve over 100 different types of cocktails?

Anvil does it with such flair that one feels transported back in time to another place. For me, it is a little bar in a hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland. The drink was a Brandy Alexander and my mother told me that this was a drink a girl could order and say to her date she could only drink one because it was so rich. I loved the taste of the drink, the twilight colored light in the bar and the beautiful glass. It is a drink I will never forget.

For me a cocktail is about the total experience, the taste and everything that surrounds it.

Currently, I would identify myself as a martini drinker. In retrospect, that became my drink of choice because I enjoyed the total experience, that of watching the preparation and then sipping my drink out of long steam glasses with a wide mouth. Drinking out of martini glasses enables me to elegantly raise the drink to lips, fill my nostrils with a large bouquet of the citrus (if it is made with a lime), then tip the glass back and fill my mouth with a refreshing cool liquid.

Therefore it is not surprising that I keep on returning to Anvil. When I order a cocktail there, each drink has a history, is crafted by knowledgeable bartenders, and served in vintage stemware.

Anvil’s New Cocktail Menu

On Thursday Anvil unveiled their new fall cocktail menu. Arriving close to opening time, I was greeted by several of my friends in the food industry, including one of the newest foodie power couples: Ecky Prabanto and David Buehrer co-owners and baristas at Tuscany Coffee in Greenway Plaza Randy Rucker of Tenacity as well as other associated local personalities.

I got a chance to take a sip of several of the new cocktails that my friends were busy sampling, it was the Pliny's Tonic that blew me away. I ordered the drink. Bobby Heugel the chief mastermind behind Anvil told me the cocktail is named after the first century philosopher and naturalist, Pliny the Elder who wrote about medicinal uses for cucumbers. The blueprint: gin, lime juice, turbinado syrup, cucumber slices, mint leaves and tincture of habanero/serrano/thai chile or a complex journey in one glass. At first sip the drink tastes sweet, then it tastes tart, and finishes spicy. I was falling in love and it was just a cocktail.

The other cocktail I enjoyed last Thursday was the Balmoral, named after Queen Victoria’s Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The Balmoral at Anvil is a mixture of Old Town Gin, Dolin Blanco Vermouth, and lavender-vanilla bitters. The drink was on the sweeter side and for those of you who like a boozy tasting drink without any tartness (no citrus), this is one for you to try.

On the Food Side

There are several cheese and charcuterie options, I have not tasted their newer choices.

Thursday I had a few nibbles of the Campari popcorn (made with sea salt, olive oil and dehydrated Campari) which was tasty. They have also added sweet potato beignets made by Plinio Sandalio, whose far from pedestrian dessert creations can be tasted at Textile in the Heights. Bobby tells me there are more food choices to come.

For now, I frequently head over for a couple of quick burgers and fries at Little Bigs on Montrose on the way home.

Bon Jour!

OMG, I know it seems forever since I wrote. I came back from Romania on July 1 and left again on July 3 to drive to Virginia. After driving 36 hours with catnaps along the way, at rest stops and all night gas stations I arrived in Vienna. I wanted to get there in time to see my favorite baseball All Star, my nephew play his town’s one of the play off games.

What a game that was… they decimated the other team. On Thursday the won the town’s championship game for the 9-10 year old range. I was very glad I got to see his victory.  I also got to see my other sister, her husband and children (who where there to cheer my nephew on to victory.) This week it is on to the state championship games.

I spent  week at my sister’s that included my other nephew’s birthday party at the Air and Space Museum, which included a good meal at Gladstone Inn (to be documented later in some detail with pictures), I drove up to Jersey to continue my vacation with my BFF, D.

D. and I left yesterday for Canada. We made it to about an hour and a half outside of Quebec City and will arrive there shortly.  I am even using some of my French, which is amusing? or comical? I believe this is the furthest north I will be going this summer in North America.

Can you believe I am on my seventh week of vacation?

My Living in a State of Mindfulness

Disclaimer: This is my “new age” post.

I have just spent a month living mainly in the state of now. I did not worry much further in the future than where am I sleeping tonight, what will I do today, or when will I eat. I accepted what the situation was at the time and then acted accordantly. At times I did just what I always advise people, breathe and never felt the taffy pull of anxiety stretch my available energy to it most depleted state.

It has been a total decompression, a real holiday, as it should be, away from the pressures of my normal cares and responsibilities. 

There has been plenty of room to empty my head of useless thoughts and focus in on what is important. I have cleared my mind of the seemingly endless chatter and have been able to make decisions quickly because there has been little to no anxiety in my life.

Once again I have seen the beauty of the world. The grandparent playing with a child, the unbridled joy of connecting with strangers for a meal, or sharing a travel story, or even sharing experiences together for a short time, and the kindness of a stranger when I am lost or confused, helping me see the way.

I am experiencing a strong state of gratitude. Thankful for the life I have, the friends and family I cherish, the numerous opportunities that avail themselves to me, and the connections I have made with people along the way.

It is if I have been dancing with wild abandonment and have experienced such pure joy.

This trip has affirmed for me, that I can live amongst people of different cultures and find the commonality that exists between us.

It is not always easy not knowing what lies ahead. But I never lost confidence that something new and exciting was just around the corner.

As I sit here trying to add more of the descriptive posts to my blog, I wanted to share with you my personal feelings.

No trip is complete for me without the connections, to the people and places.  I fell in love with the beauty of many places I have visited and shared them at the moment via Twitter and latter at times via Facebook.

I expect this trip will sustain me throughout the year. That at times when I get upset or anxious about what is going on, I recall the attitude that helped me realize I was never never really lost, just experiencing another adventure.  That I continue to expect the best from people and they in turn react in kind.

My attitude on this trip has left me open to meeting special people, seeing incredible sights, connecting with history, and learning to forgive myself and other people for things that they we are not responsible for doing.

I hope you enjoyed the travel too and found something about it that resonated with you as well.

The Final Train Ride (for this trip)

I just left Brasov and I am on the train to Bucharest. I am taking the train because I heard the views are spectacular. I am being diverted from this experience by

• Getting on the wrong car (I am on train 347 not car 347, you can see how I could get confused?) and
• A mental challenged and drooling teenager, who also gawks temporarily sitting down across from me.

But now Minnie is all plugged in and I have a windows seat facing the right direction, with my new fav snack “Gusto” (fried corn puffs no additives, all natural, blah, blah, blah) and water to sustain me.

Sighisoara: Bring Your Garlic

My first introduction to Transylvania.

I really enjoyed my stay there. Nathan’s Villa was well kept and the people who stayed there amicable. When it wasn’t raining, I enjoyed sitting outside underneath the arboretum, drinking my a Siva beer and reading or working on my computer.

The town was fairly easy to navigate. I enjoyed running around the small Saxon city, which is birthplace of Vlad Tepes, Count Dracula, shopping at the local markets, meeting people, and visiting various buiildings

My favorite activity there was when I went to mass. The Romanian Orthodox Church service was very interesting. The service was filled with chanting and priest going in and out of a room in front, where he would open and close the doors while praying. Then at the end, the priest took loaves of bread and put candles in them, then he blew them out, but the bread in a bowl and covered it with oil, after that people came and took Holy Communion and left with bags of bread.

I made friends with a few people at Nathan’s Villa. First Neil, a British fellow now living in Sighisoara (he became night manager during our visit) via Berlin. An intelligent, interesting, and kind fellow, he seems a bit lost as to where to place himself in the world. If you ask me, he made a good decision staying on in Sighisoara, he might just decide what he should do next. The, Alison, a sweet young lady from outside of Mexico city – we will be spending more time together in Brasov.

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I liked the small town, easy pace of Sighisoara and even though there wasn’t a lot to see and do, I could have stayed a few more days (most people stay a day or so), after three days it was time to head to Brasov.

A Small Note About Romanian Food

Sausage, cabbage, meat, polenta, and potatoes, it’s fine but no where as good as the food in other countries I have been visiting. I mostly ate what I call the backpacker meal: ramen noodles, fresh vegetables, meat and egg. Backpackers eat a lot of pasta and ramen noodles when cooking in the hostels, we just do.

The Ride Between Sighisoara and Braşov

Getting off the small jitney bus at the rest stop between Sighisoara and Braşov was an experience in and of itself. Just take a look at some of the rest stop pictures. Do check out what they sell at the store, stuff for yo9ur car, weapons, snacks, trinkets….

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