South Asia

After East Asia because I really didn't want to go home. First I went to the Taj Mahal in north central India. Shah Jahn built this masterpiece in memory his Persian princess wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during her 14th childbirth. This masterpiece is actually a tomb for his wife, which is surrounded by a 980 sq. ft. garden filled with beautiful flowers and fruit trees. This is considered one of the new seven wonders of the world.



Next I went to Nepal to climb the tallest mountain in the world. Mt. Everest is 29,029ft at its summit.which is approximately 27,877ft above my current elevation. This climb absolutely sucked. Well I mean it was cool and all but it was the most difficult thing I've ever done. It also didn't go over to well when I saw one of the well over 200 bodies that have never been recovered from the mountain. It was all worth it though when i reached the top.

 

East Asia

This week it was snowy in the Northland so i decided to take a trip far west. How far west you ask? West, to East Asia!

Tokyo, Japan was the first stop. In Tokyo I went to the biggest fresh fish market in the world, Tsukiji. I was told by locals that the market opened very early in the morning and started closing around mid-morning, so i woke up at about 6 AM to wander and soak it all in. I was amazed by the sheer size of this market that housed so many vendors. I now realized that because of it's abundance, seafood was a huge staple of Asian cuisine and it tasted good to me!

Next I visited the Great Wall of China near Beijing. Talking with tour guides I learned a few things that really amazed me about this giant, ancient structure. Built over the course of 2000+ years it spans a massive length of about 13,000 miles. It was built in the past to protect the Chinese empire from the northern invading Mongols. Today it is used for nothing more than a tourist attraction.