Travelog for: Hip & Hop

We went to AnimeFest in Dallas, TX and we had a blast!!! We stopped into Robertson's and got some really good jerky. Then we stopped into Fry's electronics before heading back to OKC (Oklahoma City).

Hi Mum!

Today we went to Alnwick to explore the gardens of the Stately Home.


First we explored the Poison Garden, which was full of dangerous and poisonous plants.  It was quite interesting!


Then we went for a stroll and passed this lovely pond.


We walked through a Cherry Orchard - which is the largest orchard of it's kind in the world.


This is the Ornamental garden.




Then we explored the rose garden.




We also had a go in the bamboo labyrinth.  We were in there for about 20 minutes, trying to find our way back out again!


Look at these grapes - they're used to make wine.


And I saw honeybees in their nest - it was fascinating seeing them!


This massive tree house is a restaurant, isn't that so cool?




And to get to it, you have to cross this swing bridge!


Love,
Paula

I went to Louie's Bar & Grill for lunch today. I tried some fried pickles. They look like chicken nuggets in the photo, but they are really pickles. They were good! I also had broccoli cheese soup in a break bowl. Yummy!

Hi Mum!

I'm in China!!  We arrived Tuesday afternoon, after traveling for about 12 hours... it was a looong trip.  And all of us are still pretty jetlagged, as there's a 7 hour difference between China and England.

BUT - the jetlag didn't stop us from going to see the Great Wall of China!


To get there we had to walk up this street, which has stalls that sell lots of nice little trinkets an touristy stuff.


The wall itself was amazing.


And so were the views!


This massive jar used to contain oil.  The guards would put a flame on the oil when they saw that the wall was under attack, that way everyone would know they were in danger (like in the Disney movie 'Mulan').


It was a great day Mum - so much fun!

Hi Mum!

Today we went to the Temple of Heaven, which is a complex of religious buildings in Beijing.  I loved it!


These stones represent the peaks of Taishan Mountains, which was a place to worship in ancient China.


This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.


And these are some of the halls around it, with various different altars in them.




Behind me you can see the 70-year-old-door.  One of the Emperors was 70 years old, and his health was declining, so he had this door built in as a short cut to the Temple.  However, he didn't want his sons to use it out of laziness, so he made the law that only Emperors that had reached 70 could use it.  Hence the name - the 70 year old door.


And finally, behind me you can see the Imperial Vault of Heaven.


Love,
Paula

We went to Chicken Express. It was a yummy chicken place. But not as yummy as this diner in Dallas Texas! We stopped by a small diner called Original Market Diner. Even though the diner was packed, it only took 15 minutes to get a seat. The food was SO GOOD! My hosts wish they had one in Oklahoma. They had some cute decore that was my size!

Hi Mum,

Today we went to the famous 798 district - the art district of Beijing.


We explored lots of different galleries.


I enjoyed looking at all the different styles of paintings.




This one was my favourite.


Love,
Paula

I helped Toki finish building and decorating her house today!

Hi Mum!

Guess where we went today?  To the Palace Museum (aka The Forbidden City)!


It's a huge place - I had no idea it was so big...


It's about 961m long!


The Forbidden City was the Imperial Palace for about 500 years.


In total, 24 Emperors lived here.


It also has a beautiful imperial garden.


As you can see - I had another great day in China!

Love,
Paula

Hi Mum,

We leave China tomorrow to go back to hostmum's home.  It's going to be a very long journey I think.  So today I've just been relaxing and playing with the animals of hostmum's hosts.

Here I am with Mecredi, the cat.


And this is Lugnut.


I've also been relaxing with my fellow TVs, Imperio, Lizzy Lizard and mefito on this massive hammock!




Love,
Paula

Hi Mum,

Hostmum has been suffering from jet-lag pretty bad, so, along with my fellow TVs, I've been entertaining myself with all the different things we bought back from China.

Believe it or not, this is actually a hat!


And this Chinese tea was absolutely delicious.


Hostmum also brought back a box of 'moon-cakes'.


Aren't they pretty?


Love,
Paula

We ate at a taco place called Fuzzy's. I tried the tempura shrimp tacos with cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, feta cheese, and garlic sauce. It sounds weird, and it is weird, but it was surprisingly tastey! The feta was finely chopped and the garlic sauce was just subtle enough. Very good. I also had a peach frozen marguerita.

Then we went for a ride on the river boat. Everything was so pretty, but it was too dark to take very many good photoes.

After all that, we saw the movie Loopers. It was a nice night!

I went to the local Steampunk convention called Octopodicon. It was fun!

I helped put up Halloween decorations on Toki's house. It looks pretty good! I also tried on some Halloween hats but they were all too big for me. Then I went out to a Japanese Sushi place called Sushi Go GO! It was really good!

We held a TV memorial for KCrawfish who passed away. We are all wearing pink flowers for Breast Cancer Awareness. Also, Dulac the Tarantula hangs out at work with our host during Halloween and he made a lovely pink flower memorial wreath for Kate too. We will miss you Kate! Our love and best wishes to all of your family!