We are going hunting

Svampejagten er skudt i gang 

→ The mushroom hunt has begun ←

Hvorfor skulle man ikke udnytte skovens fantastiske goder, hvilket endda er gratis? 

Min veninde og jeg kunne ikke dy os, og vi fandt en del af Rold Skov, der gav pote. 

I sådan en grad, at vi begge kom hjem med overraskende mange svampe - både 

spiselige, giftige, ukendte og velkendte. Efter lidt research kom vi frem til, at vi

nok var for tidligt ude - sæsonen for svampe er fra August til og med Oktober. Vi 

var ude midt i August, og regnede ikke med noget, men skoven bød på massere.

/ Why should you now take advantage of the offers of the forest? They are even

for free. My friend and I could not hold ourselves from going into the biggest forest

in Denmark, Rold Skov, and oh boy it payed off. We both got home with a surprisingly

big amount of mushrooms each - both edible, poisonous, unknown ones and known.

The season for mushrooms picking is around August to October and we were out

there in mid August not counting on finding much but the forest proved us otherwise /

Rødbrun mælkehat (spiselig) / saffron milkcap (edible)

Gran Koralsvamp (spiselig) / Crown Coral (edible)

Guldgaffel (spiselig) / Yellow Coral (edible)

Violet Ametysthat (kan spises, men det frarådes) /
  Amethyst Deceiver (edible, though advised not to)

Dagens fangst, og vi var kun ude og lede i en lille time / The pick of the day and we only picked for little less than an hour

Vi fik samtidig luftet hunden, som med glæde også nød skovens goder.

Alt i alt var det en tur jeg gerne vil ud på igen. Der er noget tilfredstillende

over at finde svampene, finde ud af om de er spiselige og ikke mindst få

smagt på dem. Det kan anbefales.

/ Not only did we get a lot of fresh air but also the dog got some time to

enjoy the gifts of the forest. All in all was the trip a successful one and

there is something very satisfying about pick mushrooms and get to cook

them, taste them and enjoy them. I would recommend a trip to your nearest

forest. Remember a basket of some kind that will not ruin the mushrooms. /

Beijing - Day three

The Temple of Heaven

People in the park were doing all kinds of activities - Like on this picture: playing badminton

Activities like boardgames were an attraction as well

I walked into a photoshoot of a newlywed couple. Red is the most used color for the dresses in China

Today I felt like something should be done and therefor I went to the Temple of Heaven where you can pray for good harvest and some other stuff. The temple is places in a huge park where hundreds of activities is going on. People playing badminton without nets - some people did sweat quite a lot because they were so enthusiastic about their game - while others dance in pairs with a ball they throw up in the air to their partner and some did dance to live music. 

I first arrived at the temple where you pray for a good harvest while the rest of the park invites you to different stops on your way which is more beautiful than the one before. The Seven Star Stones is also a stop on the way and it was a beautiful sight. I came across this beautiful 500 year old tree which had a rutine when you came close to it:

You had to walk around it while waving at the tree - It would give you great fortune.

Beijing - Beihai Park

This morning I got myself some flipflops. I did only bring my hiking boots and they had giving me a lot of blisters on my feet so I needed to get out of them. But.. Unfortunately when it is 35-40 degrees outside and everything on you is sweating I got blisters where the flipflops touched the top of my feet so I was kind of doomed walking around but never the less I did get out.

The first thing I walked into today was the Nation Centre of Performance Art and the building was absolutely amazing if you look at it architecturally. It did not cost me much to go see the building inside and there were a lot to see and experience. Even a pianist was playing in the big hall and the sound was just beautiful.

The National Centre of Performance Art

The National Centre of Performance Art from the inside

The floor alone is art! You get the feeling of being welcome, being very small and at the same time unwelcome because you do not feel fancy enough with shorts, t-shirt and flipflops on. You are able to go to the 5th floor where you will get a good view of the building and the outside of the building.

-- Selfies from the National Centre of Performance Art --

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On my way from the National Centre of Performance Art I got to the Zhongshan Park which it the park that is connected to the Forbidden City. I did not have time to explore this part of the Forbidden City so I went for a walk in the park. It did not cost me much to got into the park and it was quite nice to see all the boats floating around. If only it was big enough so I did not have to run into people all the time but with 21 million people just located in Beijing you will not get much privacy. 

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When I got out of the Zhongshan Park I walked along the wall that keep intruders out from the Forbidden City and all the way to the north end of the city. Here I was able to see and then easily find my way to the Beihai Park and all of that because of the very well-known, white buddhist tower on top of a hill. 

The entrance fee was 20¥ and an extra 10¥ to get up to the white buddhist tower. It is not possible to get up there if you are in any way unable to walk on stairs - however the rest of the park is available. 

I did go all the way to the top and on my way up to the highest pit-stop there were 3 or 4 pit-stops on the way where I was able to buy a piece of red wood where I could write a prayer or a wish on and then hang it among all the other wishes and prayers. On the top of the hill I got to see the white buddhist tower up close - I was a bit disappointed not to be able to get into this thing but that is how it is. The way down from the top was easy.

Beijing - Day one

I arrived at Beijing the 2nd of July and I did not get much sleep on the airplanes - you know.. With all the movies and games on the screen right in front of you the temptation on staying awake is hard to resist - so when I arrived at the hostel I had booked before take off I crashed into my bed and slept for 16 hours and that did not even feel like enough rest. I was up very early though to go to the Forbidden City (The Forbidden City post). My hostels lokation was a 10 minute walk from the Tiananmen Square so there was no problems in walking to the place. I came across some cool places:

Right before the Qianmen Dajie

Meishi Jie not far from my Hostle

Shopping on Qianmen Dajie

The entrance of Qianmen Dajie

Shopping on Qianmen Dajie

Shopping on Dazhalan Jie

Silk Market on Dazhalan Jie

The first food in 20 hours and of course my breakfast of the 3rd of July - Dumblings! Yummy

After a lot of fun around the streets of where I lived and after visiting the Forbidden City I found this shop where everything was cheap. It is kind of like "Tiger" vi have in Denmark - just cheaper.

I have to tell this one little thing before I keep telling you about the China trip:

Selfies and stuff including taking selfies is far from my style. I do not take a lot of selfies my self and definitely not in public. When I do take a selfie I am in my room or totally alone in my parents house and I would never in my life buy anything that can help me take a selfie.

One with the story..

Never say never... I keep running into these kinds of situations where I stop and think something like "once I said that I would never use/buy/do this thing that I am doing now". And this is one of them because I did go buy a selfie-stick and to be even more outrageous about the situation I bought it in pink. The thing was U G L Y but since I was unable to ask anyone and I did not have anyone with me I had to get this stick to get some good pictures of myself on my solo travel to China.

-- Some of my "famous" selfies --