I got an idea some time before we left for the trip to China, considerably influenced by this guy, who really became an enormous inspiration to me after I saw one of his videos and what he's done with his traveling experiences. So on a twist of the idea, I asked my mother to hep me make four balloon-tennis-ball juggling balls, and we happened to have some very happy ones around the house, which worked out pleasantly. And these I brought with me to China.The Birmingham Airport is apparently considered "International," but I seriously don't think they'll have any direct flights to China any time soon. So our first flight at the butt-crack of dawn was to Chicago, Illinois. O'Hare Airport in Chicago is immense and is usually infamous for being a royal pain to navigate, but we hopped the next plane with minimal trouble. The flight flew directly to Beijing, China... over the North Pole and Siberia.
Flying over Siberia looks something like this:
One of the coolest things about Siberia is the winding, iced-over rivers that snake across the frozen landscape. If you don't already know how this river formation (right) is created, you can have a look at this diagram. Basically, a river will snake around as it forms because water will flow to all the lowest points possible, naturally. Over time, it deposits sediment in certain areas, while in other areas it begins to erode, or gets blocked by the built-up sediment. The eventual result is a much straighter river than before with remnant curves left over on the sides that have now been isolated from the main stream. If I remember correctly from learning about it when I was younger, it takes a good long while, so any formation like this is sure to indicate a very old river. However, I'm not entirely sure how long exactly.At any rate, the flight from Chicago to Beijing took 13 hours and 14 minutes, in case you were wondering, which I'm sure you were.
No comments:
Post a Comment