Traveling Diary: October 2007 Archives
I know, I know. This blog is supposed to be about all the cool things
that I get to do here and crazy adventures I stumble into. But I miss you guys, ok? I went to a potluck
tonight with quite a family feel which only further made me miss having
good friends, people who love me despite all of my faults, and all
those familiar little things around me this time of year (like fresh apples and the cool ocean breeze).
I can't believe I have only been here two months now. So much has happened and so much has just become commonplace. Like I am completely unphased now when a car drives up onto the sidewalk and honks while driving straight for me. Or I am no longer shocked when the price of my meal and three beers is less than $2CDN. I mean, It's not all boring or anything yet. But you know my attention span....
One of the teachers from Ottawa (seen here behind me) brought apple crumble and ice cream to the dinner tonight. Talk about making me miss home! Of course I hadn't thought to bring a knife or fork to this party; but instead I had brought chopsticks. I guess you know you've become a chopstick ninja when you can eat ice cream with them!
I can't believe I have only been here two months now. So much has happened and so much has just become commonplace. Like I am completely unphased now when a car drives up onto the sidewalk and honks while driving straight for me. Or I am no longer shocked when the price of my meal and three beers is less than $2CDN. I mean, It's not all boring or anything yet. But you know my attention span....
One of the teachers from Ottawa (seen here behind me) brought apple crumble and ice cream to the dinner tonight. Talk about making me miss home! Of course I hadn't thought to bring a knife or fork to this party; but instead I had brought chopsticks. I guess you know you've become a chopstick ninja when you can eat ice cream with them!
Anyways, I am heading into a lonely weekend with no real plans for the first time since arriving here. Bummer... it will give me time to think about how much I miss you all. I might have to go buy some Bailey's tomorrow a.m. to help dull the pain! Or I could always rustle up an adventure... Nonetheless, I'll make the next post exciting, I promise!
I am officially sick of Chinese food!
I dont think it is fair to say 'Chinese food' as a whole though, since there is so much variety all over China. For example, Northern Chinese (like in Beijing) food is apparently sweeter and saucier; Southern Chinese food such as Sechuan is very hot; and then we have the middle where I am, which is apparently very oily.... yes, it is. So instead of saying I am sick of Chinese food, I should really just say I am sick of the food at my school. We get 3 free meals a day at the cafeteria. I eat, on average, 2 meals a day here. The issue is, it is the same thing practically every day; variation coming only from the fruit you are given (banana, apple, orange, and on a lucky day, melon) and the meat that winds up on your plate (with the likeness of chicken feet and heads...well obviously you just suck all the meat off and spit it out the beak onto your plate... pork, or really bony fish with the fins and head still on cause of course that is the best part!) of which I rarely try to eat.
Here is an example: breakfast on Thursday was actually not too bad. It is the only meal that I still don't mind too much and that is mainly because of this delicious warm powdered milk (I'm not kidding), and the egg crepe things at the bottom. My challenge in the mornings is almost all the breakfast food has pork in it in some capacity and I am allergic. And the stuff that does not have pork is almost like cake which is not good for my beer belly.... I need to save the excess carbs for beer drinking only or I will be in trouble!
So breakfast is served at 7am. Then lunch is served at 12pm, and dinner at 5pm. Over 5000 people shuffle through the three floors of the cafeteria in about 30 minutes, three times a day. It really is quite an impressive operation. I am always thinking of the supply chain management that must go into it, but than I catch myself because I am supposed to be a science geek here, not a business geek! I leave the business geekiness to my Sundays which have now been designated 'Thesis Sundays'.
Mmmm lunch. What? cabbage again? Delicious! And deep fried mystery meat? My favorite!
If you want, you can get a big pile of white rice on top of this culinary masterpiece, but I like to stick to my oily veggies.
This dinner on Thursday was particularly sad. Good thing I was making a potato and eggplant curry later and all I really wanted was a quick banana and bowl of soup before heading to play basketball for a few hours.
While I am talking about the food here, I might as well touch on the table manners in China. Well, I was sitting beside a friend of mine one day this week for dinner (he teaches grade 6 math and us math geeks like to stick together) and we were chatting here and there while we ate and he just so happened to be eating a fish head. I thought it would have been a great video to truly explain just how Chinese people eat. I was really trying to focus on not gagging throughout the majority of our meal together, which is really too bad because I really like the guy and would like to share more meals with him, but....
Chinese people basically shovel as much food as they can into their mouths, and keep talking to the point of spitting their food all over themselves and those around them but somehow they don't notice the food on their friend's cheek. Anything they don't particularly like in that huge bite, they spit out onto the counter in any stage of being chewed.... right between them and the person beside them...and this generally includes but is not limited to bones, peelings, brains, beaks, and toe nails... I swear I am not exaggerating.
Needless to say, on a Friday afternoon after a long week, the last thing the other teachers and I want to do is have yet another meal in the caf. This particular Friday night, the four 'youngins' got together and we went out for (only because I yelled the loudest when we were trying to decide what to have) SUSHI! Jason and I started off the night the way any good Canadians would and bought some big beers and sat out on the curb for a few hours as the sun went down, drinking.
Gina and Linsey met up with us at our beer drinking spot (the bus stop) and we went for all you can eat sushi and all you can drink sake for 120rmb.... Yes, this might have been the highlight of my life. As you can see from the following pictures, I was being a very well behaved, gracious guest. And certainly drinking my 120RMB's worth or deliciously warm Sake. I won't fail to mention from the get go I started yelling out random Japanese words that I know (SUMIMASEN!) to the surprise and delight of the Japanese girls working there. Sake ga suki desu! Can't take me anywhere...
Also, yes, it was also all you can drink Kirin IchiBan (my favorite Japanese beer)... life doesn't get any better than that! The toughest thing was deciding which to drink. Sake, Kirin, Sake, Kirin....
Yes, at this point, Linsey was looking slightly concerned. I think she thought I was actually pouring soya sauce up my nose.
And this last pic is for you, dad!!! Also, anyone else who has ever spent any time with my dad, in particular at the cabin will for sure know his odd habit of glugging beer into his ear.... what the heck is that from anyways? It is frickin' funny after about the 4th or 5th beer, I'll tell you that much!
Ok, so I am sorry to the wonderful people in my life who read this blog and may not want to hear about my ability to drink over a Liter of sake in a night (sorry, Granny). So here is a picture for you.
This panhandler was playing the 'erhu' (a Chinese version of the violin) on the side of the street on our way from the restaurant to the bar. The moon is out behind him, the lights are reflecting on the water, and I was sober enough to get this pic!
I dont think it is fair to say 'Chinese food' as a whole though, since there is so much variety all over China. For example, Northern Chinese (like in Beijing) food is apparently sweeter and saucier; Southern Chinese food such as Sechuan is very hot; and then we have the middle where I am, which is apparently very oily.... yes, it is. So instead of saying I am sick of Chinese food, I should really just say I am sick of the food at my school. We get 3 free meals a day at the cafeteria. I eat, on average, 2 meals a day here. The issue is, it is the same thing practically every day; variation coming only from the fruit you are given (banana, apple, orange, and on a lucky day, melon) and the meat that winds up on your plate (with the likeness of chicken feet and heads...well obviously you just suck all the meat off and spit it out the beak onto your plate... pork, or really bony fish with the fins and head still on cause of course that is the best part!) of which I rarely try to eat.
Here is an example: breakfast on Thursday was actually not too bad. It is the only meal that I still don't mind too much and that is mainly because of this delicious warm powdered milk (I'm not kidding), and the egg crepe things at the bottom. My challenge in the mornings is almost all the breakfast food has pork in it in some capacity and I am allergic. And the stuff that does not have pork is almost like cake which is not good for my beer belly.... I need to save the excess carbs for beer drinking only or I will be in trouble!
So breakfast is served at 7am. Then lunch is served at 12pm, and dinner at 5pm. Over 5000 people shuffle through the three floors of the cafeteria in about 30 minutes, three times a day. It really is quite an impressive operation. I am always thinking of the supply chain management that must go into it, but than I catch myself because I am supposed to be a science geek here, not a business geek! I leave the business geekiness to my Sundays which have now been designated 'Thesis Sundays'.Mmmm lunch. What? cabbage again? Delicious! And deep fried mystery meat? My favorite!
If you want, you can get a big pile of white rice on top of this culinary masterpiece, but I like to stick to my oily veggies.
This dinner on Thursday was particularly sad. Good thing I was making a potato and eggplant curry later and all I really wanted was a quick banana and bowl of soup before heading to play basketball for a few hours.While I am talking about the food here, I might as well touch on the table manners in China. Well, I was sitting beside a friend of mine one day this week for dinner (he teaches grade 6 math and us math geeks like to stick together) and we were chatting here and there while we ate and he just so happened to be eating a fish head. I thought it would have been a great video to truly explain just how Chinese people eat. I was really trying to focus on not gagging throughout the majority of our meal together, which is really too bad because I really like the guy and would like to share more meals with him, but....
Chinese people basically shovel as much food as they can into their mouths, and keep talking to the point of spitting their food all over themselves and those around them but somehow they don't notice the food on their friend's cheek. Anything they don't particularly like in that huge bite, they spit out onto the counter in any stage of being chewed.... right between them and the person beside them...and this generally includes but is not limited to bones, peelings, brains, beaks, and toe nails... I swear I am not exaggerating.
Needless to say, on a Friday afternoon after a long week, the last thing the other teachers and I want to do is have yet another meal in the caf. This particular Friday night, the four 'youngins' got together and we went out for (only because I yelled the loudest when we were trying to decide what to have) SUSHI! Jason and I started off the night the way any good Canadians would and bought some big beers and sat out on the curb for a few hours as the sun went down, drinking.
Gina and Linsey met up with us at our beer drinking spot (the bus stop) and we went for all you can eat sushi and all you can drink sake for 120rmb.... Yes, this might have been the highlight of my life. As you can see from the following pictures, I was being a very well behaved, gracious guest. And certainly drinking my 120RMB's worth or deliciously warm Sake. I won't fail to mention from the get go I started yelling out random Japanese words that I know (SUMIMASEN!) to the surprise and delight of the Japanese girls working there. Sake ga suki desu! Can't take me anywhere...
Also, yes, it was also all you can drink Kirin IchiBan (my favorite Japanese beer)... life doesn't get any better than that! The toughest thing was deciding which to drink. Sake, Kirin, Sake, Kirin....
Yes, at this point, Linsey was looking slightly concerned. I think she thought I was actually pouring soya sauce up my nose. And this last pic is for you, dad!!! Also, anyone else who has ever spent any time with my dad, in particular at the cabin will for sure know his odd habit of glugging beer into his ear.... what the heck is that from anyways? It is frickin' funny after about the 4th or 5th beer, I'll tell you that much!
Ok, so I am sorry to the wonderful people in my life who read this blog and may not want to hear about my ability to drink over a Liter of sake in a night (sorry, Granny). So here is a picture for you.This panhandler was playing the 'erhu' (a Chinese version of the violin) on the side of the street on our way from the restaurant to the bar. The moon is out behind him, the lights are reflecting on the water, and I was sober enough to get this pic!
During my last day in Beijing I had a good little one-on-one with the place. I set out early, on the cool, crisp fall morning to run to Beihai Park. It was so nice to be alone, and so nice to be running. Beihai Park is one of China's oldest and best preserved imperial gardens. It is over 1,000 years old! It was about three quarters of an hour run to get there from where we were staying, an hour run around the entire park, and then a half hour back. Easily 20km. While I ran I remembered my mom and sister were going to be doing a marathon in the next few days. I got a pic of them after their run over the Thanksgiving holiday (The blonde on the right is my surrogate sister...not literally) . They look freaking good for having just run 42km!!! Way to go, guys! I must say I am a bit relieved to have missed that (8 years now?) family tradition....mostly I am just glad I missed the four days of intense pain post-marathon.
Ok, back to me....
More importantly, back to Beijing.
During my one-on-one with the place on this great morning, I got to do a bit of philosophizing and comparing.
It is always exciting for me to go to a new place. Challenges like figuring out the subway system, quickly adjusting to local culture, and meeting locals are all typical highlights. Beijing obviously was no exception. A few things that really stuck out for me in Beijing include:
Olympic fever. For good reason, everything, everywhere has something to do with the olympics.
The cab drivers can't read, dont speak English, and dont know the city well enough to take you anywhere that is not one of the five main sites. We got kicked out of five in total because of one of these three reasons. A far cry from cab drivers in any other city I have been in!
It was not nearly as busy as I had expected. And the people are so friendly! Everyone smiled to you on the street, didn't yell things like "lowai!" which means 'old whitey', which is so constant in Suzhou that I cant go out without my ipod now or I go crazy. And many people stopped to talk to us to help us with our Chinese or try to practice their English. I think it helped that there are a lot more foreigners in Beijing. Well, about 2% of Beijing is non-Han. I would guess that maybe 0.2% of Suzhou was non-Chinese.
The people in Beijing actually understood our Chinese. In Suzhou there is a dialect that is difficult to understand and since we are learning "real" Chinese, they aren't too good at understanding us.
They were taller on average, and darker on average than the people down South. And better looking. In fact, for the first time in China, I actually found a few guys attractive. What a relief! I thought something was wrong with me.
They spat more and there was more gross stuff like peeing in the streets and snot rockets at your feet and smoking everywhere. Also, besides dog, I saw 'rat' on a menu.
Here are some pics of my last afternoon of just exploring the back alleys that are being developed and soon wont be there anymore. They apparently represent the real, "Old Beijing". I love the neighborhood feel of them.
A Beijing business man...
It is a miracle there isn't a single person spitting, peeing, smoking, or doing something randomly disgusting in this picture....
I remember when I was a very sheltered little 17 year old and I went to New York by myself. I thought the murals down in the subway were one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Now, ten years later, I guess I wasn't wrong to think they were cool. Here are what Beijing subway murals look like.
I am not lying when I say this is an average Beijinger's home. They are essentially cement squares. No one has a bathroom so there are public washrooms for use about every 500m or so. And you often see women outside washing their hair in a bucket of water. No one has a tv or a computer, so for fun the men play this Chinese Chess sort of game. It is hilarious watching them play. They get so into it and big crowds of men gather to cheer one another on.
As you can see from these four posts on Beijing, it was a great trip! Gina was good to travel with even though she was constantly having to look at the map (I would just be like... we have to go in that direction... and I would have been completely ok with that....but she would get out the map, find out exactly where we were, find out exactly what the next four turns would be to get there, etc.) and she is fairly self-depricating which can be contagious and it seems to have taken me almost a week to feel comfortable with myself again. Also, I can completely relate to any guy who gets annoyed when his girlfriend wants to talk about everything all the time. I felt like that guy. We had to talk everything through. Why? Can't we just go do it!?! I dont have any feelings about where we eat for breakfast or what route we take where or how. I just want to go have fun and do it. Why do we need to talk it all out?
No one's perfect though and I imagine I am an absolute nightmare to travel with because of any number of faults... in particular the fact that I am so NOT detail oriented must have driven someone like her, who is so detail oriented, nuts. So all things considered, we made a good traveling team.
More importantly, back to Beijing.
During my one-on-one with the place on this great morning, I got to do a bit of philosophizing and comparing.
It is always exciting for me to go to a new place. Challenges like figuring out the subway system, quickly adjusting to local culture, and meeting locals are all typical highlights. Beijing obviously was no exception. A few things that really stuck out for me in Beijing include:
Olympic fever. For good reason, everything, everywhere has something to do with the olympics.
The cab drivers can't read, dont speak English, and dont know the city well enough to take you anywhere that is not one of the five main sites. We got kicked out of five in total because of one of these three reasons. A far cry from cab drivers in any other city I have been in!
It was not nearly as busy as I had expected. And the people are so friendly! Everyone smiled to you on the street, didn't yell things like "lowai!" which means 'old whitey', which is so constant in Suzhou that I cant go out without my ipod now or I go crazy. And many people stopped to talk to us to help us with our Chinese or try to practice their English. I think it helped that there are a lot more foreigners in Beijing. Well, about 2% of Beijing is non-Han. I would guess that maybe 0.2% of Suzhou was non-Chinese.
The people in Beijing actually understood our Chinese. In Suzhou there is a dialect that is difficult to understand and since we are learning "real" Chinese, they aren't too good at understanding us.
They were taller on average, and darker on average than the people down South. And better looking. In fact, for the first time in China, I actually found a few guys attractive. What a relief! I thought something was wrong with me.
They spat more and there was more gross stuff like peeing in the streets and snot rockets at your feet and smoking everywhere. Also, besides dog, I saw 'rat' on a menu.
Here are some pics of my last afternoon of just exploring the back alleys that are being developed and soon wont be there anymore. They apparently represent the real, "Old Beijing". I love the neighborhood feel of them.
A Beijing business man...
It is a miracle there isn't a single person spitting, peeing, smoking, or doing something randomly disgusting in this picture....I remember when I was a very sheltered little 17 year old and I went to New York by myself. I thought the murals down in the subway were one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Now, ten years later, I guess I wasn't wrong to think they were cool. Here are what Beijing subway murals look like.I am not lying when I say this is an average Beijinger's home. They are essentially cement squares. No one has a bathroom so there are public washrooms for use about every 500m or so. And you often see women outside washing their hair in a bucket of water. No one has a tv or a computer, so for fun the men play this Chinese Chess sort of game. It is hilarious watching them play. They get so into it and big crowds of men gather to cheer one another on.As you can see from these four posts on Beijing, it was a great trip! Gina was good to travel with even though she was constantly having to look at the map (I would just be like... we have to go in that direction... and I would have been completely ok with that....but she would get out the map, find out exactly where we were, find out exactly what the next four turns would be to get there, etc.) and she is fairly self-depricating which can be contagious and it seems to have taken me almost a week to feel comfortable with myself again. Also, I can completely relate to any guy who gets annoyed when his girlfriend wants to talk about everything all the time. I felt like that guy. We had to talk everything through. Why? Can't we just go do it!?! I dont have any feelings about where we eat for breakfast or what route we take where or how. I just want to go have fun and do it. Why do we need to talk it all out?
No one's perfect though and I imagine I am an absolute nightmare to travel with because of any number of faults... in particular the fact that I am so NOT detail oriented must have driven someone like her, who is so detail oriented, nuts. So all things considered, we made a good traveling team.
On to day three, which was supposed to be a fairly mellow day of looking at art and shopping and going to the opera, but it turned into a great day for interesting stories from the houtongs (back alleys) of Beijing as well.
It all started with a roadside crepe omlette thing and a subway trip out to the North Eastern part of Beijing, which is this amazing old warehouse area that has been converted to a ridiculously trendy and expensive art district. By this day we were practically pro's at the subway system and managed to get to this district with only having to go backwards once! Ok, I'll admit, we also had to take a cab a little ways because we were lost early on.
This sign greeted us upon entry to the Dashanzi art district. We spent about 4 hours just walking around these stunning contemporary art studios. I thought that Miya and Ricki/James would really love this place. I wish I could just teleport people to places where I am when I think they would love it!
This was one of my favorite paintings. It goes well with the story that I will tell in a bit about later this night.
I also LOVED this painting and I have it on my backdrop of my computer right now. Yes, Dunc, you were replaced.
After seeing all the beautiful art, I started getting a little artsy myself. I took this pic above of a bike in an alley. And I even found beauty in an old torture chair below.
If I had even a baby fingers worth of talent when it came to art, I would call the following three pics "My Graffiti Series". Since I dont, I will just say it was some cool graffiti that I liked
It all started with a roadside crepe omlette thing and a subway trip out to the North Eastern part of Beijing, which is this amazing old warehouse area that has been converted to a ridiculously trendy and expensive art district. By this day we were practically pro's at the subway system and managed to get to this district with only having to go backwards once! Ok, I'll admit, we also had to take a cab a little ways because we were lost early on.
This sign greeted us upon entry to the Dashanzi art district. We spent about 4 hours just walking around these stunning contemporary art studios. I thought that Miya and Ricki/James would really love this place. I wish I could just teleport people to places where I am when I think they would love it!
This was one of my favorite paintings. It goes well with the story that I will tell in a bit about later this night.I also LOVED this painting and I have it on my backdrop of my computer right now. Yes, Dunc, you were replaced.After seeing all the beautiful art, I started getting a little artsy myself. I took this pic above of a bike in an alley. And I even found beauty in an old torture chair below.If I had even a baby fingers worth of talent when it came to art, I would call the following three pics "My Graffiti Series". Since I dont, I will just say it was some cool graffiti that I likedWe had to get back in time for the Opera so meandered home later in the afternoon, high on creativity. The opera house was just a walk away from our hostel and it was in this old little tea house. The architecture was amazing! We had great seats as you can see from my pics. And it cost less than $30CN for a ticket! This style that we saw is the most common and known as Peking Opera. The faces are painted to represent the character's role, age, gender, and disposition.
I've seen some pretty spectacular shows like Cirque du Soleil (in Las Vegas) and Phantom of the Opera (in Toronto) and Stomp (in New York)... but never have I seen anything as sensually overwhelming as this. There was so much to take in visually and the music and singing was nothing like you've ever heard. It was so unique and beautiful. Definitely in my top 3 highlights of Beijing.
I've seen some pretty spectacular shows like Cirque du Soleil (in Las Vegas) and Phantom of the Opera (in Toronto) and Stomp (in New York)... but never have I seen anything as sensually overwhelming as this. There was so much to take in visually and the music and singing was nothing like you've ever heard. It was so unique and beautiful. Definitely in my top 3 highlights of Beijing.No, I didnt understand anything they were saying. But they had this small screen above everyone with the words in English and Chinese which I kinda liked cause I could follow but it did take away from the true authenticity of the experience. Notice how big this woman's eyes are. They hold them open so wide and I never saw her blink once!
A long, arty day. Awesome.
We got home from the opera with a bit more energy than people should have before going to sleep, so decided to walk to this night shopping road. On our way back this sweet old guy on a kabuki cab tried helping us find our way home. Then we tried bargaining with him to take us home and after a bit of banter it was all sorted. 35RMB. Well when he dropped us off at the road to our hostel, Gina gave him a 100 and he gave her 40 back. So she looked at me stunned and he started saying it was 35 per person (good math, buddy)... he tried pulling the oldest trick in the book! I stood there stunned for a few seconds. He was so nice and cute before...I felt betrayed! But I quickly got my wits about me and proceeded to sit on the bike seat. Rambling on about how much I'd always wanted one of those bikes and I could ride Gina around on it, I started riding his bike away. He quickly understood and jumped at me with a 20. But I refused to get off his bike until he gave us proper change. I should have made him pay us our full 100 back just for the principle. Dick head. You picked the wrong girl, buddy;)
Of course, though, the night was still not over. We had to walk through this tight alley to get all the way back to the hostel entrance. We were both a bit upset about the kabuki cab experience. And we could see up ahead these two men hovering over something, scraping at it. I had a feeling I knew what it was and I really should have turned around, because as we got closer, my worst fears were realized. There was this man, crouching over a dog, skinning it. I tried so hard not to look but it was like a bad accident....I couldn't stop staring! There was another man just finishing off a German Shepherd beside him. From then on, I have refuse to eat any meat here.
"Wa boo chi row." Is what I say everywhere to any vendor. It means 'I don't eat meat'.
So we got a bit of the real Beijing on our third night. But they were both things I'd read about and knew to expect, so I cant really be too upset. It has been a week now though and my stomach still turns at the thought of that dog. And no, I still haven't eaten meat.
A long, arty day. Awesome. We got home from the opera with a bit more energy than people should have before going to sleep, so decided to walk to this night shopping road. On our way back this sweet old guy on a kabuki cab tried helping us find our way home. Then we tried bargaining with him to take us home and after a bit of banter it was all sorted. 35RMB. Well when he dropped us off at the road to our hostel, Gina gave him a 100 and he gave her 40 back. So she looked at me stunned and he started saying it was 35 per person (good math, buddy)... he tried pulling the oldest trick in the book! I stood there stunned for a few seconds. He was so nice and cute before...I felt betrayed! But I quickly got my wits about me and proceeded to sit on the bike seat. Rambling on about how much I'd always wanted one of those bikes and I could ride Gina around on it, I started riding his bike away. He quickly understood and jumped at me with a 20. But I refused to get off his bike until he gave us proper change. I should have made him pay us our full 100 back just for the principle. Dick head. You picked the wrong girl, buddy;)
Of course, though, the night was still not over. We had to walk through this tight alley to get all the way back to the hostel entrance. We were both a bit upset about the kabuki cab experience. And we could see up ahead these two men hovering over something, scraping at it. I had a feeling I knew what it was and I really should have turned around, because as we got closer, my worst fears were realized. There was this man, crouching over a dog, skinning it. I tried so hard not to look but it was like a bad accident....I couldn't stop staring! There was another man just finishing off a German Shepherd beside him. From then on, I have refuse to eat any meat here.
"Wa boo chi row." Is what I say everywhere to any vendor. It means 'I don't eat meat'.
So we got a bit of the real Beijing on our third night. But they were both things I'd read about and knew to expect, so I cant really be too upset. It has been a week now though and my stomach still turns at the thought of that dog. And no, I still haven't eaten meat.
The Great Wall!!!
Who knew I would ever spend a day hiking the Great Wall???
I certainly didn't even think I would ever do it even a few months ago!
So there I was, day 2 in Beijing... I am so lucky!!!!
We had to get up at 6am and take a bus that left at 6:15....lame! The bus took 3.5 hours over an incredibly bumpy road. When we got to the wall, all I could think about was 'holy shit I am at the Great Wall of China!'.
As we climbed for the 10km trek up and down thousands of stairs, I was often at a loss for words and just kept saying "Holy shit I am climbing the Great Wall of China!" ( I know I am supposed to keep this blog relatively clean but I think The Great Wall warrants an expletive, dont you?!?)
I dont think anyone could ever get used to the magnitude of the Great Wall. Every time we got to the top of a bastion, it just looked longer and longer. The wall stretches over 6,200kms and was built over three dynasties and for a variety of Emperors. I think it was the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) who ordered all the original walls be connected to form the first 5,000km. At this point in Chinese history, over 70% of the population was working on the Great Wall at once.
This pic was taken about half way into the hike backwards at what we had covered so far. The weather was so absolutely perfect for us. Not too hot or too cold. Not too polluted and just breezy enough.
The section we covered is called Simatai and is considered 'dangerous, but definitely worth the trip' so there weren't many tourists.... just the young, crazy ones. The Simatai part has received little or no restoration so it looks truly authentic. There were so many stairs...both up and down, making the ten km trek seem more like 20km. And it was surely worth it.
Apparently there are more dangerous and difficult sections but most of them are closed off to the public. I would like to do a three day trek along one of those parts one day and just camp out. Apparently you can get a guide and the 'white skin pass' works on these sections like a charm. On my list for August I think!
Although this pic isnt really of the Great Wall, per se, I think it is my favorite pic of the trip. This woman in the window is waiting with her "Coca Beer" (Coke) to sell to the tourists as they walk from bastion to bastion along one of the wonders of the world.
The bus ride home after the experience was 4 hours. Longer than the walk along the wall. It gave me a lot of time to sit and think. I thought a lot about completing big events like that in life and how there always seems to be a bit of an emptiness in me after ticking off yet another adventure. Like, half the fun is really just looking forward to and planning for it, you know?
Who knew I would ever spend a day hiking the Great Wall???
I certainly didn't even think I would ever do it even a few months ago!
So there I was, day 2 in Beijing... I am so lucky!!!!
We had to get up at 6am and take a bus that left at 6:15....lame! The bus took 3.5 hours over an incredibly bumpy road. When we got to the wall, all I could think about was 'holy shit I am at the Great Wall of China!'.
As we climbed for the 10km trek up and down thousands of stairs, I was often at a loss for words and just kept saying "Holy shit I am climbing the Great Wall of China!" ( I know I am supposed to keep this blog relatively clean but I think The Great Wall warrants an expletive, dont you?!?)I dont think anyone could ever get used to the magnitude of the Great Wall. Every time we got to the top of a bastion, it just looked longer and longer. The wall stretches over 6,200kms and was built over three dynasties and for a variety of Emperors. I think it was the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) who ordered all the original walls be connected to form the first 5,000km. At this point in Chinese history, over 70% of the population was working on the Great Wall at once.
This pic was taken about half way into the hike backwards at what we had covered so far. The weather was so absolutely perfect for us. Not too hot or too cold. Not too polluted and just breezy enough.The section we covered is called Simatai and is considered 'dangerous, but definitely worth the trip' so there weren't many tourists.... just the young, crazy ones. The Simatai part has received little or no restoration so it looks truly authentic. There were so many stairs...both up and down, making the ten km trek seem more like 20km. And it was surely worth it.
Apparently there are more dangerous and difficult sections but most of them are closed off to the public. I would like to do a three day trek along one of those parts one day and just camp out. Apparently you can get a guide and the 'white skin pass' works on these sections like a charm. On my list for August I think!Although this pic isnt really of the Great Wall, per se, I think it is my favorite pic of the trip. This woman in the window is waiting with her "Coca Beer" (Coke) to sell to the tourists as they walk from bastion to bastion along one of the wonders of the world. The bus ride home after the experience was 4 hours. Longer than the walk along the wall. It gave me a lot of time to sit and think. I thought a lot about completing big events like that in life and how there always seems to be a bit of an emptiness in me after ticking off yet another adventure. Like, half the fun is really just looking forward to and planning for it, you know?
Yep, that's right. The trip was so freaking amazing I need to put each day into separate entries. I have to admit it is mainly because I took so many pics. Over 100, which is sort of out of character but I think with this blog thing I am always thinking about how to show y'all this experience of mine and words dont describe it all the time. Mind you, nor do pictures...but they sure help.
Beijing was amazing! I wont lie, I like it more than Suzhou. The problem is the pollution. I dont think I would have comfortably lasted more than the 4 days we spent there. But other than that it was mind-blowing beauty coupled with heart-melting friendliness. Mix in a lot of spitting, smoking, and peeing in the streets...and you've got what is touted as China's most beautiful city!
We took a night train from Suzhou. It left at 9pm and got us in at 7am. Well rested, we dropped off our bags and proceeded to explore. ('we' being Gina and I, a coworker of mine...the feminist American girl i have mentioned before... do you also find it funny that this feminist has a name that involves the last four letters to vagina? Just thought I might mention it...) But I digress, as usual.
Our hostel was about a ten minute walk from Tian'anmen square. Logically, we started there first.
Build in 1958, this is the largest public square in the world as it is 63 soccer fields from end to end. This building is the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao and it borders the South end of the square. Mao's body is lying in this building and apparently thousands of Chinese make the pilgrimage every year to see his body. We passed.
Yes it was busy there. Mostly because of the National Day holiday. Walking North through Tian'anmen, you go past all these other important monuments (not to sound disrespectful but I doubt you guys want a history lesson) and finally get to the Forbidden City. This place has got some cool history and the architecture is gorgeous.
The forbidden city was closed off to the world for over 500 years. This 10,000 room 'home' took 14 years to complete. Apparently all the rooms were needed for the hundreds of concubines that the emperors are rumored to have kept. Along with many concubines, 100's of eunuchs worked throughout the city and lived within the palace walls as well. Maybe obvious but the emperors made all the male help into eunuchs so they wouldnt have to worry about them being deviants with all the concubines. We didnt go into the forbidden city. After all, it is just some rich guys old house. But from the outside it looked pretty cool.
From Tian'anmen we headed to the Temple of Heaven. It is another one of those Beijing landmarks you have to cross off your list.
This beautiful little girl is seen in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. That's right, in 1420 they built this entire huge city (4 times the size of the Forbidden City) and temples (which represent heaven and earth) just to pray for food. The roofs are blue on all the buildings to symbolize heaven.
This Gold Digger (as the shirt implies but fortunately/unfortunately history seems to disprove) is also standing in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Many rituals were performed during the winter solstice at the Temple of Heaven and it was last used in 1914 for it's original purposes.
In between subway adventures from one great monument to the next, we bumped into this French Canadian (I know, I know...) named Medin. She was traveling alone and it was also her first day in Beijing and she asked if we wanted to join her for Peking Duck (considered a 'must do' in Beijing) so we set a date to meet with her later in the day.
The problem is that restaurants are so easy to find in a map and a guide book. But apparently Beijing is a hell of a lot bigger than it looks on a map. Go figure. And Medin HAD to go to this specific restaurant. Go figure. While Medin and Gina sorted us out, I took pictures.
A few hours later (no exaggeration) we finally found the restaurant and
Medin and I, in typical Canadian fashion, had a celebratory beer! No
matter how long I live in China, I will never get over how cool it is
to be able to drink anywhere.
By the end of that meal all three of us were struggling to keep our eyes open. The duck was ok but certainly nothing to walk three hours to look for. I'd have been happy just drinking beer in the streets all night. But you live and learn. After another few hours of walking, getting shut down by three cab drivers in a row (they dont pick you up if they have to turn around or they dont know the street you are on. And most of them can't read even our chinese card so unless you pronounce it perfectly, they kick you out of the cab) we made it back to our hostel beds in one piece. Oh, here is also where I mention that I blew my budget for the entire trip on this first day....ooops. The good news is my Christmas shopping is done!
Beijing was amazing! I wont lie, I like it more than Suzhou. The problem is the pollution. I dont think I would have comfortably lasted more than the 4 days we spent there. But other than that it was mind-blowing beauty coupled with heart-melting friendliness. Mix in a lot of spitting, smoking, and peeing in the streets...and you've got what is touted as China's most beautiful city!
We took a night train from Suzhou. It left at 9pm and got us in at 7am. Well rested, we dropped off our bags and proceeded to explore. ('we' being Gina and I, a coworker of mine...the feminist American girl i have mentioned before... do you also find it funny that this feminist has a name that involves the last four letters to vagina? Just thought I might mention it...) But I digress, as usual.
Our hostel was about a ten minute walk from Tian'anmen square. Logically, we started there first.
Build in 1958, this is the largest public square in the world as it is 63 soccer fields from end to end. This building is the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao and it borders the South end of the square. Mao's body is lying in this building and apparently thousands of Chinese make the pilgrimage every year to see his body. We passed.Yes it was busy there. Mostly because of the National Day holiday. Walking North through Tian'anmen, you go past all these other important monuments (not to sound disrespectful but I doubt you guys want a history lesson) and finally get to the Forbidden City. This place has got some cool history and the architecture is gorgeous.The forbidden city was closed off to the world for over 500 years. This 10,000 room 'home' took 14 years to complete. Apparently all the rooms were needed for the hundreds of concubines that the emperors are rumored to have kept. Along with many concubines, 100's of eunuchs worked throughout the city and lived within the palace walls as well. Maybe obvious but the emperors made all the male help into eunuchs so they wouldnt have to worry about them being deviants with all the concubines. We didnt go into the forbidden city. After all, it is just some rich guys old house. But from the outside it looked pretty cool.From Tian'anmen we headed to the Temple of Heaven. It is another one of those Beijing landmarks you have to cross off your list.
This beautiful little girl is seen in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. That's right, in 1420 they built this entire huge city (4 times the size of the Forbidden City) and temples (which represent heaven and earth) just to pray for food. The roofs are blue on all the buildings to symbolize heaven.This Gold Digger (as the shirt implies but fortunately/unfortunately history seems to disprove) is also standing in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Many rituals were performed during the winter solstice at the Temple of Heaven and it was last used in 1914 for it's original purposes. In between subway adventures from one great monument to the next, we bumped into this French Canadian (I know, I know...) named Medin. She was traveling alone and it was also her first day in Beijing and she asked if we wanted to join her for Peking Duck (considered a 'must do' in Beijing) so we set a date to meet with her later in the day.
The problem is that restaurants are so easy to find in a map and a guide book. But apparently Beijing is a hell of a lot bigger than it looks on a map. Go figure. And Medin HAD to go to this specific restaurant. Go figure. While Medin and Gina sorted us out, I took pictures.A few hours later (no exaggeration) we finally found the restaurant and
Medin and I, in typical Canadian fashion, had a celebratory beer! No
matter how long I live in China, I will never get over how cool it is
to be able to drink anywhere. By the end of that meal all three of us were struggling to keep our eyes open. The duck was ok but certainly nothing to walk three hours to look for. I'd have been happy just drinking beer in the streets all night. But you live and learn. After another few hours of walking, getting shut down by three cab drivers in a row (they dont pick you up if they have to turn around or they dont know the street you are on. And most of them can't read even our chinese card so unless you pronounce it perfectly, they kick you out of the cab) we made it back to our hostel beds in one piece. Oh, here is also where I mention that I blew my budget for the entire trip on this first day....ooops. The good news is my Christmas shopping is done!
October 1 is National Day. Is it so far my favorite holiday in China because we dont just get one day off -- we get a whole week! National Day commemorates the day that China declared itself The People's Republic of China. "Fifty-three years ago, at
Tian'anmen Square, Chairman Mao Zedong solemnly declared to the world
that the People's Republic of China had been established. At that
ceremony, the national flag of China made its first appearance and
Chinese people sang their national anthem for the first time." Then the cultural revolution began in 1966 and ended in 1976. It's crazy because I have to constantly remind myself that my student's parents survived the cultural revolution...most of them were born during it! And a lot of their culture is still affected by it. It's also crazy because China has such an ancient, gorgeous history, and yet most of today's holidays and culture seem to only come from the last 60 years.
Anywhooo, I got to spend National Day doing something I love to do anywhere in the world. Cycle touring! Mae took me on this bike ride with her outdoors club to one of the biggest lakes in China. We rode our bikes over 40km to get to a hole-in-the-wall dock. Here were were picked up by the most hilarious man who boated us to an island where his family lives. The island is all orange and persimmon groves. We went swimming, ate too many oranges, and then were fed a huge, seafood feast that had all just been caught that morning. On the way home we went to an old town which was gorgeous. I met my future ex-husband but he didnt speak English! The bike ride back was tough to be honest. It's been a while since I have ridden that long. All in all it was over an 11 hour trek. But talk about a perfect day! Here are some pics:
A gorgeous view of some old sail boats from a bridge entering East Hill on Lake Taihu. The ex-vice president was on his way to stay here for the holiday and the entire road was blocked from cars. Plus there was a police man every 500m. Apparently when a high official travels anywhere, they clear the roads of cars for their entire journey. The amount of man power it took just around the lake was intense.
This guy on the left organizes the trips. He is 51 and I went ahead for most of the ride to the lake as I find it harder on my wrists and butt to go slowly. He tried keeping up (note how sweaty he is) and struggled (I think he did very well for a 51 year old) but he has a speedometer on his bike and we were only going around 26km/hr on average which I dont think is very fast. After all, the guys in the tour go about 25 miles per hour I think.
This guy had the greatest energy! He picked us up on his boat and took us to his house on the island and made us lunch. I asked him if I could buy a house on his island but apparently the entire area is now being conserved so no buildings can be erected nor can they change ownership unless they are passed through families. Guess I'll just have to marry him. Wouldn't our kids be so cute?
Anywhooo, I got to spend National Day doing something I love to do anywhere in the world. Cycle touring! Mae took me on this bike ride with her outdoors club to one of the biggest lakes in China. We rode our bikes over 40km to get to a hole-in-the-wall dock. Here were were picked up by the most hilarious man who boated us to an island where his family lives. The island is all orange and persimmon groves. We went swimming, ate too many oranges, and then were fed a huge, seafood feast that had all just been caught that morning. On the way home we went to an old town which was gorgeous. I met my future ex-husband but he didnt speak English! The bike ride back was tough to be honest. It's been a while since I have ridden that long. All in all it was over an 11 hour trek. But talk about a perfect day! Here are some pics:
A gorgeous view of some old sail boats from a bridge entering East Hill on Lake Taihu. The ex-vice president was on his way to stay here for the holiday and the entire road was blocked from cars. Plus there was a police man every 500m. Apparently when a high official travels anywhere, they clear the roads of cars for their entire journey. The amount of man power it took just around the lake was intense.This guy on the left organizes the trips. He is 51 and I went ahead for most of the ride to the lake as I find it harder on my wrists and butt to go slowly. He tried keeping up (note how sweaty he is) and struggled (I think he did very well for a 51 year old) but he has a speedometer on his bike and we were only going around 26km/hr on average which I dont think is very fast. After all, the guys in the tour go about 25 miles per hour I think.This guy had the greatest energy! He picked us up on his boat and took us to his house on the island and made us lunch. I asked him if I could buy a house on his island but apparently the entire area is now being conserved so no buildings can be erected nor can they change ownership unless they are passed through families. Guess I'll just have to marry him. Wouldn't our kids be so cute?Yeah! I ate this fish whole. It was actually really good. The bones were soft-ish... At lunch I also tried freshwater snails and eel. The eel was so good! The snails? I'd rather not talk about it....
This is the entrance to the island. Riding around Lake Taihu reminded me a lot of parts of New Zealand.
This is the entrance to the island. Riding around Lake Taihu reminded me a lot of parts of New Zealand. Similarities included the beautiful water and mountains, windy, hilly roads (as per the sign), and humidity.
Differences include the architecture of homes on hills (imagine living in this one!?!), and type of vehicles driven.
Differences include the architecture of homes on hills (imagine living in this one!?!), and type of vehicles driven.
Lastly, I snapped this pic up an alley in the old town we went to. I swore this painting on the wall was Mao but May said it was just a painting of an official. I am heading to Beijing today for the rest of the week. So dont be sad if there are no updates for a week. I'll be sure to make it up to you when I come back from Beijing with stories of the Great Wall and Beijing Opera!
