First Few Days in Beijing

Trip Start Aug 08, 2007

Trip End May 19, 2008

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Flag of China Beijing, China
Monday, September 3, 2007

Alright, so I'm back in Beijing with a working laptop and a working
blog, hurray! I'm still putting together a giant entry for the Silk
Road trip, with pictures and all. For now though, I'll put up the entry
I typed up after my first few days in Beijing before the Silk Road
trip, which I wasn't able to put up when my laptop died. Enjoy, and be
ready for a novel.on my Silk Road trip soon.

China. Where do I begin? I've been here three days and I
already have so much to talk about, and way too many pictures. I think I'll do
a day by day break down. Get ready for a long post.

Day 1ish....

It was probably a 30 hour day. I couldn't sleep on the plane,
even though I tried. I met a cool guy named Jim who sat next to me. He works
with steel and travels to China all the time. He gave me some tips, tried to
teach me some phrases, which I don't remember, and he gave me his number and
told me to call him if I ever get into trouble. Maybe a little creepy, but he
was friendly enough.
The flight wasn't too bad, even though I couldn't sleep. The
last four hours felt really long, but it didn't feel as long as I thought it
would. Fourteen hours or so? No big thing.
And the first thing you see once you make it through customs
in China:

Airport

Feels just like home...
Took a long bus ride through Beijing rush hour, oohed and
ahhed everything we saw on the drive, and arrived at TBC (The Beijing Center).
Here's where I'm living:

Dorm

I have a Chinese roommate who won't arrive for a few weeks
when classes start, so it's little lonely right now, but also kind of nice.
There's an outdoor workout area right outside my window. It looks like a
playground, with all the equipment painted bright colors. They do strange
exercises too. Some guy was holding on to a big wheel and spinning on his one
foot, it's hard to describe.
We had a free meal at a restaurant right outside of the West
Gate of the campus. My first real Chinese meal:

First Meal

Delicious.

Though we were tired I wandered around the area with Joe
from SLU and a new friend John. We looked at all the little street shops and
food places, had some poor attempts at conversation with the locals and came
across this amazing Chinese graffiti:

Graffiti

Day 2:

Orientation stuff, get to know you all, hot auditorium with
no AC, papers, TBC T-shirts.
Then I met my host student Jasmine. I was also with her
friend Coral (yes to Chinese people picking their own English names). We toured
the campus, then took a bus to a big supermarket, really just a giant Macy's.
Across the street I bought a cell phone. Quite an overwhelming experience. In
China you buy a phone, then a number, and then minutes. Easier than a plan
maybe, but very difficult to have explained with limited English and Chinese.
Certain phone numbers cost more because they have lucky numbers. I was confused
by the difference and Jasmine kept saying it was because they were better
numbers. Better service? No, numbers better. Better how? Yea, conversations
like this all afternoon.
Then a bunch of us walked back to the supermarket and
wandered all about the area. Here I was able to take a picture of what I hope
will be a continuing series.
Find the bad English!

Bad English 1

We found a 24 hour noodle place for dinner, delicious, and
English on the menu. Hen hao. Ended up there later outside enjoying Chinese
beer. Tried Bai Jiu, Chinese white liquor. It's like drinking rubbing alcohol.
Don't worry, I'll bring some home.

Girl and Matches

Here's a little girl I photographed because she spent a good
half hour playing with matches. Apparently, this is encouraged among Chinese
children.

And the best part of the night-Drunken street fight.
Who knows what started it. I don't know Chinese cruse words,
so I couldn't understand the fighting, but here's the break down.
Young Drunk Man (YDM) vs. Old Guy (OG). There's lots of
yelling back and forth. YDM's girlfriend keeps trying to hold back YDM. Then
some Old Lady (OL) gets involved in the shouting match. She gets in the face of
YDM and YDM karate kicks her into a bike rack. She goes down with all the
bikes. YDM's girlfriend runs up to try and pull YDM away and he shoves her away
and she crashes into a car. Head on bumper, I heard it clash. She was
surprisingly OK.
Well with this, shit goes down. OG and other men start punching, kicking, and
butchering YDM until he is passed out on the street. A crowd is circling around
(myself included of course) and YDM's girlfriend is crying and trying to wake
up YDM. He is able to get up and then starts yelling at OG again! There's no
stopping him! Finally the police arrive and break it up.
Go China.

Day 3:
Tourism! I took way to many pictures, but here are some of
the better ones.

Temple of Heaven:

Old man

Old man painting Chinese characters with water on the sidewalk

Main Temple

Inside the Temple

Tian'anmen Square:

These guys are everywhere, and can detect the smell of dissent

Police 2

And this is the van they take you away in for a long time...

Houhai Lake:

Hutong and Towers:

When in China....

Scary stares up to the Drum Tower

Don't know what this is but it looks cool, so does the dude playing it

There are tons more pictures, email me if you really want more.

And finally,

Random China Facts:

1. Chinese
babies don't wear diapers. They either don't wear shorts or they have
holes cut in the bottom of them. And yes, they piss on the streets.

2. All
police in China are twenty years old and wear uniforms that are too big
for them.

3. The
lanes painted on the roads and highways are merely suggestions and are
rarely followed.

4. Chinese
people have mad squatting abilities. They chill on sidewalks relaxing on
their haunches. I can't do it for more than a couple seconds...but I will
learn...

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