Beijing, finally
Trip Start
May 28, 2008
1
12
16
Trip End
Aug 02, 2008
Beijing,
China
Monday, June 30, 2008
imperial palace
. The ride was really great- we had the opportunity to chat with some Chinese as well as observe the culture- there are so many nuances to the process of riding a train in China, like what kind of food to bring, where to sit, etc. At 10.30 though, I fell right asleep. The train arrived in Beijing at about 9.20 am, and we took a bus from the station to our hostel, which is not at all far from the very famous Wangfujing "road." In fact, I saw many sights that I had previously seen on Andrew Zimern's Bizzare Foods show. Wangfujing Road has become closed to traffic and is now a pedestrian walkway because of the influx of foreigners for the Olympics. To my surprise, Beijing's epicenter looked a bit shabby- almost every building was under construction, and it seems unlikely that it would be finished by August. But then again, China has a lot of money and a lot of people, so I'm sure they can pull it off. Our hostel, "Wangfujing International Youth Hostel," was really nice and not what I expected. Though a bit dirty, it had internet service for a fee, a movie room, a PS2 for a fee, and a small restaurant/bar/hangout area where we spent a lot of time. I shared a room with three other girls and we each had our own bed. These bathrooms actually had toilet paper, which was really a miracle since toilet paper is hard to come by. However, the bathroom was coed so many awkward situations arose during shower time
memorial to "the people"
. There were a lot of other foreigners staying there as well, so it was fun to share stories and hang out. After checking into the Hostel, we went straight to Tian'anmen Square ("gate of heavenly peace") and visited the Imperial Palace. I was glad to see these sites in person as I'd studied them in East Asian Art History. The conditions were really nice- cool, post rain weather and few tourists since it was the middle of the week. There's nothing really to do there, but the area is huge and there are rumored to be 9,999 rooms in the Imperial Palace. We essentially wandered from building to building admiring the architecture. Afterward, we had the day to ourselves and I think we went out to dinner and stayed in for the night.The next day, Thursday, was really amazing because we climbed the Si1ma3tai2 portion of the Great Wall. The conditions were great again because it had previously been raining, so it wasn't too hot... initially. Also, this was one of the steepest portions of the Wall open to tourists, so not many people choose to climb it. I have to admit, I was scared. It started out easy enough, on the path to actually get to the wall. We had the option of gondola-ing to a higher portion and walking down, but I opted to walk. At times I was feeling a bit nauseous so I took a few breathers to keep from passing out, but I think I might have been dehydrated. We were to walk 6-7 miles of the 4000 mile long Wall, but it felt much longer. We had to pass 28 "pagoda" type towers. Some parts were so steep we had to use hands and feet to climb, and some parts were so old (thousands of years) that there was no clear path, just rubble. Also, there were natives that I believe are there everyday who stalk you up the mountain, offering you help, so that you eventually buy something from them. They're quite old women, but they must be in great shape. We climbed and climbed, for about 4 or more hours, until we got to a point where we could climb down to ground level and follow a long road to the bus that was waiting to take us back
imperial palace, marble railings
. Essentially, there was no choice- you had to finish, which was really scary! It was a real struggle, and after the middle point my legs were quivering from exhaustion, but I have to say it's one of my greatest accomplishments. My legs still hurt! And of course, it's just incredible to see, indescribable really. The magnitude of it all is very humbling, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to experience it. After returning to the hostel, we were all exhausted, but I think we went to a street food area where we also had the opportunity to bargain for things. I really love practicing Chinese in this way, and the Chinese people are very supportive and encouraging. I purchased two paintings and a mahjong set (fun!). I secretly like to watch other foreigners get cheated into paying too much- I'm glad we had a lesson on haggling.Friday brought more tourist attractions, namely the Summer Palace where the Imperial family would go on vacation when the weather was too hot. The area was beautiful of course, but a bit redundant, recalling the other imperial buildings. For lunch we visited our teacher's colleague at Qinghua University, equivalent to Stanford or higher in the US. There, I tasted my first Peking Duck- not bad, I'd say. We walked around campus and came across a scene that looked almost exactly like the lawn/rotunda at UVA. After wandering around for awhile, we visited the Temple of Heavenly Peace (tian1tan2), which was not surprisingly very peaceful
classmates and I
. Though again, our visit consisted mostly of just walking through and observing. Before metro-ing our way back to the hostel, we had the opportunity to go to a huge shopping type place where you could bargain- and it was awesome. I bought a lesportsac bag, a prada wallet, a scarf, and perhaps more, though of course they're all fakes. It makes no difference though- if anyone has requests for designer gifts, let me know because they have every brand and style for very very cheap. It was also great getting to practice bargaining. So far it's one of my favorite things about China. Once again that night was rather uneventful. We went out to a club, but it wasn't very fun so I left early and relaxed at the hostel. On our last day, we first checked out of the hostel, which was a long and tedious process. After boarding our bus, we headed over to the Lhama Temple (Tibetan Buddhist temple), which was very awe-inspiring. There were many practicing Buddhists there, who bought incense and practiced their individual rituals. It was a very peaceful place. We then visited the place referred to as the testing site of dynastic China where millions would take a kind of civil service exam based on the Confucian classics to try and earn a position in government. But our teacher explained that the odds in doing well enough to succeed were less than winning the lottery these days, so those who were chosen were very honored.
Finally we boarded the train back to Shanghai, and I think the train ride back was even more fun. Instead of rooming with 5 other classmates, this time we only had one other in our compartment and the rest were Chinese. We met many interesting people- students of other languages, people who live in Beijing and work in Shanghai- but we had an especially entertaining time with two random Chinese men in a different car. They spoke no English, but we were able to talk about their favorite American movies and about our studies. They offered us bai jiu (very strong liquor) and we all drank and ate together. Although I found it a bit awkward, it's quite common for Chinese to treat you like this. Over all it was a very fun trip, but I have to say I'm glad to be back in Shanghai! Now, I've written too much, so enjoy for now.
PS- I do apologize, the pictures are a bit out of order!
Wanan, Luolan
Comments
First Again!
Awesome photodocumentarianism. We are all agape. Sounds like a great time, too. Thanks for the update. I see no evidence of Communism in RED China. Are they trying to indoctrinate you?
Proud to be second again!
Hi Lauren,
Your blog reminded me of 'The Examination'. Have you read it? It was one of Nicole's summer required reading last year and I took it to the beach, read it and loved it. It is about 2 brothers and the sacrifices they made in order to have the more cerebral brother take the competitive examination for public office. It took place during the Ming Dynasty and was a wonderful book. Your father should read it!
I do have a couple of questions--first of all, LIVE scorpions and seahorses for snacks????? do they eat them raw???
Secondly, when you comment about something using phrases like Si1ma3tai2portion, is that phonetic? Don't quite understand.
Did you see much Olympic construction? There was just a large article in our paper today about the strict pollution controls that are being started now in the hopes of minimizing the horrible air quality. Have you found it to be overly smoggy/polluted?
Your pictures are all wonderful-just beware of the rotgut! Be safe and have fun!
Love,
Gheezersis
Re: Proud to be second again!
I'm sorry to say I am not familiar with 'The Examination,' but I will definitely look into it when I have the opportunity. About the scorpions... I believe they are skewered alive, and when they are on display they are all still moving. All the meat at the stands is still raw, and when you order they cook it in front of you over a kind of grill, so they're not eaten raw, they just suffer before they're eaten. About the pronunciations... Mandarin uses 4-5 vocal tones, and any given word has a specific combination. So, my Chinese name, Gu3 Luo2Lan2 is third tone, second, second. The romanization of these characters (古罗兰）is called pinyin, and they help you know how to pronounce a character. Unfortunately the character itself has nothing to do with its pronunciation unlike English... if you know what I mean. This might help: http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/tones.htm .
Anyway, there was a LOT of construction going on in Beijing, I was rather surprised they hadn't finished yet, being so close to the start of the Olympics. They air quality is bad everywhere in China, but it didn't feel especially bad in Beijing.. in fact, atop the Great Wall the air was quite refreshing. Blue sky/stars are very rare!
Thanks for replying! 爱，罗兰