Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Nanjing Highlights
- Traveller's Soul Inn Nanjing: a chic, swanky hostel for less than $6 a night. Everything smelled of cedar wood, the facilities were super comfortable, and they had puppies and kittens. It's located in a really cool complex that Karen said was like the Meat Packing District in NYC.
- Walking around the ancient city wall at night and watching people - young and old - exercise and do tai chi.
- Chatting with our roommate Estelle, a Chinese software engineer, about everything from whether or not a single-party system can be good for the economy to what Chinese and American cultures find attractive.
- Fuxi Temple - my first Confucian temple.
- Getting lost on my own and then randomly finding Karen in her bright red rain jacket and Beatz.
- Seeing the Imperial Examination College - about which I studied in several different classes - and walking around the Dragon Door six times.
- Dumplings.
- The dumpling-induced runs.
- Talking to my best friend for hours =)
- Learning that NY passed Marriage Equality, taking a step forward for American principles, liberty, and justice for all... and then debating it with people on Facebook.
- Walking into a literal hole in the wall and ordering random dishes in Chinese that turned out to be pig's face, duck innards, and chicken.
- The second bite of hairy, chewy, disgusting pig's face that almost made me vomit.
- More dumplings.
- The best wine I've ever had.
- Random fireworks.
- Being eaten alive by mosquitoes.
- Watching a grown man defecate into a river.
- The Nanjing Massacre Victims Memorial ... intense...
- Walking to the Purple Mountain through a beautiful park.
- Did I mention dumplings?
- Realizing we have the same reaction to seeing foreigners as the Chinese do - staring out of sheer curiosity.
- Taking a four hour train ride to Shanghai, buying the standing seats, but getting to sit every so often because of the kindness of the Chinese.
PS - 'Is it everything you want, everything you need?'
Friday, June 24, 2011
Where in the World is Captain America: Tai Shan, China
Captain America, like a boss, half way up Tai Shan.
Captain America at the top of Tai Shan, viewing the sunrise.
Captain America at the gate towards the Confucian Temple near the top of Tai Shan. *Note: The taking of this picture got me a very large crowd, trying to figure out what the heck I was doing. A Chinese teenager asked me in choppy English: "what are you doing?" Me: "taking a picture of a toy that I carry around the world." Him: "Thank you." Then he walked away, and the crowd chuckled.*
48 Hours of Epicness (21 and 22 June)
At 2AM we were awoken by the train maiden and arrived in Tai'an's Tai Shan station. We sat around for a few hours, waiting for the sun to rise, so we could go and find our hostel. While in the train station, we witnessed one of the creepiest scenes I've ever seen. It probably won't sound as creepy, but I'll try to describe it...
A Chinese neon sign flickers green and red. An old hunchback woman walks slowly through the aisles, wheeling a bag - an unnerving noise. She stopped at the window right in front of us. Clutching the window bars with an iron grip, she slowly looks around at us from under her arm, green and red illuminating her dishevelled face. Nightmares. So was Grandma Cricket.
We then went to the hostel, an old rundown family joint with extremely friendly ownders and chihuahua puppies. After settling in, we had some bread and weirdly delicious soup from an overly enthusiastic vendor. We explored a little, and then I went out to the food market near us. Five hundred pictures in less than a block.
I went back, napped, then we went to the Dai Temple - an expansive ad gorgeous area. While there, I met a kid who had met Tim when he was in Tai'an. Small world.
Next came dumplings, fried chicken, fried peppers, etc. Then a nap. Why all the napping? We decided to (and did) climb from the Dai Temple to the highest peak of Tai Shan - the Jade Emperor Temple. The Dai Temple to the base was an inclined mile. The base to the Jade Emperor Temple was 7,200 steps, well over 5,500 feet. And then we walked all the way back (on the way down, I slipped and bruised my tail bone). Oy. The climb was excruciating, but well worth it. From the top, I enjoyed the sunrise (which couldn't be seen through the mist) with the Chinese pilgrims who came to climb one of the five sacred mountains. In the eight + hours that we were walking, we saw one other white person. The Chinese were so surprised to see us - apparently it's not big for Western tourists to do this at night - that we got in at least sixty different photographs.
Once back at the hostel, we grabbed some food and went to sleep finally. Then we grabbed more food, and waited for our train to Nanjing.
As we walked down the aisle of our train compartment, I couldn't help but laugh. They had no sleeper seats left, so we had to book the sitting car - which is very rare for tourists. The ENTIRE compartment was in awe - staring and repositioning to see the laowei (foreigners). Our seats were all the way at the end of the compartment, so we literally were stared at by every waking person. People tried talking to us, but we couldn't understand, which drew heaps of laughter. One vendor made fun of me for writing, making gibberish noises. He then announced something to the train and everyone laughed. (Have you ever been laughed at by an entire train car of people?) When Karen and Michael started playing cards, they acquired an audience (including the train attendant).
PS - Bare Necessities
A Chinese neon sign flickers green and red. An old hunchback woman walks slowly through the aisles, wheeling a bag - an unnerving noise. She stopped at the window right in front of us. Clutching the window bars with an iron grip, she slowly looks around at us from under her arm, green and red illuminating her dishevelled face. Nightmares. So was Grandma Cricket.
We then went to the hostel, an old rundown family joint with extremely friendly ownders and chihuahua puppies. After settling in, we had some bread and weirdly delicious soup from an overly enthusiastic vendor. We explored a little, and then I went out to the food market near us. Five hundred pictures in less than a block.
I went back, napped, then we went to the Dai Temple - an expansive ad gorgeous area. While there, I met a kid who had met Tim when he was in Tai'an. Small world.
Next came dumplings, fried chicken, fried peppers, etc. Then a nap. Why all the napping? We decided to (and did) climb from the Dai Temple to the highest peak of Tai Shan - the Jade Emperor Temple. The Dai Temple to the base was an inclined mile. The base to the Jade Emperor Temple was 7,200 steps, well over 5,500 feet. And then we walked all the way back (on the way down, I slipped and bruised my tail bone). Oy. The climb was excruciating, but well worth it. From the top, I enjoyed the sunrise (which couldn't be seen through the mist) with the Chinese pilgrims who came to climb one of the five sacred mountains. In the eight + hours that we were walking, we saw one other white person. The Chinese were so surprised to see us - apparently it's not big for Western tourists to do this at night - that we got in at least sixty different photographs.
Once back at the hostel, we grabbed some food and went to sleep finally. Then we grabbed more food, and waited for our train to Nanjing.
As we walked down the aisle of our train compartment, I couldn't help but laugh. They had no sleeper seats left, so we had to book the sitting car - which is very rare for tourists. The ENTIRE compartment was in awe - staring and repositioning to see the laowei (foreigners). Our seats were all the way at the end of the compartment, so we literally were stared at by every waking person. People tried talking to us, but we couldn't understand, which drew heaps of laughter. One vendor made fun of me for writing, making gibberish noises. He then announced something to the train and everyone laughed. (Have you ever been laughed at by an entire train car of people?) When Karen and Michael started playing cards, they acquired an audience (including the train attendant).
A gate on Tai Shan
PS - Bare Necessities
Summer Palace, Beijing
On 20 June, we went back to the Summer Palace, by ourselves. It was packed. I'm not going to say much on this, just check the photos. All I will say, is that taking pictures of a used popsicle stick on beautiful old door attracted me a lot of attention, and laughs.
We wandered around, wasting time before our train, and then made way to depart our favorite city. Beijing's train station was one of the nicest, most convenient stations I've ever been, and the train was equally as nice. The hostel told us that our train would arrive in Tai Shan station at 2PM, but they were 12 hours off.
I'll pick this up in the next post.
Here's the Summer Palace pics:
PS - Don't you forget about me... Don't, don't, don't, don't...
We wandered around, wasting time before our train, and then made way to depart our favorite city. Beijing's train station was one of the nicest, most convenient stations I've ever been, and the train was equally as nice. The hostel told us that our train would arrive in Tai Shan station at 2PM, but they were 12 hours off.
I'll pick this up in the next post.
Here's the Summer Palace pics:
PS - Don't you forget about me... Don't, don't, don't, don't...
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Where in the World is Captain America: The Great Wall
Captain America cruising the 12,600 km Great Wall.
Where in the World is Captain America: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Captain America looking for 'tank man' in Tiananmen Square.
Captain America looking for our debt in the Forbidden City.
Great Wall, Great Day
Fried dough. Hop in a van. Head to the Great Wall of China.
Street food. Buy tickets. Ride ski-lift to the Great Wall of China.
The Great Wall of China (more like the Insanely Epic Wall of China) is just as majestic and mind-boggling as one would expect. We climbed heaps of stairs - little steps, normal steps, huge steps - only to find a sign not too far in that said, "No Further Entry." We didn't listen.
Past the sign was a section of the wall where only the adventrous travellers venture off to. Not fixed up, and covered in overgrown greenery, we hiked into the unknown. The trail was tough, one wrong step and things could go bad... but the view was the most visually stunning thing I've ever seen. Looking out on a small part of the 12,600 km World Wonder, I thought about the men that built it, and how our species can do whatever we set our mind out to do. If man could do this, what can I do with my life? Hopefully something remotely as profound.
We hiked for awhile, sat, separated to contemplate life, and then met back up later to take the Tobagan down. On the way back to Beijing, we stopped at a Tea House - the tea was good, but it was a government run store, so we refused to buy anything. They weren't happy.
Upon our return to Beijing, we met up with Stephane and got a damn good dinner. He paid... thanks Stephane! We also grabbed some random skewers from a street vendor, not knowing what we were getting. The only bad one was this nasty grey tofu. Blech.
Michael and I then ran back to the room to change into our clubbing clothes that we bought. Lookin' fly, we met back up with Karen and Stephane, bid him adieu, and ran to meet Tim and Amanda at the metro. We metro'd to an area for which I forget the name, and went to The Smuggler's bar. After a Whiskey and Coke, two Cocaine shots, and a Blue Kamikaze shot (they had Blow Jobs), we grabbed some skewers and amazing bread from vendor nearby and ran to Destination - Beijing's best LGBT night club. It was frickin' epic. There were tons of different rooms - lounge areas, small dance floors, a big dance floor, and a few bars. The music was great, the lighting was intense, and the mojitos were the best I've ever had. After a damn good night of fun, we went back to the hostel and collapsed.
What a day. Best twenty-four hours of the trip, hands down.
PS - That was much better, thanks. =)
Street food. Buy tickets. Ride ski-lift to the Great Wall of China.
The Great Wall of China (more like the Insanely Epic Wall of China) is just as majestic and mind-boggling as one would expect. We climbed heaps of stairs - little steps, normal steps, huge steps - only to find a sign not too far in that said, "No Further Entry." We didn't listen.
Past the sign was a section of the wall where only the adventrous travellers venture off to. Not fixed up, and covered in overgrown greenery, we hiked into the unknown. The trail was tough, one wrong step and things could go bad... but the view was the most visually stunning thing I've ever seen. Looking out on a small part of the 12,600 km World Wonder, I thought about the men that built it, and how our species can do whatever we set our mind out to do. If man could do this, what can I do with my life? Hopefully something remotely as profound.
We hiked for awhile, sat, separated to contemplate life, and then met back up later to take the Tobagan down. On the way back to Beijing, we stopped at a Tea House - the tea was good, but it was a government run store, so we refused to buy anything. They weren't happy.
Upon our return to Beijing, we met up with Stephane and got a damn good dinner. He paid... thanks Stephane! We also grabbed some random skewers from a street vendor, not knowing what we were getting. The only bad one was this nasty grey tofu. Blech.
Michael and I then ran back to the room to change into our clubbing clothes that we bought. Lookin' fly, we met back up with Karen and Stephane, bid him adieu, and ran to meet Tim and Amanda at the metro. We metro'd to an area for which I forget the name, and went to The Smuggler's bar. After a Whiskey and Coke, two Cocaine shots, and a Blue Kamikaze shot (they had Blow Jobs), we grabbed some skewers and amazing bread from vendor nearby and ran to Destination - Beijing's best LGBT night club. It was frickin' epic. There were tons of different rooms - lounge areas, small dance floors, a big dance floor, and a few bars. The music was great, the lighting was intense, and the mojitos were the best I've ever had. After a damn good night of fun, we went back to the hostel and collapsed.
What a day. Best twenty-four hours of the trip, hands down.
Unrenovated part (this is the good section of it)
About to collapse at any second
Renovated side (see the difference?)
PS - That was much better, thanks. =)
17 June
Brunch today came from a hole in the wall with no English menus, English speaking stuff, or foreigners; and consisted of these pancake-dumpling things with meat and scallions, and a rice porridge. I could've eaten 100 pancake things, but could do without the tasteless porridge.
We went to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. While in Tiananmen, I stopped for a photo of Captain America, but Karen and Michael didn't wait for me. As I was reaching in my bag, I looked around for them - which made it seem as though I was about to pull out a poster or Tibetan flag and was checking for autorities. While looking for Michael and Karen, I noticed four lone and plain clothed men stop in their tracks and stare at me intently until they saw I was only taking out a toy, so they moved on and didn't arrest me.
The Forbidden City was overwhelmingly huge and crowded, yet beautiful. A great place to people watch. After our fair share of Beijing's most famous sight, we took the metro to meet Tim and then go to the Summer Palace. Along with Tim was Amanda, Marcus, Ellroy, and Candice - all of whom were incredibly sweet and seemingly very intelligent. The Summer Palace's grounds were remarkable - mysterious, windy, shady, colorful, and all around magnificent. We didn't make it to the Palace part itself, because we were in a rush - Tim and friends had a dinner to get to, and we had to meet Stephane. We told Stephane we would meet him at 6PM for dinner, but never said where. We didn't have internet or his phone number until 6:10 PM, at which point he had just arrived at our hostel. We told him to meet us at Weigongcun metro stop, so we could go to the duck place we tried to go to last night. An hour lator, we were a) waiting for him and b) trying to find Weigongcun - which had us literally running everywhere in the area. I called him and told him to go to exit A at the National Library stop instead, because we knew where that was, but he hadn't heard me. I stood at A for a while until I decided to call him and see where he was. He answered with a "where the fuck are you?! I'm at A." Realizing he probably hadn't heard me, I asked him where he was. Weigongcun. He hopped back on the metro and we finally met up and ran to the restaurant, arriving nearly two hours after we were supposed to meet him. The duck was damn worth it - buttery, fatty, perfect.
After 1001 apologies, we headed back to Hoh Hai. We wandered into a store with hilariously bizarre translated merchandise - designed by the owner. We chatted with him for a while and he showed us a newspaper article to verify his claim of being the inventor of the famous and ubiquitous "ObaMao" image that's plastered on t-shirts, wallets, hats, etc. we then went back to Huxley's, where I had a "Big Dick," "Quick Fuck," and "Between the Sheets" shots (listed in order of deliciousness). We chatted for awhile about Stephane's life and then cabbed home.
PS -
We went to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. While in Tiananmen, I stopped for a photo of Captain America, but Karen and Michael didn't wait for me. As I was reaching in my bag, I looked around for them - which made it seem as though I was about to pull out a poster or Tibetan flag and was checking for autorities. While looking for Michael and Karen, I noticed four lone and plain clothed men stop in their tracks and stare at me intently until they saw I was only taking out a toy, so they moved on and didn't arrest me.
The Forbidden City was overwhelmingly huge and crowded, yet beautiful. A great place to people watch. After our fair share of Beijing's most famous sight, we took the metro to meet Tim and then go to the Summer Palace. Along with Tim was Amanda, Marcus, Ellroy, and Candice - all of whom were incredibly sweet and seemingly very intelligent. The Summer Palace's grounds were remarkable - mysterious, windy, shady, colorful, and all around magnificent. We didn't make it to the Palace part itself, because we were in a rush - Tim and friends had a dinner to get to, and we had to meet Stephane. We told Stephane we would meet him at 6PM for dinner, but never said where. We didn't have internet or his phone number until 6:10 PM, at which point he had just arrived at our hostel. We told him to meet us at Weigongcun metro stop, so we could go to the duck place we tried to go to last night. An hour lator, we were a) waiting for him and b) trying to find Weigongcun - which had us literally running everywhere in the area. I called him and told him to go to exit A at the National Library stop instead, because we knew where that was, but he hadn't heard me. I stood at A for a while until I decided to call him and see where he was. He answered with a "where the fuck are you?! I'm at A." Realizing he probably hadn't heard me, I asked him where he was. Weigongcun. He hopped back on the metro and we finally met up and ran to the restaurant, arriving nearly two hours after we were supposed to meet him. The duck was damn worth it - buttery, fatty, perfect.
After 1001 apologies, we headed back to Hoh Hai. We wandered into a store with hilariously bizarre translated merchandise - designed by the owner. We chatted with him for a while and he showed us a newspaper article to verify his claim of being the inventor of the famous and ubiquitous "ObaMao" image that's plastered on t-shirts, wallets, hats, etc. we then went back to Huxley's, where I had a "Big Dick," "Quick Fuck," and "Between the Sheets" shots (listed in order of deliciousness). We chatted for awhile about Stephane's life and then cabbed home.
PS -
16 June
Beijing has already captured by heart in the brief time we've been here.
Our second day started with delicious, large dumplings filled with pork and oozing with tongue pleasing juices. We then ate candied hawthorne berries on a stick - which were equally amazing. Bellies full, we headed for Silk Street. On the long walk there, we stopped at Dairy Queen, where I tried a Mango Cheese Blizzard - weird, yet surprisingly satisfying.
Once at Silk Street, we took a deep breath, braced ourselves, and plunged into the sea of overly caffeinated vendors. "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, you buy!", "Hey you, sexy boy!", "Lady, Sir, you come to my shop?", etc filled our ears. My favorite bargaining experience was over a shirt, which she quoted for 800-something Yuan, then 430, and 350. When asked for my best price, I said, "30." "Dollars??" "No, quai." "You're killing me! Quai?" I started to walk away and she said, "ok, I give you best price... just say yes or no, and walk away. 50." "No." "You pig! You cheap! (Insert Chinese yelling.)" I walked away laughing.
We left Silk Street on a bargaining high and metroed to Tiananmen to meet up with Stephane, Tim, and Amanda. Once altogether, we went for dinner near Tim's university. The place we wanted to go was out of duck, so we went to their favorite restaurant and ate the most amazing food yet. Desert was in the form of meat on skewers from street vendors (mmm, squid). From there, we headed to Hoh Hai - a popular night spot overlooking a manmade lake, which effortlessly reflected the signs and lights of the bars that peppered the slim streets.
On the way, Karen, Tim, and I upheld a traditional Tim game, in which the rules were: finish a bottle of wine together before you arrive at your destination. We won.
At Hoh Hai, we wandered into Huxley's, a bar in an alley with the slogan, "Shut up. Just drink." Which we did. We had mixed drinks and crazy named shots. From there, we went to a raggae bar that Tim raved about - sofas outside, good and cheap drinks, and kittens. We drank several, also ridiculously named shots. The night ended after a long kitten petting and playing-with session. The kitten was the cutest ball of white fur in all of China. We cabbed home, and I collapsed into the best night's sleep I've had in weeks.
PS - You could say it from time to time...
Our second day started with delicious, large dumplings filled with pork and oozing with tongue pleasing juices. We then ate candied hawthorne berries on a stick - which were equally amazing. Bellies full, we headed for Silk Street. On the long walk there, we stopped at Dairy Queen, where I tried a Mango Cheese Blizzard - weird, yet surprisingly satisfying.
Once at Silk Street, we took a deep breath, braced ourselves, and plunged into the sea of overly caffeinated vendors. "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, you buy!", "Hey you, sexy boy!", "Lady, Sir, you come to my shop?", etc filled our ears. My favorite bargaining experience was over a shirt, which she quoted for 800-something Yuan, then 430, and 350. When asked for my best price, I said, "30." "Dollars??" "No, quai." "You're killing me! Quai?" I started to walk away and she said, "ok, I give you best price... just say yes or no, and walk away. 50." "No." "You pig! You cheap! (Insert Chinese yelling.)" I walked away laughing.
We left Silk Street on a bargaining high and metroed to Tiananmen to meet up with Stephane, Tim, and Amanda. Once altogether, we went for dinner near Tim's university. The place we wanted to go was out of duck, so we went to their favorite restaurant and ate the most amazing food yet. Desert was in the form of meat on skewers from street vendors (mmm, squid). From there, we headed to Hoh Hai - a popular night spot overlooking a manmade lake, which effortlessly reflected the signs and lights of the bars that peppered the slim streets.
On the way, Karen, Tim, and I upheld a traditional Tim game, in which the rules were: finish a bottle of wine together before you arrive at your destination. We won.
At Hoh Hai, we wandered into Huxley's, a bar in an alley with the slogan, "Shut up. Just drink." Which we did. We had mixed drinks and crazy named shots. From there, we went to a raggae bar that Tim raved about - sofas outside, good and cheap drinks, and kittens. We drank several, also ridiculously named shots. The night ended after a long kitten petting and playing-with session. The kitten was the cutest ball of white fur in all of China. We cabbed home, and I collapsed into the best night's sleep I've had in weeks.
PS - You could say it from time to time...
15 June
Today felt like a week. It started at 3:50 AM, and at midnight, I'm still awake.
We got settled into our hostel and tried to use Facebook to contact Tim Quinn, a friend from home who is in Beijing and has studied abroad here. The Great Firewall of China turned a simple login and Facebook message check into a fiasco, but we finally got ahold of him. Before we met up with Tim, we went to breakfast and got our fill of dumplings and noodles for under $3/person.
At 11PM, the three of us and Nikolai met up with Tim and his friend Amanda at Qianmen Station. From there we wandered around chatting, and then took the metro to a major shopping area. We got some gifts and had a ton of fun haggling, using Tim and Amanda as great translators. Once our wallets (and stomachs) were approaching empty, we got some street food and took the metro to Tiananmen Square. We walked by the gate to the Forbidden City and then Mao's Mausoleum - enjoying the insane propaganda on massive TVs in the square - on our way back to the hostel. A few minutes of rest and a vodka shot later, we made way for the metro once more. We went to the area around which Tim and Amanda are studying, and wandered in the rain until we found this highly recommended hot pot restaurant. We ate and drank for a couple of hours - great beer (Beijing's local brand), and even better food. Afterwards, we bough a bottle of baijou (spelling?), a Chinese alcohol that tastes like absolute crap. A bottle of 1/3 full baijou in my hand, we took a cab home.
The amazingness of today cannot be captured in the recap of events... and it was not captured on camera - as we didn't touch them at all. Today will always be engraved in my memory - the sights, smells, sounds, ...smog. The food and drink here always leave my mouth in a state of blissful nirvana - I picture Buddha laying lotus blossoms on each individual taste bud as I exit an eatery or walk away from a street vendor. My excitement can hardly be subdued - everywhere we turn, our senses are overloaded with travel goodness. For those who don't know me well, I am a little obsessed with Asia - the culture, food, art , people, etc etc. China is the crux of the Orient, and thus my Asian obsession can be found bouncing off the walls of every alley way - if you can see it past the smog.
I <3 Beijing.
PS - What if, God forbid, a loved one died tomorrow? Would you be comfortable letting them go with the words you last said, or didn't say? Treat others like today is their last.
We got settled into our hostel and tried to use Facebook to contact Tim Quinn, a friend from home who is in Beijing and has studied abroad here. The Great Firewall of China turned a simple login and Facebook message check into a fiasco, but we finally got ahold of him. Before we met up with Tim, we went to breakfast and got our fill of dumplings and noodles for under $3/person.
At 11PM, the three of us and Nikolai met up with Tim and his friend Amanda at Qianmen Station. From there we wandered around chatting, and then took the metro to a major shopping area. We got some gifts and had a ton of fun haggling, using Tim and Amanda as great translators. Once our wallets (and stomachs) were approaching empty, we got some street food and took the metro to Tiananmen Square. We walked by the gate to the Forbidden City and then Mao's Mausoleum - enjoying the insane propaganda on massive TVs in the square - on our way back to the hostel. A few minutes of rest and a vodka shot later, we made way for the metro once more. We went to the area around which Tim and Amanda are studying, and wandered in the rain until we found this highly recommended hot pot restaurant. We ate and drank for a couple of hours - great beer (Beijing's local brand), and even better food. Afterwards, we bough a bottle of baijou (spelling?), a Chinese alcohol that tastes like absolute crap. A bottle of 1/3 full baijou in my hand, we took a cab home.
The amazingness of today cannot be captured in the recap of events... and it was not captured on camera - as we didn't touch them at all. Today will always be engraved in my memory - the sights, smells, sounds, ...smog. The food and drink here always leave my mouth in a state of blissful nirvana - I picture Buddha laying lotus blossoms on each individual taste bud as I exit an eatery or walk away from a street vendor. My excitement can hardly be subdued - everywhere we turn, our senses are overloaded with travel goodness. For those who don't know me well, I am a little obsessed with Asia - the culture, food, art , people, etc etc. China is the crux of the Orient, and thus my Asian obsession can be found bouncing off the walls of every alley way - if you can see it past the smog.
I <3 Beijing.
PS - What if, God forbid, a loved one died tomorrow? Would you be comfortable letting them go with the words you last said, or didn't say? Treat others like today is their last.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
14 June 2011
Last night we boarded a train leaving UB and heading to the Chinese border town of Erlian. We chose the cheapest and longest option to get to Beijing - the train to the border and then a bus to the capital. We departed at 8PM and were joined by a creepy guy whose name I cannot pronounce... let's call him Fluffy. Fluffy spoke no English, and we attempted to communicate via a phrasebook. He's 40, and couldn't find his home province on a map (and I thought American education was bad). Fluffy took pictures of us on his phone and made my picture his background. Yea, creepy.
I woke up this morning in a hot, cramped compartment, and began coughing due to the cigarette smoking and no ventilation. I looked up, and through a cloud of billowing smoke saw the "No Smoking" sign, and sighed. Apparently, Fluffy transcends the rules.
We arrived in Erlian at 11:30 am and after an hour of wandering around completely lost with all of our bags, on an empty stomach, parched as hell, in the heat, and with no money, we finally found the bank. Now loaded, we went to lunch, where they hardly spoke English, and then to the bus station (which was impossible to find, and people pointed us every which way). Two hours after arriving in this dusty town, we got our tickets to Beijing. Another white guy, a German named Nikolai, was assumed to be in our group by the salesperson and was given a seat with us.
The four o us found spots in the waiting room and began playing the Mongolian ankle bone game. Four white people playing a Mongolian game on the floor attracted so much attention that we were literally surrounded by onlookers (one of whom was Fluffy).
We boarded the bus - tiny little beds lined the inside in three rows. My seat was taken by a shirtless fat Chinese man, so I took his seat, but was asked to switch with some girl... which worked out because Michael, Nikolai, and I were all next to each other. We made pit stops at nasty bathrooms, where there were three holes in the ground and no dividers. I felt bad for the man, who in plain view, was having stomach issues. At one stop, there was a thunderstorm, and lightening was going crazy in the distance, beyond the nuclear powerplants and broken buildings. It looked like something out of Residence Evil.
At 2:30 AM, we arrived in Beijing, but we didn't realize it because we were told we'd arrive at 4AM. People weren't rushing to get off, so I figured it couldn't be Beijing. We went back to sleep, and at 3:50, I woke up. I looked around, realized that the only passengers left were us, and walked to the driver to ask him if we had arrived at Beijing... he ignored me. We showed him 'Beijing' in Chinese, and he nodded. Laughing, we got off the bus in a dark, sketchy dirt parking lot and bumped into Mariana and Jim, two Americans we met in Erlian. The six of us took cabs to Tiananmen Square, and then walked to Leo's Courtyard Hostel, which is an awesome old building in an alley, off of an alley, off a side street.
PS - Wish You Were Here
I woke up this morning in a hot, cramped compartment, and began coughing due to the cigarette smoking and no ventilation. I looked up, and through a cloud of billowing smoke saw the "No Smoking" sign, and sighed. Apparently, Fluffy transcends the rules.
We arrived in Erlian at 11:30 am and after an hour of wandering around completely lost with all of our bags, on an empty stomach, parched as hell, in the heat, and with no money, we finally found the bank. Now loaded, we went to lunch, where they hardly spoke English, and then to the bus station (which was impossible to find, and people pointed us every which way). Two hours after arriving in this dusty town, we got our tickets to Beijing. Another white guy, a German named Nikolai, was assumed to be in our group by the salesperson and was given a seat with us.
The four o us found spots in the waiting room and began playing the Mongolian ankle bone game. Four white people playing a Mongolian game on the floor attracted so much attention that we were literally surrounded by onlookers (one of whom was Fluffy).
We boarded the bus - tiny little beds lined the inside in three rows. My seat was taken by a shirtless fat Chinese man, so I took his seat, but was asked to switch with some girl... which worked out because Michael, Nikolai, and I were all next to each other. We made pit stops at nasty bathrooms, where there were three holes in the ground and no dividers. I felt bad for the man, who in plain view, was having stomach issues. At one stop, there was a thunderstorm, and lightening was going crazy in the distance, beyond the nuclear powerplants and broken buildings. It looked like something out of Residence Evil.
At 2:30 AM, we arrived in Beijing, but we didn't realize it because we were told we'd arrive at 4AM. People weren't rushing to get off, so I figured it couldn't be Beijing. We went back to sleep, and at 3:50, I woke up. I looked around, realized that the only passengers left were us, and walked to the driver to ask him if we had arrived at Beijing... he ignored me. We showed him 'Beijing' in Chinese, and he nodded. Laughing, we got off the bus in a dark, sketchy dirt parking lot and bumped into Mariana and Jim, two Americans we met in Erlian. The six of us took cabs to Tiananmen Square, and then walked to Leo's Courtyard Hostel, which is an awesome old building in an alley, off of an alley, off a side street.
PS - Wish You Were Here
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