Beijing Bootcamp

Dear Beijing,

Thank you for the lovely weekend. I had a good time visiting you. I wish I could have stayed with you longer, but my tour (and money) lasted only so long. I'd appreciate it if you provided better washroom facilities for my next visit.

See you again,
Maureen

Beijing photos can be found here!

Wow. My trip to Beijing was a veritable whirlwind! As mentioned, I had joined a Cantonese tour group to go to Beijing for 5 days. There were 5 of us going on the trip: Liz, Lani, Jenny, and Gloria. Well, the trip started off a little bumpily by having everyone (except me) sleep in on Friday. We were supposed to meet at 5:45am (I was there at 5:35), and no one showed up till 6:05am. Oh well.

We flew via Dragonair. For those of you who plan to travel around Asia by plane one day... Take these guys - the plane and service kicked ass. They had such yummy food, comfy seats and good movies. :)

We arrived in Beijing around 12:30pm. This is when I saw my tour group for the first time. They seemed to be comprised of a bunch of non-English speaking (imagine that) Hong Kongers who weren't very subtle at staring at the white kids in their midst. We boarded our shuttle, which was surprisingly comfy. We were first warned against talking about economics and Christianity. We were also given the generic spiel about watching out for pickpockets.

Amusing anecdote: On the bus ride over, our tour guide told us her phone number. She told everyone to get out a pad of paper to write it down. At this point, I was rummaging around in my purse for some gum, but Gloria thought I had actually understood the cantonese and was about to write down the phone number. Silly girl.

My first impression of Beijing? Sweet weather! God. I nearly wept with joy upon feeling the non-humid air. It was nice and cool - there were times on the trip when I actually wore my light jacket! *happy*

I was shocked by Beijing's appearance. I was expecting something more like Hong Kong. After all, Beijing is the world's most populous city, and it's also the capital and one of the most historical places in all of China. Therefore I thought I'd be seeing lots of skyrises and modern buildings, but with a mixture of the old. Well, it definitely lacked in the modern area, and had an overabundance in the old. The first thing you notice about Beijing is that it's very rundown. There are random well kept areas, but for the most part, it's very messy/dirty and nothing is well preserved. That includes in museums and popular tourist locations.

The first thing we did in China was to go for lunch. At first I was wondering what kind of tour I had signed up for, because we drove down a decrepit looking street with random dirt piles and bricks piled up, but in the midst of it all was a nice restaurant. This is when we met Harry, Louis, Henrietta, and Ming Ming. These were 4 nice Hong Kongers around 30 years old. They were such a blast to hang out with. They all spoke English really well and were absolutely hilarious. We had dinner with them every meal from then on. We've already made plans to get together for dinner now that we're back in Hong Kong.

Amusing knowledge: In China, it's customary to rinse your dishes in tea before eating from them, to get rid of any dust/dirt that has collected on them.

I'm now going to try to summarize the events of my trip... It's going to be a bit choppy because we did so much, I forget half of what I did!

Immediately after lunch, we hit up the Forbidden City. It was amazingly beautiful there. Everything was so ornate and there was a lot of hidden meaning behind every little pattern. I don't really know what to say here. It was a bit frustrating because the tour was moving really fast because the city was closing, and I didn't know what the tour guide was saying. (I didn't want to interrupt her to ask Jenny/Gloria for translations.) Despite that, it was very neat because some rooms were left exactly as they were hundreds of years ago.

The next stop was Tiananmen Square. The square was just that. A square. Full of people. It was filled by mass amounts of people and chinese guards, but there wasn't much to see. There were photos of Mao and Sun Yat Sen. It was interesting watching the locals though. The fashion style in Beijing is very traditional/conservative. The men often wore brown/navy jackets that made me thing of the 1950s or Maoist uniforms. Strange indeed.

After hanging around the square for awhile, we walked around the surrounding area, and finally ended up at a location that had a long street of food stalls. We were informed that the food was safe to eat (I had packed my anti-diarreah pills just in case). I ended up buying a stick of Swallows (you know, the bird?). They were surprisingly tasty, but had a few too many herbs on them for my taste. I ate 3 of them and threw out the last 2.

Amusing anecdote: Lani stopped to take a photo at the stall selling scorpions, seahorses, and other assorted bugs on sticks. However, the stall vendor yelled at her, "Photo, $1!" Then he randomly points to a sign above his stall and indicates that that's what the sign was. This might have worked... Except that Lani reads chinese. She and he start arguing, "That doesn't say that!" "Photo! $1!" Finally she snaps a photo anyways and the man starts laughing and says, "Okay, take photo, take photo!"

We retired to our hotel room after having dinner (my swallows were a mere appetizer). The hotel was damned swank. We had a living room and then a large bedroom with a double and single bed. Liz ended up sleeping with Lani and I. We crashed pretty early because we were exhausted.

Our first stop of the following day was a state-run Jade factory/store. That was pretty damned cool. We got to learn how to tell the difference between different types and grades of jade. We also saw how they make jade. Then we were ushered into a large large large jade store. The things there were so pretty. And so expensive. I caved to the prettiness though and purchased a Grade A jade bangle. I thought it was purdy. And when I told my parents how much it cost, they didn't disown me, so I consider it to be a good investment.

After the store, we hit up the Summer Palace - the vacationing palace for Empress Cicxi. Apparently it cost so much that China became significantly poorer when she built it, so she's not too well liked historically. Anyways, the palace was amazingly beautiful. It was sooo pretty with a huuuuge lake and lots of trees. This time I got to learn a bit more about the place because I rented an audioguide... A little machine you wore around your neck that would automatically start talking about each location you went to in the palace. Very nifty.

We doubled back to go to Beihei Park (I think that's how it's spelled). It's a famous park because an emperor hung himself there. (Notice how I'm not actually naming these famous people? I can't remember or pronounce their names. That's why.) From it's peak, you could overlook the entire Forbidden City. Can we say cool?

Amusing snide remark: When Lani was on top of the park peak, she was trying to take a photo of Gloria, but there were so many tourists that she couldn't get Gloria alone in the photo. She kept saying in a loud voice, "There's someone in the background AGAIN, let me try taking it again." Another random tourist told her, "There are over a billion people in China. I think there's ALWAYS going to be someone in the background. LOL.

Before we went to the park though, we got to ride on some rickshaws through some backstreets. It was fun and scary at the same time. I kept thinking we were going to hit a curb and tip over, or collide with another biker/car. We went through some of the generic alleys/houses - those areas I mentioned that are run down but are regular housing here. It was a fun ride, and as soon as I nab Lani's photos, you can see a video of the ride. :)

Another place we went to was a silk factory. This was kind of disappointing (especially considering I had learned all about silk farming in my chinese class the thursday before *hiss*). Basically we learned about the life cycle of a silk worm, saw how they worked the silk into a blanket, then we were shoved into the silk store where the cheapest item cost like $800rembini. Doh.

That evening we went to Dr. Tea - a famous state-owned teahouse in China that wins lots of competitions and the like. We lucked out and got an English lecturer to explain to us how to make proper chinese tea, and explain the differences between the different types of tea. We got to try 5 different kinds of tea. My favourites were the pureh tea and the Jasmine tea. So yummy! I also got this ultra-groovy mug that had a black background with red characters on it. When you fill the mug with hot water though, the black and characters fade away, and it's replaced with a picture of the Forbidden City. That was just too cool to pass up.

At dinner, one of the girls wanted to buy a beer to go with her meal, so she and the another girl went to a bar in the restaurant we were at. However, when the girl got her beer, it was completely flat and bad. So she kept whining about how horrible it was. I get that she was complaining because she didn't want to ask the other girl to help her get a new beer and was hoping she would offer. Well, the other girl finally got the hint and they went to get a new beer. Turns out all the beer was flat by several months. Even after she managed to procure a fresh bottle, she kept complaining, "I can't believe how bad that beer was" blah blah blah. Shaddup girl. >:|

After dinner we returned to the hotel. Jenny, Gloria and I wanted to go shopping and check out the town a bit on our own. Lani and Liz were too tired and were going to crash early. So I moved in with Jenny and Gloria for the second night. We nabbed a taxi to a nearby shopping centre for a mere $15 rembini. Unfortunately the store was closing and everything was super expensive there. Ridiculously expensive in fact. So we decided to just go back to the hotel instead. We grabbed another taxi, showed the driver the hotel's business card (with a map showing where the hotel was). He nodded and said he knew where it was and began driving off. Jenny and I were yapping in the back seat... Well, by the time $15 showed up on the metre, we were nowhere near the hotel. And we were on random ass back streets. By $17, Jenny and Gloria finally growled at him in mandarin asking if he really did know where the place was or not. The driver nodded and made a not-so-subtle u-turn and withing 2 minutes were were back at our hotel. Frickin' bastard would have driven us around all night if we hadn't said anything.

The next day, we started off by going to a Chinese medicine store. Can we say infomercial? There was a salesman talking in Cantonese for an hour about the different types of medicine they sold and how to use it. It was warm in the room and everyone began falling asleep. We got free samples of some random patches that do something that I don't understand.

Now comes the best part of my trip. The next stop was the Great Wall. Gawd. It was amazing to see. It seems kind of surreal, knowing that I've actually been on it. Sadly we only had 2 and a half hours to spend there, but it's not that sad because part of the wall was closed to visitors. I don't know if you knew this, because I certainly didn't... But the Great Wall is freakin' steep man! Seriously, even I, with all my height, had difficulty climbing some of the steps there. Long live hand rails! And when you climbed one flight of stairs, you were tired and wanted to rest, but there were hawkers there trying to convince you to buy pictures and souvenirs, and the only way to get away from them was to keep walking. The wall shows mercy to no one.

I was eager to climb, so I left everyone behind (they kept stopping every 5 seconds to snap photos of themselves on the wall). I just wanted to reach the peak and look over the rest of the wall. God it was beautiful. I didn't realize how tiring getting up there was until I was on my way down. Climbing down the wall was a lot more strenuous than climbing up. You're constantly paranoid you're going to trip and fall and there's nothing to catch you! You'd just roll and roll till you hit a landing. Ouch man. My legs were trembling the entire way down. I don't know what else I can say about the wall. It's everything like it appears in the photos. I want to go back sometime and spend several days hiking along it. It would be fantastic.

I descended the wall and caught up with Jenny and Gloria (poor Jenny was afraid of heights and is super short, so she didn't go up too far, and Gloria, being the good friend she is, stuck with Jenny). We went back down and checked out the souvenir stores. We bargained for and bought some of those "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts. Yay. Jenny described me as being shameless when it comes to bargaining. I managed to get one lady to drop the price on some bookmarks from $20 each to 2 for $3. Ha! (Bargaining always gives me a delicious sense joy.)

After lunch we went to the Ming Tombs. It's a series of tombs that were excavated in recent history. The above ground area reminded me of home because it had cedar trees, or at least the chinese equivalent of them. We had to go through a security check to get into the tomb. (That's kind of weird... There was no security for the Forbidden City or anywhere else we went to - just for Tiananmen Square and the Ming Tombs.) The tomb itself was kind of disappointing. There wasn't anything inside except for a few non-convincing replicas items. Oh well. The place was pretty so it made up for it's lack.

Another amusing anecdote: Before we went to the tomb, we had lunch and each table had received 2 free bottles of liquor - 56% alcohol! So even though none of us drank the alcohol, we all took the bottles with us anyways. Who knows, we could have had a party that night at the hotel. :) However, when we went to the security checkpoint in the tomb, we had to leave our alcohol at the security desk. There were like 30 mickeys of alcohol at the guard station. LOL. And I didn't realize it till afterwards, but none of us returned to pick ours up. I hope the guards enjoyed it.

The next stop on our tour amused me a great deal. We went to the most decrepit apple orchard I had EVER seen. But the Hong Kongers were completely psyched because they got to pick their own apples and eat them directly off the tree. (I doubt that was very hygenic.) I had fun because all the good apples were at the tops of the trees, so I'd hoist Gloria up and have her grab them. It was fun seeing how enthusiastic the tour group was at this orchard. If only they could see Meaford - then they'd know what a real apple orchard looked like.

That night we changed from our regular hotel to go to a hot spring resort in the middle of the countryside. It was soooo pretty! It was also so expensive! The room we got cost $700rembini/night. But it had it's own private backyard and hot spring! Can we say swank? Jenny, Gloria and I snagged the one room for ourselves and promptly made use of the hot tub until like midnight. Then we went for a walk along the grounds. It was a great place.

The next morning we returned to Beijing and went to a Brass Enamel factory. Now that was nifty to go to. You could actually watch through the windows as they hand made chinese vases with copper wire designs on them. The wares were absolutely gorgeous. I wish I could have bought something, but everything was super expensive. Even the cheap little keychains were like $5CAD. Crazy man.

Amusing anecdote: Bathrooms in Beijing are all equipped with doors and locks. However, it seems that one out of every five people opt not to use them. Liz went to the washroom and immediately walked right back out. Turns out there was an old lady squatting there, talking on her cell phone well doing a number 2. LOL.

We also got to go to a Chinese mall that's apparently notorious for it knockoff products. We were warned to looked out for our purses/wallets and to bargain like there's no tomorrow. Liz, Lani and Gloria failed to take the last advice seriously. They got so ripped off they didn't even realize it until Harry asked how much they had paid... The look on his face said it all. :) I think the most amusing thing about that store is that it had signs posted all over, requesting customers to NOT buy knockoff goods. They're posted in a store that's reknowned for it. Whoops!

We went to a nice random park for a stroll after our lunch that day. It was pleasant to be able to just walk around without worrying about the historical value of this rock or that twig. It was also a lot of fun, because by now it was our 4th day and the group was really beginning to bond. While waiting for everyone to gather again to leave, we played some weird game that was like hackey sack, but with feathers attached to the ball... So it was a cross between hackey sack and badminton. The Western kids put their continent to shame by not having any eye/foot coordination, while Hong Kong was being represented by an old man who kicked our asses.

Next on the agenda was a trip to a Chinese Medicine research centre. That was nifty, learning a bit about it. After the lecture, we each got to have our health checked by a doctor. They managed to find a translator for us white kids, so it was fun. The guy took my wrist and starts checking my pulse. Then he asks me to stick out my tongue. Then he asks how old I am. The final question, "Do you have a regular period?" These people are too interested in my biological functions for my comfort. I was given a clean bill of health, although Jenny was informed that her liver was too hot and Liz apparently has a cold uterus. Weird.

We then had the option of buying a cheap $20 massage from the doctors. When will I ever be able to have a massage in Beijing again? I had to sit on a little folding stool and the man went to it with a gusto. Half way through, I wondered if it was supposed to be a massage or punishment. He managed to find every single pressure point in my body. At one point he started smacking me across the top of the head. Then he tilted my head back and I swear, he was trying to remove my eyebrows by sheer friction. LOL. It was wack. But amusingly so. (Mel, when I get home, you'll have to desmonstrate the difference between a Western and Eastern massage!) While waiting for the rest of the group to get done, I moseyed on outside and had a brief chat with a guy from Holland who randomly walked up to me.

On the fourth night, we went to see a Chinese mask show. I can't remember it's proper name, but it's one of those acts where the man changes his mask in the blink of an eye and you can't figure out how he does it. The show started off with some generic circus acts which were pretty cool. I was holding my breath during one act where two men pushed against each other as hard as they could while having a spear suspended between them. Gah. The mask changing act was pretty cool, but I think I missed the first 5 changes because I was too busy watching his dancers. (I didn't realize he was changing his mask because he was so damned fast!)

The next day, we went to the Northern Gate. It's a gate with a higher entry ledge than normal. The emperor only used that gate when he was going to war. The entire place was Feng Shui approved, so we had to enter the gate using our left foot and ascend the stairs on the right because they had a lucky number of stairs and so on. The lecture inside the gate was all about Feng Shui and was kind of amusing. Then we got to see a Jade dragon carving that you were supposed to rub for luck and then put your hands in your pockets to carry the luck back home. The people laughed when us Western kids rubbed the dragon too. After the lecture we were once again shoved into a store. Surprise surprise.

Afterwards, we got to walk around a small money museum at the base of the Northern Gate. It was interesting, but it would have been more interesting if there had been english explanations. I found the English in Beijing to be very random. Some places had English equivalents to all signs in Chinese. This place would have random English titles, and then maybe 2 or three translations throughout the rest of the museum. There was also a small bazaar at the museum. (June, I tried buying you a fish keychain, but the lady didn't want to bargain - I ain't paying $20RMB for one of those things.)

Our final stop in Beijing was a surprise treat for us (although I don't understand how it can be a treat when we paid for it). We went for a foot massage! (First off, I'd like to mention that of all the bathrooms I encountered in Beijing, the ones there (they were in a random sports stadium) were possibly the worst. There was piss all over the floors, the doors didn't close/lock, there was no toilet paper or soap. I think I OD'd on my hand sanitizer after using them.) Ahem. Anyways.

We got to sit down and soak our feet in buckets of tea (yes, tea) and listen to how feet are so important blah blah blah and learn about "acupoints" and so on. Once the lecture was over, a bunch of masseuses (what's the plural of masseuse?) filed into the room and we each got our own. Sadly my masseuse's English extended itself to "Hello" and to ask me, "You American?" But HA! Finally my mandarin course came in handy! I was able to tell him (in Chinese) that I was Canadian. The look of shock on his face was great. He starts yammering on in Chinese, but I had to interrupt him and say (again, in Chinese) that my chinese wasn't very good. Luckily Gloria was sitting beside me so she was able to translate for me. Apparently I'm the first foreigner he's ever heard speak chinese. Hee.

Anyways, the rest of the conversation was strange because it consisted of him asking me questions, Gloria translating them, and me responding in broken chinese. (Well, by responding, I mean giving yes/no answers or saying thank you.) Despite this, I had a blast. The guy gave me a huge boost to my self-esteem. :) He asked about my nose piercing. We were able to exchange names and ages in chinese too. :) He complimented my legs, "You have such nice white calves!" (Remember, they value white skin over here. LOL) Then he says (and remember, Gloria's translating), "You have tantalizing eyes." As mentioned, my chinese isn't very good, so all I could say was thanks. LOL. He also asked if I thought he was handsome. Damn straight he was good looking. :) A resounding "Shi" (yes) was given. Heh. Then he asked Gloria if I had a cracker. She was thorougly confused, but a quick little language lesson finally revealed that "cracker/candy" is Beijing slang for boyfriend/girlfriend. LOL. That guy made my entire trip worth it because it was so funny. Gloria and I got our photo take with both of our masseuses. She needs to send it to me still.

Sadly after the foot massage, we had to return to the airport. So sad, so sad. It was hot at the airport. They didn't have any A/C on, so I broke out my cheap chinese fan and was fanning myself. The chinese employees smirked whenever they saw me - they probably thought I was trying to be all sophisticated or something.

We managed to get on the train with no problems, and yay! We were sitting next to Harry and the rest of our table gang. We had a great time on the plane ride back.

Thus ended my Beijing adventure. I know I forgot to mention a lot of the things I had done in this entry, but I'll try to recreate the entire trip in more detail when I get the rest of the photos from the other people. Beijing definitely gave me a new appreciation for Hong Kong and the Western lifestyle in general.