trip to Beijing

The time is seriously going by so quickly. Last week went by fast cause we had mid-terms and half days which were filled with shopping.

Seriously, i've been doing so much shopping the past couple of weeks, it's sort of ridiculous. But what can I say, when's the next time I'm going to have this kind of disposible income and inexpensive purses and clothes to buy?

Anyway, Hayley and I left for Beijing on Friday, got picked up at the airport by someone from our hostel that we had booked, and pretty much just went straight to bed. Our friend Cindy had recommended the hostel to us, which was AWESOME. It was like a 5 minute walk from Tian 'an Men square, down this cute little ally-like street. We were exhausted, but decided to book the hostel's "Secret Wall" tour of the Great Wall for Saturday.

We left bright and early for the great wall. There were about 18 people total, crammed into two big vans. The drive out there took about 3 hours, and we had some glimpses of the other sections of the wall where TONS of tour groups were being taken. I was really relieved when we kept driving farther and farther away. The scenery was beautiful...it seemed like every tree ever was in bloom, with these delicate white/light pink flowers that smelled fantastic.

At one point, our van stopped in the middle of the road in a village we had come upon, and the driver started talking to some random guy on the street. Next thing I knew, he was motioning for me to move over (i was in the crappy fold-down seat next to the sliding door) and the random older chinese man climbed on board right next to me. Turns out, he was our 'tour guide.' He didn't speak a word of English.

So the vans dropped us off, and we started our trek up to the wall. That walk must have taken close to half an hour, all up hill. Super fun. When we got up to the wall itself, there were a few other people besides our group, but not many. it was an unrestored part of the wall, which means it was pretty dangerous...the stairs were all falling apart, the guard towers crumbling, etc. But wow, was it ever beautiful. All of my pictures of the wall and of Beijing are posted on my kodakgallery site.

So we started at one part of the wall and just continued hiking on it for a couple of hours, towards the village we had first stopped at. And, at one point, there was a guy with a table set up, selling souvenirs. How could I resist buying a "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirt from a guy actually on the wall? It was only 15 rmb! I really loved walking on the wall and all the beautiful views, but I get deathly afraid when it comes to climbing down or walking down steep inclines. I am always convinced that I am going to go tumbling down to my death, something that would have been dreadfully embarrassing to do on the Great Wall of China. However, after only a few minor spills, we all made it safely down the mountain and to the village below, where we were served lunch. I was really impressed with my Great Wall experience...it was the first time that I saw a Chinese monument and didn't feel like I was in Disneyworld. It actually seemed legitimate. And really, if I could pick one thing to impress me, I'm pretty glad it was the Great Wall. That was one thing that I was hoping wouldn't disappoint me, and it didn't.

After cleaning ourselves up a bit when we got back from the Great Wall, we decided to go for dinner and drinks to this area called the "back lakes." I guess this one bar started it all, setting up shop on the lake, and scores of others followed suit. It took a little while to find a place with food in our price range, since it was literally just rows and rows of bars that all looked pretty much teh same from the outside with guys trying to get customers by saying 'pretty ladies, you want drink' and stuff. Finally we found a place that actually served food (they had a white board outside that said "FOOD" on it) and got some spring rolls and pizza. The bar was adorable, and even had a little kitten living in it, which we played with while we waited for our food. After dinner, we decided to check out some more of the bars, since itw as still early and everyone was promising us happy hour prices. The whole experience was pretty funny. We just went into one bar after another (i think we went to 6 total). Some were better than others...one served us mojitos that had tonic water in them...do they not know that there is no carbonation whatsoever in a mojito? Another served us a "pink lady" that consisted of milk, gin, and pink food coloring. I've never tasted anything so revolting in my life. Maybe if it had been sweet...but gin and milk...gross. We went to another bar in which we bargained for our drink prices. I swear to god you can bargain for anything in China...even cocktails, apparently. We finally found the original bar (called the 'no name bar') which served fantastic mojitos and had a very friendly and lethargic cat that sat on my lap while we had our drinks. Overall a lovely evening.

The next day (Sunday) we walked through Tian 'an Men square and went to the Forbidden City. I really wanted to see Mao's body, but the whole building was apparently closed for renovation. That was the first major disappointment of the day. So we went to the Forbidden City...and everything was coved in scaffolding. Second major disappointment of the day. You'd think they could maybe alert you before you walk in that they were doing major reconstruction (putting a whole new roof on one building and lord knows what to others), but no. And most of the rooms with "treasures" on display didn't even actually have any "treasures." just photos of the treasures. Maybe i've seen one too many Chinese temples/palaces, but I honestly wasn't that into the Forbidden City. Yeah, it was impressive...but the crowds were killing us, and to quote Hayley, "it's the same old shit." Everything is reconstructed, re painted, redone. Nothing really felt very authentic. After that we didn't really do much else on Sunday but go to a place called "Grandma's kitchen" for lunch and hang out at the hostel.

Monday was better. It got off to a slightly rough start with an obnoxious cab driver who wasted a lot of our time on the way back to Grandma's kitchen for breakfast, but the delicious food there quickly revitalized us. We headed out to the Summer Palace, which was absolutely incredible. I was nervous when we walked in and saw more scaffolding, but it ended up being really great. We got to see some Chinese dancers and instrumentalists on the Grand Stage, and spent a lot of time walking along the lake. I probably could have spent a lot more time at the Summer Palace, but we didn't want to get so exhausted that we wouldn't have energy to shop. You know, priorities.

So we headed back into town and went to the "Pearl Market." Believe me, they don't only sell pearls. If i'd had more energy, time, and money, I could have gone totally nuts there...as itw as, I bought a few gifts, a pair of fake adidas shoes, a fake chloe purse, a shirt, and some fake (?) mac lip gloss. The prices were definitely better than in Shanghai and the selection was quite different. Itw as pretty depressing walking through the shoe section and having everyone tell us that the biggest size shoe they had was 40. We both wear 42.

We went back to Grandma's kitchen for dinner (seriously, how were we gonna pass up good, cheap western food? we were still in the area!) and then called it a day. For me, that was the end of Beijing...i stayed in that night, although hayley went out with some people from the hostel. Our flight back Tuesday afternoon was god-awful, but at least I'm here safe now.

My overall impression of Beijing was a good one. There is tons of construction, and we heard one of our cab drivers listening to a tape to learn English. I wonder if they want more cab drivers to learn English for the Olympics? Maybe. The people in Beijing seemed a lot more friendly than the Shanghainese, but even so I was having a few 'i'm sick of living in China' days when everyone (seriously, everyone) stared at us all day long. I took photos with tons of Chinese tourists (at their requests, not mine), which is fun at first, and then gets sort of tedious. I bet celebrities really hate their lives sometimes.

Anyway, now i've only got 6 days until i'm home for my quick visit to see Mike for his birthday, and after that only 2 more months. crazy!