Last Day in Beijing, in Which We Prove that Five Heads Are, Indeed, Better Than One

1/29/10: Beijing, China

We usually try to hit all of the big sights in each of the cities we visit, but a lot of the time those experiences will blur into a kind of soupy mix in my memory and only a few small things will end up standing out. Take today for example.

Attraction: Tiananmen Square
Will remember: Accidentally bought tickets to go up on the Tiananmen Gate, thinking it was an entrance fee into something else. Not worth the 30 yuan.

Attraction: Forbidden City
Will remember: In the Hall of Central Harmony, there is a large Chinese inscription reading “Yun Zhi Jue Zhong.” On the English plaque in front of the hall, the translation given for the inscription is “The Way of Heaven is profound and mysterious and the way of mankind is difficult. Only if we make a precise and unified plan and follow the doctrine of the mean, can we rule the country well.”

Attraction: Shopping at Silk Street
Will remember: An impulse purchase of ten sets of “jade” chopsticks that came with – wait for it! Little “jade” turtle chopstick rests! “When are you ever going to use these?” Kevin asked. “For Chinese takeout!” I said.

Attractions: Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube
Will remember: Not too much. It was freezing.

But the best part of today was when my older cousin, Zhou Ting (her last name is Zhou, as her dad is my mom’s brother, stay with me here) and her boyfriend (henceforth referred to as ZTBF) came over to say goodbye to us and brought Kevin a Chinese chess set as a goodbye present. The six of us plopped down for a lesson and to play the inaugural game. The sides? Kevin, my aunt, Zhou Ting, ZTBF and me versus my uncle. Kevin was nominally in charge, but the other four of us kept shouting instructions to him – “Don’t move that there! Don’t you see his cannon?” and my aunt kept moving things back whenever Kevin made a poor decision. “Let’s rewind – rewind!” she’d say, putting two of Kevin’s pieces that my uncle had just captured back on the board, moving everything back two steps. My uncle would just laugh and wait for Kevin to make a new play.

In the end, Kevin won that first game.

_____________________________________________

Picture of the Day: The only uncrowded subway line in Beijing is the one to the Olympic Green.

Read Full Post »

Shhh! Our Driver Can’t Hear His Left Turn Blinker

1/28/10: Beijing, China

My mom’s mom is the fifth of eight children in her family, and the only one who left China. For 30 years after her departure, she and her siblings lost touch, only to regain contact through one of her nieces back in the 1970s. Over 30 years later, Zhou and I got the chance to meet my grandma’s younger brother and sister (children #7 and 8).

Today we spent several hours chatting with Jiu Ye and Jiu Lao Lao and their spouses. By we I mean Zhou, as they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Chinese. In traditional Chinese custom, they wouldn’t allow us to leave without filling our stomachs (du zi) by taking us to a nice lunch. Zhou warned me beforehand that the only way to signal we were done eating was to leave food on our plates. However I kept finishing the food off and Jiu Lao Lao kept piling more on until my stomach was about to burst and I realized Zhou was serious. Then, when we returned to Jiu Ye’s apartment, they topped off their generosity toward two relatives many years and thousands of miles removed by giving us each a red envelope (hong bao) of money.

Can you believe Jiu Ye is 83 and that's his real head of hair?

Jiu Lao Lao, her husband and us.

These few hours were just a small example of the hospitality and generosity Zhou and I have received from many family members in Beijing. Zhou’s aunt and uncle (Jiu Ma and Jiu Jiu) have given us a place to stay and food to eat, and also bought us gifts such as our train tickets to Xi’an. Zhou’s cousin and her boyfriend took us out to the Temple of Heaven and upon hearing about my interest in Chinese chess, bought me a set. My Aunt Marilyn and cousin TJ took us to the Great Wall in their very short and hurried stay in Beijing.

Obviously Zhou and I like getting stuff, but the best part of all of this has been seeing family for the first time since September 10th. Although traveling is great, it’s very difficult being away from home at times, and we’ve really enjoyed these past nine days in our home on the other side of the world. We can’t thank everyone enough for welcoming us and giving us this sense of being home.

…

Zhou and I have been avoiding taking taxis as much as possible because of their relatively high costs (compared to subways, buses and walking), but today we had to take one to get to Jiu Ye’s. After several minutes of discovering that 99% of Beijing taxis are occupied, we hailed one and hopped in. In her native Chinese dialect (everyone has complimented Zhou on how well she speaks Chinese), she explained to the driver where we were going and we were off.

“Are taxis here metered?” I asked suspiciously, on high alert from the taxi scams that were prevalent in Southeast Asia.
“Shhhhhhh! No talking.”

I sat there in silence for several minutes absolutely confused by this. Maybe taxis in China are like libraries in the States. Maybe Zhou read this on the back of the seat in front of her. Wait, Zhou can’t read Chinese! This can’t be the reason. Maybe it’s common knowledge that Chinese taxi drivers need quiet to driver safely and effectively. If that’s the case, I suppose all you know this. I’m half Chinese and I had no idea. I must be the most dense tourist ever! But I’m really not that clueless.

“Why can’t I say anything?” I whispered.
“No English!” she mouthed back.

Oh. She had the taxi driver believing we were locals that he would not be able to rip off if he wanted to. That makes perfect sense. I felt like an idiot.
_____________________________________________

Pictures of the Day: I actually didn’t want to go see the pandas, but Zhou really wanted to. Then I didn’t want to leave.

Read Full Post »

A Pink Fan Dance for the Ages

1/24/10: Beijing, China

Today was a day of observing our surroundings and soaking in as much as possible. As I reflect on the happenings of the past fourteen hours, three observations stick out like a soaring bum over the streets of Philadelphia.

1. People never cease to surprise me.
2. I am lucky I made it through school.
3. I need lots of disposable income when I grow up.

I’ll tackle these in order.

People never cease to surprise me.

This morning Zhou and I were escorted by her cousin, Zhou Ting and her boyfriend through the Temple of Heaven. Having visited many temples over the past couple months of our world tour, I assumed that this would be another tourist-infested landmark – after all, it was recommended by Lonely Planet. Apparently the below zero Celsius temperatures and the threat of below zero Kelvin wind chills scared most of the tourists away. Not the locals though. Or should I say, not the crazy, carefree locals.

Within the first couple minutes of stepping inside the park’s east gate, we saw locals playing cards, playing Chinese chess, square dancing to their own boomboxes, kicking a shuttlecock back and forth, waltzing, stretching, talking, smoking, singing karaoke, doing Tai Chi and playing in a harmonica quartet. I even joined a couple locals tossing a game involving two small tennis rackets and a makeshift ball.

But there were two sights that as far as I’m concerned will go down in my own personal history book – one as a bit goofy but memorable, and one as possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.

The first: just to the left of the entrance music was blaring and there were hundreds middle-aged and older couples dancing in a wooded section of the park. None of the couples (nor the courageous singles) were doing the same dance , and half of them clearly weren’t paying attention to the song playing. They were just dancing. We asked Zhou Ting and her boyfriend if it was only this crowded on weekends, but apparently this is an all-day everyday thing. Where do all these people come from?

The highlight though had to be this lady and old man:

If you’ve ever seen a middle-aged woman screeching worse than a popular Saved by the Bell character into a self set-up speaker system in the middle of a crowded park while an old man in a polka dot jacket does some sort of two-step/fan dance combination (with a pink fan, nonetheless) next to her, please let me know. The screen shots above are from a video I caught of the tail end of this debacle. My favorite part was the WTF expression of the local man in the background as he walked by.

I am lucky I made it through school.

We spent two hours or so sauntering around the Temple of Heaven, which, for me meant two hours of me not being able to communicate with anyone. Zhou Ting and her boyfriend spoke very little English, so I was faced with a decision: either ignore everyone until Zhou had something to translate for my benefit, or listen in and try to improve my horrible Mandarin. I love ignoring people, but today I stepped out of my comfort zone and chose the latter.

By the time we left for lunch, I had yawned more times than an amnesiac watching the third Lord of the Rings. Learning Chinese is exhausting! Wo bu xi huan hui kao ya de jia. (I do not like returning to a roast duck’s home.) I went from spry, bug-eyed kid watching singers worse than Florence Foster Jenkins (or, as Brian Williams calls her, Flo Fo) to a creaky old grandpa who forgot to take his medicine and his nap. I really don’t know how I survived 16 years of education. Zhou, good luck with your upcoming grad school.

I need lots of disposable income when I grow up.

Zhou’s aunt insisted upon buying our train tickets to Xian (ah, the joys of staying with relatives), so we are spending 11 hours tonight in what is called a “soft sleeper” but is in fact the greatest thing to happen to travel since teleportation. I’m writing this as I sit on a plush mattress and throw my peanut shells into a metal tray that appears to be designed for discarded peanut shells. As I type these words, I’m shuddering as I think back to our days on the cockroach infested rigid seats of the Malaysian trains we afforded on our budget. Instead of putrid dirt up (the last three words being an underappreciated palindrome if there ever was one) on the walls of the cabin, the air smells of fresh linens. There are slippers for our tired feet, there is heating for our freezing noses and there is a table for me to work on. I honestly don’t know how I’ll ever go back to our old lifestyle.

On another note, the title of this third bullet point is interesting because the tickets probably cost less than a half hour cab ride in Sydney. Also, I still use the phrase “when I grow up” even though I’m as tall as I’ll ever be and as mature as the Dalai Lama helping an old lady cross the street. At what age is it time to stop using that phrase?
_____________________________________________

Picture of the Day: I bought a packet of Lebron Raymone James playing cards at the stree market the other day. Apparently all basketball players look the same to whoever made these cards, as there are random pictures of Carmelo Anthony, Alonzo Mourning, Shaq and I believe Jerome James sprinkled throughout the deck. Way to make a name for yourself, Jerome.

Read Full Post »

The Great Wall and the Greatest Supermarket

1/23/10: Beijing, China

Incognito at the Great Wall.

The Great Wall is one of those sites that you really do have to see if you’re in the area, but there’s no real surprise when you get there. It’s pretty much exactly what you expect, maybe even a little less – well – great. I’m pretty sure that it can’t be true that the Great Wall is the only man-made structure that can be seen from outer space. Because if you can see the Great Wall from outer space, then you should also be able to see I-95, which is at least three times as wide (and has way more cars).

I guess my ho-hum attitude today towards our Great Wall visit was also due to a few other factors: the freezing temperatures and biting wind (colder than when we were in the Annapurnas!), the fact that I’ve been there a few times before (there are pictures of me with my cousins at the wall, and we’re all wearing matching polka-dotted outfits), and maybe most importantly, that we visited one of the restored and also most touristy parts of the wall. I think it would have been a completely different and more awe-inspiring experience to visit an unrestored, remote part of the wall away from the crowds.

But, one thing about our visit to the Great Wall was indeed really great – and that was meeting up with Kevin’s Aunt Marilyn and cousin TJ!

Kevin and TJ have an ongoing competition trying to appear taller than the other person when they take pictures together.

Aunt Marilyn and I struggle up the 30 degree incline. (I'm on the right.)

Kevin’s aunt, cousin and another colleague had spent the past several days on a business trip in Northern China and we were lucky enough to catch them in Beijing on their last day. It was really nice and a bit surreal to be able to see some familiar faces so far from home.

After our trip to the Great Wall, we made another trip that I think all tourists should take – a trip to the local Chinese supermarket!

Go ahead and cross pig's blood off of your grocery list.

I guess the supermarket wasn’t so terribly different from your average American supermarket, but there were a few things that blew us (ok, mainly me) away. Example: they sell eggs in plastic bags. BY WEIGHT. Now that, I think, is genius.

Brown or white? They even have organic!

They also have these inexplicably giant apples the size of my head. Who buys these things? Elephant-owners?

For comparison, on the right is a large-ish red delicious.

And of course, the most famous Chinese person is also at the supermarket – promoting frozen dumplings.

I can't blame Jackie, because I too love to buy frozen dumplings.

But the best part of the grocery store trip? Kevin was instructed to fill up two bags with as many peanuts as he wanted. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him look quite so happy.

_____________________________________________

Ohio Picture: Well, of course you can’t visit the Great Wall and NOT do an O H I O. That would just be crazy.

_____________________________________________

Picture of the Day: My aunt says that when I was small, I wouldn’t go to sleep unless I had one of these oranges in each hand. How Kevin and I ended up together remains a mystery.

Read Full Post »

I’m Finally Home!

1/22/10: Beijing, China

After 25 years of searching for my missing half (no, not Zhou), I’ve found it. It’s the half that has given me some of my best qualities: my love of the abacus, my squinty eyes, my lack of a necessity to shave, my random propensity for chili dogs (wait, maybe not), my ability to kung fu people and my knowledge of so many obscure Confucius sayings, to name a few. It’s the half that kept me going during the long nights of my short tenure at Wells Fargovia, as when it’s night in America it’s prime working time here. Yes, you guessed it, I’m in China.

In these 48 hours that I’ve had to breathe in the air of my people, I’ve learned not too breathe too deeply. Depending on what time it is, either the sun or the moon is blocked out by the ubiquitous smog. If we all know one thing about smog though, it’s that it is a sign of progress. I was expecting to see streets packed with small people pedaling rickety bicycles, but instead have seen nothing but cars with windows so tinted you can’t see the small people inside. The road near Zhou’s aunt’s apartment must be ten lanes wide, but it feels like much more. Why? Because lane lines here are like forks at Bdubs: they’re all around but everyone ignores them. I wouldn’t be surprised if I someday saw three cars miraculously squeezed side-by-side into the same lane. The motto here is clearly “Look out for #1.” Not only do you do what’s best for yourself, but also keep your eyes to the sky as you never know who’s peeing off a building. (Just kidding. We’ve only seen one person using the “public restroom,” and he was on the sidewalk.)

This somewhat selfish way of life keeps people moving forward through the day, and I’ve found out it also leads to a great deal of impatience amongst some. Last night at dinner the man at the table next to us was shouting so loudly that it looked like he was going to throw down in fisticuffs with the waiter. The cause of his outrage? Slow service.

That being said, confrontation is not all that commonplace. If you moved all New Yorkers here, the homicide rate would skyrocket. Have you seen the Trains in China youtube video? Although I’ve heard it’s actually from Japan (all us Asians look alike), Zhou and I can now believe it took place in China. Our first Chinese subway experience came during rush hour on our way to dinner to meet her dad’s coworker. We left the apartment at 4:30pm for a 6:30pm dinner, and if I weren’t bigger than everyone else we still would have been late.

Despite the already crowded cars and the long lines waiting to enter, getting on the subway was actually no problem. It’s amazing how many 100-pound people can fit into a 50-foot long subway car. (I used American measurements so people here would have no idea what I’m talking about. Although come to think of it they can’t access the blog anyway.) However, as our ride progressed no one got off and people kept piling on. It almost defied logic – how can we pass five subway stops and have not a single person exit the car? Here’s my theory: Chinese people like to get the most bang for their buck (to put it nicely), and since all rides cost the exact same they maximize value by staying on the subway for as long as possible, disregarding their need to get off earlier.

Anyway, by the time we were getting close to our stop, I wanted to take a picture of the crowd, but my hands were stuck in permanent cover-my-pockets / shove-others-away mode. The shoving didn’t seem to be working though, as we were slowly pushed against the far wall.

Wait, it’s our stop!

We clearly hadn’t been paying enough attention to everyone else’s body language, as it actually looked like most people wanted to get off here. They were all anxiously facing the door, so we didn’t try pushing them out of the way at first. It turned out though that perhaps the anxious faces were from the dwindling oxygen in the car, as the doors open and no one got off. (Duh! No one ever gets off.) An angry mob of 20 more people immediately tried to get on, and there we were still stuck against the back wall.

The reason this system works in China is because the compactness of the people allows them to easily slither from one end of the car to the other. Zhou worked her way through the crowds without much trouble (at least that’s what it looked like to me) and snuck off the car. I’m huge though. As the seconds ticked away before the door closed, I was left with two options: push or be pushed. The angry mob had nearly all entered the car, and I still had another four feet to get to the exit. It looked like four hundred. I made up my mind though and I began pushing. Like John Coffee in The Green Mile, I used my immense physical strength (relatively, in my case) and let out a Hulk-ian roar. The people around me started falling like dominoes, if the dominoes were all standing next to each other next to a brick wall. Like Barry Sanders in his prime, I saw the narrowest of openings and took a chance. Like Indiana Jones in one of those movies he made, I saw the doors blocking my escape inching shut. I got one leg out of the car. The doors inched closer, and my right leg was still stuck! Like a donkey being attacked from behind, I kicked my leg as hard as possible and pulled it out of the car. I had made it.

I love China.
_____________________________________________

Pictures of the Day: A wide selection of delectable seahorse, scorpion and larva.

Read Full Post »