China Trip

What a busy few days! Last Friday, I left school and went straight to Busan, where I had to negotiate through the subway to get to some place that might be near the airport. Well... after a good night's sleep in a rather seedy Love Motel in Busan, I was off to the airport (Love Motels are great, cheap, clean motels - mine was only $20 a night and featured a great round bed with pink sheets. No neon though...), where I met up with the rest of the group. We were only 10 people on this particular tour, and ended up gelling like you wouldn't believe! Once again, I give thanks to my good roommate karma, as I was put in the same room as an awesome girl named Melissa. We really got on well, which helped make the trip that much better.

In Beijing, the first thing that hit me was the oppressive heat. The air seemed... grey. I don't know how to explain it, but even in all my pictures, it's as if the camera is dirty or something. Just walking to our air-conditioned tourbus was enough to make the sweat start rolling out.

I won't go into detail on everything that we saw, or else nobody will read my post!

Here's the quick and dirty version...

Day 1: Arrive Beijing
Temple of Heaven: With only 20 minutes to tour the grounds, we simply didn't have enough time to appreciate it all. One totally surreal thing was that the entrance corridor to the temple was full of people gambling, playing card and singing. I'm not talking about 25 people either, but a couple hundred! Took a couple photos, but the best part for me was walking back to the tour bus through a park where a group of people played some really odd instruments and sang.
Chinese Acrobat Show: WOW
Hotel: Holiday Inn... absolutely incredible. Total luxury. After going off down the street (we were smack dab in the middle of a local area full of streetside restaurants) in search of beer, which we drank on our private rooftop garden at the hotel. Okay... it was basically a bunch of benches (that tip at the most inopportune moments) but it became our place.

Day 2:
Jade Carving: So nice... forgot to bring my credit cards, which is probably a good thing as there were some really nice things. Bought a pair of earrings.
Great Wall! Okay, how hot are you right now? Hmmm, okay, multiply that by 5 billion, then put yourself in a huge crowd and attempt to climb some uneven stone stairs. My dress was literally sopping wet. Mark, Melissa and I ended up wimping out after the first watchtower, buying shirts that said "I climbed the Great Wall" and heading back down. It's unbelievable - your first view of the Great Wall just hits you...When you are driving out of Beijing, and suddenly the mountains rise up (much much higher than in Korea) and then you see it. Impossible stairs winding along the spines of these sleeping dragons. Amazing.
Cloisonne Factory: Saw how they make the cloisonne objects - beginning with hammered copper and ending with something that is quite nice. The working conditions would not have passed muster in North America... but Melissa asked and it was not a sweatshop or anything. Still... it brought me back to reality.
Tea House: I never knew that tea could taste so unbelievably good. Bought some white tea that is supposed to be good for cleansing out the effects of alcohol and nicotine. I mean, not that I need that or anything....
Summer Palace: Glorious, but mostly closed for renovations (Olympic facelift). Would love to go back to paddle a boat across the Emperor's lake.
Pearl Shop: Stupid girl! Where is your credit card????
Supper: Peking Duck. I couldn't get enough of the food!
Hotel: Well, what do you expect? We went to our private terrace again!

Day 3:
Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City: There is no way to describe the size of these places! Or the crowds... or the feeling you get walking there. Completely dwarfed by time and place and history, but in the middle of a huge bustling city. Got separated from my group at one point, and truly felt small and lost. We saw in only 2 hours these places that really need DAYS to see. Once again, a place I must go back to.
Shopping: Must say a big thanks to Zhao Lei for teaching me basic Mandarin phrases like "How much" and all the numbers. This made my bargaining much easier. Bought way too many things. We went to two different markets and ended up getting shopped out! Earlier in the day, we'd also gone to a silk place. I picked up a nice blue and silver chongsam for myself and regret not buying a quilt.
Evening: Headed with the gang to a streetside restaurant and filled the table with bottles. Went off to buy beer and met two monks who helped us get it cheaper! They happily posed for pics with us. We went back to "our" rooftop.

Day 4:
Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art: Melissa and I, armed with a photocopy of the Beijing subway and a Lonely Planet, went off searching for a museum. It was our free day and we could do whatever we wanted. The subway, the bus, everything was really easy. People were super helpful, and we ended up having a really nice museum visit. I got a free poster from the museum, which I will always treasure, I am sure.
Black Eyed Peas: I'd read in the paper that BEP were playing in Beijing that night, so decided to head out to try to get tickets. If I'd brought more money for the scalpers, I could have had a ticket quite easily. A Chinese guy (Cheng Kai) walked around with me for over an hour, trying to negotiate a better price for me. He even offered to loan me the money to meet the scalper's price. I finally told him to go to the concert, where his friends were waiting, and headed for home. There was a huge square, full of people. Earlier, I'd asked Cheng Kai what was going on and he was like, "Nothing, just people hanging out". Well, I'd never seen anything like it.... 10 pm and there were people doing rollerblade stunts, ballroom dancing (!) and about 200 people line dancing!
Hotel: Met up with everyone and headed out with Mark and Melissa for a late supper (it was near midnight). Went a bit further out from the hotel to a streetside restaurant and pointed at the menu until we ended up with a table full of amazing food - it's the picture I have of me with a mouthful of noodles.

Day 5:
Leaving Beijing: We were up at 4 am! Our group was just amazing - we have promised to get together again one day. I really hope it happens.

Through the magic of Korea's awesome bus system, I made it home to Suncheon at 6 pm. What a day! And... the next day - school!

I felt extremely safe wandering around Beijing at night, and I've decided to try to learn more Mandarin in order to go back to China one day, maybe for the Olympics, who knows? The weird thing is that I find Mandarin easier than Hangeul (Korean). Oh, and since my entire experience of Beijing was shopping and eating, I will fit right in!

Do please take the time to look at my Flickr page, for pictures and more explanations. Sorry for such a long post, but it was an amazing trip.