The Last Day of Our Acquaintance

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My last day in BJ was the brightest, sunniest day I had ever seen. At times, you could actually see a few clouds in the sky. It was beautiful, actually, and people seemed a lot friendlier than usual. I went down to '
Panjiayuan market in Chayoyang district. This is, hands down, the coolest market I've seen. It had everything- books, antiques, junk. I found what I was looking for - a Great Wall medium format camera for approx $60. I probably could have gotten it cheaper, but I really suck at the barganing thing.

Torward the end of the day, I wandered my Hutong and stumbled across a food market. Meat, fish, fruit, old bikes, everything was sold here. I bought some lychee fruit and returned to my room to pack.

This is the Last Day of Our Acquaintance - final thoughts on Beijing

I hate to use the Sinead O’Connor song, but in this case, I think it is highly appropriate. For those who don’t know this tune, it is about a woman who is about to meet her soon to be ex ‘in somebody’s office’ to sign the final papers ending their relationship. There is a certain bittersweet undertone to the song, and I think it sums up my ‘relationship’ with Beijing. There were good times, some laughs, and I’m glad I went. However, the good times were simply not enough, and it is time to ‘part ways.’ Therefore, I don’t feel the sense of not wanting to return home that some others I’ve met along the way have felt. I’m quite glad to be going to be going back to HK.


I got up early this morning to catch my taxi ride back to the airport. Luckily, I was sharing the cab fare with an Englishman who was taking a year off to travel through Asia, so I managed to cut my taxi costs in two. Honestly, though, I have nothing bad to say about the Red Lantern Hostel. Authentic Hutong location, nice service, helpful, clean and reasonably priced. Can’t get much better than that.

My final impressions of Beijing? A city of massive contradictions. They put so much emphasis on stopping H1N1, to the point of putting a person under quarantine, and encouraging people to wear surgical masks. Yet, over and over, I saw people cough and spit indiscriminately. On the famous snack street I saw a cook in the back kitchen cough up a flegm glob and spit it out onto the kitchen floor. I had just bought a beef kebab stick from a stand down the street, and you can just imagine how my belly just rolled. I had psycho-somatic stomach upset for at least 12 hours. I’m not sure how the state is convinced that allowing people to spit up in the street is a healthy endeavor. Everything seems to be rule-driven, yet the drivers/bike riders seem to be hell-bent on a suicide mission (even if their kids are strapped precariously to the back of the bike). A good course to offer foreigners would be ‘defensive street crossing.’ In HK old and new are co-existing with one another, which add to its charm. In BJ, new and old are on a collision course.

My first blog indicated my discomfort at being stared at. I learned a quick fix to that. When people stared at me, I just said ‘Nee How” and they would smile and say hi back. It was that easy, huh? Some still wouldn’t respond, or were outright rude (like the man who started yelling at me in Chinese when I greeted him. I’m like, ok).

So, overall, I would say that Beijing is very cool, and everyone should go there at least once. However, I think that it to get anything out of your journey to China, you must take the time to learn the language - either in your home city or in China. ‘Nee Hao” and “Xie-Xie” only go so far. Otherwise, you will not only be frustrated by the end of your trip, but you could have missed conversations with some cool people.

Maybe next time I’ll get it right.

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Photos

The last day of our Acquaintance
I will meet you later in somebody's office..
I atone but you won't listen to me...
I know your answer, already.. Sinead O'Connor