Advertisement
Published: August 22nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
To make a long story short, we arrived in Beijing with no place to stay - having only just found out before getting on the 30 hour train ride. Luckily, Jon knows people, and people know Jon, so we got a floor to crash on for a while. Sweet. Thanks Adam, Andy, and Shamus. And a howdy doody to Tony.
One of the first things we did upon arriving in Beijing was go to visit Jon's high school host family. "Ma" was there and "Ba" was on vacation, while Jon's host brother was at uni. It was good seeing here and we made a dinner date. Good to be back in the old BJ.
Jon's host family lives across from Houhai Lake - a once low key local lake with tea houses is now a high key bar district with ritz and neon lights galore. But still the crowds were fun to watch and we grabbed a drink. Later we meet up with our new roommates at Sanlitun (Sanlitwar with Beijing accent) for more rowdy fun. Sanlitun is an older bar district where one can find many great places to drink - from 50 cents to 10 dollars a
drink - they got it all. A great place to socialize with the locals, but more the expats and students from abroad. Even a week before the Olympics started a cloud of uncertainty was forming over Sanlitun over speculations that the bars would all be shut down during the games. Fortunately they remained open for the whole time we were there (or at least partially), but unfortunately, the government banned African black people and Mongolians from entering the bars. Perhaps, this was in an effort to stop drug and sex sales in the area during the Olympics.
Jon's old Beijing buddy, Porter, was in town and we all hung out on multiple occasions. Porter and Adam are friends, as well, so it was easy to get everyone together.
On another day we got a chance to march through Tiananmen Square (fact: the largest public square in the world). Though we didn't see Mao Zedong's pickled corpse, we did get to see the Olympic preparations being made. Good thing we arrived early, because the square was not as crowded as it would be later on.
We got a chance to see a Chinese Acrobatic show. A first for
Jon and Marc. It was AWESOME. The kids were so talented and... flexible. From juggling plates, contortionists, balancing, to flipping around and more, the show was excellent.
Escaping the hetero alleys of Sanlitun, we skipped over to (hahaha) Beijing's foremost - and only - gay bar/club/lounge. Jon had figured it would be shut down for the games, but it actually had expanded! We ran into Jon's old friends Edward and Jerome, who we would later stay with. Due to the games, however, the dance floor was closed for one weekend, so people stood around sipping Tsingdaos and tapping their toes to Rihanna.
On another occasion we went to Beijing's only Tibetan Buddhist temple - Lama Temple and China's oldest Confucian school and temple - Confucian temple. The Buddhist temple had a non-political makeover (or makeunder), but featured a 6 story buddha carved from a single sandlewood tree. No photo allow! (see our photo) hehehe. We're so bad.
The Confucian temple, built in 1302, is Jon's favorite because it is particularly unique as Confucianism isn't a religion. The temple was created for people who passed Imperial Confucian civil service exams, and we got to enter the before closed
to the public school where people had taken the tests. It was really cool.
Summer Palace! It was serene and peaceful, except for all the Chinese tourists. It was really immense and had all kinds of nooks and crannies to explore. You will see by our pictures. A place of beauty and a must see in Beijing.
One muggy day, Marc lead the torch to the Olympic Village to check out the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube, and all kinds. We were only able to view it from a distance after much walking from the metro, due to massive security. Though we did get fairly close at one point, by the water cube, and joined others in welcoming the Olympics to BJ.
Our big adventure - and Marc's favorite part - was camping out on the Great Wall of CHINA. Jon knows the inside scoop and we took the road less taken (by public transit) to Huanghua Cheng - a section of the wall that is much less touristy and not renovated. The wall is in original condition and is, therefore, crumbling apart. The Great Wall is 3728 miles long and spans from the beach near N.
Sanlitun
The tourist strip of Sanlitun - we don't go there. Korea to the deserts of Western China south of Western Mongolia. Therefore, only a very tiny part of the wall is restored for tourists near Beijing, but the rest was either knocked down or is being worn away by the elements. We arrived in Huanghua just to find out that the local police shut down the wall for the Olympics, but were told of another way to get on "where the police can't see you." So we did. Unregistered and all. We got up on the wall and went the "dangerous" way for a couple of miles. Up and down the crest of the mountain chain forging our way through the thick brush, passing only one person along the way. After 2 hours we settled into a guard tower with half a roof, lots of yellow flowers, an occupied bird's nest, and began to make camp. We even had a bonfire where we roasted weenies and ham on hot pieces of the wall... seriously. We slept in our $20 new self-pitching half-dome tent and sleeping bag. The sound of bugs and other critters were very interesting - and at times creepy - as we dosed off.
In the morning,
The Guys and Cha Cha
Adam, Chacha, & Tony Marc snuck off and climbed up the further HUGE mountain up a treacherous climb to the top where at times the climb was literally vertical with not stepping bricks. As Nixon said, "This really is a great wall." Another must see if ever in China.
When we got back, Adam moved to a horrible location - in the boondocks, so we moved as well, to our friends Edward and Jerome's house by Sanlitun. It was luxurious.... living in the lap of luxury. Thanks guys!
We also trekked to the Forbidden City in the middle of town, where the crowds begin to grow, especially since the games began the next day. Aside from the hordes of Olympic International Campers and their green shirts, the newly painted palace was impressive. We made the most of our time and escaped the heat by visiting an exhibit on Imperial clothing dating hundreds of years.
From our new home, we watched the opening ceremony, with the gas clouds looming outside. It was beyond our expectations. If you have not seen it, you really should. It is "Absolutely Fabulous," right Patsy? The city was really weird though, since the government stated that everyone
in Beijing was off of work on the 8th, so that everyone would be home and off the streets. They didn't want big crowds forming and there was military and police everywhere. Every bus stop had a soldier, metros had bag scanners. It was intense. So we stayed in and enjoyed the show. P.S. The public screening were cancelled under the Patriot Act.
One day we rode the metro as far out as you can get from downtown and randomly got off at Huilongguan. Right in front of the station we were offered tickets (illegally) from an old man selling Beijing Olympic shirts and flags. He was very discrete as he passed a note with the message in Chinese "Olympic tickets". We were due to leave 2 days after the opening, but surprisingly, his tickets were for our last day in China - the 9th. We bargained him down to $50 a ticket and left praying they were real. Hallelujah, they were legit! Too legit to quit. We saw an Olympic boxing competition. Hurrah. The highlight of this event was all the Chinese people being very quite the whole time until the Chinese boxer got in the ring, at
DUMPLINGS!!!
I've been searching since Chinatown San Francisco! YummY!!! which point the Worker's Gymnasium became a madhouse full of ruckus and excitement! So we joined in, "Zhongguo Jiayou!" (Go China) Meiguo Jiayou (Go USA). We left happy and ready have one last dinner with the host family and then to party for our last night!
That night we got a chance to say good bye to all our good friends in Beijing. It was a happy coincidence that we ran into all our old roommates before leaving.
So long Beijing... until next time. Hollywood, here we come!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.102s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0718s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb