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Published: January 17th 2011
Back in November (yes, we are a bit behind on our blog) we had to travel to the Beijing office for a few days for work. We figured we’d make a trip out of it and planned to leave a few days early to take some time and see the city. When we mentioned we were going, our friends Johnny and Niki said they had never been to Beijing and wanted to make the trip with us along with Niki’s sister-in-law, Leah. We were very excited to have some friends (and translators!) come along with us.
We did so much in the 8 days that I certainly won’t try to summarize it all here. A “few” highlights….
1. Checking into the hotel only to smell a strong sewage odor in our room. (Plumbing in buildings in China is not always properly vented and sometimes the traps are.. well.. nonexistent. In other words, the wastewater/sewage vents directly into the rooms.) It all worked out for the best though as we ended up with a free upgrade to a very nice suite when we talked to the front desk about it!
2. Watching Joni shiver in terror as she saw
The Summer Palace
from across the lakea Chinese military brigade march across Tiananmen Square. (Something about the green uniforms and seriousness of their faces alarms her)
3. Passing through building after building of the Forbidden City, each time noticing an uncanny resemblance to the previous building. (Including an entire building just for the emperor to ‘change clothes’ in!)
4. Voting 3 to 2 in favor of NOT seeing General Mao’s body.
5. Acquiring a true understanding of Beijing’s pollution problem as we climbed the hill in Jingshan Park which overlooks the Forbidden City – only to notice the mystical setting of the Forbidden City defined by a thick cloud of smog. We were also reminded of the pollution every time we stepped into our hotel room and noticed that our clothes reeked of a large bonfire.
6. Enjoying our first Jian Bing as we walked to Beihai Park. Jian Bings are a popular breakfast snack in China and are made by street vendors all over China who have a small grilling stone mounted on the back of their bike. It’s similar to a crepe and has a flour wrap with a fried egg, green onion, cilantro and a spicy chili sauce inside.
These have since become one of our favorites and we often buy them on our walk to work in the morning.
7. Trying mutton for the first time at a hole-in-the-wall BBQ place ironically located within the wall of the Forbidden City.
8. Wandering the old hutongs near Houhai Lake seeing what the old life was like before all the highways and skyscrapers popped up.
9. Walking one block away from the subway stop to find Bus 919 which would take us to the Great Wall (as detailed in our guidebook) only to find 30 busses with the number 919 on them. We watched in amazement as even our Chinese friends struggled to figure out which bus went where… You’d think the city would number busses differently based on where they went…
10. Arriving at the Great Wall and looking up to see hoards of tour groups with red flags headed up one of the mountainsides. (And determining that we would go the opposite direction)
11. Watching Johnny become a great man as he stepped onto the Great Wall for the first time. (There is a saying in China that you are not a great
Sunset
National Stadium man until you have been to the Great Wall)
12. Staring in admiration at the frail elderly couples we passed on the higher elevations of the wall. How on earth did they make the trek up those steep climbs!? (No, the gondola was not running, we checked for this exact reason!)
13. Watching in amazement as a Chinese man carved a picture of the Great Wall into a piece of stone with the precision of a wood pecker. We don’t normally like to buy souvenirs, but this one seemed one-of-a-kind.
14. Having our friends translate what the Chinese people around us were saying about us. As we were sitting relaxing on the wall… Johnny said to Joni – that girl just said to her friends “That foreigner is very beautiful!” After the girl realized that we were, in fact, traveling with Chinese friends who had translated her comment she scurried away in embarrassment.
15. Blair getting the brilliant idea to slide down the handrail for the final descent of the Great Wall - only to realize he had cleaned the dirt and nastiness of millions of tourists off the handrail in the process. The stains on
his jeans may never come out…
16. Walking into the Peal Market only to be mobbed by young Chinese women tugging at our arms begging us to buy their products.
17. Wandering the park around the Temple of Heaven, playing modified Chinese hackysack, watching hundreds of old animated Chinese men play cards and enjoying the locals practicing Tai Chi.
18. Walking down the Donghuamen night snack street in awe as we noticed delicacies such as scorpions, centipedes, and sheep penis. Watching Johnny chow down on “silk worms”.
19. Contributing to the dental hygiene problems of a young homeless girl by giving her a huge stick of candy covered fruit from the Snack market. Joni ate a few bites only to decide it was too sweet. When a young girl came up and asked for change we gave it to her and her eyes lit up like Christmas as she said Xie Xie. Her mother must have been so proud. ..
20. Playing Phase 10 in our hotel room with Johnny, Niki and Leah till the wee hours of the morning over Tsingtao Beers.
21. Wandering around the lakes at Summer Palace enjoying the beautiful
scenery and trying to dodge the random Chinese amateur photographers who found it necessary to continually take pictures of the huge white foreigners.
22. Visiting the “Harvard” and “MIT” of China (Tsinghua and Peking Universities), which were Johnny & Niki’s dream colleges. The cold Beijing winter quickly set in as we walked VERY fast across the large Ivy League (in a Chinese way) campuses.
23. Walking through the incense scented Lama Temple admiring Buddha after Buddha as they became increasingly larger with each temple… closing with the Buddha of all Buddhas which was carved out of a single tree trunk and 18 meters high!
24. Working out of the Beijing office for a week and hanging out with the great staff, including one fellow Badger alum! Also, learning how to make cappuccino from the gourmet coffee machine in the office.
25. Enjoying a tasty lunch at the nearby cafeteria for only $2 for a large bowl of rice, meat and vegetables. Prices in Beijing were much cheaper than Shanghai.
26. Being excited that the hotel we were staying at had Chinese, Japanese and Western restaurants, as well as a tennis court and pool! Then becoming
The Forbidden City
from Tiananmen Square disappointed as we explored this beautiful deserted hotel to find a padlock on the doors for the tennis court and dark restaurants which had been shut down. When we asked at the front desk if the Western restaurant was open or if it would be open later for dinner, the response implied that the restaurant would never be open.
27. Continuously getting lost in taxis on the way back to our hotel near the office which was located on the far outskirts of Beijing. Even after having the location explained over the phone by a native speaker, the drivers still found it necessary to stop and ask street sweepers for directions.
28. Finding a Western restaurant that served one of the most diverse Thanksgiving dinners I have ever eaten. Included in the buffet were the usual staples like turkey, potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc. but also some of our favorite foods that we have missed dearly, bruschetta, chips & salsa, twice baked potatoes and cheesecake. Some apparent American staples were also served such as hot dogs and baby back ribs as well as an interesting performance by the restaurant/bar’s cheerleading squad!
29. Going out for a Mexican dinner
and drinks at a “secret” bar with a couple co-workers for Blair’s birthday. The Mexican food tasted soo good after suffering 2 months of withdrawal and the mojitos were plentiful, maybe a little too plentiful for the typical tiny Chinese woman. Halfway through dinner, our co-worker was saying “Mojito. I love you and I hate you!” The “secret” bar was located down a set of stairs in the back of a hot dog shop and through a wall which opens by the touch of a button.
30. Freezing our asses off as we walked around the Olympic park on an extremely cold & windy day admiring the Water Cube and National Stadium.
31. Learning that the starting price for steak at the restaurant I wanted to take Blair for his birthday was $90 (after reading in a local dining magazine that the restaurant prices ranged from $15 - $30) and instead eating a “healthy” meal at McDonald’s (the only option we could find near the Olympic park). Happy Birthday to my wonderful loving husband!!
32. Bargaining for beautifully hand painted scrolls at the Panjiayuan antique market for our future dining room.
33. Eating brunch at a
Forbidden City
One of the many similar buildings we passed through wonderful homestyle American restaurant with bottomless coffee (!) in the CBD area and randomly running into our American co-worker there. What are the chances in a city of millions?!
We hope you enjoy a “few” of the many pictures we took on our trip!
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