From Roast Duck to Crumbling Walls- Beijing

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Beijing

At last, a blog entry! We’re probably more excited about this than you are… it’s been a long battle to get the internet to work in our room. First we had to pay for it, then buy a cord, then get that cord fixed because it was from a shady shop on the street, then get the outlet fixed, then figure out why my computer refused to get online even when it recognized the network. Anyways, after a few days of effort and lots of help from kind Chinese people, here we are. It’s only been a week since we arrived but there is so much to talk about, so we’re excited to write.

First, before any story-telling (where we went, what we did, what we ate, etc.), here, for your reading pleasure, are a few observations about differences here that affect daily life:

One: Internet. How we take wifi for granted on a university campus! For more details, see above.

Two: Crossing the street. To anyone contemplating suicide but still unsure whether or not to go for it, may I suggest trying to cross the street in China? This opportunity to stare death in the face and ignore all your better judgments will surely give you perspective. You see, in China, right-of-way belongs to the most daring. Cars will NOT stop for you unless you are already in front of them and they have to either hit you or slow down. If they can swing around you, they will. If they can scare you off by honking or accelerating, they will. It does not matter if you’re in a crosswalk, it does not matter if the little green man shows it’s your turn to cross, it does not matter if you are a handicapped grandmother carrying a baby. No mercy. So far, our strategy is to wait for some Chinese people to walk out into the fray and stop (or at least slow) the traffic, then follow hot on their heels because the second there is not a person directly in front of the car, it will be pushing through the crowd. Really, you just have to stare them down and force your way across. As Kaylee said, in the end, the only thing keeping you on one side of the street is fear.

Three: With that in mind, driving is a harrowing experience. Every taxi feels like a scene from a Jason Bourne movie. Traffic lines and signs? Mere decorations. Navigating the roads is a constant game of chicken. On our way to the Great Wall, our driver passed people on winding roads with oncoming trucks only seconds away. After all, if someone is in your way, honk and accelerate. Ever felt the urge to pass people on the shoulder? Come to China and take your chance. Want to make it even more fun? Use cars that are too small to comfortably wear a seatbelt. Grab life by the horns- you’re not likely to survive the trip anyway.

Four: This mentality carries over to walking through crowds. It’s ok to bump and jostle; it’s not rude. No one is offended if you bump into them or even push them out of the way. Likewise, in a line, it’s every man for himself. If there is a way to get ahead of the people in front of you, take it. Several times I’ve been waiting at a booth or counter, standing a little bit back until the service person acknowledges me, only to have someone walk in front of me and shout for help. Again, I want to stress that while all of this ‘lack of courtesy’ comes across as rude to foreigners, it really isn’t for them. No one is offended or angry. No one has road rage or yells or makes rude gestures at drivers. It’s just a different way of doing things. Very different, haha.

Five: On a much more positive note, the food is fantastic. Some things are better than others, but as we experiment and try new things, I have not found anything that I thought was disgusting. Food is fun!

Six: Weather. Usually hot, but we’ve clear or only partly cloudy skies more than half of the time that we’ve been here. Sure, the air quality definitely could be improved, but its way better than I expected after all the horror stories I heard. And our little room has an air conditioner, so we’re comfortable 😊



Great. Let that be an introduction! Now for some stories…

On Thursday the 22^nd we flew from Denver at 4 pm to Seattle. Our flight from Seattle to Beijing was delayed by an hour and a half, so we did not arrive in Beijing until 12:30 am Saturday morning (10:30 am Friday morning for you). Thank goodness my friend and convert from Bordeaux, Wang Zhen, was there to meet us. He helped us get a taxi and make it to our hotel. The next day he met us back at the hotel and we set out to buy train tickets to get to Xi’an. We were actually able to grab breakfast at a European-style bakery, so we didn’t have real Chinese food until Wang Zhen took us out to lunch. It was delicious! The best was the Beijing duck, which is sliced and nicely caramelized. The waitress taught us how to eat it- you take three pieces, dip them in sauce, and place them in a little crepe-style wrap with a few pieces of the assorted vegetables and spices provided, then fold it over and eat it. So good! The crispy skin is also good when dipped in sugar. In a large Chinese meal, you order several (or many) small dishes that everyone shares. Again, eating is fun! You get to try so many things. For lunch that day we also had roast vanilla lamb, sautéed kale, spicy lychee chicken, duck bone soup, and some strange little pastry appetizers. Warning: if something in China looks like dessert, it is almost certainly not. The texture and taste will be totally different than you expect… some of them aren’t bad, it’s just hard to deal with the disappointment of failed expectations, haha.

After such an excellent lunch, we got back on the metro to go to the Summer Palace. As you may have surmised, the Summer Palace is where the emperor’s court would live during the summer. Much of it is built on a hill, so there’s a nice breeze most of the time. There’s also a lake for boat rides. We bought an entrance ticket and explored the grounds. Even though we were there all afternoon, it was a cursory visit- the place is huge. Very beautiful, lots of pictures, packed to the brim with Chinese people. There’s not much else to say- a picture’s worth a thousand words, right?

For dinner, one of Wang Zhen’s friends was actually leaving back to France and wanted to invite him out to eat, so we got to tag along. The restaurant was definitely less classy than the one we went to for lunch, but the food was still pretty good. We had fish, which tastes great but is scary because it’s filled with tiny bones that could choke you at any moment. I don’t know if Chinese fish have more bones or what, but there’s a difference. To finish off the evening, we passed by Tiananmen square to see the lights, then walked down a famous pedestrian street. By now the jetlag was killing us and we could barely stay awake to stumble home. We tried to get a taxi home but the drivers were jerks and charged waaaaay too much money. There are licensed taxi’s that have counters that charge money based on distance, and unlicensed ones who just agree on a price for the destination. We could only find unlicensed drivers because the hour has a high demand, I guess, so they were charging through the nose. I guess in U.S. dollars it still wasn’t very much (40 yuan is like $6.50), but comparatively, a bus ride from the same place would have cost one yuan each (yeah, like 18 cents).

Sunday:

Sunday was an adventure because we were on our own to get to church. Wang Zhen couldn’t come with us because the Chinese members aren’t allowed to mix with the expats, so we had to follow the directions. We’re proud to say that we successfully navigated the bus and the subway and arrived right on time. Church was great- so familiar and uplifting, and we got some good info about the branch in Xi’an. Afterwards we successfully found a place to eat and even ordered good food. I’ll admit I was extremely relieved to realize we weren’t going to get stranded or lost or starve to death here as soon as we were on our own. After lunch we met up with Wang Zhen again and went back to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We didn’t get to see a lot of it or take many of the classic pictures because it was closing and under renovation, but the square itself is pretty amazing. So much history… looking at the statues honoring the heroes of the revolution and stuff, I had some interesting insights. Even though I don’t care for the government here (to put it lightly), living here I can have respect for the history of this people and the ideals that they strived and sacrificed for.

We stopped by a market to get some fruit for dinner and the next day (eating out all the time, we get plenty of vegetables but hardly any fruit) then went back to the hotel to get plenty of rest for our day at Beijing’s best attraction: the Great Wall.

Monday:

To fill in the backstory, the Great Wall, as you might imagine, is really long. Like, REALLY long. So, you can visit it at any number of places. Kaylee was super on top of things and, before we left, researched a lot of the best places to visit the wall. The part she picked is called the Jiankou section. It’s a section of the wall that is ‘wild’- unmaintained and in the state that history and nature has left it. It takes some hiking to get there, and has hardly any other visitors or tourists. This is exactly what we wanted, but there’s one catch- it’s tricky to get there. We needed to take a special bus to a different city, then find a taxi driver there who would take us for another 40 minutes to a tiny village that won’t show up in your GPS, all while avoiding certain people who promise to take you but then rip you off. Once there, you have to find the path and not get lost. We printed off pretty detailed instructions before we left, but I was understandable apprehensive about navigating everything.

Fortunately, everything went perfectly. We found the bus, made it to the right stop, were approached by a driver who knew the way and gave us a good deal, found the path without any trouble, and even made new friends. Two Belgian students had the same idea as us but didn’t speak any Chinese, so they approached us and we decided to all go together. Jérémie speaks French, so that was fun, and he and Isabelle both speak excellent English. Having some hiking companions made it all more fun, interesting, and safe, and it was an incredible hike.

When we started out in the village, we could see the towers on the top of the mountains. After an hour of sweating it out in the heat and humidity, our path led us to a tower called Zhengbeilou. The view was breathtaking, and the breeze was refreshing. The mountains are spectacular in and of themselves, and topping it off (no pun intended), there is an incredible wall winding along the peaks as far as you can see. From the top of Zhengbeilou, facing west, we could see loads of the Jiankou portion of the wall. It looks like something out of a dream. I wish we could have explored that way, but the wall is extremely deteriorated in some parts and it’s suggested that it should not be attempted without rock climbing equipment, if then. So we followed the wall east toward a section called Mutianyu. Mutianyu is all restored and a major tourist attraction, so getting home was much simpler.

From Zhengbeilou to Mutianyu, hiking along the top of the wall, took about five hours. It was fantastic. We got the best of both worlds because we got to see the wild wall and the restored section. We took several hundred pictures and had a blast. In many parts of the wild section, trees and bushes were growing along the middle of the wall and the path through was narrow. Every couple hundred yards would be a tower, some still in good enough shape to climb to the top. In one place the wall was built literally against the edge of a sheer cliff. Over and over we asked ourselves, “Why build a wall here? Really, who was trying to get across this?” The angles were crazy. It was hard to capture in a picture, but the wall snakes up and down ridges in order to put towers on the peaks. This meant the wall was steep- for a little while we had to hold on to the edge of the wall to keep from slipping and falling from one tower all the way down to the next one on the smooth stones. The restored section was just as steep in places but they put in stairs. Hundreds, if not thousands of them. My calves are still sore, haha. At last we made it down from the wall and found a taxi in a village.

We made it back to Beijing without incident after a truly great day. There’s only one thing that could make it better- a great dinner. Thankfully, that’s exactly what we had. We found a little hole-in-the-way, totally legit restaurant where we ordered jiaozi (dumplings, potstickers, gyozas, whatever you want to call them based on where you’re from). So cheap, so good. Ten bucks for maybe 60 + fresh, hand-made jiaozi. We got some on plates and some in a soup; it was all good. I’m not sure what Isabelle and Jérémie thought of the restaurant- it looked pretty sketchy, especially coming from Europe, but it was exactly what Kaylee and I expected and hoped for. So good. All together, it was a perfect day, never to forget.



Tuesday: Goodbye Beijing, hello Xi’an. Wang Zhen helped us get a taxi but through a series of complications was unable to see us off at the airport 😞 We were so sad; he’s been a fantastic friend and an invaluable help. Everyone needs a friend like him! The train was about five hours, and honestly, I’m surprised that the Chinese eat anything except corn. That’s all that was growing, the whole way, haha. I guess the rice mostly grows in the south. Anyways, we arrived at the Xi’an station fervently hoping that someway would be there to pick us up. Due to internet complications at the hotel, we were only able to let them know the time of our revival that same morning. After some frantic searching and initial despair, we found people from our university. You’d think two white people in a Chinese train station would be easier to spot… anyways, it all worked out. Thus we arrived in Xi’an… you’ll have to read Kaylee’s entry for more 😊

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Photos

Beijing
Ancient and modern, all at once. Not many places like that anymore.

Peking Duck
Actually, this photo was taken once we finished, so there is no duck left in this picture :)

Summer Palace
Dressed for summer in the summer palace.

Heroes of the Revolution
One of the statues in Tiananmen Square honoring those who died to establish the People's Republic of China.

From Below...
The view from the village, Xizhazi.

...And From Above
Facing west, the dangerous Jiankou section of the wall.

Kaylee Scales the Wall
The prettiest sight in all of China!

Looking West
Ok, we're looking east, you're looking west.

The Wild Wall
Like I said, a little overgrown.

Crumbly Tower
Not the best picture of me, I'll admit, but it gives you a sense of scale.

Who would build a wall here?
As if the natural defenses aren't enough...

Hole in the Wall
Poking our heads through the windows! Btw, my pinkie is out because I was trying to shaka, but you can't see my thumb. I'm not drinking tea...

Crazy Angles
No, I'm not a bad photographer. The camera is straight...

Chinese Mountains
Check out that beautiful girl! And, of course, the scenic landscape.