First Weekend

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This has been a great weekend! Saturday we went to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, which is less touristy than some of the other spots. I didn’t expect it to be as cool as it was at all!! First of all, you are out of the city so the air is better. Second, you get to climb hills and stairs and descend hills and stars which makes for a great cardio work-out and gets the endorphins pumping. Third, the views are stunning. I walked most of it by myself because I didn’t like standing around waiting for the group to stop and catch their breath or stop to buy water or stop to take pictures. When it was time to come down from the wall I took a “chute” thing down the mountain. It had a brake and I went slowly. If I had to go fast I probably would have opted to climb back down the mountain. If you are ever in China I highly recommend seeing this - it was the best part of my trip so far.

Sunday morning a mishap with my contact lenses caused me to miss the group bus to the dirt market, which was fine with me because I don’t care for the markets (aggressive sales people all selling the same cheap crap at ridiculously high prices and then you talk them down to a fraction of the start price). I first walked to Starbucks to use the wireless internet. After that I went down to the center of the city with the intention of going to the Forbidden City, but instead I visited the Beijing Concert Hall, Zhongshan Park and the Laoshe Teahouse for dinner and a sampling of Chinese performing arts. The National Symphony of China is not performing again while I am here, so I won’t get to see them. However I did fine some jazz concerts at the Forbidden City Concert Hall and there are some concerts here on campus I plan to attend. Zhongshan Park is adjacent to the Forbidden City and is very nice. You have to pay 3 yuan to get in so the street merchants and other annoying people are not in there. It was mostly a crowd of families and young couples enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon together.On the other end of Tian’anmen Square is the Laoshe Teahouse. It offers various kinds of performing arts. Downstairs I had dinner and watched some “traditional” Chinese music (played on traditional instruments and using traditional melodies, but with amplification and a digital drum beat) and shadow theatre. Upstairs I watched what they call “Beijing Opera” although it was more a sampling of entertainment - magic, comedy, acrobatics, dance, kung fu, etc). I sat with a nice family from Malaysia. Now I am back at the “dorm” and pretty tired.

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