China Diaries 2

---

Friday, November 09, 2007


China Diaries 2

Ni Hao Ma!!! So it's 7:23 am here in Beijing and I'm about to eat some breakfast. The last 2 days were cool, Thursday morning a few of the girls and I wandered about outside our hotel to the chaotic streets of Beijing. We are staying at a hotel near a busy hustle and bustle area where people are running around with sweet potatoes, selling stuff cooked on top of a trash can fire, there's these little buggies that are made on top of trycycle bikes that are used as taxis which are hilarious. We definitely stood out like a soar thumb. We went to a shopping centre which had a McDonalds there and funny enough in the McDonalds eating area, they have a private conference room. As we used the restroom there, a group of business people which included a couple non asian businessmen were escorted to the conference room. Having a meeting at McDonalds is apparently a big deal.

After that, we found a small market and bought a bunch of snacks to have in our room, we all stocked up on greentea drinks, chocolate, banana chips, asian peanuts, and of course noodle bowls where YOU JUST ADD WATER. Awesome! Then we went and ate some lunch back at the hotel which is buffet style, so the same stuff everyday....nice.

I wanted to venture off and see some stuff so I went online and looked for sites of Beijing that were close by that I can go see on my own. I've always been the one to take off on my own and often times people think I'm crazy, but it always leads to fun exciting stories and I'm not about to sit around and wait for anyone to make up their mind if they wish to galavant or not, I was up for it and wanted to check out Beijing. So I found Tianamen Square that was close by, I had the reception lady write it in Mandarin, called a cab, hopped in and headed 20 mins in a clueless direction to Tianamen Sqaure. Tianamen Sqaure I found out has a passive memory that no one speaks about here. Years ago, there was a massacre of young students who were peacefully protesting against the government, so the government shot and killed everyone. No one speaks about it, it's a quiet shame here in Beijing, so when I went to Tianamen Sqaure I had to give my moment of silence.

The taxi ride was nice and long, the buidlings here are incredible, Beijing is absolutely ginormous. The structures here are built in fascninating designs, it looks like Tetris!!! It's overcrowded and traffic all day long, non stop so I can only imagine what it's going to be like when the Olympics arrive next year. Once the ride was over, I got out and walked under the street thru a busy passage way and up to Tianamen Sqaure. It's a large area with buildings with meaning though I don't know what half of them are called. I walked around aimlessly taking some photos and just taking it all in. It was awesome to be in another country again, admiring everyone's way of life. During my little tour, two female Chinese girls came up to me and asked if I was a student and were excited to meet me. I told them I wasn't, and she was very keen on speaking English as she was studying it at school so I said she can practice with me. She was extremely knowledgable of all the buidlings and some past history of the museums in the square though I nocticed she did not mention the massacre. She showed me a small art exhibition in a buidling entering Forbidden City which showcased oil paintings on silk canvases. When I went into the room, I stopped to take a look around and gaze at all the amazing paintings. She described some of the meanings of the paintings such as orchids, pands, tigers, the colors, double luck, hope, fortune, love, etc.....She then showed me her work that she was showcasing there. It was the Chinese national flower in four different colors, green, pink, yellow, and blue if I remember correctly. I choose green for hope and good fortune (I hope I remembered exactly what it stood for) and bought it from her. To me, it had alot of meaning to by directly from the artist and how she described the meaning as oppose to buying from the airport. It was a particular place - Forbidden City, the artist - Hellen, the meaning - Hope, the painting - national flower, the color - green. She said the money I spent on it goes to scholarships for students in Beijing, whether she is telling the truth or lying it didn't matter to me because I just wanted to take a piece of that moment back with me.

Once I finished looking at the rest of the expo, I decided to head back to my hotel, I said my goodbyes to her and her friend, headed back to the hotel. It took about an hour to reach the hotel, I made it just in time for dinner. We were told we were going out to a club that evening at 10:15 but it turned out to be 8:15pm. Who goes to the club at 8:15pm? We were all not ready to go, but we put our game faces on and headed out. The club was cool, it was called Mix and it was promoting the WDS here, so had to make an appearance, no bottle service but an insane amount of beer and I don't drink beer so I had to go throw down a shot of tequila at the bar. Needless to say, since I don't really drink that much anymore, one shot of nasty tequila and one mojito....I was buzzin'. We all ended up getting on the dancefloor getting jiggy with it but called it a night around 11pm. I find it funny we all got drunk early and left early, I was done for the night, there was no way I was going to drink more as I was laready feeling tipsy as it was. My roommate and I along with another model hopped into a cab, I showed him my room key but by then I knew my way back to the hotel anyway, so I could of gotten behind the wheel and took us right back to the hotel. I directed him in hand gestures and within 15 minutes, we were back. My drunk ass ate a bunch of crackers, and had a brilliant idea of "Who can I call right now?" Yeah drunk dialing.......BUT I stopped myself before I made that move cause' it's not cheap! So I was a good girl and put myself to bed.

The next day, we ate breakfast and had a call time at 1pm to head to the stadium for press. We all got ready, jumped on the bus and headed out. We had our outfits with us, which are brown flight dresses and one of the models looks like a pin up in it. We took loads of photos, we were also freezing our bums off while we were there, we watched the American and Chinese Drifters demonstrate their moves behind the wheel but for the most part we were waiting along time. About 6:15pm, we all jumped on the bus and headed back to the hotel to eat some exciting Chinese food. There was another going out night back at the club, but all the models were not into it. My roommate and I ended up calling it a night at 8pm and didn't wake up till this morning.
Now it's time for breakfast and then off to the stadium for the series, that's the latest for the past couple days, some of the photos are up on my albums though I don't have all up. I don't have time to proof read this so if it sounds a bit off, I apologize. I'm trying to type very fast because I have such anticipation to go eat breakfast here. lol

Desiree

---

Photos

WDS Models
Myself along with these ladies were hire to model for the World Drift Series in Beijing.

A monument in Tianamen Sqaure.
I know I've been told the name of this building, but I cannot think of it.

Inside one of the buildings at the sqaure.
You pay to see these galleries and see what their culture is about. I really enjoyed this place, can't remember the name.

These guys
mean serious business.