Unravelling Beijing

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Matt was right when he said that Beijing seemed like the kind of place where, the longer you stay, the more things you discover. Over the past few weeks I'd been surprised several times - not the "boo"-from-behind-sending-adrenaline-rushes-down-your-back kind of surprise, but rather the sort that gradually forms a smile on your face. (Or, it could very well be because of my personality that it's all shaping up this way, ha.)

This really is a very diverse city (thus far most of my time has been spent in the city part of this city, which actually takes up only 8/18 of Beijing - 10 out of the 18 districts are in the 郊区, i.e. rural districts). This "diversity" (ohhh, diverse city! ha) I wouldn't quite define in the same terms as Singapore (multiracial, multi religion)... it's undefinable, really - everywhere in Beijing just looks, acts and feels different from someplace else. Just yesterday I was at 2 areas, one subway stop away from each other but very, very different in terms of... practically everything, and both very different from anywhere else I have been in Beijing.

In the morning, I was at a run-down kindergarten off 上地 Shangdi subway, where I joined a group of weekly volunteers in playing games with the kids. They usually teach them simple English, but yesterday there was a special programme where a team of, I'm pretty certain they are, college American footballers came by and planned out some games for the kids. The area around here is perhaps the most undeveloped of Beijing I have seen thus far - though I'm fairly sure some of the country/farmland districts are in even poorer conditions - somewhat like a village. The road that led there are hardly roads, and driving on the sandy ground meant the vehicles tossed much, much dust and sand into our eyes, and there's no traffic light or high-rise building within sight. The setting is probably that of the destinations for the many "overseas CIP projects" we have back in school. I got to know about this project through my new friend Warren. So every Saturday, a group of volunteers (that keeps growing bigger and bigger 😊 ) come to teach English - in fact, the coordinator Hamilton mentioned yesterday that they would be expanding the project to a daily programme this summer! Really cool, sigh but it's hard to participate in a daily volunteering programme when you're here in Beijing for an internship, and when both your home/workplace is about 1.5 hours from 上地 Shangdi (and pretty much everywhere else...). But still, I guess Saturday mornings are something to look forward to from now! 😊

After, I had lunch with Warren at 五道口 Wudaokou, which is near the Tsinghua and Peking Universities. It was my second time there (first was when I met up with Mingyang and John - who's here to study Chinese for one month, only - last Sunday) and once again I was amazed at how fusion of a place it is. On one hand you have tons of street food/fruit carts that is undeniably the number 1 trademark of Old Beijing; on the other you see many non-Chinese (with an overwhelming skewed proportion towards Koreans apparently) on the roads, in cafes, malls. Malls. There actually are tons of them here. Even the fashion here is very different from... 石景山 Shijingshan, i.e. where I live; but much, much more similar to where I come from, i.e. Singapore. In 石景山 Shijingshan, I feel an odd-girl-on-the-road when I wear a tank top/shades - like I can literally feel stares piercing through my supposed-to-be-covered-but-they-are-not arms. We had, what else, Korean for lunch, and then I wasn't really in the mood to shop, plus I was close to penniless, so I emptied my wallet to get a drink and a sit-down at this bakery called Paris Baguette to finish reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (Yes, call me slow). Quite an apt book for the occasion too.

So marks my weekend. After a busy week at work (Have I mentioned that I got to go for 2 press conferences!), I'd probably stay home this sunny Sunday and catch up on even more reading 😊 And surfing travel websites - uhoh, occupational hazard. But they're really irresistible sometimes! This week's bookmarks:
IHT Travel - for their travel blogs, e.g. Frugal Traveler, In Transit.
Intrepid Travel - for fun, affordable and sustainable travel packages, or non-packages! I like it that they define fun in a gazillion ways that you'd definitely find one that applies to you.
National Geographic Travel - a wealth of information and plenty of gorgeous pictures. For your salivation.

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Photos

With John and Mingyang
At a Viet restruant in Wudaokou shopping centre

The Bridge Cafe
Where a lot of foreigners hang out

Broken pinky OUCH!
A little-but-very-strong kid did this with a rugby ball! OWWW.

Cold noodle
Mine

Bimbimbab
Warren's

Korean starters
Wudaokou is heavily populated with Koreans and Korean eateries/fashion stalls