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Published: October 20th 2009
Temple of Heaven
This entire temple was built without the use of a single nail!What other city in the world can you tour a royal palace, eat grasshoppers on a stick, and have your own following of paparazzi...all on the same day? Ah, Beijing. The longer we're here, the more this crazy city grows on us!! As usual, we've crammed so much into the past two days, it's hard to know where to begin! Yesterday was actually a pretty chill day for us. Sherpa's grueling hike left us pretty wiped and our legs were screaming for mercy when we woke up. The sky was gray and the Arctic winds were howling through the city, kicking up dust and debris like a Chinese hurricane. We took care of a few necessary evils such as laundry, hunting down an ATM, and booking our onward train tickets to Xi'an...which is going to be a day later than we originally planned! The trains were completely booked until Wednesday evening, so we still have another two full days here to explore our home away from home...
Temple of Heaven
Yesterday afternoon we headed out for a stroll around the shopping district and sampled some street food which consisted of candy-glazed crab-apples and rice noodle crepes - yum!! I then
experienced my first instance of two teenage Chinese girls running up to me, ripping out their camera, and laughing hysterically as they took a photo of themselves next to me, the Jolly Blond Giant. It was actually kinda funny once the shock wore off that a total stranger would want a photo of me! We continued down to the Temple of Heaven Park and meandered amongst rose gardens and ancient temples, braving the fierce wind that almost knocked us over a few times. We also encountered a large group of people ballroom dancing in the middle of the park, beautiful classical music blaring...it was such a strange sight but it fit somehow. Took the sparkling clean subway back to our hostel - on that note, seriously, every subway system in the world could learn a thing or two from Beijing's metro - they are pristine, LCD screens everywhere, security checks, and not a scrap of litter anywhere. Crashed for a few hours and headed out to the famous Wangfujing Night Market, renowned for its street food. Took a "shortcut" through the jaw-dropping Oriental Plaza Mall, which honestly makes the Gardens Mall look like a ghetto, it's that spectacular!! Got out
onto the street to head to the market and were met with a headwind that was rattling the light poles. Parents were hanging onto their kids for dear life for fear they might blow away. We lasted about 30 seconds before we headed straight back the way we'd come and called it a (very cold) night!! The scorpions on a stick would have to wait for another night...
The temperature plummeted into the 30's overnight and the heater wasn't exactly kicking enough to warm the 10-bed dorm we've moved into, so Jeremy and I ended up sharing a bunk bed just to keep from getting frostbite. And on that note!! Many of you have been asking about the whole "hostel" thing, so I'm throwing a few photos of our dorm room and common areas on at the end of this blog. Basically, a hostel is a very inexpensive backpacker's hotel, much like college dorms where you share a room, bathroom, and common area. Some of them have private rooms too, more like traditional hotels (we stayed in a private room the first two nights to ensure we'd get our rest, but now we've kicked into backpacker mode and we're
dorming it with everyone else!). And I know the next question you have: "Isn't it scary to sleep in a room full of people you don't know?" And the answer is: "Not at all!" You will not meet a cooler group of people anywhere in the world than backpackers. Just since we've been here, we've met and/or bunked with Aussies, fellow Americans, Canadians, Germans, Peruvians, Chileans, and even an old Indian guy who seems really cool. Some of the best travel advice you'll ever receive is in a hostel from a fellow traveler: "Be sure you don't miss a day-trip to such-and-such a town" or "You can totally skip touring such-and-such a place; it's way overpriced and overrated." There's a comraderie amongst travelers that's hard to explain unless you've experienced it, but it's great fun and really makes for an authentic experience!!
The Summer Palace
Anyway!! Today was sunny and gorgeous and still freezing, but we bundled up and headed for the Summer Palace, the royal get-away from the confines of Forbidden City. All I can say is, Watch out, Versailles!! As far as summer hide-outs, the Palace here blows away any that I've seen in Europe, at least
as far as location. The palace is situated high on a hill overlooking this enormous lake, surrounded by lush weeping willows, crowned with Buddhist temples and beautifully arched bridges...it was like something out of a dream. Despite the cold we spent nearly six hours there, walked all the way around the length, over all the bridges, wandered amongst the willows, and finally made it to the palace where we admired more stunning architecture. Absolutely incredible.
And yet again I had my own paparazzi following. We were up at the top of the temple when a Chinese man grabbed my arm and pointed his camera at me and his wife. I misunderstood and assumed he wanted me to take a photo of them, but instead she threw her arms around me and he snapped a photo of me with his wife. We were all laughing hysterically at the absurdity of it all. The craziness continued on the subway back into town, when a group of college students got onto our train and proceeded to take turns sitting next to me and snapping about a million photos - I was a good sport and leaned in and smiled or made funny
faces, which apparently was the funniest thing they've ever seen ("It moves! The blond thing actually moves!")...we were all cracking up. I'm ready to start charging a couple yuan at this rate for photo ops...ha!!
Wangfujing
Upon returning to the city, we headed straight for the Wangfujing Street Market before it got too cold again. The photos will speak for themselves of the hustle, the bustle, and the strange and bizarre foods (Andrew Zimmern and Tony Bourdain love this place, and for good reason!). Nestled into the opulent shopping district (which easily rivals Times Square or Champs-de-Elysses) is a long row of food stalls that serves everything from delicious to nauseating. Grasshoppers, scorpions (still alive and fighting each other), silkworms, centipedes, grubs, chicken hearts, and fried snakeskin are all there for your taking, strung onto sticks like nightmarish kabobs. The vendors shout out their prized foodstuffs at the passing tourists and try to actually get you to EAT some of it - Jeremy succumbed and ate three fried grasshoppers on a stick...I gagged the whole time just watching him, but he swore they weren't too bad! For my bizarre food, I chose a much-more civilized squid-on-a-stick, which is not
quite the same as calamari back home...
But some of the food was a revelation!! We had fried pork dumplings that were to-die-for. Carved-out pineapple stuffed with sticky rice and topped with sugar and cherries. Roasted oysters loaded with spicy garlic and peppers. Egg-and-potato pancakes. It went on and on, and we weren't even halfway down the line!! As the sun set, the temperature started dropping again, so we made our way home, but we will be returning tomorrow night to sample more goodies!!
After five days, it's starting to feel like we live here. The initial culture shock has worn off and has been replaced with a sense of wonderment and fully embracing the differences, good and bad. We've already met some really nice travelers and have picked up lots of tips on the next areas we'll be visiting. Even as I type, I'm sitting next to a 70-year old woman who has lived here for a year teaching English to children, and now is on her way home to Australia. The journey has just begun, and already it's a good one...
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Amy-the MODEL
I was laughing so much while reading this part....U should totaly go to the Modelling Agency there, they will make a commercial with you or smth:>...Forgive them for not seeing too many white people, and especially so unique looking...Back in the days in Lithuania I used to do the same thing...every time I saw a black person, I would run and ask to take pictures....Now when I look back , it seems so silly, right???? KEEP having fun, pics are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!