There were 2 Chinese ladies screaming at me when I showed up because they had taken up all of the bag space. I don't understand any Chinese, so it really just sounds super scary and angry to me. I think that I am more afraid of Chinese women than Chinese men. I also learned that the One Child Policy only applies to Chinese families in eastern China, not to ethnic minorities, or families that have a girl baby (if you are "unlucky" enough to have your first child be a girl you can have a second child in hopes of a boy). Also, if you are rich, you can pay to have extra children. So basically, the policy is a terrible policy.
The train ride was long. Joey commented that it's one of those things that he's grateful he did, but he will never do it again. I, on the other hand, am doing it again in 10 days when I take a train with my friend Nicki from Bangkok to Penang, Malaysia. Let's not think about that. When I woke up in the train about an hour outside of Beijing and looked outside, I literally cursed to myself. I haven't seen such gray skies since December in Chicago. No green. No leaves on trees. Gray. People in heavy coats. It looked cold.
At one point I told Joey that I can't wait to take a shower when we get off the train and are at our hostel. Our conversation went a little something like this:
Joey: I already took a shower on the train.
Me: Wiping yourself down with baby wipes doesn't count.
Joey: Never mind.
Joey had coordinated with one of his Chinese friends from Thailand for her friend to meet us at the train station and show us to our hostel. Our train was 3 hours delayed, and we waited and waited in a sea of Chinese people for close to half an hour and no one came (which is fair- maybe she waited for a few hours, had things to do, etc.) Regardless, Joey and I were the ONLY foreigners (I'm not kidding...it was unbelievable that neither one of us saw a single farang at the train station) and we didn't have the address of our hostel, and no phone to call them. So, we made friends. We picked out younger Chinese, usually women, who looked educated and like they might speak a little bit of English. We guessed right! Three different groups of Chinese couples put the hostel that my friend had recommended into their phones and helped us figure out where to go. (I am proud that I had my emergency hostel/ address pulled up on my computer in case Joey's fell through...which I wasn't counting on happening!) Joey and I managed to take a public bus into center city Beijing (go us...not an easy feat when you don't speak or read Chinese) and then we were able to take the subway to our hostel.
Wrong. We walked for over two miles in the freezing, now also sleeting rain, to a hostel that wasn't even the one we wanted. We had asked a young Chinese couple on the street for directions, and they were talking with a poor man on a bicycle who said he knew where it was. They told us to follow him. Joey and I looked at each other, knowing that the man would want money. The couple insisted. The man on the bicycle led us around for almost an hour- at this point my sneakers (the only shoes I had) were SOAKED and I couldn't feel my toes. I had a jacket, but it wasn't waterproof and that was drenched too. The man didn't even lead us all the way to the hostel- he pointed when we were a block away. I reached into my pocket, without him asking, to tip him. I gave him 10 Yuan (almost 2 USD). He didn't take the money and instead held up three fingers- indicating that he wanted 30 Yuan. Ridiculous. I began to put my money back into my pocket and he "suddenly" changed his mind and wanted it. Beggars can't be choosers right? He then thanked me and shook my hand, and wanted to hug me to which I backed away. Enough is enough. It amazes me that twice now in China (with the hill tribe in Longji and now this man) people who don't perform services that we even asked for demand more money than the tip we offer! Who do they think they are haha!
Joey and I were so miserable in the gray, sleeting rain on our first day, that we didn't want to leave our room. We stayed in the hostel all day, and basically wasted a day. I didn't have the right gear for the bitter cold and icy rain! It was only early November!!! We did, however, go to see a really great acrobatics show at night called "Treasure." On the drive to the show we met two really awesome Swedish/ Bangladesh girls. We sat with them at the show, and snuck pictures. Unbelievably to all of us, during the show there were no pictures (it's comical to think of telling an asian person that they can't take pictures...and at an acrobatics show?! must have been pretty hard for a lot of people!) Sure enough, throughout the show many people tried sneaking pictures of amazing acts. Nasty ushers stood in the aisles with laser pointers to shine on people's cameras whenever they tried to take a picture. What is it with China and it's restrictive pictures?! If the acrobatics show was worried about competitors seeing the stunts, they should know that they could just buy a ticket and come see the show themselves. These were tourists who wanted to remember the night. Very annoying to me.
On our second day in Beijing, the weather was even worse than the first. It SNOWED. If I had my slush-proof winter boots and my Chicago/ Ithaca jacket with a hood it would have been fine. However, I had nothing. I couldn't even leave the hostel because then I would be so drenched that the whole day I would be icy cold. So Joey- who had all of his hardcore winter gear from his recent trip to New Zealand on him, went on in the horrible weather for me to find me a poncho. He found me a really great quality one, amazingly. If it weren't for Joey, and I'd been traveling on my own, I wouldn't have been able to go out that day. (Also, there were no free cabs, and our hostel was very unaccommodating). After I had a poncho, Joey and I switched hostels, walking a good half hour through snowy, icy streets. I was pretty miserable, I'm not going to lie.
We both did, however, find it funny that our damp shoes stank so much that even when we switched hostels and moved out, the room still stunk of stinky feet.
At our new hostel, the service was great. The receptionist called our friends (the ones who waited for 2 hours for us the morning our train came in and then gave up!) and told them that we were going to be late. He even offered to call them after we left, when he didn't get through to them the first time. It is hard traveling without a phone or any form of communication on you. You have to do it the old fashioned way: Picking a time and a place!
The Summer Palace was still absolutely gorgeous. I now really want to see it on a warm summer day. We walked around with our friends, YiLya and Eriqi. They explained everything to us :) From then, they took us out for delicious Mongolian food. Instead of heading home, we all decided to check out the Temple of Heaven in the late afternoon. Our group was so much fun, and Joey and I had an easier time with YiLya and Eriqi (who both speak Chinese). One of my favorite, if not favorite, parts of traveling is meeting interesting, wonderful people from all over the world. YiLya is very inspiring to me: She fluently speaks Mongolian, Chinese, Russian (her major) and English. That's four different written languages/ alphabets/ characters, as well! Incredible.
I just arrived in Bali (so relaxing!!!), and I am sitting at an adorable cafe with great internet :) Just finishing up China blog posts :)!
Acrobatics show!
A girl is balancing 5 umbrellas on her at once!
Final bow :)
Our Swedish-Bangladesh friends!
Snow on our second full day in Beijing.
I wanted to shoot myself.
The poncho Joey found me! (Arriving at our new hostel).
You want a pice of that?
I was quite a vision on the Beijing subway: red poncho,
black plastic bag booties over my sneakers. Chinese stare,
but I got extra stares today. I really looked like an idiot. I had
fun with it though: I spotted one Chinese man first staring at my
poncho intently (soaking it in) then I watched as his eyes glanced
down to the baggies over my feet (I was waiting for this!!!) Finally,
his eyes darted up to my face. I was already starting him down...
gave him a big old creepy wink ;)
Joey and our friend, YiLya at the Summer Palace!
Happier now that I'm actually sightseeing
River
Joey and I
Snowing at the Summer Palace!
The Summer Palace should be called the "Winter Palace"
Hmphh.
The emperor used to spend his summers at
the Summer Palace. It was pretty exceptional.
Beautiful details
A worker shoveling snow off from the Summer Palace.
You can't really see them, but in the distance were
snow-covered mountains.
A Gingko tree! These trees brought back really
happy memories of my sister and I walking to Greeley
School when we were little. There were two gingko trees
on the walk. The tree dates back to the time of the dinosaurs!
Joey saw this door and called it a "Hobbit Hole"
We had to take a picture after that,
Beautiful bridge at the Summer Palace
Eriqi (left), YiLya (middle) and me!
Me!
Our group was pretty awesome :)
The willow trees were beautiful, but it was just so cold
and windy! (Do you see the bundled up miserable people?)
I've never had such winter boot envy before.
YiLya and me!
A really old beautiful boat-looking dock thing
In the gift shop I found some pointy finger
things that queens used to wear.
Do you think that I look like a queen?
The BEAUTIFUL paintings of the Long Corridor
If this were summer...Wow I want to come back in the summer!
Great big Chinese door!
A beautiful gate
I don't know what this is, but it's probably important
The Long Corridor (right)
Joey walking (he's in the orange)
A really special, expensive rock that one of the emperors had
moved to the Summer Palace. I like that it's a rock!
The hall where court matters were settled!
"Kylin"- a lucky creature in Chinese mythology that's
supposed to bring luck and longevity. It has the body of
a deer, the scales of a dragon, the tail of an ox, and hooves.
A nice picture of Joey and I and the Kylin.
This is good: "If you get lost or need directions, please
ask us" (Joey and I couldn't stop laughing...)
Joey obviously wanted a picture with them too.
Mongolian milk tea!
(Tastes kind of bitter and salty. Soo perfect after our icy day)
Eriqi pouring me some more milk tea from a tea pot.
Beautiful, tasty Mongolian food!
Far left: Very fatty beef; Top: Noodles; Center: Pita and
Mongolian salad (tasted a lot like Middle Eastern food!);
Bottom right corner: lamb dumplings
More food! Top right: Duck-blood sausage;
Bottom right: Fried meat "empanadas" of sorts!
One of the best meals I've ever had.
Did you know that Mongolian is written from Top to Bottom?
I'm pretty popular when it comes to people wanting their picture
with me. Or, they think that I look like an idiot with my poncho.
As Joey commented, "Somewhere in the world, you're
in a lot of random strangers Profile Pictures."
I sure like to think so.
Transferring on the subway, everyone moves like a herd.
There are just SO MANY PEOPLE!
Temple of Heaven
(The Emperor used to come here to pray for a good harvest)
The "long corridor" in the Temple of Heaven
This was one of the coolest moments EVER:
A group of inspired Chinese tourists burst out into
China Communist-country love song :)
Singing makes me happy. I also like, and hope that,
everyone loves their country :)
The Temple of Heaven was just closing as we showed up,
but there is the top of it!
A beautiful burch tree in the park :)
Wow, I actually look like I'm 300 lbs. here.
"It's a combination of the wind and the poncho I swear!"
The Gate
(Joey was cold, tired, and cranky at this point)
We tried to figure out how these circles were made:
either the ground was heated in a freaky circle pattern,
or someone shoveled them intentionally.
Any other thoughts?
I match the beautiful gate!
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