Beijing
My hostel is in the Workers Stadium. It is Sunday afternoon when I arrive and the parking lot is the setting for an array of Sunday activities: kite-flying, soccer, jogging (foward and backward), dancing practice, some sort of hacky-sack like game, etc...
Enrico and I start at Tiananmen Square. I am a bit disappointed -- it is clearly a rectangle. One gets the sense that the sheer scale of the area would be really impressive if not for the Mao-soleum that was added in the 1970s. Our visit is plagued by locals trying to practice their English, specifically the phrases related to inviting you to a tea ceremony or an art show. At one point Enrico tries responding in German only to have the local respond in kind.
We return the next day to visit the Forbidden City. The city is impossibly large for the area that it seems to occupy from the outside. You could read about it here.
On the way out, we meet these fellows who introduce themselves as businessmen from another city. They advise us on things to in Beijing, suggest a good restaurant, help us order food and pay the reasonable bill at the end, then guide us to a local market area and show us an esteemed pharmacy that sells (among other things) a ninety-year-old ginseng root with a retail price of USD125,000. They then make the mistake mentioning that they are thirsty and are considering getting some tea and we hastily and probably rudely anounce that we have to go. In retrospect, there is no chance that they were up any trickery.
We spent the next day exploring the hutongs in the middle of Beijing. I buy somes shoes and learn that a great deal and buyer's remorse are not mutually exclusive.
The next day, I take a bus trip to the Great Wall. The bus drops us off at one point and picks us up at another, allowing about four hours of hiking on the wall in between. The walk has more than its share of ups and and downs and almost takes the full time allowed. A giant bottle of beer goes for about a dollar at final tower. Dave takes the fast route from the this location to the parking lot.
On my last day, Helen guides me around the city center and introduces me to a restaurant about one hundred meters from the hostel that is clearly superior to every one that I had visited up to that point.
Enrico and I start at Tiananmen Square. I am a bit disappointed -- it is clearly a rectangle. One gets the sense that the sheer scale of the area would be really impressive if not for the Mao-soleum that was added in the 1970s. Our visit is plagued by locals trying to practice their English, specifically the phrases related to inviting you to a tea ceremony or an art show. At one point Enrico tries responding in German only to have the local respond in kind.
We return the next day to visit the Forbidden City. The city is impossibly large for the area that it seems to occupy from the outside. You could read about it here.
On the way out, we meet these fellows who introduce themselves as businessmen from another city. They advise us on things to in Beijing, suggest a good restaurant, help us order food and pay the reasonable bill at the end, then guide us to a local market area and show us an esteemed pharmacy that sells (among other things) a ninety-year-old ginseng root with a retail price of USD125,000. They then make the mistake mentioning that they are thirsty and are considering getting some tea and we hastily and probably rudely anounce that we have to go. In retrospect, there is no chance that they were up any trickery.
We spent the next day exploring the hutongs in the middle of Beijing. I buy somes shoes and learn that a great deal and buyer's remorse are not mutually exclusive.
The next day, I take a bus trip to the Great Wall. The bus drops us off at one point and picks us up at another, allowing about four hours of hiking on the wall in between. The walk has more than its share of ups and and downs and almost takes the full time allowed. A giant bottle of beer goes for about a dollar at final tower. Dave takes the fast route from the this location to the parking lot.
On my last day, Helen guides me around the city center and introduces me to a restaurant about one hundred meters from the hostel that is clearly superior to every one that I had visited up to that point.
posted by Steve at 11:28 PM
3 Comments:
Steve,
Your pictures are awesome!!
I absolutely loved China. I am pleased to see you have such great photos of your time spent touring around. I only wish I was able to capture on film what you have in China. By sheer luck I was able to get a good photo of the Great Wall which is currently hanging in my living room.
Glad to see you were also able to catch up with Rob.
Take care and keep blogging!
Annalise
Annalise!
It's been a million years, how are you doing? When were you in China?
Last I remember you were entertaining job offers in obscure part of BC after nursing school. Anything new since then?
Rob
Hey, Rob!
I was excited to see you and Steve were able to catch up while he was in China. I backpacked around China with a girlfriend of mine for one month in 2004. It was great! How are you enjoying living there?
After I graduated nursing school, I accepted a job offer in Vancouver at BC Children's Hospital and have been working there ever since. I am currently working in Pediatric Intensive Care at BCCH.
I plan to begin my Master's of Science degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics come September of 2006, so I guess I will be making a bit of a career change soon. I am very excited and a bit nervous! I am going to miss working with kids, but at least I will be able to now research pediatric disease surveillance and control. I am quite excited!
What have you been up to in Beijing? How long do you plan to be over there?
Talk to you later!
Annalise
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