And the rest

Thursday: Cynthia's mom and aunt and uncle picked me up from the West Gate and we drove down south of Tiananmen to Qianmen Dajie. It's a recently renovated street that makes up the southern axis from the center of the city that used to have cool buildings along its sides and a tram car that went up and down the street. Now the buildings have been re-done to look ancient and soon the shops that will open there will be feichang feichang expensive. There were already a couple open, including a bookstore and pharmacy, and only about two restaurants but they all had lines out the door.

One street over to the west, normal Chinese stores and small restuarants remain, and it has a much more authentic contemporary Beijing feel. BUT one more street beyond that used to be a huge maze of hutongs that have all been torn down. It was quite eerie to cross the overpass on the nearby highway, look back at the neighborhood we just walked near, and see a raized area with only a single crumbling house still standing. What will become of that hutong area? Judging from expectations from Qianmen Dajie, some pretty expensive housing will go in... but what became of the people who used to live there is a more interesting question.

Cynthia's mom had never been to Sanlitun, so we went there next (note this is pretty much on the opposite side of town). Had dinner at a classy and delicious restuarant (I think called 1949?) located behind a shopping center. Since it was removed from the main roads it was very quite and peaceful. And best yet, they specialized in roast duck! I don't know how I've gone a month living here and still hadn't eaten that, but I was soooo soo glad to shove all that delicious duck goodness in my face. Plus other wonderful morsels that I am drooling about while I remember them.

K. After dinner we walked around the Sanlitun shopping area and then found a bar playing some acceptable live music. Only... once the musicians took a break, some random scantily clad dancers came on the stage. One did a belly dance and looked extremely unhappy the entire time, and the other did a weird repetative techno thing in a shiny silver mini skirt and white gogo boots. Awkward. We drank our apple juice in various states of amusement and horror.

Unfortunately I had tons of homework to catch up on, and had to call it a night kinda early. But we definitely had some good conversation about Beijing (better than Shanghai! Best city in the world!) and journalism and I tried to use my Chinese but towards the end of the night, as the topics got deeper, abandoned that. But at least I answered preliminary questions to the best of my ability (except when Cynthia's uncle tried to ask me how long I was in Beijing for... I blame the Beijing accent but still feel like a failure).

Fast foward to Friday: Girls night out at Nanluoguxiang. Can't get enough of this place. Love it every time. Must go back. Shopped, ate Indian food, got our nails done, and then went back and watched Gossip Girl. Good times.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Carrefour and then Wudaokou. Saturday was Cheng's friend's bday so we ate Indian food again and it made me feel drunk it was so good. Wish there was an Indian restuarant around my campus but I digress... then we went to La Bamba and had a couple drinks (their happy hour lasts till 11pm, how amazing is that?). But it was cold and rainy so I headed back early after breathing in too much second hand smoke.

Sunday I went back to Wudaokou to meet Cheng for some serious shopping. I haven't bought anything since being here except food, entrance tickets to tourist things, and transporation! So I got myself a yellow cardigan and a silver scarf, both from this little place with a bunch of even littler shops selling cute clothes, jewelry, and accessories. Next shopping destination: the Silk Market.

Ok so now I'm caught up! Tonight I've been catching up on other things, reading the news, doing some research for my project, watching the Daily Show. You know how it goes. This week is starting to look busy already, so this might be my only night to just chill. And speaking of chill, it's freakin cold here already! Too bad the Chinese socialist state doesn't turn on the heaters until October 20th. Until then I guess I'll be sleeping in my sweatshirt and taking extra hot showers so as to steam up the freezing-tile bathroom. But I shouldn't complain because after all the rain this weekend today was a true blue sky day, and nothing beats a fall blue sky day.

Certain things happen here...

that would not happen in NYC. For example:

--Saturday night we got kicked off the subway. At 11:20pm! Because the subways no longer run after that time of night! Unfortunately, we were on the equivalent of the circle line, so the departure was completely random and we were no where near our destination. Being the helpful city that it is, we then had to venture out into the street and find a cab to go the rest of the way home, because buses don't run after that time either. Wth! What happens to people who need to get somewhere at night and don't have enough money for a cab?? Definitely one of the sucky things about Beijing is this oversight in transportation needs, compounded with the fact that Beijing is a HUGE SPRAWLING METROPOLIS.

--The cab Cheng and I ended up taking was actually a funny thing in itself. We finally managed to hail it and there was already a guy sitting in the front seat next to the driver. The driver then explained that the guy was his old friend, and if we didn't mind, he could give us a ride while he and his old friend continued talking. I was like, aw cuties, and then I thought: can you imagine a taxi driver in NYC pulling up and being like, I'll take you if it's all right that my friend is sitting up here and we're having a random conversation. Oh but then it was funny because the friend dude was apparently listening to Cheng and I talk in the back and he told Cheng he liked the sound of Cheng's voice. Not that Cheng spoke well or anything, just that his voice sounded good. Hilarious.

--The coat check at the dance club/bar was free! What?? Insanity.

--Also the best part was right next to the club (called Propaganda with a big pink star on the front, which is pretty great by itself) is a 7/11 and if you want, you can simply waltz into the 7/11, buy a beer, drink it on the curb, and then head back into the club for some more dancing. China is sweet like that.

--Speaking of waltzing, when we went to Houhai earlier that day there was a random waltz dancing street show going on. It looked like people had just set up a boombox with some waltz music and were having at it. Impromptu street waltzing in NYC? Not very likely... except maybe somewhere in Brooklyn.

So maybe I should back up an explain how Saturday went: rode bus to Qinghua, rode bike to Cheng's dorm, had lunch with Cheng's friend, took taxi to meet Cathy at Nanluoguxiang, went back to Cathy's hotel near Houhai, had dinner with a bunch of people at a restaurant overlooking the lake, took a cab to Silk Market, took subway to Wangfujin but the night market was already closed so we took the subway back to Wudaokou and met up with people at Propaganda.

Needless to say that was an exhausting day in which we managed to take all forms of transportation around the city except rickshaw or electric bike (the boats at Houhai don't count cuz you just row them in circles). Sunday was rainy so I practiced some Daoist wuwei philosophy (aka sat on my butt all day) and now it's back to the school grind. But: Shanghai this coming weekend!

Weekend Update

The thing about me and blogs is that once I get behind on updates, I find it really annoying to have to go back and recap everything that I've done. Alas, I don't want to leave you loyal readers in the dark (esp since I'm too lazy to add more pics to FB at this time) so here's a brief recap for you. (Actually, what this really means is that I have hw I should be doing and therefore find now to be a perfect time for some blogging).

So Cheng got back to Beijing last Thursday, hurray! I still haven't been to his campus though, because he came here for the weekend. On Friday after class we met up at a shopping center... and when I say "met up" think lots of phone calls like "Um our bus just got hit by a car, we'll be there soon" and "You're standing on a bridge that says Beijing Welcomes You? Wow, that's helpful" and "Zhongguancun gouwu zhongxin! It says that in big red characters at the top!" and "I don't see a big screen TV... keep walking" etc etc. Needless to say, it is not easy to meet up in Beijing (especially when a certain someone can't really read Chinese signs... coughcough).

Anyway later that night some friends had met this music guy and we all went out to Wudaokou to catch a live music show. At first we were told the music was going to be heavy metal, but then no, it was supposed to be indie rock, and when we got there it was somewhere in between the two. Luckily the band (don't remember the name, but they were from Norway... think long blonde hair and everything) was basically done by the time we arrived. Afterwards we chilled at the bar, Cheng and I played some foosball and a Chinese drinking game with a German guy and a Chinese saxophone player. Good times, good conversation.

The next day I definitely didn't get motivated till two, and then the plan was to meet up with Cheng at the Summer Palace. Again, the whole "meet up" definitely backfired when our bus took us to the North Gate and he was stuck down at the East Gate (with no money because he forgot his wallet. Nice.). So Pre (from my program) and I rushed through the beautiful palace on the hill and went to the gate to rescue Cheng, and then the three of us chilled by the lake and decided we had to come back on a day that wasn't so smoggy and when we had enough time to rent a boat.The next morning we got up early and went on a "hutong tour" provided by our school. See, the flier told us we'd be guided by an expert into the hutong neighborhoods to chat with the people who lived there. Only, we got on the bus and were first dropped off at the Lu Xun museum. Well, this is cool, I thought, I mean I wanted to come here anyway. We had an impromptu lesson from our tour guide about Beijing's development and cities in China in general. What did this have to do with the writer Lu Xun? I'm still not sure. Then we wandered around the museum and saw Lu Xun's old home (which was a hutong, so I guess we were sort of on the right track).

We got on the bus again and this time it dropped us off at a Buddhist temple. Ummm ok this is definitely not relating to hutongs, but still interesting, I thought. Maybe there are hutongs located near this temple and we will be seeing them soon. But no, we were led into the temple for another impromptu lesson, this time with a monk. He seemed to be deeply respected and wanted us to ask him a lot of questions, but didn't seem so inclined to directly answer them. For example, as he was talking to us about his recent visit to Taiwan, he was fiddling with a very nice looking cell phone. And at one point our guide was translating and the monk actually took a phone call while he was sitting there. Um, what?

So I ask, trying not to pointedly stare at his phone, How do you balance the strict rule and regulations [of religion and monastary life] with modern technology and advances? Seems like a fair question, right? Worthy of an in-depth response... but no. He said, Well I make sure I find myself a good teacher. When I have a good teacher to guide me, I'm ok. Or something to that effect. Very vague.

The monastary people were nice enough to guide us around the temple and show us some things that the normal people don't get to see. For example, around the back of one of the altars was the huge huuuuuuge painting done entirely with the artist's right hand pinky finger. That's right, a wall-sized finger painting. It was actually very beautiful, and during the Cultural Revolution someone built a wall in front of it so it wouldn't be destroyed. No pictures allowed though.

It was slightly odd walking through the temples, yesterday being the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is one of those days where EVERYONE goes to the temple and offers food and incense to the ancestors. So we were like walking in front of the lines of people as they bowed and made their devotions. And after that, guess where we went. Home, of course! The end of the Hutong tour, in which nary a hutong was seen. False advertising, I tell ya. I would have been more satisfied with the tour if they had told us what were we actually going to see. As it is, I still want to see the hutongs! When is that tour leaving??

Golden arches in the Middle Kingdom

SUOYI I've eaten the McDonald's here. I'm half ashamed to admit it, but really, it had to be done. Anyway today was a pengyou's birthday, and he chose to have us eat there, so we did. Actually I was quite pleased with myself, since I did all the ordering in Chinese. Ready: "Wo yao er hao." He asked me, "big or small?" I said, "Xiao. Hai you, bingqiling" and I pointed to the fruit sundae thing. So that's what I got! A cheeseburger with a small drink and fries, and a vanilla sundae with some strange peach gelatin topping. Only, the cheeseburger had cucumbers and a strange spicy sauce on it. A little strange, but edible. The fries tasted the same.
(Also, on the cab ride there, I asked the cab driver, "Ni chiguo Maidanlao de fan ma?" And he had, so I asked, "Ni juede zenmeyang?" And he answered with some adjective I didn't know and can't remember. He probably said it tasted like shit. Anyway that was the end of our convo because I didn't know where to go from there. Sigh.)

Now, my Maidanlao meal cost almost 30 kuai. That's pretty expensive, especially considering last night a group of 9 of us went out to eat, ordered several dishes, ate our full, and the total bill was 98 kuai. So we paid less than 2 US dollars each for all that good food. Just strange, is all I'm saying. Oh but then I had a screwdriver at an Americanized bar (read: expensive-er, and classy-ish) and it was 10 kuai. Nice. Try getting a screwdriver for a dollar fifty in NYC. Not happening.

Not much else to say. Cheng is in Dalian being sick since I passed on my germs to him. I'm hopefully getting a bike this weekend so I don't have to be lame and walk to class everyday. Oh, and so I can go on bike rides to the park and stuff. Also I'm debating whether or not to join some other students and visit Mongolia this weekend. Hm we'll see. Sounds cool, but I want to do some research on it first, so here I go.