Jessica and I wanted to sleep in on Saturday morning, but we had many errands to run. We wanted to go to Yashow to complete souvenir/gift shopping, as well as visit the bag man one more time, I wanted to go to Beijing Glasses City again to get new glasses for cheap, and we needed to get a refund on Jess' top-up card from China Mobile. We also planned to have dinner at Morel's one last time.
I got up at 9am and ordered room service--how decadent! The Mariott makes a mean dish of lemon ricotta pancakes! I wanted to get a jin bim for breakfast, but I just didn't have time to run across the street to the hutong. We were on a schedule!
We headed to Yashow first, where I picked up some pretty pearl necklaces for Cheri, who's been watching my cat, as well as a fun coral necklace for her daughter. Jess got a bunch of necklaces for friends of hers as well, in addition to one more pretty translucent blue one that matches her eyes. We used the necklace stall that we always do, and got a good price as per usual. I got one pair of trendy jeans for my brother from my jeans girl (100 RMB per pair). Both the jeans girl and the necklace girl are so funny; they have us pay round the corner because they know they can get higher prices from their other clueless customers. We don't mind because they are just so clever--when we're bargaining they always have very clever counter arguments.
We also visited the bag man one last time. I got a gray leather Louis Vuitton handbag that is absolutely cavernous. It fits my laptop in its case in addition to all manner of things. Jess got a bunch of nice gifts for people, in addition to a gorgeous Hermes wallet. The bag man had gotten a huge new shipment of Hermes Kelly bags as well as a bunch of Ferragamo bags and the Stephen Sprouse graffiti for Louis Vuitton bags too. I was tempted by a pink graffiti bag but figured it was too seasonally dated. While we were in the secret room, there was a commanding sounding knock on the door. Jess and I were worried that the cops were doing a sweep, and that we'd never leave China, but it turned out that it was people looking for the secret room next door (I always wonder what else is up on the 6th floor of Yashow). Regardless, it was a sign for us to finish up our business and get out of there. Better to not tempt fate, you know?
Afterwards we picked up our purchases from the necklace girl and headed south on the 10 subway line to Beijing Glasses City. This is basically a huge market similar to Yashow but the only thing they sell is glasses. You can bargain and try on the millions of frames available, and then have prescription lenses made up in about an hour (much better than Lenscrafters!). The shops can read your existing lenses, so no written prescription or eye exam necessary (although most purchases come with free eye exam should you need it).
The market is a little overwhelming, with 4 floors of all little eyeglass stalls. There's even a 2nd Beijing Glasses City across the street! The first place we tried on glasses refused to bargain, and quoted ridiculously high prices (600RMB for each frame, which is near to US prices). The second shop was much more reasonable, posted 180RMB prices for the kind of frames I wanted (like Buddy Holly) plus 100RMB for the lenses. After some bargaining involving me waving a wad of 400 cash around saying that was all I had, I had my order in for 2 pairs of classes. They told me to come back in one hour.
Jess and I walked around looking for a China Mobile service center, and we found one. After explaining the story, they sent us down the road to another service center a couple of blocks away. They called ahead to warn the service center that we were coming, and I distinctly heard the woman tell them that we wanted a refund, not an exchange, because we were going to the US the next day. Of course, when we got to the 2nd service center, they refused to refund. They said there literally "wasn't a method" to do so. Typical. Jess and I were so sick of fighting that we just took the card. I think she is going to try to sell it at the airport.
The exchange took just the perfect amount of time so we went back to Glasses City (and yes, that's the actual translation of the sign out front) and got my new glasses. I wanted to make sure they were OK before I left, so I asked for a place to remove my contacts. They sent me across the alleyway to the lab where all the lenses were being ground. It was madness in there, people grinding away in the back (and probably plastic dust in the air, too), a hoard of people picking up glasses at the counter, and a tiny sink in the back for hand washing. I couldn't find a contact lens container, so I went back to the shop and had the girl come with me. She had to ask for one from one of the people working at the lens shaping. I removed my contacts and made my way back to the shop, attempting to not appear like I could barely see. Both glasses were great, my vision was clear and now I don't have to look super dorky in 9 year old frames (seriously, I got my old frames my freshman year in college!). Plus, who can complain about $25 glasses?
We took the subway back to the hotel just for kicks. We did some packing and then took a cab to our favorite restaurant in Beijing, Morel's. Monsieur Morel is a Belgian who opened a restaurant that happens to serve the best cheese fondue I've ever had (better than La Fondue Bourginone in LA). Monsieur Morel also likes Jessica and I, probably because he is a mildly lecherous old man who enjoys it when pretty young things come into his restaurant and praise his fondue vigorously. He also caught Jessica scraping the fondue pot last time, and told her that it's the best part of the fondue and sometimes he does it himself in the back, which explains his rotund stature.
The fondue was delicious, as expected, and we cabbed it back to the hotel to finish packing. Luckily we were mostly packed from before our little trip around China, so it wasn't a massive operation.
We woke up later than intended so there was a little bit of crazy running around in the morning. We got a cab to the airport, which of course tried to take the long way (I set him straight) and tried to charge us 50 extra yuan for the bags, which is complete horse$hit illegal and he knew it because he backed off when I laid into him in Chinese. We gave him 10 yuan for the return toll and I told him not to let the door hit his a$$ on the way out. Good times.
My Priority Pass card let me into the Air China 1st class lounge, where I finally watched Slumdog Millionaire, which was really great. I boarded my flight (emergency exit row, woohoo!) and am now in San Francisco waiting for my connection to Phoenix. Stay tuned for entries from Africa this summer!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
All the King's Horses and All the King's Men
Xi'an, according to the guidebook, is "firmly on the tourist itinerary" and I have to say for tourists their public transportation is very handy. To get out to the terracotta warriors of Qin Shi Huang Di (the first emperor of a united China in 221BCE) one only need step off the overnight train and head to the east side of the train station plaza, where minibuses and tourist public buses depart for these destinations regularly. Xi'an's imposing city walls were the first thing we saw when we got off the train and we wanted to walk around them, but at 13km in circumference we didn't have time--the best way is to rent bikes and bike around.
The tourist bus #307 runs right out to the terracotta warrior complex, about 20k outside of town, via some city streets and other attractions such as the Taoist holy mountain Li Shan and various museums and whatnot along the way. The cost is only 7 yuan, which makes it a much better deal than the minibuses that take you straight to the warriors for 26 yuan. Jessica and I hopped onto the tourist bus and it took us about one hour to arrive. The bus was very nice, though, more like a long distance coach, and was air conditioned.
The terracotta army is actually adjacent to the grave of the Qin emperor, which has not been excavated, and was not mentioned in extant historical texts. The army features thousands of life-sized warrior figurines with unique facial features, different poses and uniforms. Horses, chariots, weaponry and other artifacts were also found with the army. It was discovered in 1975 by a peasant sinking a well and has been nicely excavated and was well presented. According to the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the tomb of the Qin emperor has rivers of mercury and treasures untold... as well as booby traps full of spears and arrows waiting to shoot any who trespass. Sounds like a case for Indiana Jones!
The army is housed in three vaults, all partially excavated and roofed. The 1st vault is the largest, with 8000 or so figures arranged in neat rows. The vault is the size of an aircraft hanger, so the scale is immense. Ignoring the throngs of tourists taking photos and posing in front of the figures, Jess and I tried to capture the scope of the view with photos but they don't really do it justice. You can't wander around the figures (since they are fragile terracotta and additionally sections are still under construction) but there are walkways around the entire area so you can get a closer look.
To me the figures were certainly imposing, but also a little sad. They are just standing, waiting for their master who will never come. Some were reassembled but others are lying smashed.
The second vault is fully of mostly broken horses and cavalrymen. This vault also has a fine museum with a close up view of one horse and cavalryman (the detail on both is exquisite, down to the individual lines of hair on both as well as the notched bolts that hold the warrior's armor together. There are also archer figures and a spectacular general, with a fancy hairdo, scarves of glory and a bushy handlebar mustache. You can see the fingernails on all the figures, really impressive.
The third vault is mostly empty, but it does house six beautiful horse figures that came with a chariot, which is being restored. There is also a separate museum that shows two 1/5 scale war chariots with horses and driver, all made of bronze. The museum also features two marionettes that were used in the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies, which are kind of the most creepy things I've ever seen.
Having had our fill of history, Jess and I caught the bus back to Xi'an and got back on the internet. Unfortunately, the flight was now 200 yuan more expensive! Fighting over the phone with Air China proved fruitless, so we caught the airport bus (which we discovered by luck while wandering around looking for the internet cafe). The bus took about an hour, and it rained heavily. We got quite damp walking over to take the bus.
At the airport, the one staff member at the Air China ticket booking desk was spectacularly unhelpful, raising her voice and interrupting us when we tried to explain our story. We asked to speak to her boss, and she made a phone call, then said "Boss not coming. I no help you." She then proceeded to ignore us and read the paper. No amount of talking loudly in English or Chinese would rouse her. Jessica was so furious she could barely speak. Unfortunately, Air China's flight that I was already booked on was the cheapest. We decided to book the flight, but used a private ticket booking desk provided by the airport itself, which was just 2 booths down from the Air China satan's spawn. Ironically they quoted us a cheaper rate on the Eastern China flight that left a little earlier compared to what we were told when we asked the official Eastern China Airlines ticket booking staff, but Jess opted for Air China so we could fly together. OOPS.
We made it through security and went and sat in a cafe until boarding time... when an announcement was promptly made that our flight was delayed until 10:45 due to "maintenance of the aircraft." To us that sounded like "we're bull$hitting you because we're incompetent idiots." As you can tell we were really down on Air China right now. In what was not a shocker, they delayed the flight again to midnight, and then once more to 12:45. I was not the only person who was infuriated with Air China, local Chinese citizens were arguing with the ground staff and receiving the same crappy service (which made me a little bit perversely pleased).
Finally, another plane arrived around 12:20am and we boarded at 12:45am. They gave us 100 yuan refund, which is about US$12. Thanks a lot, way to rub salt on an open wound! The flight was uneventful, except for a minor altercation with a flight attendant who told me to turn off my iPhone (which was in airplane mode) because it "wasn't allowed in China" which is complete BS because I used it on the Air China flight we took from Guilin to Chengdu AND it's basically an iPod when it is on airplane mode. I stuck to my guns because there was no way I wasn't going to have music and my games during the flight. Eventually another flight attendant came over and knocked some sense into the one berating me. This entire exchange was in a mixture of English and Chinese, all of it probably ruder than I would like but I was at my last straw.
We landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 2:20am, but we had to taxi forever and then once we got off the gate I think we walked about a kilometer to get out. Jessica and I were not happy with the fact that Terminal 3 at Beijing Captial Airport is the world's second largest terminal after Dubai! We took a cab to the Mariott and got to our room at 4am. Thanks a lot, Air China. I'm going to tell everyone I possibly can about how crappy your customer service is.
The tourist bus #307 runs right out to the terracotta warrior complex, about 20k outside of town, via some city streets and other attractions such as the Taoist holy mountain Li Shan and various museums and whatnot along the way. The cost is only 7 yuan, which makes it a much better deal than the minibuses that take you straight to the warriors for 26 yuan. Jessica and I hopped onto the tourist bus and it took us about one hour to arrive. The bus was very nice, though, more like a long distance coach, and was air conditioned.
The terracotta army is actually adjacent to the grave of the Qin emperor, which has not been excavated, and was not mentioned in extant historical texts. The army features thousands of life-sized warrior figurines with unique facial features, different poses and uniforms. Horses, chariots, weaponry and other artifacts were also found with the army. It was discovered in 1975 by a peasant sinking a well and has been nicely excavated and was well presented. According to the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the tomb of the Qin emperor has rivers of mercury and treasures untold... as well as booby traps full of spears and arrows waiting to shoot any who trespass. Sounds like a case for Indiana Jones!
The army is housed in three vaults, all partially excavated and roofed. The 1st vault is the largest, with 8000 or so figures arranged in neat rows. The vault is the size of an aircraft hanger, so the scale is immense. Ignoring the throngs of tourists taking photos and posing in front of the figures, Jess and I tried to capture the scope of the view with photos but they don't really do it justice. You can't wander around the figures (since they are fragile terracotta and additionally sections are still under construction) but there are walkways around the entire area so you can get a closer look.
To me the figures were certainly imposing, but also a little sad. They are just standing, waiting for their master who will never come. Some were reassembled but others are lying smashed.
The second vault is fully of mostly broken horses and cavalrymen. This vault also has a fine museum with a close up view of one horse and cavalryman (the detail on both is exquisite, down to the individual lines of hair on both as well as the notched bolts that hold the warrior's armor together. There are also archer figures and a spectacular general, with a fancy hairdo, scarves of glory and a bushy handlebar mustache. You can see the fingernails on all the figures, really impressive.
The third vault is mostly empty, but it does house six beautiful horse figures that came with a chariot, which is being restored. There is also a separate museum that shows two 1/5 scale war chariots with horses and driver, all made of bronze. The museum also features two marionettes that were used in the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies, which are kind of the most creepy things I've ever seen.
Having had our fill of history, Jess and I caught the bus back to Xi'an and got back on the internet. Unfortunately, the flight was now 200 yuan more expensive! Fighting over the phone with Air China proved fruitless, so we caught the airport bus (which we discovered by luck while wandering around looking for the internet cafe). The bus took about an hour, and it rained heavily. We got quite damp walking over to take the bus.
At the airport, the one staff member at the Air China ticket booking desk was spectacularly unhelpful, raising her voice and interrupting us when we tried to explain our story. We asked to speak to her boss, and she made a phone call, then said "Boss not coming. I no help you." She then proceeded to ignore us and read the paper. No amount of talking loudly in English or Chinese would rouse her. Jessica was so furious she could barely speak. Unfortunately, Air China's flight that I was already booked on was the cheapest. We decided to book the flight, but used a private ticket booking desk provided by the airport itself, which was just 2 booths down from the Air China satan's spawn. Ironically they quoted us a cheaper rate on the Eastern China flight that left a little earlier compared to what we were told when we asked the official Eastern China Airlines ticket booking staff, but Jess opted for Air China so we could fly together. OOPS.
We made it through security and went and sat in a cafe until boarding time... when an announcement was promptly made that our flight was delayed until 10:45 due to "maintenance of the aircraft." To us that sounded like "we're bull$hitting you because we're incompetent idiots." As you can tell we were really down on Air China right now. In what was not a shocker, they delayed the flight again to midnight, and then once more to 12:45. I was not the only person who was infuriated with Air China, local Chinese citizens were arguing with the ground staff and receiving the same crappy service (which made me a little bit perversely pleased).
Finally, another plane arrived around 12:20am and we boarded at 12:45am. They gave us 100 yuan refund, which is about US$12. Thanks a lot, way to rub salt on an open wound! The flight was uneventful, except for a minor altercation with a flight attendant who told me to turn off my iPhone (which was in airplane mode) because it "wasn't allowed in China" which is complete BS because I used it on the Air China flight we took from Guilin to Chengdu AND it's basically an iPod when it is on airplane mode. I stuck to my guns because there was no way I wasn't going to have music and my games during the flight. Eventually another flight attendant came over and knocked some sense into the one berating me. This entire exchange was in a mixture of English and Chinese, all of it probably ruder than I would like but I was at my last straw.
We landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 2:20am, but we had to taxi forever and then once we got off the gate I think we walked about a kilometer to get out. Jessica and I were not happy with the fact that Terminal 3 at Beijing Captial Airport is the world's second largest terminal after Dubai! We took a cab to the Mariott and got to our room at 4am. Thanks a lot, Air China. I'm going to tell everyone I possibly can about how crappy your customer service is.
This is Not the Hogwarts Express
Jessica and I were pretty excited to take the overnight train to Xi'an, until we sat down in our 4 bunk soft sleeper compartment and realized we might have to share with two strangers. We also discovered we had been given a top and bottom bunk but on diagonal sides of the compartment (i.e. top bunk not over the bottom bunk). Additionally, after some quick mental calculations, we realized the train was about 16 hours. Luckily, I had a pack of cards.
Our train departed Chengdu exactly on time to the minute. The conductor in charge of our soft sleeper car came and checked our tickets, and then switched them out for a plastic red tag (which we had to return at the end of the train ride, in order to have our original paper tickets handed back to us--not sure why this rigmarole was necessary). She also recorded our passport numbers (all foreigners must register all the time in China!) and asked if we had the swine flu. We of course said, "mei you!" (which means don't have!). Really, why would you ever say "Yes, I have the swine flu!" You'd probably get carted off somewhere never to return. Upon our departure from Chengdu, our compartment was still empty, however we realized that someone might still get on the train at a subsequent stop.
We looked out the window, which was pretty gray and dreary as it was raining in Chengdu, and then played cards. After a while we got hungry and visited the dining car. They didn't have a picture menu, but they did have pinyin next to the characters. After a lot of back and forth where I explained again and again that Jessica did not eat meat (and was Buddhist), the waitress finally recommended a stir fried tomato dish. I got a pork belly fried rice dish that was really yummy. It had these light green peppers (reminded me of like Slovak papriky) that were a tiny bit spicy, but not too much to detract from enjoyment of the dish. Jessica's tomato dish was actually really yummy, I don't know what they do to the eggs here to make them so good but this was quite tasty.
We got back to our car and played more cards. Around 7:30pm, our compartment door was opened by a Chinese gentleman, who looked like he was about 45-50 years old. He had the bottom bunk and seemed a little surprised, but not in a bad way, to find two young white girls in his compartment. Jessica was very surprised to find a man sharing our compartment, so I had a quick chat with the conductor (who was also female). She understood our predicament, and offered us the chance to switch into a compartment with a young couple traveling with a toddler. That seemed worse than sharing with an unknown man, so I asked if I could just take the top bunk in our compartment. She said the last stop for the night was at 10pm, so she could tell me if that bunk was taken then.
As it turned out, the guy in our compartment was pretty cool, we had some chats in Chinese (with me translating). He was an engineer working for Ericsson in Baoji, which is about 2 hours outside of Xi'an. He said he had many German friends through work, but didn't speak any English. We talked a little about what Jess and I were doing in Chengdu and Xi'an and how we were at Beida. He endeared himself to Jessica by commenting that Chinese are terrible drivers. He also at one point got into bed and removed his pants (which scared the crap out of both of us), but was wearing a pair of flesh tone and white striped long johns for modesty's sake, which we certainly appreciated.
At the 10pm stop the conductor told me it was fine to sleep in the top bunk, so we all got into our respective bunks. Our companion went to sleep, as his stop was at 7am, and Jessica and I continued to play cards until around midnight. Sleeping on the train took a little getting used to, as you are swaying and bumping a little, but I did get to sleep eventually, waking up early in the morning, perhaps 6am. The bunk was just long enough for me to sleep, but anyone else taller would have to curl up on their side like a shrimp.
Our train arrived in Xi'an just on time as well, but Jess and I were a little grumpy after being in a small space for 16 hours with a stranger. We decided to find an internet cafe so we could check flights from Xi'an to Beijing. Emerging from the train station was a bit of a shock too, as it was typically packed with peasants staring, the city was cloudy and grimy and it was humid and warm. We wandered around fruitlessly looking for an internet cafe, getting directions from people who kept saying we were near one, but we just couldn't find it. Finally we stopped in a hotel and I kept asking them to draw a map until they sent a bellhop to show us the place. As it turned out, the sign (I know the characters for internet cafe) was wayyyy up top and you couldn't see it from eye level.
As it turned out, the tickets for the plane trip were only 100 yuan more expensive than the overnight train, so we decided to book the tickets through Air China. This is where things got really, really messy.
Online reservation services in China appear to be unable to handle US credit cards, so the purchaser must go through a ridiculous rigmarole of sending copies of both sides of the credit card, a copy of your passport and a signed authorization form authorizing the agent to use your credit card. Luckily Jess and I had all the copies of everything in our emails from purchasing our flights on eLong a couple of days before. When we tried to book the tickets online, I got an error message from Air China so I called their online booking service. The booking service told me that I had to send in the above information, which I did. I had Jessica do the same. They then sent me a new authorization form, because the one I wrote myself (which they told me to do) was not good enough. We resent. My ticket was confirmed, however, they didn't process Jessica's because of various conflicting and stonewalling stories. The two versions we got the most were 1) we took more than 30 minutes to send in the payment information (this information is not posted anywhere of course) or 2) they don't accept debit cards; since Jessica's card is a debit/credit card that says debit on the front they rejected it outright.
We didn't find out that they canceled her reservation until we were on the bus heading to the terracotta warriors, which are about 20 km outside of town. We tried fighting with them on the phone but we were stonewalled with typical crappy communist customer service (or lack thereof). We decided to check back at the internet cafe after getting back from the warriors.
Our train departed Chengdu exactly on time to the minute. The conductor in charge of our soft sleeper car came and checked our tickets, and then switched them out for a plastic red tag (which we had to return at the end of the train ride, in order to have our original paper tickets handed back to us--not sure why this rigmarole was necessary). She also recorded our passport numbers (all foreigners must register all the time in China!) and asked if we had the swine flu. We of course said, "mei you!" (which means don't have!). Really, why would you ever say "Yes, I have the swine flu!" You'd probably get carted off somewhere never to return. Upon our departure from Chengdu, our compartment was still empty, however we realized that someone might still get on the train at a subsequent stop.
We looked out the window, which was pretty gray and dreary as it was raining in Chengdu, and then played cards. After a while we got hungry and visited the dining car. They didn't have a picture menu, but they did have pinyin next to the characters. After a lot of back and forth where I explained again and again that Jessica did not eat meat (and was Buddhist), the waitress finally recommended a stir fried tomato dish. I got a pork belly fried rice dish that was really yummy. It had these light green peppers (reminded me of like Slovak papriky) that were a tiny bit spicy, but not too much to detract from enjoyment of the dish. Jessica's tomato dish was actually really yummy, I don't know what they do to the eggs here to make them so good but this was quite tasty.
We got back to our car and played more cards. Around 7:30pm, our compartment door was opened by a Chinese gentleman, who looked like he was about 45-50 years old. He had the bottom bunk and seemed a little surprised, but not in a bad way, to find two young white girls in his compartment. Jessica was very surprised to find a man sharing our compartment, so I had a quick chat with the conductor (who was also female). She understood our predicament, and offered us the chance to switch into a compartment with a young couple traveling with a toddler. That seemed worse than sharing with an unknown man, so I asked if I could just take the top bunk in our compartment. She said the last stop for the night was at 10pm, so she could tell me if that bunk was taken then.
As it turned out, the guy in our compartment was pretty cool, we had some chats in Chinese (with me translating). He was an engineer working for Ericsson in Baoji, which is about 2 hours outside of Xi'an. He said he had many German friends through work, but didn't speak any English. We talked a little about what Jess and I were doing in Chengdu and Xi'an and how we were at Beida. He endeared himself to Jessica by commenting that Chinese are terrible drivers. He also at one point got into bed and removed his pants (which scared the crap out of both of us), but was wearing a pair of flesh tone and white striped long johns for modesty's sake, which we certainly appreciated.
At the 10pm stop the conductor told me it was fine to sleep in the top bunk, so we all got into our respective bunks. Our companion went to sleep, as his stop was at 7am, and Jessica and I continued to play cards until around midnight. Sleeping on the train took a little getting used to, as you are swaying and bumping a little, but I did get to sleep eventually, waking up early in the morning, perhaps 6am. The bunk was just long enough for me to sleep, but anyone else taller would have to curl up on their side like a shrimp.
Our train arrived in Xi'an just on time as well, but Jess and I were a little grumpy after being in a small space for 16 hours with a stranger. We decided to find an internet cafe so we could check flights from Xi'an to Beijing. Emerging from the train station was a bit of a shock too, as it was typically packed with peasants staring, the city was cloudy and grimy and it was humid and warm. We wandered around fruitlessly looking for an internet cafe, getting directions from people who kept saying we were near one, but we just couldn't find it. Finally we stopped in a hotel and I kept asking them to draw a map until they sent a bellhop to show us the place. As it turned out, the sign (I know the characters for internet cafe) was wayyyy up top and you couldn't see it from eye level.
As it turned out, the tickets for the plane trip were only 100 yuan more expensive than the overnight train, so we decided to book the tickets through Air China. This is where things got really, really messy.
Online reservation services in China appear to be unable to handle US credit cards, so the purchaser must go through a ridiculous rigmarole of sending copies of both sides of the credit card, a copy of your passport and a signed authorization form authorizing the agent to use your credit card. Luckily Jess and I had all the copies of everything in our emails from purchasing our flights on eLong a couple of days before. When we tried to book the tickets online, I got an error message from Air China so I called their online booking service. The booking service told me that I had to send in the above information, which I did. I had Jessica do the same. They then sent me a new authorization form, because the one I wrote myself (which they told me to do) was not good enough. We resent. My ticket was confirmed, however, they didn't process Jessica's because of various conflicting and stonewalling stories. The two versions we got the most were 1) we took more than 30 minutes to send in the payment information (this information is not posted anywhere of course) or 2) they don't accept debit cards; since Jessica's card is a debit/credit card that says debit on the front they rejected it outright.
We didn't find out that they canceled her reservation until we were on the bus heading to the terracotta warriors, which are about 20 km outside of town. We tried fighting with them on the phone but we were stonewalled with typical crappy communist customer service (or lack thereof). We decided to check back at the internet cafe after getting back from the warriors.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Chengdu Redeemed, Sort Of
Last night Jess and I met up for drinks with our new British friends Matthew and Nathan. We met them at the panda reserve while we were waiting for Jessica's turn to cuddle the baby panda. They are working on a 5 part documentary on Chengdu and the pandas, for this presenter named Nigel Marvin. They are in Chengdu for 2 weeks and then are off to the wilderness at Bifengxia to try to find wild pandas.
We took a cab to their hotel and walked down the street a little ways to find a restaurant that was open. In China, especially in smaller cities, there are very few bars and pubs, if you are going to drink and socialize, you do it at a restaurant. We found a place and popped in. The proprietors were very excited to have some foreigners and recommended many Sichuan style dishes. I got some spicy beef and potatoes foe Jessica. Everythig came on a stick, it was spicy and very good! They also gave us lots of yummy tea and we got some Snow Beer for the guys, who had already eaten dinner.
It seemed that the guys didn't know anything about China; they didn't know you had to bargain (!!!!!!!!!) or about the concept of face so we immediately set them straight on that. We just had a nice time chatting about what we had done in China and I gave them tips on cultural scenery they could use to pad their documentary. Nathan told us about the cottage he owns in England, it's in a tiny village with no streetlight and only one lane and one road. Jess and I wanted to go there immediately!
The proprietors of the restaurant chatted with us a bit and asked to take photos with us; like I said, I don't think they got any foreigners popping in often... Or ever! We didn't mind the photos though, as they asked very nicely and posed in the pictures with us.
We knocked off around midnight; the guys had 6:30am photo call and we were tired from our day at the panda reserve.
The next morning we slept in and then took the bus to a big China Mobile store that we had seen the day before. Jessica had bought a top-up card in Beijing, but it ripped when she tried to scrape the foil off the pin number. She had been told by a China Mobile branch in Beijing that exchanging the card would be easy, she just had to go to a main headquarters. Serves us right for thinking anything in China would be easy!
Things were going fine until they realized the card was purchased in Beijing. Aparently the Chengdu and Beijing branches are separate subsidiaries and cannot exhange cards between systems. One hour later of escalating claims to supervisors and making people call the Beijing branch we left sans new card or refund. We will have to go in Beijing and demand a refund. So annoying! My Chinese is better from the arguing, however.
Jess and I are currently in a Starbucks checking email, then we will check out the Tibetan quarter nearby and then we catch the train to Xi'an! I'm excited for Terracotta Warriors!
We took a cab to their hotel and walked down the street a little ways to find a restaurant that was open. In China, especially in smaller cities, there are very few bars and pubs, if you are going to drink and socialize, you do it at a restaurant. We found a place and popped in. The proprietors were very excited to have some foreigners and recommended many Sichuan style dishes. I got some spicy beef and potatoes foe Jessica. Everythig came on a stick, it was spicy and very good! They also gave us lots of yummy tea and we got some Snow Beer for the guys, who had already eaten dinner.
It seemed that the guys didn't know anything about China; they didn't know you had to bargain (!!!!!!!!!) or about the concept of face so we immediately set them straight on that. We just had a nice time chatting about what we had done in China and I gave them tips on cultural scenery they could use to pad their documentary. Nathan told us about the cottage he owns in England, it's in a tiny village with no streetlight and only one lane and one road. Jess and I wanted to go there immediately!
The proprietors of the restaurant chatted with us a bit and asked to take photos with us; like I said, I don't think they got any foreigners popping in often... Or ever! We didn't mind the photos though, as they asked very nicely and posed in the pictures with us.
We knocked off around midnight; the guys had 6:30am photo call and we were tired from our day at the panda reserve.
The next morning we slept in and then took the bus to a big China Mobile store that we had seen the day before. Jessica had bought a top-up card in Beijing, but it ripped when she tried to scrape the foil off the pin number. She had been told by a China Mobile branch in Beijing that exchanging the card would be easy, she just had to go to a main headquarters. Serves us right for thinking anything in China would be easy!
Things were going fine until they realized the card was purchased in Beijing. Aparently the Chengdu and Beijing branches are separate subsidiaries and cannot exhange cards between systems. One hour later of escalating claims to supervisors and making people call the Beijing branch we left sans new card or refund. We will have to go in Beijing and demand a refund. So annoying! My Chinese is better from the arguing, however.
Jess and I are currently in a Starbucks checking email, then we will check out the Tibetan quarter nearby and then we catch the train to Xi'an! I'm excited for Terracotta Warriors!
So Over Guilin, Chengdu is Tamada
Jess and I caught the minibus back to Guilin after my last post and then spent a fruitless half an hour trying to find the airport bus departure station. We got incorrect directions from several people, and then someone offered to take us there on foot but then after a block said he didn't actually know where it was. Finally we hailed a cab, who took us directly to the airport, but he claimed we needed to pay him an extra 20 yuan for the 10 yuan toll both ways!! We were pissed. Clearly he was trying to rip us off. I just told him we would give him 10 extra to cover the one way toll and he could find some one else to take back to Guilin. There was some heated discussion, but we had exact change so we won out in the end. Overall we felt as of Guilin was a touristy rip off town, which reinforced my conviction that next time I will go straight to Yangshou.
The flight was on Air China, it was uneventful although a little turbulent. I sat next to a young man whose upper arms were, no joke, smaller than my wrists! I used it as a chance to tell Jessica about the "you call that a man??" phenomenon.
We landed in Chengdu at 11pm and took a cab to the hotel, which was recommended by the book as a basic, clean budget option. We picked it because it was right in front of the departure point for the bus to the panda research center. As advertised, it was clean and cheap, although the room is a bit worn around the edges. I did my laundry, and fell into bed, exhausted.
We got up and had a breakfast, then hopped the bus to the panda reserve. In typical fashion, the bus lurches around corners and everyone crammed in like sausages. Luckily we had seats, so we were spared the worst of it. The ride took about an hour or so, the reserve is about 8km outside of town. This is different from the Wulong Research center, which is about 200Km away and was damaged in the 2008 earthquake. This place is more of a tourist zoo type place.
The weather was damp and dreary, so it made us sad to not be in Yangshou. The pandas were mostly sleeping, although they were cute and I've never seen so many pandas is one place! They also had about 5 adorable and playful panda cubs. Jessica paid 1000 yuan to cuddle one for about two minutes. I got to play photographer for this, so I didn't have to pay anything to be within 5 ft of a panda cub! He was big, about 7 months old and weighing maybe 80lbs. Jess said he was heavy and not soft, his fur was coarse. You have to put on a disposable surgical gown, booties and gloves to hold the panda and the staff just come and rather uncerimoniusly dump the cub in your lap, and then feed it a apple so it stays busy. Still really cute, though!
We wandered around, seeing both red and white pandas. The red pandas look like little raccoon foxes, not so much like the giant pandas. We planned to go back to the hotel early, but we met a Brit who was filming a panda documentary for this presenter named Nigel something. He's on Discovery and BBC so you've probably seen him before. We chatted for a while, they are going to film here I'm Chengdu for 2 weeks and then to Bifengxia reserve in the country to try to find wild pandas. Sounds like fun!
We went back to town and bought our soft sleeper tickets for the overnight train to Xi'an tomorrow night. The railway station has convenient booths scattered around town so you don't have to brave the crowds at the main station. The soft sleeper berths were 300 yuan each, a good deal. My Chinese dialogues really came in handy!
We're in a cafe across the river from our hotel, and will meet the documentary guys for a drink a litle later. We're at the point where we're a little oversaturated with China so a little western dialogue is welcome.
The flight was on Air China, it was uneventful although a little turbulent. I sat next to a young man whose upper arms were, no joke, smaller than my wrists! I used it as a chance to tell Jessica about the "you call that a man??" phenomenon.
We landed in Chengdu at 11pm and took a cab to the hotel, which was recommended by the book as a basic, clean budget option. We picked it because it was right in front of the departure point for the bus to the panda research center. As advertised, it was clean and cheap, although the room is a bit worn around the edges. I did my laundry, and fell into bed, exhausted.
We got up and had a breakfast, then hopped the bus to the panda reserve. In typical fashion, the bus lurches around corners and everyone crammed in like sausages. Luckily we had seats, so we were spared the worst of it. The ride took about an hour or so, the reserve is about 8km outside of town. This is different from the Wulong Research center, which is about 200Km away and was damaged in the 2008 earthquake. This place is more of a tourist zoo type place.
The weather was damp and dreary, so it made us sad to not be in Yangshou. The pandas were mostly sleeping, although they were cute and I've never seen so many pandas is one place! They also had about 5 adorable and playful panda cubs. Jessica paid 1000 yuan to cuddle one for about two minutes. I got to play photographer for this, so I didn't have to pay anything to be within 5 ft of a panda cub! He was big, about 7 months old and weighing maybe 80lbs. Jess said he was heavy and not soft, his fur was coarse. You have to put on a disposable surgical gown, booties and gloves to hold the panda and the staff just come and rather uncerimoniusly dump the cub in your lap, and then feed it a apple so it stays busy. Still really cute, though!
We wandered around, seeing both red and white pandas. The red pandas look like little raccoon foxes, not so much like the giant pandas. We planned to go back to the hotel early, but we met a Brit who was filming a panda documentary for this presenter named Nigel something. He's on Discovery and BBC so you've probably seen him before. We chatted for a while, they are going to film here I'm Chengdu for 2 weeks and then to Bifengxia reserve in the country to try to find wild pandas. Sounds like fun!
We went back to town and bought our soft sleeper tickets for the overnight train to Xi'an tomorrow night. The railway station has convenient booths scattered around town so you don't have to brave the crowds at the main station. The soft sleeper berths were 300 yuan each, a good deal. My Chinese dialogues really came in handy!
We're in a cafe across the river from our hotel, and will meet the documentary guys for a drink a litle later. We're at the point where we're a little oversaturated with China so a little western dialogue is welcome.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Bicycle Tour of Yulong River Scenic Area
Jess and I woke up a little late after our late night of shenanigans, but after a restorative breakfast (featuring a large American style spread plus glorious coffee) we were ready to try to find the swimming hole the Americans reccommended to us the day before. We rented bikes from our hostel (10 yuan) and got a local area map. We had been shown where the place was on a different map so I figured out where we needed to go and off we went. We headed southwest out of town about 5km and turned north on a one lane paved road that followed the Yulong River. The river winds through rice parties and villages, with mini Yijiang style dramatic scenery. We saw rice patties, peasants farming, water buffalo and the like. It was gorgeous. The bike ride took us about an hour and a half and we were getting pretty sweaty. The map was ok but not exact and we got mildly lost at one point when we discovered the paved road takes you most of the way but actually leads to a bamboo rafting launch point that had a lot of touts.
Retrekking to a dirt road led us to another paved road that was the right one and also went back to Yangshou! We decided to try that one on our return.
The directions told us to turn left at the sign for the Outside Inn and head through the rice patties to the river. We passed several cute little Western-owned guesthouses that looked really pleasant. The directions were good and we found the sign, turned left and bikes through the fields past a farmer leading her water buffalo. The swimming hole was idyllic, with a nice, clear river, a ruined archway and a small outcropping of rock on the other side.
There was one other person there, an American who owned some stone factories in China and was touring around. He chatted with us and gave us some great tips for what to do in Chengdu. The water was perfect, cool and refreshing! We could see many kinds of fish in the river, kinds I have never seen before. The bottom was a bit mucky with some plants, but there were large, flat rocks to stand on. We could see farmers working the fields beside us and a man across the river letting his buffalo graze. It was ridiculously scenic and we took many pictures.
The bike back was much quicker, only 45 minutes. We took the other road back and it was more direct. We've just finished eating a snack and will catch the bus back to Guilin and then to the airport. We're very sad to leave, this place is pretty magical.
Retrekking to a dirt road led us to another paved road that was the right one and also went back to Yangshou! We decided to try that one on our return.
The directions told us to turn left at the sign for the Outside Inn and head through the rice patties to the river. We passed several cute little Western-owned guesthouses that looked really pleasant. The directions were good and we found the sign, turned left and bikes through the fields past a farmer leading her water buffalo. The swimming hole was idyllic, with a nice, clear river, a ruined archway and a small outcropping of rock on the other side.
There was one other person there, an American who owned some stone factories in China and was touring around. He chatted with us and gave us some great tips for what to do in Chengdu. The water was perfect, cool and refreshing! We could see many kinds of fish in the river, kinds I have never seen before. The bottom was a bit mucky with some plants, but there were large, flat rocks to stand on. We could see farmers working the fields beside us and a man across the river letting his buffalo graze. It was ridiculously scenic and we took many pictures.
The bike back was much quicker, only 45 minutes. We took the other road back and it was more direct. We've just finished eating a snack and will catch the bus back to Guilin and then to the airport. We're very sad to leave, this place is pretty magical.
Mini UN at Monkey Jane's
Last night Jess and I tried a pizza place recommended by a classmate of ours who spent a lot of time in Yangshou. The place was called Karst Pizza and it also featured rock climbing tours. We wanted to get a half cheese, half Hawaiian pizza, but we were told that we would have to pay MORE than the cost of the Hawaiian pizza (normally this request is accommodated but we usually have to pay the higher cost of a full Hawaiian) "because the cook has to do extra work." This sounded very fishy to us, since he still would have to put cheese down for a Hawaiian pizza, hence the incremental cost is negligable, and we knew from managerial accounting that this would resut in a favorable direct materials and direct labor efficiency variances. On principal we refused and just got a margarita pizza. Jess and I have great plans to special order everything when we get back to the states. The pizza was good, but not as good as the Kro's Nest in Beijing.
We met an American couple, young and just out of college, who had been teaching English in China. They reccommended a bike ride to a swimming hole as well as a rooftop bar at a nearby hostel called Monkey Jane's. We decided to check the place out. The guy said a lot of westerners hung out there and we were ready for a little western company. He wasn't kidding with the rooftop descriptor, we had to climb 6 flights of stairs to get up there! The bar was pleasant and airy and featured a beer pong table! Jess and I were very excited for beer pong.
The patrons were a typical mishmash of internationals, with Scots, Swedes, Danes, French and Brits. We defeated some Swedes and the Brits in rapid succession, and then lost in a nailbiter to different Swedes. Later on I teamed up with one of the Brits to defeat some of the same Swedes again. Truly global cross cultural communications!
Everyone was just kind of traveling around China, the Brita were hitting all the countries in Southeast Asia and then heading to Australia to find work and live on the Gold Coast. They invited us to join them and I was seriously tempted to join them! Alas, I have things like summer jobs and responsibilities to keep me from tio-ing off.
We met an American couple, young and just out of college, who had been teaching English in China. They reccommended a bike ride to a swimming hole as well as a rooftop bar at a nearby hostel called Monkey Jane's. We decided to check the place out. The guy said a lot of westerners hung out there and we were ready for a little western company. He wasn't kidding with the rooftop descriptor, we had to climb 6 flights of stairs to get up there! The bar was pleasant and airy and featured a beer pong table! Jess and I were very excited for beer pong.
The patrons were a typical mishmash of internationals, with Scots, Swedes, Danes, French and Brits. We defeated some Swedes and the Brits in rapid succession, and then lost in a nailbiter to different Swedes. Later on I teamed up with one of the Brits to defeat some of the same Swedes again. Truly global cross cultural communications!
Everyone was just kind of traveling around China, the Brita were hitting all the countries in Southeast Asia and then heading to Australia to find work and live on the Gold Coast. They invited us to join them and I was seriously tempted to join them! Alas, I have things like summer jobs and responsibilities to keep me from tio-ing off.
Monday, May 4, 2009
A Host of Funny-Shaped Mountains
Jess and I had our Lijiang River cruise today and I must say it is spectacular. We caught our bus at 8:30 am and were driven to a location downstream. We were the only two non-Asian people on the bus (there was one Japanese guy as we found out later). In typical Chinese style, there was a guide blabbing into a microphone the whole time. Everyone seemed to ignore it. We got off at the ferry terminal, which of course included a huge jewelry store (because when you go boating, you should get jewelry too) as well as some stalls where I got a cheap bucket hat and a sticky rice steamed thing that had beans and chestnuts. Pretty good.
The tour guide made me explain to the Japanese guy that the boat did not include a return bus to Guilin and that if he wanted to he could take bus #36610 to get back or he could call her. I was not too pleased at being roped into being translator, since the comprehension was slow going. Luckily someone else spoke some Japanese so I got off the hook.
The cruise boats are flat bottomed ferries with a lower deck where you eat lunch, and then an observation deck with no sun shade and no chairs. Some boats (like ours) have a small room up top with a few tables and chairs. The downstairs area kind of sucks because it's crowded, smoking is allowed and of course, Chinese people fear the sun like vampires so a bunch of people immediately closed the window curtains! When I complained that we couldn't see, they opened it slightly but it still sucked.
Jess and I headed up to the observation deck as soon as the boat pushed off. We took some chairs out of the room up top and sat at the front, underneath a roof overhang to get a bit of shade. The weather was sunny and pleasant again but we didn't want to spend 4 hours in the noonday sun. We were having a nice time until one of the boat staff came and kicked us off the chairs. The reason given was that some people were coming up to eat in the room. I argued a bit but they were adamant so we acquiesced and spread out my sarong in the same spot.
The scenery was of course fabulous, with fantastically shaped limestone karst formations lining the river, crowned with leafy green tops. We could see farmers tending the fields, fishing cormorants, grazing water buffalo and smaller boats as well as bamboo rafts. Several enterprising fellows even tied up to the side of the boat and hawked "jade" pigs and cows through the window! Another ferry got a food delivery via small moterboat.
We were mostly left alone except periodically, whenever a famous formation came up, a passel of Chinese passengers would rush in and crowd our area, taking the requisite portraits with the V for victory sign. I swear they must have gotten the same photo at least 50 times! They reacted to our presence much like the rest of China, ranging from bemusement to outright blatant staring. We just stare back and that solves the problem. Lunch was served about 2 hours in, so the crowds left after that.
Jess and I agreed that if we had to do it again we'd just take the bus straight to Yangshou, where the ferries terminate, and just hire a small bamboo raft with a roof and a simple outboard motor and take us upstream. The cruise is lovely, but sharing a boat with 30 other passengers who don't appreciate the beauty of nature in the same way is considerably less lovely.
We are spending the night in Yangshou, which is a small village on the bank of the river with gorgeous peaks surrounding it. The air here is fresh and pleasant and Jess and I can't help but feel refreshed after 7 weeks of Beijing pollution and smog. We're staying at a hostel/hotel called Riverview; we have a view of the river, a balcony and air conditioning in our private room. The owners are pleasantly un-pushy.
Yangshow is kind of a westerner hang out so I have promised Jess pizza for dinner. We plan to go for a quick hike and then maybe hit the pub later. We hope to rent bikes and go for a bike ride tomorrow morning before taking the bus back to Guilin.
The tour guide made me explain to the Japanese guy that the boat did not include a return bus to Guilin and that if he wanted to he could take bus #36610 to get back or he could call her. I was not too pleased at being roped into being translator, since the comprehension was slow going. Luckily someone else spoke some Japanese so I got off the hook.
The cruise boats are flat bottomed ferries with a lower deck where you eat lunch, and then an observation deck with no sun shade and no chairs. Some boats (like ours) have a small room up top with a few tables and chairs. The downstairs area kind of sucks because it's crowded, smoking is allowed and of course, Chinese people fear the sun like vampires so a bunch of people immediately closed the window curtains! When I complained that we couldn't see, they opened it slightly but it still sucked.
Jess and I headed up to the observation deck as soon as the boat pushed off. We took some chairs out of the room up top and sat at the front, underneath a roof overhang to get a bit of shade. The weather was sunny and pleasant again but we didn't want to spend 4 hours in the noonday sun. We were having a nice time until one of the boat staff came and kicked us off the chairs. The reason given was that some people were coming up to eat in the room. I argued a bit but they were adamant so we acquiesced and spread out my sarong in the same spot.
The scenery was of course fabulous, with fantastically shaped limestone karst formations lining the river, crowned with leafy green tops. We could see farmers tending the fields, fishing cormorants, grazing water buffalo and smaller boats as well as bamboo rafts. Several enterprising fellows even tied up to the side of the boat and hawked "jade" pigs and cows through the window! Another ferry got a food delivery via small moterboat.
We were mostly left alone except periodically, whenever a famous formation came up, a passel of Chinese passengers would rush in and crowd our area, taking the requisite portraits with the V for victory sign. I swear they must have gotten the same photo at least 50 times! They reacted to our presence much like the rest of China, ranging from bemusement to outright blatant staring. We just stare back and that solves the problem. Lunch was served about 2 hours in, so the crowds left after that.
Jess and I agreed that if we had to do it again we'd just take the bus straight to Yangshou, where the ferries terminate, and just hire a small bamboo raft with a roof and a simple outboard motor and take us upstream. The cruise is lovely, but sharing a boat with 30 other passengers who don't appreciate the beauty of nature in the same way is considerably less lovely.
We are spending the night in Yangshou, which is a small village on the bank of the river with gorgeous peaks surrounding it. The air here is fresh and pleasant and Jess and I can't help but feel refreshed after 7 weeks of Beijing pollution and smog. We're staying at a hostel/hotel called Riverview; we have a view of the river, a balcony and air conditioning in our private room. The owners are pleasantly un-pushy.
Yangshow is kind of a westerner hang out so I have promised Jess pizza for dinner. We plan to go for a quick hike and then maybe hit the pub later. We hope to rent bikes and go for a bike ride tomorrow morning before taking the bus back to Guilin.
Greener Pastures (and Mountains) in Guilin
Jess and I finally set off for our junket to southeastern China with great anticipation. We took a cab to the airport and checked in for China Southern Airways flight to Guilin. The flight was about 2 hours 40 minutes and the service was fine. They even had announcements in English.
Upon arriving in Guilin, we could already see some funny shaped mountains. The sky was noticably clearer compared to Beijing and the weather was pleasant in the high 70's. We took an airport bus for 20 yuan, foregoing the approximately 80 yuan taxi ride in. The bus dropped us off on the south edge of town so we decided to walk to the area where there were a few hotels recommended by the guidebook. The tourist map we had gotten was just terrible, with no recognizable landmarks. The fact that there are very few street signs compounded the problem. Finally we got a bike rickshaw driver to take us, he said it would be 10 yuan. However, the jerk only took us about 2/3 of the way and then said it would be an extra 40 yuan to keep going! I was so pissed we just gave him 10 yuan and got out, but I gave him a piece of my mind first. He was unconcerned.
We walked the rest of the way but it was pleasantly shaded and by the riverbank so it wasn't too bad. We had planned to look at a hostel behind the Sheraton, but I saw an Eva Inn right next door that looked nice. Eva Inn is a Taiwanese chain and I figured we would get decent rates. Their posted standard rate was 688 yuan (ha!), they quoted us 488 yuan, and then when we did the old walkaway trick they went down to 280. The room was spacious, clean and was on the top floor so we were happy.
We booked our riverboat cruise through a travel agent next door. The river is still a bit low so you have to be bussed downstream about 20k and then the boat journey begins. The price is 250 for Chinese language boat, 450 for English language boat (includes lunch). I'm sure I don't need to tell you which one we picked (Chinese boat)!
As the sun was setting we hiked up Elephant Rock, a large rock formation by the river that looks like an elephant taking a drink. The entry fee (25 yuan) included a little park too. It was pleasant by the river, watching people fish and punt by.
We were super hungry, so we walked around looking for a good place to eat. We found a street with a bunch of restaurants with great big buckets of live fish, crabs, crayfish and turtles, as well as cages with chickens, rabbits and ducks. I felt bad for the turtles (who kept blindly trying to push through the netting covering their baskets) and Jess felt bad for the rabbits and ducks so we kept going. We walked down a hutong with more restaurants, almost all featured outdoor seating. We picked one place that was hopping, but they didn't have English menu or a big picture menu so we pressed on. We then came upon a cluster of restaurants with plates of fresh ingredients out front that you could point at to choose. They had crayfish (what I really wanted plus Jess eats fish and shellfish) as well as tons of fresh veggies. We got the crayfish, along with eggplant and broccoli. When the food came we were so happy; it was delicious! The crayfish were fried in a garlic soy sauce, the eggplant was sauteed so it was kind of squashy and the broccoli was nicely steamed. Yum!
Our neighbors were a group of Chinese who were playing a Cantonese drinking game that involved toothpicks, hand signals and shouting numbers (which was how I knew it was Cantonese). Jess and I just could not figure out the rules! Interestingly, they were not Cantonese because when speaking otherwise they used Mandarin. Odd!
After eating, we strolled along the town's main drag checking out the night market. I had foolishly left my hat in Beijing so I was hoping to find a hat of some kind (preferrably Boston Red Sox to match Jessica's) but was out of luck. There weren't even any Yankees hats to be found (not that I would have bought one), surprising since they are the world's most recognizable sports brand. Jess did find some fake Kappa socks, however.
We stopped at a supermarket to get some food for the boat ride the next day and then walked back to the hotel.
We weren't that tired so we stayed up playing playing cards (we were mildly entertained by a sort of Iron Chef competition, but for manicurists). We played Crazy Eights, poker and blackjack, wagering with my collection of perfume samples), it was pretty fun. We went to bed at midnight, since we had to catch the bus to the boat at 8am.
Upon arriving in Guilin, we could already see some funny shaped mountains. The sky was noticably clearer compared to Beijing and the weather was pleasant in the high 70's. We took an airport bus for 20 yuan, foregoing the approximately 80 yuan taxi ride in. The bus dropped us off on the south edge of town so we decided to walk to the area where there were a few hotels recommended by the guidebook. The tourist map we had gotten was just terrible, with no recognizable landmarks. The fact that there are very few street signs compounded the problem. Finally we got a bike rickshaw driver to take us, he said it would be 10 yuan. However, the jerk only took us about 2/3 of the way and then said it would be an extra 40 yuan to keep going! I was so pissed we just gave him 10 yuan and got out, but I gave him a piece of my mind first. He was unconcerned.
We walked the rest of the way but it was pleasantly shaded and by the riverbank so it wasn't too bad. We had planned to look at a hostel behind the Sheraton, but I saw an Eva Inn right next door that looked nice. Eva Inn is a Taiwanese chain and I figured we would get decent rates. Their posted standard rate was 688 yuan (ha!), they quoted us 488 yuan, and then when we did the old walkaway trick they went down to 280. The room was spacious, clean and was on the top floor so we were happy.
We booked our riverboat cruise through a travel agent next door. The river is still a bit low so you have to be bussed downstream about 20k and then the boat journey begins. The price is 250 for Chinese language boat, 450 for English language boat (includes lunch). I'm sure I don't need to tell you which one we picked (Chinese boat)!
As the sun was setting we hiked up Elephant Rock, a large rock formation by the river that looks like an elephant taking a drink. The entry fee (25 yuan) included a little park too. It was pleasant by the river, watching people fish and punt by.
We were super hungry, so we walked around looking for a good place to eat. We found a street with a bunch of restaurants with great big buckets of live fish, crabs, crayfish and turtles, as well as cages with chickens, rabbits and ducks. I felt bad for the turtles (who kept blindly trying to push through the netting covering their baskets) and Jess felt bad for the rabbits and ducks so we kept going. We walked down a hutong with more restaurants, almost all featured outdoor seating. We picked one place that was hopping, but they didn't have English menu or a big picture menu so we pressed on. We then came upon a cluster of restaurants with plates of fresh ingredients out front that you could point at to choose. They had crayfish (what I really wanted plus Jess eats fish and shellfish) as well as tons of fresh veggies. We got the crayfish, along with eggplant and broccoli. When the food came we were so happy; it was delicious! The crayfish were fried in a garlic soy sauce, the eggplant was sauteed so it was kind of squashy and the broccoli was nicely steamed. Yum!
Our neighbors were a group of Chinese who were playing a Cantonese drinking game that involved toothpicks, hand signals and shouting numbers (which was how I knew it was Cantonese). Jess and I just could not figure out the rules! Interestingly, they were not Cantonese because when speaking otherwise they used Mandarin. Odd!
After eating, we strolled along the town's main drag checking out the night market. I had foolishly left my hat in Beijing so I was hoping to find a hat of some kind (preferrably Boston Red Sox to match Jessica's) but was out of luck. There weren't even any Yankees hats to be found (not that I would have bought one), surprising since they are the world's most recognizable sports brand. Jess did find some fake Kappa socks, however.
We stopped at a supermarket to get some food for the boat ride the next day and then walked back to the hotel.
We weren't that tired so we stayed up playing playing cards (we were mildly entertained by a sort of Iron Chef competition, but for manicurists). We played Crazy Eights, poker and blackjack, wagering with my collection of perfume samples), it was pretty fun. We went to bed at midnight, since we had to catch the bus to the boat at 8am.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
天壇 - Most Auspicious Harvest Prayers at Temple of Heaven
Today dawned fair and sunny, so Jess and I decided to go to the Temple of Heaven with Ben Malki. Because of the Labor Day weekend, we were worried that it would be crazy packed with people, but it was pleasantly spacious inside the temple park.
Jess and I took the subway, because the temple was pretty close to our hotel and Ben was coming from Haidian (pretty far away). Jess and I saw that the pearl market was right next to the temple, so we went in to browse around while we were waiting for Ben. I had been wanting to get a big, long strand of black pearls for a long time, so I was able to find a stall with some pearls I liked. They sell them on these pre-strung strands, and then when you pick the ones you want they knot them for you. The girls are so fast at knotting, it's really impressive. Jessica makes her own jewelry, so she got the girl to teach her how to knot the pearls. Knotted pearl necklaces are preferred because if the strand breaks, you'll only lose one pearl instead of the whole lot.
I got what I consider to be a good deal on the necklace, 225 yuan. For a giant long strand of 11 mm baroque pearls that's a pretty good price (divide by 6.8). Jess and I will likely go back to get gifts for friends, and Jess wants to get some loose pearls for herself.
Ben arrived just when my necklace was finished, so we went into the temple. We thought it would be nutty crowded, but it was actually not. I guess everyone decided to leave Beijing for the weekend--the better for us!
There were lots of people just hanging out in the park doing all kinds of stuff, chess playing, singing songs, dancing, etc. It was really interesting to see what people were getting up to on their days off.
The temple is kind of interesting, not as spectacular as the Forbidden City I would say. I'm glad I went, as I didn't see it the last time I was in Beijing. It has an interesting style of architecture. We enjoyed just being outside in the park, which didn't feel polluted as the rest of Beijing, plus it was a nice clear day.
After wandering around the temple grounds, we exited from a different gate than where we entered. We saw a little hutong (a REALLY little one--only wide enough for bikes to pass) and Ben wanted to check it out. We found a niu rou mian dealer, who was making the noodles fresh and cooking them right there. I knew I wanted a bowl right away, I love niu rou mian! The noodles were predictably delicious. The cook would take the dough and swing it up and down like a jumprope, and then twist it up. He would keep doing that until the noodles were skinny enough (like spaghetti). The broth was really good, too, almost minty, with lots of fresh parsley on top along with dried beef on top. Delicious! Ben had a kind of meat sandwich thing that he enjoyed. Jessica tried these deep fried sweet potato balls that she loved, so everyone got something good.
We went back to the hotel and Jess and I went swimming in our FABULOUS 25m lap pool. It's very posh, of course. The pool is more like a fancy spa, with a gorgeous locker room, separate sex jacuzzi, sauna, etc. The pool was empty, like the rest of the hotel. The jacuzzi even has a big screen TV in it so you can surf channels while you soak. Over the top!
Jess and I took the subway, because the temple was pretty close to our hotel and Ben was coming from Haidian (pretty far away). Jess and I saw that the pearl market was right next to the temple, so we went in to browse around while we were waiting for Ben. I had been wanting to get a big, long strand of black pearls for a long time, so I was able to find a stall with some pearls I liked. They sell them on these pre-strung strands, and then when you pick the ones you want they knot them for you. The girls are so fast at knotting, it's really impressive. Jessica makes her own jewelry, so she got the girl to teach her how to knot the pearls. Knotted pearl necklaces are preferred because if the strand breaks, you'll only lose one pearl instead of the whole lot.
I got what I consider to be a good deal on the necklace, 225 yuan. For a giant long strand of 11 mm baroque pearls that's a pretty good price (divide by 6.8). Jess and I will likely go back to get gifts for friends, and Jess wants to get some loose pearls for herself.
Ben arrived just when my necklace was finished, so we went into the temple. We thought it would be nutty crowded, but it was actually not. I guess everyone decided to leave Beijing for the weekend--the better for us!
There were lots of people just hanging out in the park doing all kinds of stuff, chess playing, singing songs, dancing, etc. It was really interesting to see what people were getting up to on their days off.
The temple is kind of interesting, not as spectacular as the Forbidden City I would say. I'm glad I went, as I didn't see it the last time I was in Beijing. It has an interesting style of architecture. We enjoyed just being outside in the park, which didn't feel polluted as the rest of Beijing, plus it was a nice clear day.
After wandering around the temple grounds, we exited from a different gate than where we entered. We saw a little hutong (a REALLY little one--only wide enough for bikes to pass) and Ben wanted to check it out. We found a niu rou mian dealer, who was making the noodles fresh and cooking them right there. I knew I wanted a bowl right away, I love niu rou mian! The noodles were predictably delicious. The cook would take the dough and swing it up and down like a jumprope, and then twist it up. He would keep doing that until the noodles were skinny enough (like spaghetti). The broth was really good, too, almost minty, with lots of fresh parsley on top along with dried beef on top. Delicious! Ben had a kind of meat sandwich thing that he enjoyed. Jessica tried these deep fried sweet potato balls that she loved, so everyone got something good.
We went back to the hotel and Jess and I went swimming in our FABULOUS 25m lap pool. It's very posh, of course. The pool is more like a fancy spa, with a gorgeous locker room, separate sex jacuzzi, sauna, etc. The pool was empty, like the rest of the hotel. The jacuzzi even has a big screen TV in it so you can surf channels while you soak. Over the top!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wain Wain for Wii
In our Insider's Guide to Beijing, there's an article about the Japanese businessman scene in which they describe a bar called Wain Wain, where you can drink beer and play Nintendo Wii. This sounded like quite possibly the best place in the entire world to us, so we bundled into a cab and set off for Wain Wain. It's in a complex of buildings called Soho, so we got dropped off by the cab and had to wander around looking for building A. Once we found it, we got off on the 35th floor (35!!) and found the place. It's very small, with a bar and two rooms for Wii (with traditional tatami mats and low tables, although they did have the sink well underneath for your feet. The cost was 100RMB per hour in the room and you can order drinks and food.
It was so much fun. We had an amazing view of the city from that height (although the windows in the room opened two ways, a wide way that you could DEFINITELY fall out of and a narrow way that was safe--we opened them the narrow way of course) and had a great time playing Wii sports.
The place closed at 2 so they very politely asked us to leave, but not before we used their Japanese style toilet, with heated seats (very odd and slightly uncomfortable, I felt as though I were sitting on a griddle) and mysterious buttons with unknown functions, such as bidet (designated by a picture of a butt with water spraying on it) and a warm air fan to dry your bum (picture of air blowing). I found it hilarious. Jess used it too and took forever; when she came out she explained that she couldn't figure out how to turn off the bidet function and had to wait it out (she could have pressed the button again).
We cabbed it back to the Mariott and hit the sack; Panos and Ben went back to the FX area in Haidian. Panos managed to leave his phone in the cab and some guy named Luca picked it up. He found this out when his girlfriend called him and got Luca instead. I then texted Luca and got his number. Panos called him, but he lives way in the southeast corner of the city so Panos probably won't get the phone back before he leaves tomorrow. He bought it in Saudi Arabia (his parents work for Aramco) so it's not a huge loss.
I wish we had discovered this place earlier! What fun! Oh, I forgot to mention the Wii was set to Japanese, so we had fun guessing what the buttons meant. There were some inadvertently hilarious moments.
It was so much fun. We had an amazing view of the city from that height (although the windows in the room opened two ways, a wide way that you could DEFINITELY fall out of and a narrow way that was safe--we opened them the narrow way of course) and had a great time playing Wii sports.
The place closed at 2 so they very politely asked us to leave, but not before we used their Japanese style toilet, with heated seats (very odd and slightly uncomfortable, I felt as though I were sitting on a griddle) and mysterious buttons with unknown functions, such as bidet (designated by a picture of a butt with water spraying on it) and a warm air fan to dry your bum (picture of air blowing). I found it hilarious. Jess used it too and took forever; when she came out she explained that she couldn't figure out how to turn off the bidet function and had to wait it out (she could have pressed the button again).
We cabbed it back to the Mariott and hit the sack; Panos and Ben went back to the FX area in Haidian. Panos managed to leave his phone in the cab and some guy named Luca picked it up. He found this out when his girlfriend called him and got Luca instead. I then texted Luca and got his number. Panos called him, but he lives way in the southeast corner of the city so Panos probably won't get the phone back before he leaves tomorrow. He bought it in Saudi Arabia (his parents work for Aramco) so it's not a huge loss.
I wish we had discovered this place earlier! What fun! Oh, I forgot to mention the Wii was set to Japanese, so we had fun guessing what the buttons meant. There were some inadvertently hilarious moments.
The Most Inconvenient Online Travel Company in the World
Now that our semester has wound down in Beijing, Jessica and I have some time to travel around China before we go back to the US. We had planned to spend a couple of days in Beijing with our friends before taking the overnight train to Xi'an, then the overnight train to Chengdu, then flying to Guilin and then flying back to Beijing. Unfortunately, this weekend is "Worker's Holiday", so EVERYONE in China (all 1.4 billion of them) is trying to take the train to go back to their country village and the train station is a complete nut house. I went by last night to purchase tickets and there were mobs of people running around, waiting, squatting and sleeping outside. Since there are a lot of real peasanty types taking the train, everyone cuts in line and you have to be really aggressive. Several people asked me to help them purchase tickets to get home, I said no thanks. I noticed that they pestered other local Chinese too, not just me, so I guess I don't mind as much. I would have been more annoyed had they targeted the only foreigner in the train station.
There were only soft sleeper tickets available on Monday night to go to Xi'an, so I elected not to purchase. We are checking out of our hotel on Sunday so we didn't want to extend for another day--we've been in Beijing for 7 weeks and wanted to get out of town! Jessica was back in the hotel and is out of minutes on her phone (Again! She and her boyfriend talk so much she goes through a 100RMB card every two days. Yes. Two days!) so I couldn't call her to confirm. Soft sleeper from Beijing to Xi'an is about 420RMB.
I went back to the hotel and suggested to Jessica that we go the opposite way, and fly straight from Beijing to Guilin. I looked up the tickets using an online reservation site, www.elong.net. They have searchable functions in English and allow you to book online (some Chinese websites don't, you have to come and pay for the tickets in person). We had looked at flights earlier in the week and they were a little pricey, about 1000RMB for the flight from Guilin to Beijing. As it turned out, the flights were now half the price! Beijing to Guilin was only 540RMB and Guilin to Chengdu (to see the pandas) was only 510RMB! What a deal! We booked the tickets immediately, planning to buy the train tickets when we get to Chengdu.
Elong has quite possibly one of the worst systems for buying tickets online: you input your credit card and hit confirm, but then you have to scan or fax a signed credit card use authorization form AND copies of front and back of your credit card AND a copy of your passport (if you are a foreign credit card holder). What a pain! Jess and I spent about 2 hours taking photos of our passports and credit cards and emailing them, and elong kept calling us back saying stuff like "your electronic authorization is not good enough, we need fax" and "we cannot see the signature on the back of Miss Tartell's credit card". We finally solved the problems by sending out electronic authorizations to Jessica's boyfriend in the US, and having him e-fax the authorizations back to elong. They were insistent that they needed either a scanned copy or a fax--which was ridiculous because it's the SAME goddamn thing. Anyway, right about midnight we got everything sorted out, which was annoying because Panos and Ben came over to our hotel room to have a drink before we went out. We had planned to go to Fez Bar, which is this cool outdoor bar overlooking the city, but it closes at 1pm so we couldn't go at midnight. Instead, I had a better idea...
There were only soft sleeper tickets available on Monday night to go to Xi'an, so I elected not to purchase. We are checking out of our hotel on Sunday so we didn't want to extend for another day--we've been in Beijing for 7 weeks and wanted to get out of town! Jessica was back in the hotel and is out of minutes on her phone (Again! She and her boyfriend talk so much she goes through a 100RMB card every two days. Yes. Two days!) so I couldn't call her to confirm. Soft sleeper from Beijing to Xi'an is about 420RMB.
I went back to the hotel and suggested to Jessica that we go the opposite way, and fly straight from Beijing to Guilin. I looked up the tickets using an online reservation site, www.elong.net. They have searchable functions in English and allow you to book online (some Chinese websites don't, you have to come and pay for the tickets in person). We had looked at flights earlier in the week and they were a little pricey, about 1000RMB for the flight from Guilin to Beijing. As it turned out, the flights were now half the price! Beijing to Guilin was only 540RMB and Guilin to Chengdu (to see the pandas) was only 510RMB! What a deal! We booked the tickets immediately, planning to buy the train tickets when we get to Chengdu.
Elong has quite possibly one of the worst systems for buying tickets online: you input your credit card and hit confirm, but then you have to scan or fax a signed credit card use authorization form AND copies of front and back of your credit card AND a copy of your passport (if you are a foreign credit card holder). What a pain! Jess and I spent about 2 hours taking photos of our passports and credit cards and emailing them, and elong kept calling us back saying stuff like "your electronic authorization is not good enough, we need fax" and "we cannot see the signature on the back of Miss Tartell's credit card". We finally solved the problems by sending out electronic authorizations to Jessica's boyfriend in the US, and having him e-fax the authorizations back to elong. They were insistent that they needed either a scanned copy or a fax--which was ridiculous because it's the SAME goddamn thing. Anyway, right about midnight we got everything sorted out, which was annoying because Panos and Ben came over to our hotel room to have a drink before we went out. We had planned to go to Fez Bar, which is this cool outdoor bar overlooking the city, but it closes at 1pm so we couldn't go at midnight. Instead, I had a better idea...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
FX = Freaking Excrement; Jess & I Decamp to Greener Pastures
Jessica and I have been living in the FX Hotel in Haidian for the past 7 weeks and let me tell you, it is quite possibly the crappiest hotel in the world. I would rather stay in the one star place in Chiang Mai, Thailand that we stayed in when I was 8 years old that had geckos running around on the ceiling all night than the FX. If we had been staying there for a few days only, it would have been fine. The rooms were kind of interestingly designed (not your standard hotel room blah blah stuff) and we had enough places to put our stuff once we got an extra wardrobe... but the staff! The staff! They had ZERO concept of customer service. We had many fights with them, some of which I will describe below.
Upon my arrival, they wanted me to pay the entire stay (42 days) up front. Um, yeah, NO. What kind of hotel forces you to pay for a 42 night stay up front??? Ridiculous! I told them in no way shape or form. They put a deposit on my card, but forced my roommate, who got in late, to pay 5000RMB. Keep that in mind for later.
I broke my key accidentally when using the squat john (it was in my back pocket and was bent by my knee) and was told it was a 20RMB fee to get a new card. Since the card still opened the door, I just used it. About a week after this incident, the card stopped working. The front desk then tried to charge me again for a new key, we got into an argument about how it wasn't my problem that the broken key stopped working after a week, it was their problem. They alleged that my breaking the key is what stopped its functioning, but eventually I won out and got a new key.
Our original room was on the 7th floor with a bunch of T-birds and it was just too zooey with everyone there, the internet was slow and we had a loud guy living next to us. I asked them to switch us to a quieter floor and they tried to give us a smaller room on the 12th floor. I said no, same room. The front desk lady tried to lie to me and say no more rooms were available, but a different one said "Yes, there are rooms available" in Chinese, so I heard that and insisted they show me another one. We did eventually get our room, which was much quieter.
After 30 days of staying there, we came home at midnight one night after a long day of studying to find that the hotel had locked us out of our room because they claimed we owed them money. After another heated discussion at the front desk, in which I told them in no uncertain terms that I would pay for my stay on the last day when I left and not a minute earlier, and them insisting "No, you pay now!" the matter was settled by a larger deposit on my card. Fine. I wasn't giving them a penny of my money until the last day. I thought it was ridiculous that they locked us out with no warning. Then, the next day, someone else from the front desk called and said we had to pay again, requiring me to go downstairs and shoot dirty looks at the woman who made me pay the deposit the night before. She at least had the courtesy to set her coworker straight and they didn't hassle us about payment again.
On the last day they wouldn't give us extra check out time so we were running around like crazy people trying to get all our stuff packed before noon. When we went downstairs to check out, there was a huge cluster going on because the hotel had sent the wrong luggage to the airport for one of our classmates. Essentially this guy, Rabie, had suckered another classmate, Courtney, into taking back one of his bags to the US. She already had 2 bags to check (again, bringing up the question of why you would do this) but agreed to do it. Rabie had left his bags in the bag check at the hotel for Courtney to grab on the way out. Unfortunately, the FX gave her another classmate's bag and not Rabie's bag! So, when we came down, Hunter's bag was checked in to go back to Glendale, Rabie's bag was still in bag check and Hunter was, understandibly, furious. Some how the hotel got Hunter's stuff out of the airport and back to him and also paid for Rabie to go to the airport and ship his bag himself (and paid for the shipment as well). Amazingly when we checked out they didn't give us any hassle, probably because I was such a pain in the butt to them all the time I stayed there that they knew not to play with fire.
Jessica and I knew that we had to stay somewhere nice for our last few nights in Beijing to make up for the extreme crappiness of the FX, so we decided to stay at the Mariott City Wall, which is in the CBD, or Central Business District in on the Southeast side of town, the opposite from Haidian. Jess gets friends and family rate at the Mariott, so we snapped up the chance to get 50% off at the Mariott City Wall (it also is a cool looking building with big yellow turrets on top). For 530RMB a night we would be paying double the FX price, but would get about 1000 times the service.
As expected, the Mariott is FABULOUS. We get excellent service, English speaking staff (this is good for service related items and any issues that might arise with your bill), a NICE, CLEAN room (the cleaning ladies stopped emptying our trash and changing our sheets the last week) and a great view of the CBD. We're on the 15th floor and it's quiet as a tomb up here. The hotel does not appear to be full to capacity in the slightest, so we suspect that the staff are just sort of excited to have a chance to do their jobs. We have already booked our last night in Beijing to be here, so we are very excited to return after we go on our little junket around China.
Upon my arrival, they wanted me to pay the entire stay (42 days) up front. Um, yeah, NO. What kind of hotel forces you to pay for a 42 night stay up front??? Ridiculous! I told them in no way shape or form. They put a deposit on my card, but forced my roommate, who got in late, to pay 5000RMB. Keep that in mind for later.
I broke my key accidentally when using the squat john (it was in my back pocket and was bent by my knee) and was told it was a 20RMB fee to get a new card. Since the card still opened the door, I just used it. About a week after this incident, the card stopped working. The front desk then tried to charge me again for a new key, we got into an argument about how it wasn't my problem that the broken key stopped working after a week, it was their problem. They alleged that my breaking the key is what stopped its functioning, but eventually I won out and got a new key.
Our original room was on the 7th floor with a bunch of T-birds and it was just too zooey with everyone there, the internet was slow and we had a loud guy living next to us. I asked them to switch us to a quieter floor and they tried to give us a smaller room on the 12th floor. I said no, same room. The front desk lady tried to lie to me and say no more rooms were available, but a different one said "Yes, there are rooms available" in Chinese, so I heard that and insisted they show me another one. We did eventually get our room, which was much quieter.
After 30 days of staying there, we came home at midnight one night after a long day of studying to find that the hotel had locked us out of our room because they claimed we owed them money. After another heated discussion at the front desk, in which I told them in no uncertain terms that I would pay for my stay on the last day when I left and not a minute earlier, and them insisting "No, you pay now!" the matter was settled by a larger deposit on my card. Fine. I wasn't giving them a penny of my money until the last day. I thought it was ridiculous that they locked us out with no warning. Then, the next day, someone else from the front desk called and said we had to pay again, requiring me to go downstairs and shoot dirty looks at the woman who made me pay the deposit the night before. She at least had the courtesy to set her coworker straight and they didn't hassle us about payment again.
On the last day they wouldn't give us extra check out time so we were running around like crazy people trying to get all our stuff packed before noon. When we went downstairs to check out, there was a huge cluster going on because the hotel had sent the wrong luggage to the airport for one of our classmates. Essentially this guy, Rabie, had suckered another classmate, Courtney, into taking back one of his bags to the US. She already had 2 bags to check (again, bringing up the question of why you would do this) but agreed to do it. Rabie had left his bags in the bag check at the hotel for Courtney to grab on the way out. Unfortunately, the FX gave her another classmate's bag and not Rabie's bag! So, when we came down, Hunter's bag was checked in to go back to Glendale, Rabie's bag was still in bag check and Hunter was, understandibly, furious. Some how the hotel got Hunter's stuff out of the airport and back to him and also paid for Rabie to go to the airport and ship his bag himself (and paid for the shipment as well). Amazingly when we checked out they didn't give us any hassle, probably because I was such a pain in the butt to them all the time I stayed there that they knew not to play with fire.
Jessica and I knew that we had to stay somewhere nice for our last few nights in Beijing to make up for the extreme crappiness of the FX, so we decided to stay at the Mariott City Wall, which is in the CBD, or Central Business District in on the Southeast side of town, the opposite from Haidian. Jess gets friends and family rate at the Mariott, so we snapped up the chance to get 50% off at the Mariott City Wall (it also is a cool looking building with big yellow turrets on top). For 530RMB a night we would be paying double the FX price, but would get about 1000 times the service.
As expected, the Mariott is FABULOUS. We get excellent service, English speaking staff (this is good for service related items and any issues that might arise with your bill), a NICE, CLEAN room (the cleaning ladies stopped emptying our trash and changing our sheets the last week) and a great view of the CBD. We're on the 15th floor and it's quiet as a tomb up here. The hotel does not appear to be full to capacity in the slightest, so we suspect that the staff are just sort of excited to have a chance to do their jobs. We have already booked our last night in Beijing to be here, so we are very excited to return after we go on our little junket around China.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
One Stop Copy Shop
With all the looming due dates, Jess and I have been parked in the Bridge Cafe all day. She is editing her marketing paper, and I am doing the same. I decided to take a mini break to go off and print all the required readings for my RBE exam tomorrow. It's easier for me to retain the readings if they are printed out instead of reading them online. Jessica had found a copy shop a couple of weeks ago in the area, so we decided to go on a printing mission.
The copy shop turned out to be in someone's apartment in a nearby apartment complex. This family has two copiers in their living room, along with two computers and a binding machine. While we were waiting their pre-teen son was playing video games on the computer and the husband was sitting around in the bedroom, reading. The copiers were in decent shape, although a little slow. The price was definitely right, however. Panos had all the same pages printed out at Kinko's and it cost him 47 yuan, my total was only 36 yuan. That included the price of binding as well. This is China!
The copy shop turned out to be in someone's apartment in a nearby apartment complex. This family has two copiers in their living room, along with two computers and a binding machine. While we were waiting their pre-teen son was playing video games on the computer and the husband was sitting around in the bedroom, reading. The copiers were in decent shape, although a little slow. The price was definitely right, however. Panos had all the same pages printed out at Kinko's and it cost him 47 yuan, my total was only 36 yuan. That included the price of binding as well. This is China!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Surprisingly Lax Communist Agency
If you recall from several posts ago, Jessica got a new passport from the US Embassy to replace her sad, tired and damaged old one. When we got the new passport, the American Consular Services ladies told us that we just had to go the Beijing Public Security Bureau and show them a letter explaining that the old passport had been canceled and a new one issued, and then request a visa transfer. The letter would be provided by the embassy, so that would help simplify matters. Easy, we thought. Famous last words...
We of course procrastinated on going over there until this weekend, when I realized that if they needed to hold Jessica's passport for a week or so, we needed to get it in as soon as possible.
Amazingly the PSB has a website with English that even explains their hours and provides directions (although, they were not that exact). The PSB is located just around the corner from the Lama Temple, but you have to head south on the 2nd Ring Road a couple of blocks before you see it (big Nouveau Communist building with a Chinese flag out front). The building is very new and shiny and even features helpful signs in English, I assume because many foreigners have to deal with the PSB for visa renewals, extensions, permanent residency applications, etc.
We waited in line and then got to the head of the line armed with the US Embassy passport letter, both new and old passports, Beijing University offer letter and JW-02 Student Visa Application Form (completed) as well as Jessica's Beijing University Student ID booklet (yep, it's a little red book, not a card). The officer, after much perusal of all the information, eventually decided that they couldn't transfer the visa. When questioned as to why, he said that it was because the visa wasn't issued in China, it was issued in the US. Well, of course it was issued in the US, because you can't get into China unless you get a visa beforehand! After a lot of back and forth, where I said that the US embassy told us that we had to get the visa transferred, and him saying that it wasn't necessary, we were very frustrated. He then changed tactics and said that she could leave the country with the new passport and the expired passport (which has had holes punched in it by the embassy staff) and it wouldn't be a problem. Since this sounded kind of like he was trying to get rid of us (I mean, really, a Communist country that lets you leave on an expired passport? That sounds very fishy!) we decided to regroup and check with a higher authority.
I called the US Embassy but of course ACS was closed. I made the operator (Chinese) transfer me to the Marine post on duty (my tax dollars at work!!) and the very nice and polite Marine transferred me to the duty officer (who sounded like they were at home with their kids). I explained the situation and she promised to get back to me in a couple of days. She agreed that it sounded fishy, so I do think there is something else we need to do. The other option is to change Jess' return flight to the US to be out of Hong Kong, and then take an illegal fishing boat to Hong Kong! Haha, just kidding.
We of course procrastinated on going over there until this weekend, when I realized that if they needed to hold Jessica's passport for a week or so, we needed to get it in as soon as possible.
Amazingly the PSB has a website with English that even explains their hours and provides directions (although, they were not that exact). The PSB is located just around the corner from the Lama Temple, but you have to head south on the 2nd Ring Road a couple of blocks before you see it (big Nouveau Communist building with a Chinese flag out front). The building is very new and shiny and even features helpful signs in English, I assume because many foreigners have to deal with the PSB for visa renewals, extensions, permanent residency applications, etc.
We waited in line and then got to the head of the line armed with the US Embassy passport letter, both new and old passports, Beijing University offer letter and JW-02 Student Visa Application Form (completed) as well as Jessica's Beijing University Student ID booklet (yep, it's a little red book, not a card). The officer, after much perusal of all the information, eventually decided that they couldn't transfer the visa. When questioned as to why, he said that it was because the visa wasn't issued in China, it was issued in the US. Well, of course it was issued in the US, because you can't get into China unless you get a visa beforehand! After a lot of back and forth, where I said that the US embassy told us that we had to get the visa transferred, and him saying that it wasn't necessary, we were very frustrated. He then changed tactics and said that she could leave the country with the new passport and the expired passport (which has had holes punched in it by the embassy staff) and it wouldn't be a problem. Since this sounded kind of like he was trying to get rid of us (I mean, really, a Communist country that lets you leave on an expired passport? That sounds very fishy!) we decided to regroup and check with a higher authority.
I called the US Embassy but of course ACS was closed. I made the operator (Chinese) transfer me to the Marine post on duty (my tax dollars at work!!) and the very nice and polite Marine transferred me to the duty officer (who sounded like they were at home with their kids). I explained the situation and she promised to get back to me in a couple of days. She agreed that it sounded fishy, so I do think there is something else we need to do. The other option is to change Jess' return flight to the US to be out of Hong Kong, and then take an illegal fishing boat to Hong Kong! Haha, just kidding.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Chinese Laundry
Mike Logan went to Henan province for the weekend, so I asked him if I could borrow the keys to his apartment for the weekend as he has a washing machine. Jessica has not done laundry since coming to China (she brought a lot of clothes) and I have only done real laundry once along with strategic sink washing. Of course Mike does not have a dryer, but those seem pretty rare in China as every seems perfectly happy with crispy air-dried clothes. The water here is very hard, so everything dries very hard as well--in the case of my underwear it can literally stand up on its own.
Mike's apartment (site of the infamous good cop/bad cop shakedown) is in a supposedly "nice" apartment complex just next to our hotel. Let me just say that I think many years of absolute deprivation has resulted in the Chinese being somewhat willing to forgive situations that to Western eyes seem ridiculous. For instance, the apartment building has one main entry gate and then several side gates that are only accessible with an electronic keycard, both for entry AND exit. There are always at least ten people waiting on either side of the gate for someone to come through and either buzz them in or out. There are "guards" stationed next to the gate but they never let people in or out, or stop you from letting people in or out. Ridiculous! At midnight all the side gates are chained shut, which is really comforting should there be some kind of emergency and you can't reach the main gate.
The inside of the building is typically poorly maintained. The carpet is stained, the first time Mike moved in everything was covered with a layer of yellow sand (perhaps from a sandstorm?) and there are exposed wires in the hallways. On top of this, it seems that people rent out the apartments in the complex for businesses as well as living spaces. Just next door to Mike's apartment there is somekind of internet company cranking away, as the place is packed with people on computers typing busily away, and they are always shipping hundreds of boxes in and out every day. Not kidding, EVERY time we go to Mike's apartment there are at least one or two guys with a bicycle delivery pallet full of about 10-20 Lenovo desktops stacked (optional assistant for unloading on top of the boxes). These guys clog up the entrance gate with their deliveries and always bogart the elevator. Today one of these guys crammed in with a delivery dolly, and then refused to move when it came to my floor. I even said "excuse me" in Chinese and he just played dumb. I shoved him out of the way, which made me angry because I didn't want to come across as an ugly, rude foreigner, but come on, dude! Get out of my way on the elevator! I've noticed that elevator etiquette is nonexistent here, people will just shove in (this applies to the subway, too) when you're trying to get out and never hold the door for you. I imagine when you live with 1.5 billion people, you just don't have time to wait for everyone else.
Jessica and I have been running laundry loads for about two days straight here, and Mike's apartment is covered with drying clothes. He gets back from Henan on Monday morning, so everything should have plenty of time to dry properly by then. I won't be sad to never have to come back to this complex again. It's madness in here!
Mike's apartment (site of the infamous good cop/bad cop shakedown) is in a supposedly "nice" apartment complex just next to our hotel. Let me just say that I think many years of absolute deprivation has resulted in the Chinese being somewhat willing to forgive situations that to Western eyes seem ridiculous. For instance, the apartment building has one main entry gate and then several side gates that are only accessible with an electronic keycard, both for entry AND exit. There are always at least ten people waiting on either side of the gate for someone to come through and either buzz them in or out. There are "guards" stationed next to the gate but they never let people in or out, or stop you from letting people in or out. Ridiculous! At midnight all the side gates are chained shut, which is really comforting should there be some kind of emergency and you can't reach the main gate.
The inside of the building is typically poorly maintained. The carpet is stained, the first time Mike moved in everything was covered with a layer of yellow sand (perhaps from a sandstorm?) and there are exposed wires in the hallways. On top of this, it seems that people rent out the apartments in the complex for businesses as well as living spaces. Just next door to Mike's apartment there is somekind of internet company cranking away, as the place is packed with people on computers typing busily away, and they are always shipping hundreds of boxes in and out every day. Not kidding, EVERY time we go to Mike's apartment there are at least one or two guys with a bicycle delivery pallet full of about 10-20 Lenovo desktops stacked (optional assistant for unloading on top of the boxes). These guys clog up the entrance gate with their deliveries and always bogart the elevator. Today one of these guys crammed in with a delivery dolly, and then refused to move when it came to my floor. I even said "excuse me" in Chinese and he just played dumb. I shoved him out of the way, which made me angry because I didn't want to come across as an ugly, rude foreigner, but come on, dude! Get out of my way on the elevator! I've noticed that elevator etiquette is nonexistent here, people will just shove in (this applies to the subway, too) when you're trying to get out and never hold the door for you. I imagine when you live with 1.5 billion people, you just don't have time to wait for everyone else.
Jessica and I have been running laundry loads for about two days straight here, and Mike's apartment is covered with drying clothes. He gets back from Henan on Monday morning, so everything should have plenty of time to dry properly by then. I won't be sad to never have to come back to this complex again. It's madness in here!
You are the Haircut Master...
My hair had been getting very long and heavy, so I decided to get a haircut. I usually like to get lots of layers in my haircuts, so I figured getting one in China would be a great idea because everyone's hair here is straight, so they usually layer the heck out of it to get some movement.
Since my Chinese haircutting vocabulary is limited to hair, short and long, I purchased a local magazine to scope out good photos of Asian haircuts. I got lucky--I was able to find exactly the haircut I wanted.
The salon I chose is right across the street from the hotel. One of my other classmates, who doesn't speak any Chinese, went there right at the beginning of the module with a photo and came out with a great haircut, so I figured it would be fine. As would be expected in a developing country, the haircut rate is extremely cheap, only 25 yuan. For that price you get a shampoo, cut, style AND a neck, back, head and arm massage while you wait! Good deal.
My explanation with the photo went very well, I explained that I liked the bangs and the length and that I wanted that haircut. The stylist kept asking me questions, that I know had to do with long and short (I think he was asking where I wanted my layers to start) but I had no idea what he was talking about so finally I said "You are the master, just do what you need to do!" As it turned out, my haircut is great! Everyone has been very complimentary. I put the photos up on Facebook. The best part is that I slept on it and woke up this morning and it still looks good! If only I could import this guy to the US... and make him charge me only China prices.
Since my Chinese haircutting vocabulary is limited to hair, short and long, I purchased a local magazine to scope out good photos of Asian haircuts. I got lucky--I was able to find exactly the haircut I wanted.
The salon I chose is right across the street from the hotel. One of my other classmates, who doesn't speak any Chinese, went there right at the beginning of the module with a photo and came out with a great haircut, so I figured it would be fine. As would be expected in a developing country, the haircut rate is extremely cheap, only 25 yuan. For that price you get a shampoo, cut, style AND a neck, back, head and arm massage while you wait! Good deal.
My explanation with the photo went very well, I explained that I liked the bangs and the length and that I wanted that haircut. The stylist kept asking me questions, that I know had to do with long and short (I think he was asking where I wanted my layers to start) but I had no idea what he was talking about so finally I said "You are the master, just do what you need to do!" As it turned out, my haircut is great! Everyone has been very complimentary. I put the photos up on Facebook. The best part is that I slept on it and woke up this morning and it still looks good! If only I could import this guy to the US... and make him charge me only China prices.
Last Train to Karaoke
Last night I was working on my Accounting problem set when I got a call from Jessica, who was out to dinner with a group of people. There was a crowd doing karaoke that night! Having done plenty of Karaoke in Taiwan and of course loving it I had been wanting to do some KTV but had not yet had the chance. I jumped at it, leaving Accounting behind (lest you panic, I was able to finish up my problem set today without a problem).
Since I'm cheap and I left the hotel at approximately 10:08pm, I figured I could make the last train to Wudaokou, which leaves Suzhoujie station at 10:22pm. I booked it down the street and kind of jogged some of the way and made it in good time. Better to spend only 2 yuan on the subway instead of taking a cab for 14 yuan (which was smart because I had to take a cab back alone later).
I met up with Rob, Ben, Tracy, Matt and Hunter at Red House, our favorite Bar in Wudaokou. It features a relaxed and friendly atmosphere (aka they don't stare at the whiteys) and 5 yuan Tsingdaos. You can't go wrong with 5 yuan Tsingdaos! After getting the boys to imbibe enough to sing out loud, we headed across the street to Lion King KTV. We chose it because it has a large selection of (covered) English songs and because it's only 80 kuai an hour.
Much fun was of course had by all, we sang a mix of English and Korean songs (Hunter is Korean)... loudly. I cut out around 1am, so I could get up early and study for the quiz (at 10am, not too early). Everyone else stayed 'till 3am. There were some tired faces at the quiz this morning! It was worth it though--I love singing!
Since I'm cheap and I left the hotel at approximately 10:08pm, I figured I could make the last train to Wudaokou, which leaves Suzhoujie station at 10:22pm. I booked it down the street and kind of jogged some of the way and made it in good time. Better to spend only 2 yuan on the subway instead of taking a cab for 14 yuan (which was smart because I had to take a cab back alone later).
I met up with Rob, Ben, Tracy, Matt and Hunter at Red House, our favorite Bar in Wudaokou. It features a relaxed and friendly atmosphere (aka they don't stare at the whiteys) and 5 yuan Tsingdaos. You can't go wrong with 5 yuan Tsingdaos! After getting the boys to imbibe enough to sing out loud, we headed across the street to Lion King KTV. We chose it because it has a large selection of (covered) English songs and because it's only 80 kuai an hour.
Much fun was of course had by all, we sang a mix of English and Korean songs (Hunter is Korean)... loudly. I cut out around 1am, so I could get up early and study for the quiz (at 10am, not too early). Everyone else stayed 'till 3am. There were some tired faces at the quiz this morning! It was worth it though--I love singing!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Teddy Ballgame and the Case of the Curious Cough
During his three-day birthday party junket, Ted was coughing up a storm. We all chalked it up to just general unhealthiness due to sustained all night partying, but he wasn't able to sleep at night because the coughing was so intense and strong. We finally convinced him to go to the hospital, which proved to be an interesting adventure.
In China there are two levels of hospital--foreigner level, where the doctors have studied in America or some other industrialized country, the staff speak English and they charge Western prices or you can go to Chinese hospital, which is about what you would expect. Decent care if you are getting a basic service, no English and cheap, cheap, cheap! Ted called the Western hospital first and they wanted to charge him $200-450 for a consultation plus whatever services he required. What a rip off! He decided instead to brave the Chinese hospital and took one of our Beida office staff with him for assistance. Turns out he made the smart choice. He only paid 250 yuan total for his visit, which included consultation, chest X-ray plus prescriptions along with a diagnosis of lung infection. He got to keep his chest X-ray, which we eagerly inspected at the Bridge. I'm no doctor, but I've watched enough episodes of House, Grey's Anatomy and ER to diagnose a lung infection. His lungs were cloudy looking and full of what looked like spidery grit. Ick!
Ted is well on his way to recovery, he sounds great and is having less coughing bouts. They gave him two courses of antibiotics, so I told him to eat some yogurt to get some good bacteria back into his system. So far our group has not been the healthiest, so far we've had:
-Ted's lung infection
-David's kidney stone
-Nikhil's viral infection that required IV treatment
-Jenn went to the hospital last night for some kind of stomach issue, not sure what it was but she's out now (EDITED: It was acute pancreatitis)
-Laurie's knee is injured, but she's kind of a hypochondriac so I'm not sure what's up with that
-Various diarrhea/GI/upset stomach issues
-Phlegmy-ness thanks to Beijing
In China there are two levels of hospital--foreigner level, where the doctors have studied in America or some other industrialized country, the staff speak English and they charge Western prices or you can go to Chinese hospital, which is about what you would expect. Decent care if you are getting a basic service, no English and cheap, cheap, cheap! Ted called the Western hospital first and they wanted to charge him $200-450 for a consultation plus whatever services he required. What a rip off! He decided instead to brave the Chinese hospital and took one of our Beida office staff with him for assistance. Turns out he made the smart choice. He only paid 250 yuan total for his visit, which included consultation, chest X-ray plus prescriptions along with a diagnosis of lung infection. He got to keep his chest X-ray, which we eagerly inspected at the Bridge. I'm no doctor, but I've watched enough episodes of House, Grey's Anatomy and ER to diagnose a lung infection. His lungs were cloudy looking and full of what looked like spidery grit. Ick!
Ted is well on his way to recovery, he sounds great and is having less coughing bouts. They gave him two courses of antibiotics, so I told him to eat some yogurt to get some good bacteria back into his system. So far our group has not been the healthiest, so far we've had:
-Ted's lung infection
-David's kidney stone
-Nikhil's viral infection that required IV treatment
-Jenn went to the hospital last night for some kind of stomach issue, not sure what it was but she's out now (EDITED: It was acute pancreatitis)
-Laurie's knee is injured, but she's kind of a hypochondriac so I'm not sure what's up with that
-Various diarrhea/GI/upset stomach issues
-Phlegmy-ness thanks to Beijing
Monday, April 20, 2009
Gran Turismo 八: Streets of Beijing
Today after the Accounting quiz in the morning I had a meeting with one of my groups in the classroom and then decided to join Panos and Matt at the Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou. Jessica had stayed back at the hotel to take the quiz because she didn't feel well, so I was faced with three options: 1) take a cab by myself for 10 yuan (cheap by US terms, wasteful by Chinese terms), 2) walk with my heavy laptop bag; takes about 30 minutes, or 3) take the bus. The bus is something I have not yet attempted because it is still subject to the traffic on Beijing's streets, which can be pretty atrocious, and any time we have needed to go somewhere far away I have used the subway. I'm very good with subways, not so good with buses or trams (in Croatia I needed specific instructions from my mom for which tram to take, when to get off, etc).
My Japanese classmate, Tomo, lives in Wudaokou, and takes the bus to class frequently, so he told me I had three options, the #331, #375 or #656. Tomo said the bus costs only 1 yuan, bargain! and was pretty fast. Excellent, I thought to myself, this will be an adventure.
Well, I was right. First of all, on some buses you can enter up front by the driver as well as in the middle of the bus, but not always. Additionally, if you don't have a subway/bus card then you have to pay a separate transit employee who sits in the middle of the bus (This is China! Everyone gets a job!). This lady marks your exit stop on a paper ticket and hands it back to you. She also announces the upcoming stops, even though there is a voice recording that announces them too.
At 1PM on a Tuesday the bus is not very crowded, not are the streets busy, so we didn't get stuck in traffic. That didn't stop the bus driver from driving like a maniac however! Jessica (who lives in NYC when she's not at school) and I like to "subway surf" sometimes when the train is not too crowded. Subway surfing is when you balance on the train without hanging on to anything. On our Line 10 by our house it's very easy--it's a gentle ride with only one curve, and the starts and stops are not halting. Not so much on the bus. The driver accelerated very quickly, such that people just getting on the bus almost fell over. He also hit the break abruptly and had a penchant for wrenching the wheel across to change lanes. When we got near to Wudaokou there is a special bus lane so that the stops don't block traffic, and he swung the bus into the lane without slowing down so it almost caused an accident and a lot of people who were standing swung around their poles like it was a busy night at Les Danses Nues in Quebec (this is an inside joke). Even the local Chinese on the bus commented on how poorly the driver was driving. On the plus side, I made it to Wudaokou pretty much in record time, even with stops!
I'll definitely take the bus now from Beida to Wudaokou, although maybe I'll try to get the 331 or the 375; the 656 guy was just too crazy!
My Japanese classmate, Tomo, lives in Wudaokou, and takes the bus to class frequently, so he told me I had three options, the #331, #375 or #656. Tomo said the bus costs only 1 yuan, bargain! and was pretty fast. Excellent, I thought to myself, this will be an adventure.
Well, I was right. First of all, on some buses you can enter up front by the driver as well as in the middle of the bus, but not always. Additionally, if you don't have a subway/bus card then you have to pay a separate transit employee who sits in the middle of the bus (This is China! Everyone gets a job!). This lady marks your exit stop on a paper ticket and hands it back to you. She also announces the upcoming stops, even though there is a voice recording that announces them too.
At 1PM on a Tuesday the bus is not very crowded, not are the streets busy, so we didn't get stuck in traffic. That didn't stop the bus driver from driving like a maniac however! Jessica (who lives in NYC when she's not at school) and I like to "subway surf" sometimes when the train is not too crowded. Subway surfing is when you balance on the train without hanging on to anything. On our Line 10 by our house it's very easy--it's a gentle ride with only one curve, and the starts and stops are not halting. Not so much on the bus. The driver accelerated very quickly, such that people just getting on the bus almost fell over. He also hit the break abruptly and had a penchant for wrenching the wheel across to change lanes. When we got near to Wudaokou there is a special bus lane so that the stops don't block traffic, and he swung the bus into the lane without slowing down so it almost caused an accident and a lot of people who were standing swung around their poles like it was a busy night at Les Danses Nues in Quebec (this is an inside joke). Even the local Chinese on the bus commented on how poorly the driver was driving. On the plus side, I made it to Wudaokou pretty much in record time, even with stops!
I'll definitely take the bus now from Beida to Wudaokou, although maybe I'll try to get the 331 or the 375; the 656 guy was just too crazy!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Ted's Birthday Junkett
One of my finance group members had his birthday on Friday, but we had 9am class the next morning so we decided to have the party on Saturday night instead. We then found out that another classmate's birthday was Thursday, so a big joint celebration was in the works for Saturday night. We had some hiccups in planning, including a joke for dueling birthday parties that went terribly awry (one person didn't get the joke) but at last the plan was settled to eat pizza at the Kro's Nest, a delicious and very non-Chinese style pizza joint near Beida (it's owned by an American, so that makes sense) and then head to Vics for some partying.
The dinner was a huge success, with pizza pies all over the place, and plenty of beer and gambeis. We managed to get almost everyone to come out to Vics with us, even the non-drinkers (a real surprise, but a nice one). We had a table and were able to have a really good time just hanging out and dancing. One of the birthday people, Ted, was running on 3 nights of partying (as was I) because we had all finished up our Finance midterms on Thursday night at midnight, and gone out for a drink to celebrate. I went home at 1:30, and Ted went home around 2:15 or so.
The next night, our French friend Dorothee came to visit (she was in Shanghai for her spring break) so we all went our for fondue and then went to a bar for a concert. Ted joined us at the concert; it was Cordell's British friend's indy rock band called "Girls Are Waiting To Meet You." Long name, but a decent band, actually. After the band finished up, we went dancing at Propaganda down the street due to Dorothee's request for dancing. Propaganda is this basement dance club in the student area Wudaokou and it's just as you imagine: dark, sweaty and full of drunk college kids. The music is good and it's always a giggle to go inside and see the ridiculous get ups people are wearing and just feel like you were 19 again.
As it was, the joint party was a great success, it seems like the bad feelings were smoothed over and Ted had a great 3rd birthday wearing a Superman shirt with a light up logo in the front (Yashow special!). What more could a guy ask for?
The dinner was a huge success, with pizza pies all over the place, and plenty of beer and gambeis. We managed to get almost everyone to come out to Vics with us, even the non-drinkers (a real surprise, but a nice one). We had a table and were able to have a really good time just hanging out and dancing. One of the birthday people, Ted, was running on 3 nights of partying (as was I) because we had all finished up our Finance midterms on Thursday night at midnight, and gone out for a drink to celebrate. I went home at 1:30, and Ted went home around 2:15 or so.
The next night, our French friend Dorothee came to visit (she was in Shanghai for her spring break) so we all went our for fondue and then went to a bar for a concert. Ted joined us at the concert; it was Cordell's British friend's indy rock band called "Girls Are Waiting To Meet You." Long name, but a decent band, actually. After the band finished up, we went dancing at Propaganda down the street due to Dorothee's request for dancing. Propaganda is this basement dance club in the student area Wudaokou and it's just as you imagine: dark, sweaty and full of drunk college kids. The music is good and it's always a giggle to go inside and see the ridiculous get ups people are wearing and just feel like you were 19 again.
As it was, the joint party was a great success, it seems like the bad feelings were smoothed over and Ted had a great 3rd birthday wearing a Superman shirt with a light up logo in the front (Yashow special!). What more could a guy ask for?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
My Fake Bag Guanxi Continues to Grow
After Finance class this morning a group of people, including Jessica, decided to visit Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City, which they had missed because the group went during RBE, before they arrived in China. I stayed behind because it was a particularly chilly but humid, gray day. Panos asked me if I would be up for heading back to Yashow market to visit the bag man to see if he had gotten another black Gucci bag (Panos is on a mission to purchase many handbags for his girlfriend). In order to ascertain the availability of Gucci bags, I needed to call the bag man first. I was nervous because I don't make many Chinese phone calls and I was hoping that he would remember me. Luckily, he did (my explanation went, "I hope you remember me, my friends and I bought many bags from you, including Gucci and LV..")! He said I was very lucky because the black bag had come in this morning; if I had called yesterday he wouldn't have had it.
Panos and I hopped the subway to Tuanjiehu and got off for the short walk to Yashow in Sanlituan. The Yashow ladies have all gotten new summer uniforms, pink polo shirts instead of their purple dragon print vests. The shops have new summer clothes as well so I look forward to picking up some fun stuff.
I told the bag man that we would be there at 3pm, and we were there on the dot. He complimented us on our timeliness and then once again took us up to the 6th floor secret room of bag fakery (or off the truckery). True to word, the Gucci bag was literally wrapped up in a giant sealed box on the floor with a bunch of new deerskin Prada bags. Panos and I poked around quite a bit to see if there was anything else we wanted to add, and he got a not-quite-best quality LV wallet and I got a very best quality gold Gucci clutch (what can I say, I'm a Gucci girl).
We then went to our jeans girl and Panos went wild, purchasing 4 pairs of True Religion jeans. At 100 yuan a pop, you can acquire them like candy. I got one pair of jeans, also True Religion (Frue Religion? Fake Religion?) brand.
I was going to stay and look at more clothes, but going out the night before had made me very tired so we got the subway home, napped and then got ready for the great big birthday event that evening.
Panos and I hopped the subway to Tuanjiehu and got off for the short walk to Yashow in Sanlituan. The Yashow ladies have all gotten new summer uniforms, pink polo shirts instead of their purple dragon print vests. The shops have new summer clothes as well so I look forward to picking up some fun stuff.
I told the bag man that we would be there at 3pm, and we were there on the dot. He complimented us on our timeliness and then once again took us up to the 6th floor secret room of bag fakery (or off the truckery). True to word, the Gucci bag was literally wrapped up in a giant sealed box on the floor with a bunch of new deerskin Prada bags. Panos and I poked around quite a bit to see if there was anything else we wanted to add, and he got a not-quite-best quality LV wallet and I got a very best quality gold Gucci clutch (what can I say, I'm a Gucci girl).
We then went to our jeans girl and Panos went wild, purchasing 4 pairs of True Religion jeans. At 100 yuan a pop, you can acquire them like candy. I got one pair of jeans, also True Religion (Frue Religion? Fake Religion?) brand.
I was going to stay and look at more clothes, but going out the night before had made me very tired so we got the subway home, napped and then got ready for the great big birthday event that evening.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Boy-Crazy
This morning while walking to school, Jessica and I saw a couple with TWIN baby boys in a double stroller. This was causing quite a sensation, as everyone was stopping to peek at the babies and congratulate the parents. The father was of course BURSTING with joy because of the double auspiciousness of the birth. The babies were sooo chubby and cute. It coincided with this article on MSNBC about kidnappings of male children because of this continued devaluation of female children in China.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/16/1895654.aspx
In China a daughter traditionally leaves the family to join her husband's family, so sons were preferred because they would stick around, get married and take care of the parents in their dotage. My oldest auntie in China takes care of my grandmother (her mother in law) even though her husband passed away many years ago. This is culturally expected, and of course it works out for us because we have someone who is caring for my mildly infirm grandmother, but sometimes I wonder if she wishes she could take care of her biological mother. Maybe I'll ask her nicely the next time I am in China.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/16/1895654.aspx
In China a daughter traditionally leaves the family to join her husband's family, so sons were preferred because they would stick around, get married and take care of the parents in their dotage. My oldest auntie in China takes care of my grandmother (her mother in law) even though her husband passed away many years ago. This is culturally expected, and of course it works out for us because we have someone who is caring for my mildly infirm grandmother, but sometimes I wonder if she wishes she could take care of her biological mother. Maybe I'll ask her nicely the next time I am in China.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Hell Week Cometh
You're probably wondering why there haven't been any posts. I'll tell you why, because we just had the most poorly scheduled week in the history of poorly scheduled weeks (*NB sack of rome by Vandals not included on this list) as we had so many deliverables due my head spun around like the Exorcist. Here's the schedule we just dealt with:
Monday: 2 quizzes during the day on two marketing cases
Monday: Finance Strategy project due Monday at 11:59pm
Monday: Take-home quiz due next morning at 9am
Tuesday: Study for Marketing final
Wednesday: Marketing final, 1PM
Thursday: Finance midterm due 11:59pm.
I have basically been living in the Bridge Cafe, such that the waitresses all know us and like us and give us special treatment. They ought to, as we've spent enough money in there to keep them living fat and happy for about a month.
The Finance project was a bit of a disaster because I was in a group with three other people. Jessica and I took the first two questions and the other two guys took the last two questions. We laid the groundwork on Sunday, had it sent off to Jessica's boyfriend to read up on (he's an investment banker, so he knows more about options than we do) and then finalized our strategy and were done by 8pm for a final edit with Matt (boyfriend). Our two partners futzed around, didn't understand the material, and took their sweet time getting it to us. They sent it to us around 11:30pm, which gave us only 1/2 an hour to edit and compile. We made them write another analysis paragraph, because their question 4 was shoddily done and we sent it in 2 minutes late at 12:01am because my computer hit a lag because it had been running all day and my virtual machine is very slow when accessing outside its hardware partition (I included that explanation with our submission; hopefully the professor is similarly befuzzled). One group member actually spent a lot of time working on it, just didn't get the material, the other definitely dropped the ball and has gotten the riot act read to his face by Jessica and I.
The Marketing final went well; I expect to do well in the class. We did have a math problem where we had to calculate a break even and I'm 99.99 sure I did it right since everyone checked answers when the test was done and the one I got came up the most.
Marketing quizzes were handed back and I have an A- average, which was impressive considering the aggregate average across the class was a B.
Finance has not posted any grades yet, so we'll see. The next round of classes starts this morning, and it's a different professor from last time. Luckily, this prof taught Fin II last module and he really likes me, so I'm looking forward to more time kissing butt.
Monday: 2 quizzes during the day on two marketing cases
Monday: Finance Strategy project due Monday at 11:59pm
Monday: Take-home quiz due next morning at 9am
Tuesday: Study for Marketing final
Wednesday: Marketing final, 1PM
Thursday: Finance midterm due 11:59pm.
I have basically been living in the Bridge Cafe, such that the waitresses all know us and like us and give us special treatment. They ought to, as we've spent enough money in there to keep them living fat and happy for about a month.
The Finance project was a bit of a disaster because I was in a group with three other people. Jessica and I took the first two questions and the other two guys took the last two questions. We laid the groundwork on Sunday, had it sent off to Jessica's boyfriend to read up on (he's an investment banker, so he knows more about options than we do) and then finalized our strategy and were done by 8pm for a final edit with Matt (boyfriend). Our two partners futzed around, didn't understand the material, and took their sweet time getting it to us. They sent it to us around 11:30pm, which gave us only 1/2 an hour to edit and compile. We made them write another analysis paragraph, because their question 4 was shoddily done and we sent it in 2 minutes late at 12:01am because my computer hit a lag because it had been running all day and my virtual machine is very slow when accessing outside its hardware partition (I included that explanation with our submission; hopefully the professor is similarly befuzzled). One group member actually spent a lot of time working on it, just didn't get the material, the other definitely dropped the ball and has gotten the riot act read to his face by Jessica and I.
The Marketing final went well; I expect to do well in the class. We did have a math problem where we had to calculate a break even and I'm 99.99 sure I did it right since everyone checked answers when the test was done and the one I got came up the most.
Marketing quizzes were handed back and I have an A- average, which was impressive considering the aggregate average across the class was a B.
Finance has not posted any grades yet, so we'll see. The next round of classes starts this morning, and it's a different professor from last time. Luckily, this prof taught Fin II last module and he really likes me, so I'm looking forward to more time kissing butt.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Bridge to Productivity: Bridge Coffee in Wudaokou
Jessica and I normally study at our local Xingbake, or Starbucks. They have comfortable chairs, plenty of outlets, and free wireless. You don't even have to buy something to work there (although usually I get a hot chocolate). However, they close up shop at 10pm, which is not so great when you want to work late. Jessica tends to fall asleep as soon as she gets into the room, since there isn't a lot of light and only one desk (which is piled high with various guidebooks, chargers, fruit cutting plates and the like).
Lately we have tried the UBC Coffee, which is just across the street from our hotel. They also have free wireless, but their menu is more expensive (yet expansive) than Starbucks, and they require you to make a purchase. During the day UBC Coffee is usually a fine option, but it gets busy in the evening with businessmen who like to smoke. Gross.
We heard about a great coffee place called The Bridge Coffee, which is in Wudaokou. This area is a big student area accessible via subway northeast of where we are staying. It is a big party zone in the evening, and has lots of clubs, bars, restaurants, etc. It's also where the vigorous massage place is. The major advantage to the Bridge is that it is open 24 hours! We decided to check it out tonight, since we have a finance midterm and strategy project due next week.
It turns out the place is great! For 30 yuan you get the mother of all delicious meals; a 3 egg omlette, salad, wheat toast, home fries and your choice of either coffee, tea, hot chocolate or orange juice. Yummy! They also have waffles, panini, pasta, and other snacks. Oddly the cost of a coffee is the same price as the meal--their pricing scheme is off for sure. The place feels like a real US style coffee shop, with funky decor, wooden tables, bookshelves, etc. And of course, because it's China, there are a million servers who provide good service and you don't have to tip them. This is China!
Jess and I got some good work done on the midterm, but then we discovered that we had slightly different versions. It looks like the professor uploaded a different version to the website without telling anyone. Most of the questions match up but not all of them. Yikes. I emailed him to clarify, but I'm worried I'll have to scrap some of my answers and then start over on them. Psychologically it's not so great.
We're going back to the Bridge tomorrow morning. I think I will get waffles. Mike and I had planned to go to Easter service but it's just too far away (in Wangfujing) and we have too much work to do. We may try to make the 4pm English service but we'll have to play it by ear.
Lately we have tried the UBC Coffee, which is just across the street from our hotel. They also have free wireless, but their menu is more expensive (yet expansive) than Starbucks, and they require you to make a purchase. During the day UBC Coffee is usually a fine option, but it gets busy in the evening with businessmen who like to smoke. Gross.
We heard about a great coffee place called The Bridge Coffee, which is in Wudaokou. This area is a big student area accessible via subway northeast of where we are staying. It is a big party zone in the evening, and has lots of clubs, bars, restaurants, etc. It's also where the vigorous massage place is. The major advantage to the Bridge is that it is open 24 hours! We decided to check it out tonight, since we have a finance midterm and strategy project due next week.
It turns out the place is great! For 30 yuan you get the mother of all delicious meals; a 3 egg omlette, salad, wheat toast, home fries and your choice of either coffee, tea, hot chocolate or orange juice. Yummy! They also have waffles, panini, pasta, and other snacks. Oddly the cost of a coffee is the same price as the meal--their pricing scheme is off for sure. The place feels like a real US style coffee shop, with funky decor, wooden tables, bookshelves, etc. And of course, because it's China, there are a million servers who provide good service and you don't have to tip them. This is China!
Jess and I got some good work done on the midterm, but then we discovered that we had slightly different versions. It looks like the professor uploaded a different version to the website without telling anyone. Most of the questions match up but not all of them. Yikes. I emailed him to clarify, but I'm worried I'll have to scrap some of my answers and then start over on them. Psychologically it's not so great.
We're going back to the Bridge tomorrow morning. I think I will get waffles. Mike and I had planned to go to Easter service but it's just too far away (in Wangfujing) and we have too much work to do. We may try to make the 4pm English service but we'll have to play it by ear.
Nts, Nts, Nts: Paul Oakenfold and GT Banana Club
Jess and I heard from Courtney that one of our very favorite DJs in the whole world, Paul Oakenfold, was playing in Beijing on Friday night, for the wee fee of 100 yuan (~$12). We immediately reserved our tickets online via the club's website. To put this in perspective, Paul Oakenfold is probably the best known trance/house DJ's in the world. He mixed an album called Tranceport that I had my junior year in high school which I listened to religiously. Paul Oakenfold's work introduced me to the world of trance and house music in general, so I owe him a lot. Plus, the club was called GT Banana. How could we pass this up?
As news of the Oakenfold mania spread, more and more people wanted to come. The more the merrier, Jess and I said! In the end, we had a crew of about 10 students, but split into three groups arriving at different times from different parts of the city. Panos, Jess, Hunter and myself set off from the FX hotel around 8:30pm. I decided to take the subway, because it cost only 2 yuan and there was a stop nearby. Panos wanted to take a cab (he also takes offense to my insistence on walking what I consider to be a proper rate of speed, but he is Greek after all so it makes sense) but I talked him into it. As it turned out, taking the train was a smart move because it killed time before the event, we got to take the purple line, which most people hadn't before, and we still had time before hitting the club to eat some food and get a drink at TGI Fridays across the street.
We met up with the crew and headed into the club. GT Banana's decor was very Star Trek: The Next Generation--lots of silver and white, pod-like booths, flashing lights and a general cool futuristic theme. There were quite a lot of foreigners (mostly British) but a lot of Chinese as well. The club set in Beijing is quite different from the normal types you see on the street. A lot of very flashy, trendy and quite frankly, tacky clothes. Big hair, lots of skimpy clothes on the women, and a lot of skinny Chinese girls looking hungrily at the foreign men. I was quite pleased I wore my trusty 5" heels because I could see over the sea of shorties and people could find me quite easily.
We got to the club around 11pm, expecting Oakenfold to go on around 1am (ugh, no 2am shut-offs like in LA), so we knew we were in for a long wait. There were other DJ's playing, who were OK. I smartly brought earplugs and used them, as we were standing in front of a speaker, which vibrated my innards at every thump. Apparently the management of GT Banana decided to go for money rather than safety on Friday night, as they were completely over capacity. They kept letting in people! I felt as though I were a pinball in a machine full of tiny, moving Chinese people. It was horrible. Finally we decided to leave even though Paul hadn't gone on. It was just so sweaty and packed and I felt like if there were an emergency, we'd all die from trampling or being crushed.
We took a cab to Vics, which is by Worker's Stadium in Sanlituan (and next door to the confusingly similarly named "Mix"). Vics was thankfully considerably less crowded, and the air conditioning was working. Most of us had gotten our hands stamped at GT Banana, so we were able to get into Vics without having to pay a cover. Bonus!
We closed the night out at Vics, I took Jess home around 2:30 and convinced Panos to come with us to save money on the cab. Tracy, Charlie, Matt and Hunter stayed out later (bold!). I was a little sad that I didn't get to see Paul Oakenfold, but Panos did point out that Jess and I could go home, put on some of Paul's music, turn off the lights, get some glowsticks and just have our own dance party--without getting bumped by a million people. Good point, Panos!
As news of the Oakenfold mania spread, more and more people wanted to come. The more the merrier, Jess and I said! In the end, we had a crew of about 10 students, but split into three groups arriving at different times from different parts of the city. Panos, Jess, Hunter and myself set off from the FX hotel around 8:30pm. I decided to take the subway, because it cost only 2 yuan and there was a stop nearby. Panos wanted to take a cab (he also takes offense to my insistence on walking what I consider to be a proper rate of speed, but he is Greek after all so it makes sense) but I talked him into it. As it turned out, taking the train was a smart move because it killed time before the event, we got to take the purple line, which most people hadn't before, and we still had time before hitting the club to eat some food and get a drink at TGI Fridays across the street.
We met up with the crew and headed into the club. GT Banana's decor was very Star Trek: The Next Generation--lots of silver and white, pod-like booths, flashing lights and a general cool futuristic theme. There were quite a lot of foreigners (mostly British) but a lot of Chinese as well. The club set in Beijing is quite different from the normal types you see on the street. A lot of very flashy, trendy and quite frankly, tacky clothes. Big hair, lots of skimpy clothes on the women, and a lot of skinny Chinese girls looking hungrily at the foreign men. I was quite pleased I wore my trusty 5" heels because I could see over the sea of shorties and people could find me quite easily.
We got to the club around 11pm, expecting Oakenfold to go on around 1am (ugh, no 2am shut-offs like in LA), so we knew we were in for a long wait. There were other DJ's playing, who were OK. I smartly brought earplugs and used them, as we were standing in front of a speaker, which vibrated my innards at every thump. Apparently the management of GT Banana decided to go for money rather than safety on Friday night, as they were completely over capacity. They kept letting in people! I felt as though I were a pinball in a machine full of tiny, moving Chinese people. It was horrible. Finally we decided to leave even though Paul hadn't gone on. It was just so sweaty and packed and I felt like if there were an emergency, we'd all die from trampling or being crushed.
We took a cab to Vics, which is by Worker's Stadium in Sanlituan (and next door to the confusingly similarly named "Mix"). Vics was thankfully considerably less crowded, and the air conditioning was working. Most of us had gotten our hands stamped at GT Banana, so we were able to get into Vics without having to pay a cover. Bonus!
We closed the night out at Vics, I took Jess home around 2:30 and convinced Panos to come with us to save money on the cab. Tracy, Charlie, Matt and Hunter stayed out later (bold!). I was a little sad that I didn't get to see Paul Oakenfold, but Panos did point out that Jess and I could go home, put on some of Paul's music, turn off the lights, get some glowsticks and just have our own dance party--without getting bumped by a million people. Good point, Panos!
Our Favorite Hutong
On Thursday night, after Mike's run-in with the local po-po, he and I headed out to our favorite Chinese-only hutong for some Beijing style hot-pot and meat grilling. It's about 5 stops east on the 10 line, the subway stop is called Mudanyuan. The alleyway is bigger than your average hutong, it's always crowded with vendors, restaurant stalls, taxis, deliveries, trucks, etc. It's a really interesting neighborhood, and of course, you know how we love that it's totally white-man free.
We started out with a very typical Beijing type restaurant: communal hot pot. Basically you all sit around large burbling pots of a sort of soy/broth based thing with many, many sticks in the pot. You grab what you want from the pot and at the end they count up the sticks that you have finished off. Most of the stuff was amazingly tofu or veggie based; a lot of different kinds of tofu, noodles, mushrooms, etc. My favorites were those skinny white mushrooms that Japanese love that go in hot pot all the time, vermicelli noodles, fresh greens, and wood ear mushrooms. We also had plenty of beer. We chatted with the proprietor a bit, he asked where we were from (Beijingers always ask "what country are you from?" even though it seems perfectly obvious to us that we are American. Probably because there are so many whiteys in Beijing...). We told him that our mom is Chinese (to make matters easy, Mike and I just say we are related, big brother and little sister). He complimented our Chinese, and we used the classic Asian deflect a compliment by playing it down. We told him our mom is from Guangdong province and he asked if we knew any Guangdonghua (Cantonese). I joked that all I knew was fai di sic la, which means "Hurry up and eat!" My performance was much appreciated.
After dropping a whole 20 kuai at the communal hot pot place, we hit up an "everything on a stick grill" place, which is also very Beijing. We sat outside, since the evening weather has finally gotten really pleasant. We had a great time just taking photos (subtly) of people, eating, drinking, etc. The chicken hearts were delicious!
We made it back on one of the last trains, and I rolled into bed. I woke up when Jessica came home from Passover Seder, which turned into clubbing (very holy, eh? We had a good laugh over it!). Overall it seems that Thursdays always turn into great days, probably to make up for the pain of having Accounting quizzes in the morning.
We started out with a very typical Beijing type restaurant: communal hot pot. Basically you all sit around large burbling pots of a sort of soy/broth based thing with many, many sticks in the pot. You grab what you want from the pot and at the end they count up the sticks that you have finished off. Most of the stuff was amazingly tofu or veggie based; a lot of different kinds of tofu, noodles, mushrooms, etc. My favorites were those skinny white mushrooms that Japanese love that go in hot pot all the time, vermicelli noodles, fresh greens, and wood ear mushrooms. We also had plenty of beer. We chatted with the proprietor a bit, he asked where we were from (Beijingers always ask "what country are you from?" even though it seems perfectly obvious to us that we are American. Probably because there are so many whiteys in Beijing...). We told him that our mom is Chinese (to make matters easy, Mike and I just say we are related, big brother and little sister). He complimented our Chinese, and we used the classic Asian deflect a compliment by playing it down. We told him our mom is from Guangdong province and he asked if we knew any Guangdonghua (Cantonese). I joked that all I knew was fai di sic la, which means "Hurry up and eat!" My performance was much appreciated.
After dropping a whole 20 kuai at the communal hot pot place, we hit up an "everything on a stick grill" place, which is also very Beijing. We sat outside, since the evening weather has finally gotten really pleasant. We had a great time just taking photos (subtly) of people, eating, drinking, etc. The chicken hearts were delicious!
We made it back on one of the last trains, and I rolled into bed. I woke up when Jessica came home from Passover Seder, which turned into clubbing (very holy, eh? We had a good laugh over it!). Overall it seems that Thursdays always turn into great days, probably to make up for the pain of having Accounting quizzes in the morning.
Big Brother is Watching!
Mike had an interesting run-in with the cops in his apartment building on Thursday night. They came and banged on his door with very authoritative cop knocks and asked him to provide his registration papers (everyone gets one as a foreign national staying in China). They were polite but firm; and employed a classic "good cop bad cop" strategy with the younger one being more of a jerk and the older one being more polite. As soon as he showed his papers, they thanked him and left. Mike reported that they went and banged on other doors on his hallway as well, so he wasn't sure if it was a random sweep or if they were targeting specific rooms. I think that there is definitely someone in the building who is a Communist Party informant, who wanted to make sure that the laowai staying in the building was on the up and up. Just a not-so-subtle reminder that we aren't living in a free state, despite their embracing of Western-style capitalism.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Fondue For You and Me
While most Chinese dishes are quite tasty, the diet leaves some to be desired in the way of dairy products (which are nonexistent beyond aloe-flavored yoghurt, tasty though it may be) and MSG-free food. Jessica and I were having cravings for cheese, so we decided to get fondue, a real Swiss fondue with Emmenthaler and Gruyere. We googled the Swiss embassy and called them to ask for a recommendation, and they suggested Morel's, a Belgian restaurant in Liangmaqiao near the US Embassy. We invited a few friends to join us, and set out for a fondue adventure!
The restaurant was a bit further of a walk from the subway station than we originally anticipated, so everyone was putting up a stink and whinging about the length of the walk. We did finally find the place, so we had built up a good appetite at that point.
The fondue was everything we wanted it to be, cheesy, delicious and thick. The fondue came with a really yummy salad as well, so we did get our vegetables in. Ben and Panos ordered a sausage dish to dip in the cheese as well, so everyone got their meat in who wanted it. At the end, I had some fresh strawberries and whipped cream to finish it off. Jess and I even met the owner, Monsieur Morel, who was flattered that we had enjoyed his fondue so much.
Afterwards we took a cab to Houhai to walk around the lake and have a few beers, but we called it off pretty early. It was a very filling night!
The restaurant was a bit further of a walk from the subway station than we originally anticipated, so everyone was putting up a stink and whinging about the length of the walk. We did finally find the place, so we had built up a good appetite at that point.
The fondue was everything we wanted it to be, cheesy, delicious and thick. The fondue came with a really yummy salad as well, so we did get our vegetables in. Ben and Panos ordered a sausage dish to dip in the cheese as well, so everyone got their meat in who wanted it. At the end, I had some fresh strawberries and whipped cream to finish it off. Jess and I even met the owner, Monsieur Morel, who was flattered that we had enjoyed his fondue so much.
Afterwards we took a cab to Houhai to walk around the lake and have a few beers, but we called it off pretty early. It was a very filling night!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
In Chinese, the Word for Panda is 熊貓, or "Bear Cat"
Saturday dawned relatively clear and sunny once again, so we decided to head to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. Jessica is OBSESSED with pandas, so this promised to be a real treat for her. We also got to explore a different part of the city that we don't normally visit, the Xicheng district, which is south of Haidian, where we are living. To get to the zoo, we took our trusty Line 10 to transfer at the station where the Wal-Mart Supercenter is, and headed south on the light rail Line 4. We got off at the end of the line, and asked for directions to the zoo (now I can add "zoo" to my burgeoning Chinese lexicon, zoo is "dongwuyuan"). We were walking against a tide of thousands of people departing the zoo, who were easily recognizable as many of them carried inflatable toys in the shape of exotic animals (plus Mickey Mouse). We were pleased that so many people were leaving the zoo at this time.
The entrance fee for students is a mere 8 yuan, plus an extra 5 yuan for the panda enclosure, making the Beijing Zoo a pretty good deal. The place was packed with families--Jessica and I have been enjoying the pretty quiet, child-free nature of Beijing but the zoo was most certainly NOT child free. There were kids everywhere, mostly under the age of 10, and the butt-slit count was at an all time high (some kids in China do not wear diapers, instead have a slit in their pants that allows their bottoms to swing free in the breeze and assault your eyelids, and allows them to just do their business right there on the side of the road). Most of the kids are pretty cute, and it's sort of funny to see their bums hanging out, but it's not that pleasant to be in the vicinity when a kid has to do #2 right next to you!
The panda enclosure was a real treat, as the zoo has about 5 pandas currently there. We got to see pandas engaging in many activities, such as eating, sleeping, sitting and wandering around. For someone who's been to zoos where there are only two or three pandas max (if the panda couple have a baby) this was quite exciting. Jess and I got a good laugh out of the fact that 熊貓 means "bear cat" in Chinese, which is a very apt. name. Little kids also got a lot of enjoyment out of shouting "熊貓! 熊貓!" and other such clever things.
The zoo has high points and low points. Other high points included the monkey enclosure, the kangaroo pen and then giraffe pen. Those are nicely designed, new and look appropriate for the animals. The big cat house was very sad and depressing, it was your stereotypical blank, concrete cells with just bars on the front. The cats didn't look very happy, just bored. It also smelled horribly like cat pee (to be expected). We had to leave because it was just too depressing. The elephant pen was also mostly blank, just concrete walls and a large sandy floor.
After the zoo we went to a nearby market, but it was closing up shop so we went home. Overall it was a fun day, and certainly worth it for the pandas alone. Even though a panda at another Chinese zoo recently mauled a man for climbing into the enclosure, they were still very cute and fun to watch.
The entrance fee for students is a mere 8 yuan, plus an extra 5 yuan for the panda enclosure, making the Beijing Zoo a pretty good deal. The place was packed with families--Jessica and I have been enjoying the pretty quiet, child-free nature of Beijing but the zoo was most certainly NOT child free. There were kids everywhere, mostly under the age of 10, and the butt-slit count was at an all time high (some kids in China do not wear diapers, instead have a slit in their pants that allows their bottoms to swing free in the breeze and assault your eyelids, and allows them to just do their business right there on the side of the road). Most of the kids are pretty cute, and it's sort of funny to see their bums hanging out, but it's not that pleasant to be in the vicinity when a kid has to do #2 right next to you!
The panda enclosure was a real treat, as the zoo has about 5 pandas currently there. We got to see pandas engaging in many activities, such as eating, sleeping, sitting and wandering around. For someone who's been to zoos where there are only two or three pandas max (if the panda couple have a baby) this was quite exciting. Jess and I got a good laugh out of the fact that 熊貓 means "bear cat" in Chinese, which is a very apt. name. Little kids also got a lot of enjoyment out of shouting "熊貓! 熊貓!" and other such clever things.
The zoo has high points and low points. Other high points included the monkey enclosure, the kangaroo pen and then giraffe pen. Those are nicely designed, new and look appropriate for the animals. The big cat house was very sad and depressing, it was your stereotypical blank, concrete cells with just bars on the front. The cats didn't look very happy, just bored. It also smelled horribly like cat pee (to be expected). We had to leave because it was just too depressing. The elephant pen was also mostly blank, just concrete walls and a large sandy floor.
After the zoo we went to a nearby market, but it was closing up shop so we went home. Overall it was a fun day, and certainly worth it for the pandas alone. Even though a panda at another Chinese zoo recently mauled a man for climbing into the enclosure, they were still very cute and fun to watch.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Hawaiian Culottes, Cuban Lounge Singers and Naked Time: 浪淘沙 Bathhouse
After getting back from the Great Wall, Jess and I were tired, grubby, and sick of our tiny hotel shower. We decided to check out a Chinese bathhouse, which we read about in our super awesome guidebook, "The Insider's Guide to Beijing." There were only a few listed in the guidebook, however, so we took to the internet to get more research. The term "bathhouse" certainly brings up some seedy connotations so we wanted to make sure we went somewhere legit and women friendly. I put a post up on the Beijinger.com asking for recommendations and someone put up a link to this place, 浪淘沙 or Langtaosha. It did say that it's on the more expensive side, but it was clean and friendly and that sounded perfect to us.
We took a cab and went in to the opulent lobby. The desk girls spoke some English, so we were able to figure out the cost (188 yuan) which included shower, spa, sauna, steam room and buffet dinner. Extra treatments are additional cost, as well as massages, private VIP rooms and alcohol. We were pretty desperate for a bath so we said yes, lead us to the showers!
Upon entry, each person is issued your standard Chinese style molded plastic slippers (one size fits most, not me however; ladies get pink and gentlemen get white and blue) and you go to the locker room and change. Er, rather, you strip off all your clothes, throw them in a locker with a unique key that you keep the whole time and get bathing. They did have Hello Kitty wraps which I used as a towel (oops) but this is definitely a clothing free zone. The bathing areas are single sex, so it was just Jess, myself and a bunch of Chinese ladies. There were about 5 other women in the bathing area with us, some younger and some older. Everyone first takes a shower before getting into the soaking tub, shampoo, soap, conditioner and even toothpaste and packaged toothbrushes are provided. They also provide shower caps if you want.
After the shower we went in the soaking tub for a while, which was sort of lukewarm, and then the steam room. Jess decided to get a "body scrub", which entailed a woman taking a fresh scrubby mitt to Jess's body and essentially rubbing off a layer of skin. According to Jess, this woman left no part of her body unscrubbed (hilarious). These ladies (attired in employee issue black bra and black granny panties set) also can give you a la carte oil rubs, cupping, sugar scrubs, milk baths and other things that I didn't know in Chinese (only some things provided English translation, and the translation wasn't great, i.e. "Ginger scrub to vitalize the area"). Next time we come back I think I will try one of the scrubs.
While Jess was getting her skin rubbed off, I sat around in the sauna and the soaking tub, plus did a number on my feet with a pumice stone. They have the little sit-down (you sit on a polished marble cube) showering stations for use after the steam room, sauna or scrub treatment. The decor inside the bathing area is classic nouveau riche tacky, sparkly tile, huge fake flower displays, marble and gold. It kind of looks like the pleasure planets that the Starship Enterprise visits on the original Star Trek, when they didn't have that much money for sets. The place was clean, however, and the staff friendly (even though they hang over your shoulder in the locker room, which is sort of odd). After some sauna and more soaking, Jess and I decided to hit up the buffet. We were issued some incredibly unflattering culotte scrubs with a loud Hawaiian print. We also got some pink granny panties to wear. Everything was one size fits all, so they were more bermuda shorts style on me of course.
The buffet was on the 4th floor (unsure what was on 2 and 3) and was coed. We passed by people getting clothed massages, as well as a lot of people lounging around on chaise longe chairs watching movies on flatscreens with headphones. Everyone is in the little culotte outfits. The men had a slightly different Hawaiian print. There were also a few families around.
The buffet was pretty expansive, with seafood delicacies (I stuck to the boiled head-on shrimp), fried cicadas, meats, veggies, cold dishes, steamed dumplings, various baos, hand pulled noodles and soups. They also had a delicious dessert tray with many bean stuffed delicacies and a really tasty tapioca soup that Jess and I snarfed. The clientele in the dining room was about 75% male, 25% female. There were no foreigners at all. We got some bemused looks, but no stares. There were quite a few businessmen making business deals, smoking and drinking. The dining area also featured a lounge singing act, with a very sharply dressed Chinese man playing the piano, a bored looking Chinese singer, and a white girl singing. Jess and I were fascinated by her, and we wondered what brought her to China to work in a Chinese bathhouse. When she started singing some Shakira songs, we realized she must be from a Spanish speaking country because her accent was excellent. We made sure to clap enthusiastically when she finished her songs, which she appreciated.
After the buffet, we went back to the bathing section to re-bathe, since it was smoky in the dining area. While we were in the shower, the lounge singer came in and said hi to us, clearly having recognized us from earlier. We were chatting and it turned out she was from Cuba. Jess was very excited to hear this, since Jess went to Cuba recently while doing her semester abroad in Mexico. The lounge singer said she came to China 4 years ago to work, and that she works 6 days a week, for only 3 hours at the bathhouse, but this is the only place she works. Jess and I later discussed it and we figured that there must be some sort of additional "work" she does, if you know what I mean. These bathhouses, even the most high-class ones, have special services for gentlemen clients--it's standard operating procedure in pretty much all Asian countries.
We had such a fun time at the bathhouse we definitely plan to go back. We will likely go during the day, however, to take advantage of the 1/2 price special. One can even spend the night at the spa and stay until 5pm the next day, not a bad deal--all you can eat buffets included! They have beds available either dormitory style or private room (private rooms cost extra, of course). Since we only would take advantage of the buffet and wash area, that stuff didn't appeal to us. It was a perfect, relaxing end to a sweaty and active day!
We took a cab and went in to the opulent lobby. The desk girls spoke some English, so we were able to figure out the cost (188 yuan) which included shower, spa, sauna, steam room and buffet dinner. Extra treatments are additional cost, as well as massages, private VIP rooms and alcohol. We were pretty desperate for a bath so we said yes, lead us to the showers!
Upon entry, each person is issued your standard Chinese style molded plastic slippers (one size fits most, not me however; ladies get pink and gentlemen get white and blue) and you go to the locker room and change. Er, rather, you strip off all your clothes, throw them in a locker with a unique key that you keep the whole time and get bathing. They did have Hello Kitty wraps which I used as a towel (oops) but this is definitely a clothing free zone. The bathing areas are single sex, so it was just Jess, myself and a bunch of Chinese ladies. There were about 5 other women in the bathing area with us, some younger and some older. Everyone first takes a shower before getting into the soaking tub, shampoo, soap, conditioner and even toothpaste and packaged toothbrushes are provided. They also provide shower caps if you want.
After the shower we went in the soaking tub for a while, which was sort of lukewarm, and then the steam room. Jess decided to get a "body scrub", which entailed a woman taking a fresh scrubby mitt to Jess's body and essentially rubbing off a layer of skin. According to Jess, this woman left no part of her body unscrubbed (hilarious). These ladies (attired in employee issue black bra and black granny panties set) also can give you a la carte oil rubs, cupping, sugar scrubs, milk baths and other things that I didn't know in Chinese (only some things provided English translation, and the translation wasn't great, i.e. "Ginger scrub to vitalize the area"). Next time we come back I think I will try one of the scrubs.
While Jess was getting her skin rubbed off, I sat around in the sauna and the soaking tub, plus did a number on my feet with a pumice stone. They have the little sit-down (you sit on a polished marble cube) showering stations for use after the steam room, sauna or scrub treatment. The decor inside the bathing area is classic nouveau riche tacky, sparkly tile, huge fake flower displays, marble and gold. It kind of looks like the pleasure planets that the Starship Enterprise visits on the original Star Trek, when they didn't have that much money for sets. The place was clean, however, and the staff friendly (even though they hang over your shoulder in the locker room, which is sort of odd). After some sauna and more soaking, Jess and I decided to hit up the buffet. We were issued some incredibly unflattering culotte scrubs with a loud Hawaiian print. We also got some pink granny panties to wear. Everything was one size fits all, so they were more bermuda shorts style on me of course.
The buffet was on the 4th floor (unsure what was on 2 and 3) and was coed. We passed by people getting clothed massages, as well as a lot of people lounging around on chaise longe chairs watching movies on flatscreens with headphones. Everyone is in the little culotte outfits. The men had a slightly different Hawaiian print. There were also a few families around.
The buffet was pretty expansive, with seafood delicacies (I stuck to the boiled head-on shrimp), fried cicadas, meats, veggies, cold dishes, steamed dumplings, various baos, hand pulled noodles and soups. They also had a delicious dessert tray with many bean stuffed delicacies and a really tasty tapioca soup that Jess and I snarfed. The clientele in the dining room was about 75% male, 25% female. There were no foreigners at all. We got some bemused looks, but no stares. There were quite a few businessmen making business deals, smoking and drinking. The dining area also featured a lounge singing act, with a very sharply dressed Chinese man playing the piano, a bored looking Chinese singer, and a white girl singing. Jess and I were fascinated by her, and we wondered what brought her to China to work in a Chinese bathhouse. When she started singing some Shakira songs, we realized she must be from a Spanish speaking country because her accent was excellent. We made sure to clap enthusiastically when she finished her songs, which she appreciated.
After the buffet, we went back to the bathing section to re-bathe, since it was smoky in the dining area. While we were in the shower, the lounge singer came in and said hi to us, clearly having recognized us from earlier. We were chatting and it turned out she was from Cuba. Jess was very excited to hear this, since Jess went to Cuba recently while doing her semester abroad in Mexico. The lounge singer said she came to China 4 years ago to work, and that she works 6 days a week, for only 3 hours at the bathhouse, but this is the only place she works. Jess and I later discussed it and we figured that there must be some sort of additional "work" she does, if you know what I mean. These bathhouses, even the most high-class ones, have special services for gentlemen clients--it's standard operating procedure in pretty much all Asian countries.
We had such a fun time at the bathhouse we definitely plan to go back. We will likely go during the day, however, to take advantage of the 1/2 price special. One can even spend the night at the spa and stay until 5pm the next day, not a bad deal--all you can eat buffets included! They have beds available either dormitory style or private room (private rooms cost extra, of course). Since we only would take advantage of the buffet and wash area, that stuff didn't appeal to us. It was a perfect, relaxing end to a sweaty and active day!
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