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!
Showing posts with label BEIJING. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BEIJING. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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.
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!
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.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Laverne & Shirley, Beijing Style [Jessica & Ginger's Adventures in Chaoyang]
Part I: My Tax Dollars At Work!
I plan to travel to Cambodia and Vietnam after the Beijing program ends, so I knew I would need to get more visa pages because both those countries use full page visa stickers. Luckily, getting new visa pages at the US Embassy in Beijing is incredibly easy! You can make a reservation online, so Jess and I signed up for 3PM and 3:30PM respectively. The embassy is located convenient to Liangmaqiao Station on the 10 line, which is the same one that is near our hotel. We hopped on after finishing up some accounting work, and made our way to the embassy. The embassy is located in a cluster pod of many other embassies; we saw South Korea, Germany, Brunei Darussalam and Israel. The US Embassy is a brand new modern glass and concrete monstrosity, not a shocker there. To reconfirm my print out map, I asked a policeman for directions and he gave me very clear and helpful ones--I'm glad that Mike and I went over a directional dialogue last week! It's been very helpful in cabs and in walking around the city.
Getting into the US embassy was surprisingly pleasant and easy. You do have to go through a metal detector and surrender your cell phone, but the staff are helpful and friendly and the process is very smooth. It's very different from the US consulate in Cape Town where you get the nth degree of inspection and questioning. The x-ray revealed a USB flash drive in my wallet which I had forgotten, but it was politely pointed out and I put it in my little tray along with my cell phone.
There was no line at American Consular Services, again a total surprise how easy and friendly this whole process was. I had to fill out a form (typical US Gov't, the form is two pages long, the first page is instructions and is removed and thrown away afterwards--seems like you could take one set of instructions, laminate it, and hand it out! Oh well...) which required my local address and my US address. I wrote out my hotel address in Chinese, thinking I was being helpful, but then was told by the consular services lady that I couldn't write it in Chinese. She went through a lot of rigamarole whiting it out with the little tape white-out thingy, which ran out so she had to find more! While she was looking, another woman came over to investigate the delay and crossed out the remaining Chinese characters, but my lady came back and insisted on whiting out the rest! Bureaucracy!
Jessica also needed new visa pages, but her passport is so old and tattered that they refused her request! Her passport is one of the old ones with the laminated photo page, and the lamination is separating and you can access the photo at one point. No wonder they didn't want to add more pages. The consular services lady suggested that Jessica apply for a renewal passport right here in Beijing. Here's the secret, people, renew all your passports overseas! It costs less ($75) and takes way less time, only 7-10 days. You keep your old passport, and then when you get the new one you just take it to a local office and request a visa transfer. No big deal! Jess opted to get the renewal, so she had to run over to a conveniently located photo shop across the street from the embassy.
Sidebar: Jessica wore her Obama YES WE CAN shirt to the embassy. This morning she asked me, "Do you think it will be weird if I wear my Obama shirt to the embassy?" I responded with, "Uh, I can't think of a more appropriate place to wear your Obama shirt!" So, her passport picture has an Obama shirt and the consular ladies really appreciated it.
So, new passport applied for Jess and I got my visa pages (the super tacky new pages that are FUGGGGGGG-LY!) all for just a 2 Yuan subway ride from our hotel! Bonus!
Outside the embassy we ran into a bīngtáng húlù (冰糖葫芦) vendor and finally decided to dive into this springtime Chinese candy delicacy. Bingtang hulu is candied hawthorn on a stick, often combined with strawberries or baby oranges. It's coated in sugar syrup so it's not good for your teeth, but MAN it tastes good! A full hawthorn one is only 1 yuan, the hawthorn/clementine one is 2.50. Hawthorn is sort of like a crab apple, but sweeter, and a little bit squashier. It's the primary ingredient in Haw Flakes, my favorite Chinese flake candy, as well as the more mysteriously named "Haw Soup", which is like fruit leather, individually wrapped (mysteriouser and mysteriouser). I want to eat one every day, which I would if it weren't sugar central. Jess and I hopped on the train to Sanlituan, to go back to Yashow market to get some faux jeans.
Part II: Down the Rabbit Hole of Bag Fakery
Yashow, if you recall, is the enormous 6 floor market next to Sanlituan Village (check out the real goods there, then head to Yashow for the knockoffs) that Jessica and I visited last week. We didn't buy anything because we were completely overwhelmed, but we felt prepared and better equipped this time. We first looked at some jeans stalls, and I found a nice pair of True Religion brand that were long enough and looked decently real. My problem in China is that there aren't any dryers so my jeans in particular are getting stretched out. I wanted to get some crappy knock-offs here so that I can beat them up and not worry about wearing out my good ones. I bargained down the lady to 250 Yuan, which is a huge savings on the US cost, which is about $250 and up!
We were tired and needed a pickmeup, so we went to a Mexican restaurant and ate some delicious burritos. Food was surprisingly authentic and tasty, although they did not give you endless chips and salsa, which I felt was sort of stingy. This is China after all! I guess I can't complain about the Mexican food. We were just pleased they allowed Jessica to order a bean quesidilla instead of a meat one.
After eating our fill at the Mexican place, we went back to Yashow to find more jeans. Jess wanted to go downstairs to look at sneakers, however, because she wanted to get some comfortable ones for the Great Wall hike the next day. The bottom floor of Yashow is all shoes and bags, so we were kind of browsing around when this very energetic shopgirl called us in and started showing us these really fake looking Prada bags. She was irrepressibly cute, but totally giving the hard sell "You like, you like, I give you best price!" She showed us that the Prada bags were real leather by waving a lighter over the surface of the bag--it didn't catch! She then took a fake leather bag and actually lit it on fire (melting and smoking!). She was really funny. Jessica asked her if she had any LV or Louis Vuitton bags, because she has been looking for the Neverfull bag for a long time. The shopgirl promised that she did have LV, and showed us one bag that wasn't actually the Neverfull, and it looked OK, not amazing. Her boss came over in the middle of our discussion, and after listening to use go on about better quality, he gave her the key to a storage room and told her to take us there. We got very excited, as we knew that the better quality fakes would be in the storage room.
She took us to the basement of the market, and opened the door to a room full of fake bags! LV, Prada, Chanel, Coach, Bally, everything was in there. She showed Jessica the large size Neverfull, but Jessica wanted the small one. While we were poking around and kind of dithering, the boss showed up with a black trash bag and pulled out a really spectacularly real-looking medium Neverfull. When compared to the fake large we were looking at, it had many differences. The lining was correct, the leather details were right, the printed monogram canvas was a better color, this was totally either "off the back of a truck" or "extra production runs at night" quality stuff. We bargained quite a bit and settled on 1500 yuan for the bag. Expensive yes, but the real one costs $700.
I had asked the boss if he had a specific Gucci bag that I've had my eye on for a couple of years, ever since I went to a tour of the Gucci store in LA. When I asked him about the Gucci again, he said, "OK, you come with me." He took us to a different secret room on the 6th floor of the market, this one was crammed full with more of the "fake" (yet real??) bags like Jessica's. He showed me the Gucci bag and it was impressive. Real black leather, correct lining, metal and bamboo accents all authentic looking. Having handled the bag in the store myself, I know what the real one looks like and this one was essentially the same thing. After a lot more bargaining (all this was done in Chinese, by the way), we settled on 1700 yuan. Spendy, yes, but I figured I deserved it, especially after landing an internship in January as well as getting a 3.875 GPA last module. I was even able to put it on my credit card (which I pay off every month, duh).
Jessica and I were high on our success, so I told the man that we had many friends who wanted to also buy bags. He gave me his number and told me to call him anytime for bags. I will likely go back in a few days with another classmate who wants to buy a bag for his girlfriend.
Jessica did manage to pick up a pair of shoes for the Great Wall (fake Converse sneakers, very cute) and used the old "I only have this much money" trick, but this time it was real! We were exhausted at this point, and decided to go back to the hotel.
Part III: A Light at the End of the Supermarket Tunnel
On the way back (lugging our illicit loot in a huge black plastic trash bag) we remembered that we needed to bring breakfast and lunch for the Great Wall tomorrow. We toyed with the idea of going to Carrefour, but that was too painful to contemplate. Instead, we opted to check out the Wal-Mart Supercenter three stops before our hotel stop. That station is where we change trains to go to Wudaokou, so we had seen the English language signs for Wal-Mart. Luckily the store is right next to the station, and there is a handy exit marked "Wal-Mart Supercenter".
Wal-Mart in China is fabulous. It's large, spacious, has helpful and friendly staff and very low prices. The food section in particular is very Chinese style, with all manner of dried and fresh odd vegetables, meats and other produce for sale (giant dried carp, sliced in half and hanging as well as turtles and deep fried baby ducklings). We stocked up on some bread, apples, kiwis, cheese and peanut butter. We made it to the checkout line but got in trouble with the checkout lady because we hadn't weighed our fruit downstairs in the produce section so as to get the sticker (they don't do it at the cashier like in the US--I should have remembered this from Croatian supermarkets). Luckily, the cashier told me I could cut the line once I got back with the fruit, so I ran off, let the fruit ladies weigh my fruits and put a little sticker on them (Job creation! This is China!) and then made it back to the cashier.
Jess and I FINALLY made it back to the hotel after a very long day. We let Hunter Kim inspect our illicit merchandise, since he's very in to luxury goods, and he gave them the thumbs up, said they looked really good. Also on the way back on the subway, we sat next to a girl with a large Neverfull that was either real or Jessica's quality fake. We also looked on the Gucci and LV websites and couldn't see anything on our bags that were a tipoff of fakery. All in all it was a day that started out crappy thanks to Accounting, and then got much, much better!
I plan to travel to Cambodia and Vietnam after the Beijing program ends, so I knew I would need to get more visa pages because both those countries use full page visa stickers. Luckily, getting new visa pages at the US Embassy in Beijing is incredibly easy! You can make a reservation online, so Jess and I signed up for 3PM and 3:30PM respectively. The embassy is located convenient to Liangmaqiao Station on the 10 line, which is the same one that is near our hotel. We hopped on after finishing up some accounting work, and made our way to the embassy. The embassy is located in a cluster pod of many other embassies; we saw South Korea, Germany, Brunei Darussalam and Israel. The US Embassy is a brand new modern glass and concrete monstrosity, not a shocker there. To reconfirm my print out map, I asked a policeman for directions and he gave me very clear and helpful ones--I'm glad that Mike and I went over a directional dialogue last week! It's been very helpful in cabs and in walking around the city.
Getting into the US embassy was surprisingly pleasant and easy. You do have to go through a metal detector and surrender your cell phone, but the staff are helpful and friendly and the process is very smooth. It's very different from the US consulate in Cape Town where you get the nth degree of inspection and questioning. The x-ray revealed a USB flash drive in my wallet which I had forgotten, but it was politely pointed out and I put it in my little tray along with my cell phone.
There was no line at American Consular Services, again a total surprise how easy and friendly this whole process was. I had to fill out a form (typical US Gov't, the form is two pages long, the first page is instructions and is removed and thrown away afterwards--seems like you could take one set of instructions, laminate it, and hand it out! Oh well...) which required my local address and my US address. I wrote out my hotel address in Chinese, thinking I was being helpful, but then was told by the consular services lady that I couldn't write it in Chinese. She went through a lot of rigamarole whiting it out with the little tape white-out thingy, which ran out so she had to find more! While she was looking, another woman came over to investigate the delay and crossed out the remaining Chinese characters, but my lady came back and insisted on whiting out the rest! Bureaucracy!
Jessica also needed new visa pages, but her passport is so old and tattered that they refused her request! Her passport is one of the old ones with the laminated photo page, and the lamination is separating and you can access the photo at one point. No wonder they didn't want to add more pages. The consular services lady suggested that Jessica apply for a renewal passport right here in Beijing. Here's the secret, people, renew all your passports overseas! It costs less ($75) and takes way less time, only 7-10 days. You keep your old passport, and then when you get the new one you just take it to a local office and request a visa transfer. No big deal! Jess opted to get the renewal, so she had to run over to a conveniently located photo shop across the street from the embassy.
Sidebar: Jessica wore her Obama YES WE CAN shirt to the embassy. This morning she asked me, "Do you think it will be weird if I wear my Obama shirt to the embassy?" I responded with, "Uh, I can't think of a more appropriate place to wear your Obama shirt!" So, her passport picture has an Obama shirt and the consular ladies really appreciated it.
So, new passport applied for Jess and I got my visa pages (the super tacky new pages that are FUGGGGGGG-LY!) all for just a 2 Yuan subway ride from our hotel! Bonus!
Outside the embassy we ran into a bīngtáng húlù (冰糖葫芦) vendor and finally decided to dive into this springtime Chinese candy delicacy. Bingtang hulu is candied hawthorn on a stick, often combined with strawberries or baby oranges. It's coated in sugar syrup so it's not good for your teeth, but MAN it tastes good! A full hawthorn one is only 1 yuan, the hawthorn/clementine one is 2.50. Hawthorn is sort of like a crab apple, but sweeter, and a little bit squashier. It's the primary ingredient in Haw Flakes, my favorite Chinese flake candy, as well as the more mysteriously named "Haw Soup", which is like fruit leather, individually wrapped (mysteriouser and mysteriouser). I want to eat one every day, which I would if it weren't sugar central. Jess and I hopped on the train to Sanlituan, to go back to Yashow market to get some faux jeans.
Part II: Down the Rabbit Hole of Bag Fakery
Yashow, if you recall, is the enormous 6 floor market next to Sanlituan Village (check out the real goods there, then head to Yashow for the knockoffs) that Jessica and I visited last week. We didn't buy anything because we were completely overwhelmed, but we felt prepared and better equipped this time. We first looked at some jeans stalls, and I found a nice pair of True Religion brand that were long enough and looked decently real. My problem in China is that there aren't any dryers so my jeans in particular are getting stretched out. I wanted to get some crappy knock-offs here so that I can beat them up and not worry about wearing out my good ones. I bargained down the lady to 250 Yuan, which is a huge savings on the US cost, which is about $250 and up!
We were tired and needed a pickmeup, so we went to a Mexican restaurant and ate some delicious burritos. Food was surprisingly authentic and tasty, although they did not give you endless chips and salsa, which I felt was sort of stingy. This is China after all! I guess I can't complain about the Mexican food. We were just pleased they allowed Jessica to order a bean quesidilla instead of a meat one.
After eating our fill at the Mexican place, we went back to Yashow to find more jeans. Jess wanted to go downstairs to look at sneakers, however, because she wanted to get some comfortable ones for the Great Wall hike the next day. The bottom floor of Yashow is all shoes and bags, so we were kind of browsing around when this very energetic shopgirl called us in and started showing us these really fake looking Prada bags. She was irrepressibly cute, but totally giving the hard sell "You like, you like, I give you best price!" She showed us that the Prada bags were real leather by waving a lighter over the surface of the bag--it didn't catch! She then took a fake leather bag and actually lit it on fire (melting and smoking!). She was really funny. Jessica asked her if she had any LV or Louis Vuitton bags, because she has been looking for the Neverfull bag for a long time. The shopgirl promised that she did have LV, and showed us one bag that wasn't actually the Neverfull, and it looked OK, not amazing. Her boss came over in the middle of our discussion, and after listening to use go on about better quality, he gave her the key to a storage room and told her to take us there. We got very excited, as we knew that the better quality fakes would be in the storage room.
She took us to the basement of the market, and opened the door to a room full of fake bags! LV, Prada, Chanel, Coach, Bally, everything was in there. She showed Jessica the large size Neverfull, but Jessica wanted the small one. While we were poking around and kind of dithering, the boss showed up with a black trash bag and pulled out a really spectacularly real-looking medium Neverfull. When compared to the fake large we were looking at, it had many differences. The lining was correct, the leather details were right, the printed monogram canvas was a better color, this was totally either "off the back of a truck" or "extra production runs at night" quality stuff. We bargained quite a bit and settled on 1500 yuan for the bag. Expensive yes, but the real one costs $700.
I had asked the boss if he had a specific Gucci bag that I've had my eye on for a couple of years, ever since I went to a tour of the Gucci store in LA. When I asked him about the Gucci again, he said, "OK, you come with me." He took us to a different secret room on the 6th floor of the market, this one was crammed full with more of the "fake" (yet real??) bags like Jessica's. He showed me the Gucci bag and it was impressive. Real black leather, correct lining, metal and bamboo accents all authentic looking. Having handled the bag in the store myself, I know what the real one looks like and this one was essentially the same thing. After a lot more bargaining (all this was done in Chinese, by the way), we settled on 1700 yuan. Spendy, yes, but I figured I deserved it, especially after landing an internship in January as well as getting a 3.875 GPA last module. I was even able to put it on my credit card (which I pay off every month, duh).
Jessica and I were high on our success, so I told the man that we had many friends who wanted to also buy bags. He gave me his number and told me to call him anytime for bags. I will likely go back in a few days with another classmate who wants to buy a bag for his girlfriend.
Jessica did manage to pick up a pair of shoes for the Great Wall (fake Converse sneakers, very cute) and used the old "I only have this much money" trick, but this time it was real! We were exhausted at this point, and decided to go back to the hotel.
Part III: A Light at the End of the Supermarket Tunnel
On the way back (lugging our illicit loot in a huge black plastic trash bag) we remembered that we needed to bring breakfast and lunch for the Great Wall tomorrow. We toyed with the idea of going to Carrefour, but that was too painful to contemplate. Instead, we opted to check out the Wal-Mart Supercenter three stops before our hotel stop. That station is where we change trains to go to Wudaokou, so we had seen the English language signs for Wal-Mart. Luckily the store is right next to the station, and there is a handy exit marked "Wal-Mart Supercenter".
Wal-Mart in China is fabulous. It's large, spacious, has helpful and friendly staff and very low prices. The food section in particular is very Chinese style, with all manner of dried and fresh odd vegetables, meats and other produce for sale (giant dried carp, sliced in half and hanging as well as turtles and deep fried baby ducklings). We stocked up on some bread, apples, kiwis, cheese and peanut butter. We made it to the checkout line but got in trouble with the checkout lady because we hadn't weighed our fruit downstairs in the produce section so as to get the sticker (they don't do it at the cashier like in the US--I should have remembered this from Croatian supermarkets). Luckily, the cashier told me I could cut the line once I got back with the fruit, so I ran off, let the fruit ladies weigh my fruits and put a little sticker on them (Job creation! This is China!) and then made it back to the cashier.
Jess and I FINALLY made it back to the hotel after a very long day. We let Hunter Kim inspect our illicit merchandise, since he's very in to luxury goods, and he gave them the thumbs up, said they looked really good. Also on the way back on the subway, we sat next to a girl with a large Neverfull that was either real or Jessica's quality fake. We also looked on the Gucci and LV websites and couldn't see anything on our bags that were a tipoff of fakery. All in all it was a day that started out crappy thanks to Accounting, and then got much, much better!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Put Me In, Coach! (Chinese-Style Massage)
Something I forgot to add from last week, Jessica is a big massage fan so we decided to get a massage at Hezi Massage in Wudaokou. Mike had gone a few days before and gotten a foot massage, but it also included neck and shoulder massage as well. When Jess and I got to the place, we looked at their offer list and it only offered foot massage for 68 yuan for 80 minutes, or full body for 80 yuan for 60 minutes. We opted for the full body since we wanted to spend only an hour.
We had to put on these little scrub outfits, which consisted of some really unflattering length culottes (sort of Bermuda shorts length) with a little thong thing in the middle (we opted to keep our underwear on) and a kimono top (literally: it included a waist tie). We were in the same room together, so our masseuses came in together. There was a man and a woman, and I ended up with the man. In retrospect, it probably would have been better if I had had the woman, but more on that later.
Let me try to describe what a Chinese massage is... somewhat like Chinese medicine, if it's unpleasant and mildly painful at the beginning, then it will no doubt be inversely beneficial later on. The massage was vigorous, very active and totally hilarious to me because I've never gotten a professional massage before and was very ticklish.
The massage starts with head and neck massage (vigorous, poking, prodding and rubbing) and then moves to your shoulders. They also do a lot of joint and limb manipulation, involving having a stranger wave your arm around in various odd directions at a pretty high speed. They also do palm and finger massage, which is sort of odd feeling. There was a stomach rub component which did not work on me because I was so giggly, so my guy moved right on to the leg massage, which also made me giggle. There was more join manipulation involving hilarious hip contortions. Seriously, this massage made me feel like I was part of the Chinese Olympic wrestling team and that I was being prepped for the big meet.
We were then flipped over and had our backs worked on (vigorously, of course). There were times when the guy was using his elbow on my back and seemed like he was putting almost all his weight on me. At no time was the massage ever painful or injurious, but it was close. I also wanted to laugh the whole time, because I basically paid to be manhandled by a total stranger. The silly outfits did not help the situation.
The next day I was a little sore, but the day after I was fine. I don't think I would say this was particularly relaxing, although Jessica loved it and wants to go back. I think I will try a spa next time, maybe one of the hot springs places in the mountains around here or something like hot stone massage. Seems like that would be more soothing, as opposed to Rocky IV level of Soviet joint manipulation. On the plus side, I do kind of feel like Dolf Lundgren: "I vill break him."
We had to put on these little scrub outfits, which consisted of some really unflattering length culottes (sort of Bermuda shorts length) with a little thong thing in the middle (we opted to keep our underwear on) and a kimono top (literally: it included a waist tie). We were in the same room together, so our masseuses came in together. There was a man and a woman, and I ended up with the man. In retrospect, it probably would have been better if I had had the woman, but more on that later.
Let me try to describe what a Chinese massage is... somewhat like Chinese medicine, if it's unpleasant and mildly painful at the beginning, then it will no doubt be inversely beneficial later on. The massage was vigorous, very active and totally hilarious to me because I've never gotten a professional massage before and was very ticklish.
The massage starts with head and neck massage (vigorous, poking, prodding and rubbing) and then moves to your shoulders. They also do a lot of joint and limb manipulation, involving having a stranger wave your arm around in various odd directions at a pretty high speed. They also do palm and finger massage, which is sort of odd feeling. There was a stomach rub component which did not work on me because I was so giggly, so my guy moved right on to the leg massage, which also made me giggle. There was more join manipulation involving hilarious hip contortions. Seriously, this massage made me feel like I was part of the Chinese Olympic wrestling team and that I was being prepped for the big meet.
We were then flipped over and had our backs worked on (vigorously, of course). There were times when the guy was using his elbow on my back and seemed like he was putting almost all his weight on me. At no time was the massage ever painful or injurious, but it was close. I also wanted to laugh the whole time, because I basically paid to be manhandled by a total stranger. The silly outfits did not help the situation.
The next day I was a little sore, but the day after I was fine. I don't think I would say this was particularly relaxing, although Jessica loved it and wants to go back. I think I will try a spa next time, maybe one of the hot springs places in the mountains around here or something like hot stone massage. Seems like that would be more soothing, as opposed to Rocky IV level of Soviet joint manipulation. On the plus side, I do kind of feel like Dolf Lundgren: "I vill break him."
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