One Saturday's Odyssey in Beijing [Or, A Day of Expensive Cabs]

On Saturday, Mike, Jess and I joined Ethan Tseng to visit his aunt and uncle's Taiwanese restaurant in the industrial area by the airport. They are industrious Taiwanese businesspeople, with several investments in China and Taiwan. They were in Beijing for a few days, so they invited us to come and sample their dishes. Ethan is also from Taiwan, and is ethnically Hakka (we had a good laugh about how Hakka women are traditionally supposed to be husky and do most of the work around the house and on the farm).

We were supposed to meet Ethan at the line 10 stop where you transfer to the airport train at noon, but getting out of bed and ready to go took longer than anticipated so we decided to take a cab. The cab took longer than anticipated because there was a stall on the 4th ring road, which caused a traffic jam. Our cabbie was very confused as to why 3 people were taking a cab to meet 1 person, and Mike and I tried to explain that we were meeting him at the subway, and then continuing on to another location by the airport, but we weren't sure the message was really communicated.

Once we got to the subway station, Ethan was waiting outside, so we had just paid our cabbie when he hopped in and directed him to the next stop: the restaurant. We headed northeast on the airport expressway and then exited about halfway. We found ourselves in an odd neighborhood that reminded me of Southern California or Glendale... generic strip malls, McMansion style housing estates and industrial complexes. It was a little unnerving, because these monstrosities were usually right next door to a typical little Chinese style strip mall that looked just like Duo Buay or the road to Swatow.

Luckily, Ethan's aunt's place was very nice inside, with trendy and unique decor. They serve traditional and popular Taiwanese dishes which we absolutely delicious. We had sweet pickles, bitter melon with salted egg, little steamed bread sandwiches, steamed bream, tripe soup, fried tofu and many other tasty things (that I can't remember).

After stuffing our faces, we caught a cab back to Beijing. Ethan suggested that we go to Beihai park, which was supposed to be really beautiful. The cab ride was quite long, so we napped and arrived refreshed (albeit still very stuffed). Beihai is a park just north of the Forbidden City, and is famous for its white pagoda on top of a hill which gives a nice view of the surrounding city, as well as a pretty lake with boat rental available. We paid 15 Yuan for entrance, which included access to the hill area with the white temple portion. I'm glad we paid the extra amount, because the temple area was less crowded and more peaceful, although you can never escape the crowds in Beijing. The people visiting were overwhelmingly Chinese tourists; we saw almost no foreigners.

Inside the park by the lake we saw a lot of old men practicing calligraphy with brushes using lake water as ink on the stone walkways. They were using traditional characters, which was nice to see. Jessica especially was very excited to see the calligraphy in action. I recognized a Li Bo poem that I had to translate in college--it's about drinking alone (of course... Li Bo did a lot of drinking alone and then wrote about how much it stinks).

The temple grounds were peaceful and provided much inspiration for photography. The temple had a thick bamboo grove so I was reminded of the bamboo forest in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I suggested that we start taking some wacky Wushu master photos--the Prague module and the Beijing module have a sort of informal contest going to to see who can post the best pictures up on Facebook. Right now Beijing is blowing Prague out of the water because all their photos are of people drinking. Ours are much more creative. I figured with kung fu photos we would triumph hands down. Many creative shots were engendered, such as jumping up in the air and kicking, hanging from rocks and fighting, and even fake pushing off railings and Jessica "breaking" a stone (there was a whole one and a broken one, so we employed some trick photography). Most of the photos were taken by Ethan, who has a SLR digital camera with multi-shot technology. I am waiting for him to give me the photos in class tomorrow, and then will post them. They are truly spectacular.

The pagoda thing (confusingly called a dagoba, which is incidentally the name of the swamp planet from Empire Strikes Back where Yoda has been hiding out from the Empire and Luke visits to learn the ways of the force) was kind of ho-hum, but the hill did give a nice view of the city and the setting sun provided some pleasant light for portrait taking.

After leaving Beihai park Ethan split off to go have dinner with the Indian crew and Jess, Mike and I headed to Sanlituan to find pizza. We ate at The Tree, which was ok, not AMAZING like Mozza (truth: nothing is as amazing as Mozza) but thankfully not oily unlike almost everything else in this city. After The Tree we went to the Smugglers Hideout, which features 2 x bottles of Beijing Yanjing for only 15 yuan. We then caught the last train to Wudaokou, back on the west side of town to make a classmate's birthday afterparty at a bar called Pyro. Pyro is every college bar in America with just a higher proportion of Asian people inside--smoky, sweaty, beery and full of empty pitchers and loud rap music. It was fun to hang out with the crew, however, since I have been leaving them behind in the dust as Mike, Jess, Ethan and I explore the city.

798 Art District: East German Factory Complex Breeds Creativity

On Friday Beida arranged for a tour of the 798 Art District, which originally started out as a factory complex built by East German Communists in the 50's and became an artist's enclave once the factory was abandoned. Now it's been officially taken over by the government, so all the real artists have moved away to other, more bohemian approved locations, but it's still a fascinating complex visually and to see some of the exhibitions and art displays that are still there.

We were told we wold get a tour of the complex, but the bus just dropped us off and sped off, so we were left to fend for ourselves. I just wandered around and took photos of things I found interesting. With the pipes, steam and industrial surroundings, there were a lot of inspirational images.

As the day wore on, some of the shops and galleries opened up and we had a nice time perusing the offerings and poking around. I'd like to visit some of the artist's villages that are mentioned in the guidebook but those will have to wait for another day.

Touristy Stuff: Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square

This morning the program arranged for a free tour of Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Even though the bus left at 8:30am, I still wanted to go because hey, it's free, and the Forbidden city is a bit of a hike from the hotel so we figured we might as well get our money's worth! When I woke up this morning iI saw with amazement that it was a beautiful clear day, sunny and blue skies. That was the deciding factor: I had to go!

I made the bus with plenty of time to spare, although the karaoke crew came rolling in late and very hungover. I was quite glad that I ended up skipping--KTV will always be there and I can go for round II next time.

We had a guide take us around to Tian'anmen first, although we only walked up the length of the square and did not go into Mao's tomb to view the preserved body of Dear Leader (not that I am complaining about that). It was really chilly, probably about 55 with a continuous chill wind blowing. The communist hat vendors were making a brisk business selling the furry hats and gloves to frigid tourists. The Forbidden City looks much the same it did in 1997, although it has been spiffed up quite a bit for the Olympics. All the major buildings/gates are freshly repainted, which looks pretty from afar but close up looks a little bit shiny. The side areas are not restored, and to me were more interesting. As soon as we got in the City Mike and I ditched the group and went off to do our own thing. we made a pact to take only non-postcard type pictures, so we had a really fun time looking for interesting photographic subjects and unique shots.

After working our way north and leaving the city we met up with Ethan (native Taiwanese) and decided to find a place to eat. We were walking towards the Wudakou subway station and were talking about how much we wanted some dumplings when we found this literal hole in the wall dumpling shack! It was just a narrow room with a couple of tables and chairs, with a guy in the front steaming everything. The place was crowded though, so we ordered some dumplings, xiaolongbao and xiaobao (which are like small dumplings but with rice inside). The total was 15 yuan! What a crazy deal!

We walked to Wudaokou so I could buy the Insiders Guide to Beijing at the English Language bookstore. I also got Lonely Planet Cambodia so I can get a feeling for what to do there besides just go to Siem Riep and Ankor Wat. We took a cab back to the hotel so Mike could check out of the hotel and move into his apartment. He and I will hit up Sanlituan area tonight to hang out with Cordell. So far it's been a great weekend!