The T-birds had our last group sightseeing activity today, we went to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We all piled into the tourbus and departed Beida for the 2 hour drive to the wall. I was tired, so I snoozed until we got to the countryside near the wall. Interestingly, all the villages in the area have built up these large, tacky restaurants to cater to Chinese tourists visiting the wall. I'm sure no foreign groups stop there, but they get plenty of local tourists in need of dining in a huge, fake rainforest.
Luckily the wall was not too crowded, despite the large parking lots which are no doubt filled up in the summer, and the usual gauntlet of hawkers selling t-shirts, fake silk robes, and the like. Mutianyu has not one but two cable cars that take you up and down, and even has an alpine slide luge thing (sans ice of course) to bring out back down. There is the traditional stairs option, but Jess, Mike, Vidya and I opted for the cable car since we were not feeling the one hour stairs ascent. As Franklin pointed out, once you climb the stairs TO the wall, you still have to hike UP it!
The wall was not too crowded, except for this horribly loud school group on a field trip. They were all running around and screaming, which was behavior more fit for smaller kids rather than high school age. My comment was, "Apparently all the one children have decided to come to the wall today!"
When we got to the wall, we had the option to go to the right, to the slide, and downhill, or to the left, which was uphill quite a ways but appeared to offer a great view. We opted for left.
The restored wall is much as I remember it, well kept up but with a few potholes and broken steps here and there. Mostly Chinese tourists, although I did see a smattering of laowais, and there was a huge pack of British charity hikers walking the wall to raise money for injured firefighter's families. The pictures I took made it seem like the wall was emptier than it really was. It was still pleasant though, to have a strenuous hike (the last hill was about a 50 degree incline, according to one of our classmates) and be in warmer weather. It was much more comfortable at the wall, noticeably warmer than Beijing.
It was a hazy day (or polluted?) so it wasn't a clear blue sky, but the cherry blossoms were starting to come out so the vistas were still pleasant. We got to the high point to find it clogged with the loud student group. One student asked to take a photo with me (do they think I'm famous?) and another showed me the little garter snake he bought for 10 yuan.
We headed back and had to hang on to the wall at times because the descent was so steep! My thigh muscles were very tired by the end. We thought about walking to the slide to ride it down but opted for the cable car instead. We made it through the gauntlet of hawkers (same old hard sell, but some new items, such as furry hats, which I resisted because it's getting warmer here, white fox skins and parasols) and had lunch on the bus.
We drove back to Beijing and I slept the whole way; I was quite tired! Overall Mutianyu is a pleasant place to visit, but only in the off-season I think. With the ease of access, too many people can come up and I could see it being very crowded in the summer. Die hards seeking solitude are better off at the more remote locations.
Friday, April 3, 2009
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."
Accounting Quiz: I Call Shenanigans!
This morning we were supposed to have an accounting quiz from 9-10am. There was some confusion about where we were supposed to go to take the quiz, as the professor (who is teaching it online from Glendale) told us to go to our classroom on the Beida campus, but we were trying to explain to the professor that about 2/3 of the class has not signed up for internet access in the classroom, as it is through Beida and costs 100 yuan. To further complicate matters, those who did sign up for internet only had the chance to sign up yesterday, and that signup time conflicted with beginners Chinese class so some people weren't able to complete their signup.
Professor Peterson, the accounting professor, seemed to be having a major disconnect--despite the fact that several of us repeatedly explained that we don't have internet in the classroom and don't care to pay extra to sign up for it (especially when we have free internet in the hotel and at a nearby Starbucks), he still kept telling us to go to the classroom. The last posting on the class board from him said that he had worked out with Donny that a Beida representative would be in the classroom to walk us through the internet setup.
Jess and I took a cab to the classroom so that we would have extra time to study in our hotel room. The cab cost 10 yuan. We got to the room and it was packed with students. Our classroom fits everyone, but just barely, and you have to sit right next to someone else at a table. The situation is not optimal for taking a quiz in the slightest. Jessica and I purchased a power strip at an electronics store so that we could both plug in during class and I'm glad we did--there aren't enough power plugs to go around in the classroom for 35 people to all be plugged in and charging.
We sat around for about ten minutes but no Beida proctor showed up. Everyone was talking and complaining, so it was very loud for the few students who had internet and opted to start the quiz. Hunter Kim, one of my classmates, finally called Professor Peterson over Skype and explained the situation. Peterson, who was still operating under the extreme misapprehension that we would 1) have a proctor and 2) have internet access proposed the following ridiculous solution to the problem:
Students currently with internet (9) finish the quiz, students without internet go and wait in the hallway until they are done, and then let those waiting use their computers to finish the quiz.
As you might imagine, there was a near riot when everyone heard this. We eventually talked him into extending the time the quiz would be available online and letting us go home to take the quiz either at the hotel or Starbucks. His rationale for forcing us to be in the classroom was that he wants to cut down on cheating as the quizzes are closed book, closed notes. However, his logic is flawed because with all of us crammed into one room, cheating would be very easy since everyone can see the computer screens of those sitting in front of them. Furthermore, Thunderbird has an honor code that we all signed, so what is the point of having an honor code when we aren't trusted to uphold and enforce it? Our Regional Business Environment: Asia exam is being administered online and is also closed book, closed notes, and yet Professor Goddard trusts us to be able to do this on our own, online, and not crammed into the classroom.
To use accounting language, the cost of the internet is 100 Yuan, and we have three quizzes left. That means the activity cost of each quiz is approximately Y33.33. That's a pretty decent meal at a nice restaurant. If we factor in the indirect overhead costs of transportation and the power cord, it's approximately Y75 per quiz. RIP OFF!
Some students are planning to email Professor Peterson and discuss the issue with him, hopefully he will see reason and let us take the damn quizzes from home. Some are also proposing that he score this quiz as optional (if it helps our grade, leave it in, if it hurts our grade, take it out) since it was such a disaster this morning to administer.
New "This is China" update: I just got a phone call from Mike Logan who went to the police station register himself as a foreigner renting a apartment in Beijing. He had to go with his landlord, who presents a special landlord ID to the police in order to register his tenants. It's very typically bureaucratic. However, it turns out that as an alien renting an apartment, Mike was supposed to register within 24 hours of signing the lease! He wasn't fined (although he could have been fined 500 yuan for ever day he neglected to register) but he did have to sign a form that acknowledges he violated Chinese law, essentially a warning. Yikes! I myself had to register through the hotel, but since I'm not renting it's less of a panic for the local precinct. This is China!
Professor Peterson, the accounting professor, seemed to be having a major disconnect--despite the fact that several of us repeatedly explained that we don't have internet in the classroom and don't care to pay extra to sign up for it (especially when we have free internet in the hotel and at a nearby Starbucks), he still kept telling us to go to the classroom. The last posting on the class board from him said that he had worked out with Donny that a Beida representative would be in the classroom to walk us through the internet setup.
Jess and I took a cab to the classroom so that we would have extra time to study in our hotel room. The cab cost 10 yuan. We got to the room and it was packed with students. Our classroom fits everyone, but just barely, and you have to sit right next to someone else at a table. The situation is not optimal for taking a quiz in the slightest. Jessica and I purchased a power strip at an electronics store so that we could both plug in during class and I'm glad we did--there aren't enough power plugs to go around in the classroom for 35 people to all be plugged in and charging.
We sat around for about ten minutes but no Beida proctor showed up. Everyone was talking and complaining, so it was very loud for the few students who had internet and opted to start the quiz. Hunter Kim, one of my classmates, finally called Professor Peterson over Skype and explained the situation. Peterson, who was still operating under the extreme misapprehension that we would 1) have a proctor and 2) have internet access proposed the following ridiculous solution to the problem:
Students currently with internet (9) finish the quiz, students without internet go and wait in the hallway until they are done, and then let those waiting use their computers to finish the quiz.
As you might imagine, there was a near riot when everyone heard this. We eventually talked him into extending the time the quiz would be available online and letting us go home to take the quiz either at the hotel or Starbucks. His rationale for forcing us to be in the classroom was that he wants to cut down on cheating as the quizzes are closed book, closed notes. However, his logic is flawed because with all of us crammed into one room, cheating would be very easy since everyone can see the computer screens of those sitting in front of them. Furthermore, Thunderbird has an honor code that we all signed, so what is the point of having an honor code when we aren't trusted to uphold and enforce it? Our Regional Business Environment: Asia exam is being administered online and is also closed book, closed notes, and yet Professor Goddard trusts us to be able to do this on our own, online, and not crammed into the classroom.
To use accounting language, the cost of the internet is 100 Yuan, and we have three quizzes left. That means the activity cost of each quiz is approximately Y33.33. That's a pretty decent meal at a nice restaurant. If we factor in the indirect overhead costs of transportation and the power cord, it's approximately Y75 per quiz. RIP OFF!
Some students are planning to email Professor Peterson and discuss the issue with him, hopefully he will see reason and let us take the damn quizzes from home. Some are also proposing that he score this quiz as optional (if it helps our grade, leave it in, if it hurts our grade, take it out) since it was such a disaster this morning to administer.
New "This is China" update: I just got a phone call from Mike Logan who went to the police station register himself as a foreigner renting a apartment in Beijing. He had to go with his landlord, who presents a special landlord ID to the police in order to register his tenants. It's very typically bureaucratic. However, it turns out that as an alien renting an apartment, Mike was supposed to register within 24 hours of signing the lease! He wasn't fined (although he could have been fined 500 yuan for ever day he neglected to register) but he did have to sign a form that acknowledges he violated Chinese law, essentially a warning. Yikes! I myself had to register through the hotel, but since I'm not renting it's less of a panic for the local precinct. This is China!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Beijing Glasses City Leads Us to Restaurant #9
In our awesome Insider's Guide to Beijing Guidebook Mike and I read about this magical place called "Beijing Glasses City", in which shoppers can peruse 4 floors of glasses frames at bargain prices. Seeing as how the last time I got new frames was freshman year in college, I was really excited to get some new glasses up in here. Mike, Jessica and I hopped the gold #10 train line to the other end. Unfortunately, we did not check the guidebook and realized upon arrival around 5:55pm that Beijing Glasses City closes at 6pm. :( We hopped across the street and looked at a few glasses shops that had some frames that appealed to me, however at US$50 they were a little pricey compared to what the guidebook promised. I did find out that slightly cat-eye type frames actually look really good on me. We decided to return to Glasses City tomorrow after the group tour of the 798 Art District.
We decided to check out another glasses store listed in the guidebook, which promised "superfly frames". The store was on a street that was next to the CBD (Central Business District). The street was actually this really funky and cute neighborhood, with hutongs off the side and trendy clothing shops that cater to Beijing's fashionable. We never found the eyeglass store, but we did find the most awesome restaurant.
We found a little hutong and wandered down it, and noticed a neat little restaurant called #9. We asked to see a menu, and it had plenty of vegetarian options for Jessica so we decided to eat there. The owner was quite solicitous and was very attentive. We ordered an incredible amount of food, including a tofu dish that mimicked scallops, a huge fried shrimp dish, pork ribs, fried potatoes and Chinese bacon, scallion pancake and fried green beans. The food was AMAZING, and we got the owner to share a beer with us. We had a nice chat about Mike's and my Chinese moms and how we were studying at Beijing Daxue. The total was so incredibly cheap and the food was so delicious that we absolutely plan to return!
We also were celebrating the fact that we got our Accounting problem set done this morning about 13 hours early. All the other fools in our class are cranking away right now and Jess, Mike and I are free and clear. Tomorrow we are off for a tour of the 798 Art District, which is supposed to be amazing.
We decided to check out another glasses store listed in the guidebook, which promised "superfly frames". The store was on a street that was next to the CBD (Central Business District). The street was actually this really funky and cute neighborhood, with hutongs off the side and trendy clothing shops that cater to Beijing's fashionable. We never found the eyeglass store, but we did find the most awesome restaurant.
We found a little hutong and wandered down it, and noticed a neat little restaurant called #9. We asked to see a menu, and it had plenty of vegetarian options for Jessica so we decided to eat there. The owner was quite solicitous and was very attentive. We ordered an incredible amount of food, including a tofu dish that mimicked scallops, a huge fried shrimp dish, pork ribs, fried potatoes and Chinese bacon, scallion pancake and fried green beans. The food was AMAZING, and we got the owner to share a beer with us. We had a nice chat about Mike's and my Chinese moms and how we were studying at Beijing Daxue. The total was so incredibly cheap and the food was so delicious that we absolutely plan to return!
We also were celebrating the fact that we got our Accounting problem set done this morning about 13 hours early. All the other fools in our class are cranking away right now and Jess, Mike and I are free and clear. Tomorrow we are off for a tour of the 798 Art District, which is supposed to be amazing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)