After two full lovely weeks (we got extended on vacation, can you believe that!?!?)
hanging on the beaches of Boracay, Philippines we flew back to Beijing only to find out our work here is finished.
Finished.
We are coming home!
I will put up a new page (once I have internet at home) for our vacation pics for those interested,
and after today you can find my pearls of wisdom on our Post from Home page. . .
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
There's a Typhoon Warning Under My Door
(We're in Hong Kong, even though it says Beijing. Not sure where to post.
Having identity/location issues)
So, I guess I'll go shopping, eh?
Suppose to hit us this afternoon, last through tomorrow. Not sure what to expect except we might
not be able to get a ferry back from Lamma.
Bummer. :-)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Okay. I think we are really leaving. . .
Pending a late frantic phone call, our tickets are for 10 AM tomorrow for Hong Kong.
We will be at the Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay until Thursday.
Friday we fly to Boracay, Philippines for a 9 day vacation.
It is set in stone.
It will be.
Hopefully, we will have internet connection dependable enough to post from the beach!
Monday, September 15, 2008
My Rememberer Seems Broken
Have you ever noticed sometimes when you reminisce with someone about common
experiences in the past, you sometimes get two different versions of what happened? And, obviously, one person is wrong?
Lately, that person is me. And it's driving me crazy!Not that I'm never wrong, it's just
so infrequent. . . heehee
Or, maybe you remember something that never happened?
Scott has arrived (YEAH!) and there's a dude here on another project that Scott knew in Moscow.
So, Scott and I were talking about when he was in Moscow and we were IM'ing about his $25 room service cheeseburgers (which
he remembers the $25 cheeseburgers but not necessarily chatting with me about them. He's not saying he DIDN'T, but $25
cheeseburgers usually come late at night after he's had a *few* drinks).
So, in keeping with the conversation with Derek (the other dude) and Scott, I ask when they were in
Moscow. And Scott says 2000.
No problem, except I didn't even KNOW Scott in 2000.
What good are memories if you can't even remember what ACTUALLY happened and what didn't.
Ugh. I think I'm going nuts.
But, we are planning a vacation to Boracay, Phillipines from 9/26 to 10/5. A lovely beach island
about to get hit by a typhoon.
But that's okay, I probably won't REMEMBER anyway.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Well HELLO THERE. . .
Yes, yes, I know. I have been neglecting you greatly. I'm sorry. And
alive.
What have I been doing that is so much more important than telling you what the weather is in Beijing
and what I've been shoveling into my face?
Mostly packing, unpacking, changing our hotel reservations, canceling vacation, canceling hotel reservations,
buying airline tickets, changing airline tickets, refunding airline tickets, making hotel reservations.
It's been A RIOT.
Not.
Due to some last minute and haywire schedule changes/proposals, things have gotten a little nuts around
here.
But, it looks like things are smoothed out now, and we will be going home on November 8, with a little
time off in late September early October.
Keep your fingers crossed it doesn't change. Because I don't think I can handle changing everything
AGAIN.
Thank you. Oh, and nice to see you again!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
We are OUT OF HERE
Um, yea. We leave Wednesday. Very Early. For Hong Kong.
Not too exciting, just four days of work for Mike and then Sunday we are flying HOME.
Home to Grand Rapids. Michigan. USA!
Beijing is almost in our rear view mirror.
Just need to figure our how to get 100 pounds of junk into our two suitcases.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
What the heck happened to August?
Seriously. I just had it here. Where did it go?
Did I misplace it?
And this past week? Went by very slowly. So slowly it almost felt like all of August.
But still. Where did August GO!?!?
I remember spending a lot of it looking for a taxi.
Glad those pesky Olympics are over.
Last Wednesday, as a final send-off to Randy, the ticket God, we took him down to the hutong for some
real Beijing Duck. Long time readers will remember we also went there with my brothers and seesters-in-laws.
Us and the actual owners of Li Qun Roast Duck
Bunch of ducks a-cooking
If I didn't know this was Beijing, I would guess it was ANYWHERE
After dinner we strolled around Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
for about a half an hour to help all that duck get digested. It was our FIRST time down there at night, very pretty.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We did discover the VERY BEST BURGER in Beijing
at a new spot, the Union Bar and Grill and some more really bad pizza at the new Peppe's Pizza (how DO you justify making
pizza WITHOUT pizza sauce?). Seems like I sort of remember a very wild night at Tim's on Friday and a nice relaxing
day on Sunday.
And, we had three days IN A ROW of beautiful blue skies. And, almost cool nights. We had
to take a taxi home on Sunday as I was too cold to walk. Well, not "Michigan too cold to walk", just fall-ish coolness
in the air, and we'd been sitting outside having dinner for a couple hours.
Monday? WE GOLFED! WOOT! Mike's first time golfing in over two years. It was
a four-person scramble, so we didn't have to play our shots, which worked out pretty good.
It was called the Chip and Chug. Every par 5 you had to drink a full beer before the hole could
be called complete. No problem.
Beautiful course, wonderful weather. Much fun. We might even go back, despite the expense.
Our foursome in all it's glory
Do you see that ball?!?! It's actually in the AIR. Sorta.
Mike demonstrates how easy this game really is, while TJ takes a lesson
We are awesomely on our way to bogey here. . .
I won a 200 RMB to TIm's, our local hangout. Sure he was hoping to rope some new customers in!
Also, I've been getting a lot of emails lately asking us why we aren't
home yet.
Good question.
But we are (obviously) not, and now will be here until 11/8. With a minor vacation starting
9/20 til 9/30, when Mike will do a little work in Hong Kong before returning back to Beijing.
We are NOT flying all the way home for 8 days of jetlag, instead we are heading for Hainan (the Hawaii
of China, whatever that means) for 4-5 days, then on to Hong Kong for some relaxing before work and our return.
I'm pretty sure we will actually be home before Christmas! ;-)
At least pray for that!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
or
Why a basic understanding of the metric system and the ordering of Canadian Rock
Lobster can come in handy
Yes, I am cheating, as it is really Wednesday, August 27, 2008 in Beijing, I wanted
to post on my birthday. Technically, it is still my birthday back there in EST, so I have about 1.5 hours to get this
done.
No problem.
First, thanks to all who sent me birthday greetings! I haven't had time to answer all of them
yet, but it's nice to know people, literally, all around the world, where sending me good thoughts yesterday. From Brazil
to Bermuda, London to Hong Kong. Wow!
And Mike thanks those who included his birthday from Saturday into the message. And vis a vis,
as he got some messages on Saturday that mentioned me, as well. It's fun having birthdays just a few days apart, especially
when they fall over a weekend.
Did I just say it was fun having birthdays? I didn't mean it. I think this is my last
for a while. Maybe 9 years.
But in honor of teetering on the brink of 40, Mike brought home this beautiful bouquet of flowers
for me (while getting birthday wishes via the telephone from my parents). Thirty-nine lovely carnations and roses, one
for each year of my life. And the thing? It weighs a TON. And he carried it all the way from the flower
market even though I was meeting him in 1.5 hours for lunch.
He was sweaty. And cute. And he put a card in it with a sweet little poem he wrote, but
I can't share it with you because we just had a talk about website/blog limitations.
It was nice.
39 flowers looks like a lot when you start imagining each one represents a year of my life
Admittedly, I didn't do much on my birthday due to the intensive heat of
Beijing. It wore me out just walking to lunch and back. I was hoping the heat would start abating by now, but
alas, no.
Last night, though, was MUSSEL NIGHT at Morel's. We had a few joiners, we were 7 in all, and
many bottles of wine and good conversation and much joking around. And a lot of Mussels.
One person in our party decided to order the Canadian Rock Lobster. When asked to go and pick
his dinner from the tank, he chose the largest lobster in the tank, a prehistoric-ly large beast with a front claw
as big as his hand. Seriously. I so wish I had my camera last night. When stretched out, he (I'm assuming
it was a male lobster, I'm not sure how to tell) was easily at LEAST 20 inches long.
It was huge! When served, they had cut it in half and spread it onto two gigantic platters,
which took up most the room on our table.
And when the bill came, it cost him $225 (that's US dollars, dudes). He's still in shock this
morning.
Mike is lucky I don't have a taste for lobster.
But I love me those $17 mussels!
And I still have 68 minutes left of my birthday back there in EST.
Dear Mom and Dad: Thanks for making me! I'm enjoying this life you gave to me! And,
I'm glad I got you as parents, although if I hadn't, I guess I wouldn't be me, right?
Love,
Rachelle
Monday, August 25, 2008
AOM's
(Awesome Olympic Moments)
Alas, the Olympics are over. Not only have they provided me with much fodder to
talk about here and here, they have given us a much needed diversion to enjoying our stay in Beijing.
Let's see. Shall we recap since the last time we spoke? Did you see Usain Bolt?
DID YOU!?!?! THAT was amazing my friends. Of course, we watched that on TV, although our foray to the Bird's Nest
on the 15th gave us this AWESOME preview of things to come.
What an award winning shot, eh? Too bad the race was run on the other side of the stadium. . .
And, of course, there was Mr. Phelphs'
performance, which I haven't said much about. He's a superstar. How someone can swim all four strokes
with the same ease and proficiency is beyond me. Swim caps off to Michael and his Olympic medal sweep.
Then we had the unfortunate incident of China's 110m hurdler Liu Xiang (who set a world record
in Athens in case you've been living on Mars) having to forfeit running due to an ongoing hamstring injury. I actually
saw people crying on the subway because of this ill-fated event. Listening to the varied responses of the Chinese was
interesting. . . . A lot of the general public was actually angry with him. Seems we need to remember these are
HUMAN BEINGS. . . no matter how much they look like machines.
Then, on Saturday, my silly husband went and had ANOTHER birthday. Now he's officially in his
mid-fifties. Whew.
Sunday dawned with the Men's Marathon, where we watched (on TV) Dathan Ritzenhein from ROCKFORD, MICHIGAN
(a mere five miles from our home) place 9th and then the Men's Volleyball Team, whose coach's family had been involved
in the "mad knife-wielding Chinese man at the drum tower affair", twisting the gold away from the Brazilian team.
But for me? The highlight of our Olympics came on Sunday when Randy (the ticket GOD) secured
us three tickets to watch our own USA Basketball Team take the gold medal against Spain.
Did you catch that? WE WENT TO THE FINAL BASKETBALL GAME!!! Oh yes we did!
Now, I've always been a basketball fan, but I've let my membership slide in the NBA fan club over
the last few (ten? twelve?) years, but it hasn't really subtracted from my love of watching the game played well, aggressively,
and IN YOUR FACE.
Most of the basketball games of these here Olympics have not been that exciting. We have pretty
much dominated every opponent without much problem, including our preliminary game with Spain.
But maybe the most interesting part of the Gold Medal battle between USA and Spain is that five
of the Spanish players actually PLAY for the NBA. Did you know that? In fact, one (Pau Gasol) is Kobe Bryant's
teammate (you know who he is, he kinda looks like the caveman on the Geico commercials. Not Kobe. Pau.).
And Pau's brother, Marc played for Spain, too, and he's a Memphis Grizzly.
And Ricky Rubio is pretty interesting, too. He's a seventeen year old (he'll be 18 in October),
relatively short (6'3" tends to look small when surrounded by giants) professional Spanish basketball player who is an
absolute joy to watch. Definitely a talent to watch for, I'm sure he's heading across the pond to our courts in the
near future.
Do I sound like I am intrigued with basketball? I am.
The actual game was phenomenal. It's possible you've seen it by now. It was excruciatingly
nerve wracking, especially right here. . .
Fourth Quarter, 2 minutes left, only a FOUR POINT LEAD and it's Spain's ball due to some technical
We had incredible seats, although two were on one side of
the court and one was on the other, so we did some seat shuffling throughout the game. It was truly unfortunate, as
the lone ticket was in the GE area (as in General Electric, corporate sponsor) and for the entire game this is what my row
looked like.
I can't tell you how mad this made me. . . .
I found this not only insulting to all the ten billion
people who would have gladly took these seats (or paid big money for them), but also to our team. They deserved loyal
fans in every seat and the bare bone facts are some corporation comped a bunch of executives over here for the game and they
couldn't find the time or desire to attend, and then didn't disperse the tickets to those who would use them.
Such arrogance.
In fact, there was a dude there from GE who was like the ticket police. When Mike went and sat
there the first half, the dude demanded to see Mike's ticket. And ALL the seats were empty then. At the half we
swapped, and same dude was pretty rude to me, too. I just ignored
him. What could he do? I had a ticket for that seat!
I just wanted to ask someone from GE when I could expect my stock to rebound.
(Get it? Rebound? HAHAHAHA)
But, possibly the best thing about watching us win the Gold medal in basketball was knowing how this
"Redeem Team" was chosen.
Although each member is a superstar in his own right, this years team was chosen on a much different
basis than in years past. They had to commit to three summers of training together. They had to undergo extensive
interviewing. They were chosen on their ability to play together as a cohesive unit, their desire to win for the USA,
not for themselves or their repective teams. Basically, they had "ego" coached out of them.
Man, they looked good.
Dwight Howard STUFFS IT!
The game was an absolute treat to watch. And a 117-107 victory was
the icing on the cake.
It has been so wonderful to be on the receiving end of Randy's charity. He says he's just picking
up the crumbs off the table, but he's actually sharing the crumbs with us!
Waiting for their Gold medals - WOOT!
After the game we headed over to Tim's for a big fat Texan
BBQ and to watch the Closing Ceremonies.
I suppose we will now suffer the Olympic Hangover. Nothing to watch on TV, the excitement gone
from the air. But, it was worth it, and I'm so glad we were here during the Olympics, mainly because we SCORED SO MANY
TICKETS.
As far as the Olympics, although it wasn't a grand party, the venues were most impressive, the organization
was impeccable and the ceremonies blew us all away. I know the Olympics will be a lot more fun in London, but they might
not have the same flair.
And Randy will leave on Thursday, which is sad, as he's become a good friend and a person we truly
enjoy spending time with in Beijing. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
But he's TOTALLY ready to leave.
And tomorrow, like my husband did on Saturday, I must regretfully turn a whole full year older, teetering
me on that magical age of 4-0.
Yuck.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
This May
Be the Peoples (Republic of China's) but It Sure Ain't The Peoples Games
(Don't Tell the Chinese, though)
The PRC (People's
Republic of China) is darn good at control.
Unlike past Olympics,
access to any of the Olympic Green is only for Olympic ticket holders or people with BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee of
the Olympic Games) badge wearers (which account for about 80% of the foreign presence here, by my count).
Now folks, this
is an area about three times the size of Central Park (New York).It’s
vast.It’s HUGE.It is where
about ¼ of the hutongs destroyed for the Olympic Games stood.It could accommodate
hundreds of thousands of people with out a problem.
Sponsors have paid
big bucks to have representation in the Green to promote their brand name recognition and products to the opening Chinese
market.All for naught, apparently, as foot traffic in the Green has been very
low.
However, because
of perceived security threats by the PRC, it is essentially a closed venue, with security checks that surpass any airport
security I’ve ever encountered.
The PRC is not
big on crowds.If more than a couple thousand people show up in an area, their
feeling is something bad is going to happen.They’re not good with crowd
control, only crowd dispersal.
For example,
on Opening Night at the Beijing Train Station a big screen was erected for the general public to
watch the ceremonies.After about an hour, around 5000 people assembled.And the police came and broke up the party, as they perceived it as a security risk.
The fencing
around the Green allows pedestrians to pass within about one kilometer from most of the venues, including the iconic Bird’s
Nest, which to all Chinese, if not the world, symbolizes this 2008 Olympics. It is so sad to see all these Chinese
folks walk up to the fence, turn around a pose for a picture with the Bird’s Nest in the background, then dejectedly
walk away with their one Olympic souvenir.
And foreigners, too.In fact, without our EXTREME LUCK of Randy
handing down tickets from (insert name of huge USA mega media company) we would never had the experience either.
But the Chinese people are so pragmatic by nature they just accept this as their government’s right.There is very little anger amongst them.They
are just taking it in stride. Besides, with the PRC controlling most of the media they are exposed to, including the
internet, they really don't know any different.
I think they should revolt!
Another funny thing the Chinese did when designing all the venues we’ve been in is limit the availability
of food.Now, you are not allowed to bring food or drink into the venues (for,
again, security reasons), but inside?Hard to come by.Drinks are plentiful (5 Kuai BEER!Let me say that again.5 Kuai beer!The cheapest beer we’ve
had in Beijing outside of buying it at the party store for 2.5 Kuai).But food?About five choices.Sausage on a stick.President noodles (whatever that is), ice cream, bread, popcorn and candy bars.If you were in a venue for hours, these would be your choices.
Besides the inconvenience to the spectators, what a huge loss of revenue for the Chinese.Think if they were grilling up hamburgers and hot dogs and frying French fries how much money they could
have made in just 16 short days.Or even serving up rice with shredded beef.Whatever!Just give us some food!
Many times we had to rush off to the stadiums upon Mike’s arrival home from work.Without dinner.Every time we waited until 10 PM or later
to have something to eat.Outside the Olympic Park.
Except for Monday night when Randy (the ticket God) called us with diving tickets at the Water Cube.He could only score two tickets, and he generously gave them to us, as he had already been inside the Cube
more than once and it was a preliminary event.We met him at Souk to pick up
the tickets, had a bite and some beer, then (luckily) grabbed a taxi to the Green.We
were late, but we still got to see some diving and experience the inside.Missing
a few heats was fine by us.
There is literally nothing to eat in there.
The one area the Chinese did come out ahead was on tickets.The
majority of attendees at every event we’ve went to were Chinese.And half
the events we went to didn’t even have Chinese competitors.But that doesn’t
stop them from sitting their chanting “China! China! China!” over and over.
In fairness, a very small percentage of the 1.3 billion Chinese actually got tickets.But it seems they had a far better chance.And, they seem
to actually SHOW UP when they have tickets.Unlike the seats that were reserved
for IOC members, corporate sponsors and media.
Which have been mostly empty.What a shame to see all these "wasted" seats all over the stadium with tens of thousands, if not hundred of thousands
of people right here in Beijing who would love to put their butt in one.
The Diving preliminaries were no exception.The “cheap seats”
were crammed with Chinese.The top two divers were from China, and went on to
win Gold and Silver the following night.But in the A and B seating?Hardly anyone.Mike and I sat like an island in a sea of empty
seats.
Despite it all, we had a good time.Afterwards we chose to wander
around the Green for a while.Waiting in line for some refreshments (read: 5
kuai beer!) we met three folks from Britain.Stood around and talked to them
for a little while.And then we found out they were the Mom, Aunt and Uncle of
the British diver we just watched compete (who, sadly, did not qualify for Tuesday’s diving).
Crazy.
And then we had the most unfortunate experience of it taking TWO HOURS to get home.In the rain.With much of the blame on us, but some on the
Chinese.Too intensive to get into, but leave it at when we arrived home we were
HIGHLY FRUSTRATED.
And wet.
See that? Over there? That's where Michael Phelps won all that gold. . . a couple days ago. . .
This is upstairs looking at the "lobby" area, where the 5 kuai beer is sold
Required shot of Mike and I in front of the Water Cube
Add your content here
And this? This is the Chinese diver who took Gold on Tuesday night
Looking up at one of the big old bubbles
The pedicure of the Mom of the British 3m Springboard Diver (SERIOUSLY!)
Add your content here
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Bird's Nest is AWESOME up close
I'll tell you the stories another day, but here's some pics until I get the time.
Today we are going back to the Wall with Mr. Randy, the ticket GOD.
Just after we breach security
I find me an Espana athlete to harrass
Up close and personal, it really is amazing, and beautiful
Our Olympic Steeplechase Runner makes a jump
Uh, WOW! Loving the moon, the torch, the stadium. It's so neato
Friday, August 15, 2008
On Kobe, On LeBron, On Tayshaun, On Chris.
On Jason, On Carlos, On Carmello, On Chris Paul
On Dwight, On Michael, On Dwayne, On Deron
OH YEA! You guessed it!
Last night Mike and I were Randy's guests (see previous entry about Mike's "old" friend who is working
in Beijing) to the USA vs Greece Olympic Basketball Game.
WOOT!
The Dream Team in action. It absolutely ROCKED.
Plus, we got to see them CRUSH Greece, who took the Gold in Athens.
A mild bonus.
So better than the women's Russia vs. Belarus game.
And, our seats were AWESOME!
Thanks NBC, and THANKS RANDY!
And tonight?
He's taking us to the BIRD'S NEST for Track & Field.
It's nice to have high rolling friends.
We have Olympic Fever. . . .
Carmelo Anthony get the ball while Jason stands around. . . LOL
Kobe, Kidd and Bosh scramble on defense
Easy two from Carlos
After they kicked A$$, 92-67
Kobe, LeBron and an unknown entity contemplate the sport of basketball
Bosh takes it to the hole while LeBron supervises
Anthony sticks one in there
The Redeem Team on the way out of the venue
Security was pretty tight, and the lines were very long. And, of
course, we chose the slowest moving line. The boys got to go right through, as they didn't have bags, but I had to wait
and wait. And wait.
When they finally got around to searching my bag, they made me take my lipstick and put it on.
Either they were worried about my appearance or they thought it was some type of poison apparatus
I was going to infect the venue with.
Strangely, my inhaler caused them no alarm. Probably more use to seeing asthma medication than
lipstick. . . .
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 (con't)
Do You Know What the Russian Flag Looks Like?
Since the fall of the Soviet Union 17 years ago, I've never really considered what their
national flag looked like. Now, I know I've probably seen it somewhere, it just didn't register.
So, in case you're wondering, this is what it looks like:
The Russian Flag
And this is what I pulled out of my closet to wear this morning.
. . .
Me inadvertently dressed as the Russian Flag
Our seats were in the ABSOLUTE last row in the upper section.
Complete nose bleed seats. Most of the seats in the upper tiers were full. The expensive seats were mostly empty.
I don't know if they were actually unsold (I haven't seen seats available anywhere) or people just didn't show up.
The Basketball stadium is next to the Baseball Stadium, both of which are new. I don't know
the architectural story behind it, but it is a strange looking place. But nice enough.
All in all, an interesting morning.
The Olympic Basketball Stadium
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
We're off to see the Olympics!
Last night we scored what we thought were tickets to USA Woman's Basketball.
We were at the Goose & Duck and the infamous but yet unseen tickets sellers showed up around 10:30.
After some pushing and shoving, I made it to the front where I said, "USA Basketball?" And, the dude said, "Yea.
How many?"
So now we are off at 8 AM to go see Belarus play Russia.
Not exactly dream tickets, but should be interesting. Game starts at 9 AM, so for those who
care at home, you can probably see Mike, I and the 14 other people who will show up to this event on any game coverage.
Don't know if they will show it at 9 PM today, your time, or 9 AM tomorrow.
Oh yea, and they are really cheap seats. Our taxi fare will cost more than what we paid.
Go Belarus? Go Russia? Hmmmmm.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
My Olympics are Different than Yours
As we are
in China, we are getting a little different version of the Olympics than say, NBC Universal would present.
In fact, all our coverage is in Chinese.Because all
we have is CCTV (the State owned television channels).We can watch CNN and get
the medal counts and check the internet for times of events we want to see, but we are basically at the mercy of what the
Chinese want to show.
Which largely centers around events they are favored to win.
That being said, I’m currently watching Michael Phelps be awarded his THIRD gold medal of
these Olympics (in Chinese of course).
However, last night we ventured over to Shiller’s for dinner, and they had pulled a television
out onto the patio and were showing some Olympic coverage.Of weightlifting.In the 62kg category (the lifters, not the weights).That’s about 136 pounds to non-kilograms peeps.
Not exactly an event I would have set my alarm for.
However, it did show some true Olympic spirit.I’m
talking about 28 year old Diego Salazar of Columbia.
I’m not going to pretend I know ANYTHING about weightlifting, including how the whole competition
unfolds, as even after watching it for about an hour (say it with me, IN CHINESE), I’m still not sure.I do know these guys were lifting almost 400 pounds OVER THEIR HEADS at the end.That’s like three times their body weight!
Diego’s first three attempts were faulted by him dropping the bar before even been able to
attempt the lift.Nine times he came out on stage to lift the lightest weight
and lost his hold on the bar.He was in tears (with a Chinese camera shoved right
up in his face).
I didn’t know if he was done, or if he would still be competing, but my heart was bleeding
for this unknown athlete who came all the way from Columbia with about 10 other countrymen to do one thing.Lift weights.His frustration was enormous.And heart wrenching.
Later in the competition he did reappear.And successfully
lifted more weight than anyone but Zhang Xiangxiang (from China).Winning for
him and for Columbia their first medal of the 2008 Games.A Silver.
And he was THRILLED.So thrilled, in fact, he was
flirting and trying to kiss one of the Chinese girls working at the medal ceremony.So much so they actually had to steer him up onto the platform to get his medal.
I like watching the “main events”, but sometimes these little moments exhibit what
the Olympics are really more about.The impossible ability of determination and
the human body.
You GO Diego Salazar.
Monday, August 11, 2008
An Olympic-y Weekend
First of all, those opening ceremonies? Way over the top. I was blown away
(and a little teary eyed). I hope you watched them, they were AMAZING. Literally beyond belief. What percision!
Dedication! Showmanship!
No matter
what the final medal count at the end of these 2008 Olympics, the people of Beijing deserve a gold medal. Each migrant worker
who helped build this shining new city, every family evicted from their ancestral home to make way for venues and developments,
any taxi driver who mastered the word “Welcome” in preparation for transporting English speaking tourists, all
who are so palatably excited about the culmination of enormous effort to host this international event.
No, China is not perfect. Beijing is not my favorite city. But the people’s efforts and enthusiasm should
be applauded.
But, the Olympics are truly about the athletes,
and I have to say, after watching events in sychronized diving, air pistol shooting (can you believe we WATCHED that?), weightlifting
and even basketball, one thing keeps coming through (my television).
Those Chinese? They really want to
win. I mean REALLY. Almost to the point where it appears there is no joy in Mudville.
Recently, I saw a quote about Liu Xiang (perhaps
the second most famous Chinese Olympic athlete, he's a hurdler who won Gold in Athens) saying, (and I paraphrase mucho here,
as I can't find the original source), "If Liu Xiang doesn't win Gold here in Beijing his win in Athens means nothing."
HUH?
This guys LEGS are insured for $13.3 Million
US Dollars.
Of course, the quote was from some important
Chinese coach or something, and they were basically saying the most important thing over the next couple weeks is that China
wins more gold medals than anyone else. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.
Now, I would love to see the US come out
first in medal count, but I salute every individual athlete who has devoted their life to their sport to a level which allows
them to compete on an international stage. What an achievement.
But watching the Chinese makes me almost
sad. It's as if they are carrying the entire weight of China on their shoulders. I don't see them smiling (even
when they WIN, which they did in air pistol and synchronized diving). They look more relieved, as if an execution squad
awaited them if they dared to lose.
It may not be true, just my observation thus
far.
I saw a program on CNN about the training
of Olympic gymnasts in China. Little girls crying while being led through exercises. Parents whos wishes for their
children out-weighed the discontent of the child. I'm talking three and four year olds here. It was heart wrenching
to watch.
But all for the greater communal good of
China.
In someone's mind.
Blech.
Friday, August 8, 2008
or 08-08-08 The Fated Day
The day is here! It seems like just yesterday it said 147. . .
Beijing has done
so much to prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics.From re-facing the entire city,
extending and building new subways, strong moves toward cleaner air and even a loosening of internet access (thank you, China!I finally saw pictures on this website for THE FIRST TIME since we’ve been here.Amazing!)
One thing that
is cracking my butt up, though, is the “Etiquette Handbook” issued to Beijing residents on how to interface with
foreigners and project a “level of civility” to the world.
Although I haven’t
got my hands on the actual booklet, and even if I did it would all be in Chinese, we have heard excerpts on the news.
Some of my favorite
instructions:
Do not wear more than three colors at one time (I think I disobey this one on a almost daily basis)
Do not wear white socks with black shoes (Mike may disobey this one when I’m not watching closely)
Do not walk around in your pajamas or underwear (this is WAY more common than you might think)
Do not shake hands with foreigners for more than 3 seconds
Do not ask foreigners their age or how much money they make
Do not “boo” foreign competitors,Clap for everyone
(SIDE NOTE:They actually invented an Olympic Clap and issued pamphlets and videos
on CCTV teaching the Chinese how to clap.Olympic Clap sounds funny, like a new
STD or something)
Do not stare at foreigners as it makes them uncomfortable
There were many
more directives, of course.No spitting, no shoving onto elevators, busses and
subways, smile, say Hello (in English).But, my all time favorite (especially
in 95 degree heat) is this:
Women – if you suffer from “thick legs”, please wear dark stockings to camouflage this deformity
Uh oh.I am definitely not wearing dark stockings around.
The initiative
does seem to be working.People seem much more friendly lately.I even had a Chinese lady who was definitely in front of me in line for the subway usher me in first.
And tonight
is the night.We have no definite plans yet.The venue/bar we were planning on attending didn’t quite get finished in time.And, we would like to be able to see some of the fireworks without having to suffer the mad crush expected at the streets
surrounding the Bird’s Nest and the Forbidden City.But, more importantly,
we would like to be able to sit in air conditioning and drink beer while enjoying all of it.
Decisions, decisions.
So, this
morning I went over and took the pic of the clock, and then went on to do my Friday morning marketing. Because I had
my camera, I decided to play Glamour Gal and do my own DO and DON'T entry into the fashion world of Beijing.
Dude got the memo, and I'll give him a pass even though his socks are blue, they are not WHITE
No matter the number of colors, this just makes me dizzy
Call is casual if you must, but there is no doubt this dude is in his underwear
I guess the pamphlet should have addressed women's sock habits as well. . .
And even WITHOUT the fake Croc-like footwear, this makes my head want to burst
This is a LOT more than three colors, setting aside the complete pattern clash
Closest thing I could find in my half mile walk to tights. . . sans the thick legs
Definitely something happening at the Post Office, although I have no idea what
These three gals were just too cute to not ask them for a photo
Our neighborhood information table, over a half million people volunteered for such jobs
Some other volunteers LINE UP for the bus!
August 5, 2008
We're Media Groupies
We just had dinner with Dan Limbaugh and Brian Sterling. They are ROCK STARS from
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
And, besides being rock stars, very nice guys.
I forgot my camera, but we took one with Brian's camera and he's PROMISED to email me the picture.
Because Mike is old, he has old friends. I don't mean biologically
old, but friends that have been around for 35+ years.
I, on the other hand, do not have any friends left from when I WAS THREE.
Our friends Pat and Molly let us know one of these "old souls" was floating around Beijing, doing
some television work for the upcoming games (you know, THE OLYMPICS!?!?).
So, we sent him and email and last night he had some free time and we met for dinner and drinks.
These two don't really even KNOW when the last time they saw each other was. Randy moved to
Maine sometime in the mid-eighties, so it's been a while.
But watching them pick up a friendship neglected for so long was like listening to a comeback tour
of The Eagles.
Seamless.
He has so many friends like this. People who were very important to him in his early 20's.
Some of them we see regularly (or as regularly as we can) and some of the resurface after many years. But they still
retain the same connections.
I think it's amazing.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
In Beijing's Defense
It's
easy to sit around and bash on China. So much material, so little time. I've done a bit of it here, and here, and everywhere.
But
sometimes the media bias overrides my negativity and I sit right up on the couch (this month's version of exercise around
this sticky city) and announce (loudly, loud enough for the room bugs to hear me. . . have I mentioned that? That our
rooms? They are BUGGED? I may have forgot to tell you that),
"That's
just not fair!"
Much
publicity has been given to how much razing of ancient housing (hutongs*) has been done in order to prepare the face
of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. And how it's displaced tens of thousands of residents. And how it's destroying
the very ethnicity of Beijing.
There
has been much of this, I will not argue. We've been here long enough to even witness some of it. And I've seen
still standing hutongs (say, directly across from the new US Embassy) that should be razed, just from the sordid smell
that emanates above the walls.
It's
really easy to glorify hutong living. As long as YOU don't have to live in one. . .
Anyway,
CNN is reporting on how Beijing is losing a large part of their ancient culture by knocking down these hutongs to make way
for the modern day, and playing on sympathies of the outside world for the people who will need to relocate.
Now,
let’s think about this for a minute.Many of these hutongs are hundred’s
of years old.Not modern.Not safe.And really?An absolute eyesore.And those displaced people?Don’t
own their houses.Never did.And
have been living on the cheap for years.
We
seem to want to hold China to a higher standard than what we live by.Oh China,
quit burning coal and polluting your lands!Oh China, keep your ancient heritage
intact!
Folks,
this is a DEVELOPING COUNTRY.They are only doing what every developed country
has done in their own past.You can’t keep everything in the name of history.There are plenty of hutongs still standing, protected by the government, and plenty
that have been refurbished to modern standards and sold for millions of yuan.
It’s
not hard to find people who think this is unfair.Especially the people who have
been living in them.
But
it’s NOT comparable to having someone come to your door in America, to your house you bought and are paying the bank
to own, and saying, “Oh, HI, we’re knocking your house down tomorrow.”
Why?
Because
THEY NEVER OWNED IT.It belongs to the STATE.It’s their property.
To
idolize living conditions that once may have been “middle-class” (although, until the recent past, this concept
didn’t exist in China), but of which many have fallen to a level just above slums, is just silly Western glorification.
Fully
one-third of the cities hutongs are still standing, and with the Olympics only 10 days away and all construction shut down
to ensure air quality, I don’t think they’ll be knocking any more down in the near future.
And
one third might not sound like a lot, but considering the city used to be NOTHING BUT HUTONGS, it’s still a considerable
amount of square footage.Certainly enough for any visitor to experience the
“old days” of Beijing.
*Hutongs are the 700-year-old
neighborhoods consisting of tiny, pedestrian alleys scattered throughout Beijing. They consist of one story buildings
built behind walls, mostly private housing, centered around courtyard living. Most do not have private baths, and some
do not have running water. Individual houses within the hutong were originally built to house one family, but today
sometimes house 10-14 people in a very small area, which has led to a lot of "adding on" of precariously built structures
to accommodate the people. During Mao's time, these hutongs became property of the state (and still are today) and allocated
to the people as state housing. Today, the people who live in the hutongs pay some kind of compensation, much like a
monthly rental. I think it averages somewhere around $55/month for a place to live.
This is a "protected" hutong, aka, one of the "touristy" ones
Thursday, July 24, 2008
When Smog is Your Friend
Yes, I'm almost British in my propensity to talk about the weather.
But, have I mentioned it's HOOOOOT? And there is no escape?
Well, besides the mall, and the movies. But a girl can only do so much of that, right?
It is more tolerable on a smoggy day. Much more pleasant to walk around in the shade
than in the hot, searing sun.
Today it's "shady" (let's go with that adjective), and walking to the grocery store and
back did not dissolve me into a large puddle of putrid sweat.
Of that I am thankful.
Here's a picture of those scrumptious mussels we've been addicted to since we discovered
them at Morel's. Tuesday I counted them. Seventy-SIX! For a mere $17.
And they come with French Fries. And Horseradish dip.
Lovely, lovely mussels. . . . YUM
We met some wine merchants from Australia at the bar last Friday
night. Tried their wine, played some darts, sat around and chatted. The usual.
Except that somewhere in there I ordered a case of wine to be delivered to the apartment
on Monday.
A CASE OF WINE. DELIVERED. SWEEEEEEEEEEET.
I shared it with TJ, he got the Shiraz while I kept the Merlot.
And all is good.
My little pretties. . . .
Monday, July 21, 2008
Olympic Faux Pa
Yes, the countdown continues, with only 18 days left until the Opening Cermonies of
the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Let's look at the things Beijing has done "right" in preparation:
Banned public spitting (yeah, right)
Instituted a national campaign aimed to educate Beijingers on the proper way to stand in a LINE
Built lots-o-lots of new hotels
Tried to encourage taxi drivers to learn *some* English
"Greened" up the town
Created "odd/even" days for driving on the roads, according to your license plate number
Closed many, if not all, surrounding factories in order to clean up the air
Expanded subways, including an airport shuttle
Now, things they haven't quite mastered:
DECREASING Air China flights into Beijing
INCREASING difficulty of getting a visa for China
Making tickets near impossible to aquire for Beijingers and visitors alike
CNN is continously reporting on how the international communicty just doesn't seem to be showing up
in the numbers the Chinese government was expecting.
Many authorities and hotel employees blame it on the earthquake, the uprising in Tibet, and security
issues.
But, if you want people to show up for an event, shouldn't you make it easier to get here, have more
flights to the actual destination and have held some tickets in reserve?
Just asking. . .
Friday, July 18, 2008
Three Days of SUN
My Vitamin D reserves have been restored.
And I've been averaging two showers a day (could have been stretched to three yesterday,
if I wasn't so lazy and buzzzed from THREE CRANBERRY MARGARITAS, a way overdue invention IMHO).
Continous blue skies after so many dismal days can dispel a diverse variety of concerns:
How many eggs did I hard boil on Monday? Three? Four? How many did I eat? I
hardboiled four, ate three, or so I thought until I banged a definitely non-hardboiled egg on my kitchen counter. Messy.
How can I find clothing in a town of women who are built to resemble stick-bugs to camouflage my increasing
growing butt? (See answer below)
Am I actually beginning (continuing) to enjoy my time here in Beijing, or am I just used to the constant
chaos?
Will we ever go HOME?
How many calories WERE there in those lovely CRANBERRY MARGARITAS? My scale seems to think
they had alot. . .
Will it rain the entire weekend? It's raining now. . . and I need to go get some books.
Joy.
What is the meaning of the Universe?
What is the meaning of my life?
Will I ever get to Level 12 on the game I posted for ya'll yesterday?
See? I don't even care about the answers to these burning questions (well, except maybe the egg
one, as I already know that answer and the calories in cranberry margs, as I'll probably need some more of them. I may
have to give up food entirely, which I am already pretty darn close to).
So, in case it's not sunny and blue-skied wherever you are, here are some gratuitous mini-shots of Beijing
in Blue (very rare, I might add).
Blue sky at the drum tower . . .
Along the 3rd Ring Road
and blue sky on Andingmen street
above the protective walls. . . .
and at Lama Temple
and above the Chinese rooftops. . . Can't tell you what the blue sky does for my mood. . .
Whilst (I'm having a reoccuring love/hate relationship with this word,
very unlike my reoccuring Burt Reynolds dream) walking around this great big ole town for the last four point five months, I've encountered these wonderful power boxes.
Despite the predominance of Chinglish everywhere, this one actually makes sense.
Get it? N. R. G.? Cool.
So clever. . . although maybe they come prestamped. Nah. EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD is made HERE!
I returned to one of my fave clothes shopping area (it's not really a secret,
but I never see any other round-eyes there and I always find something that fits!) and bought two much needed pairs of shorts,
a dress, 2 shirts, and a pair of pants. They all fit, although that striped shirt looks HUGE and is actually bordering
on too small. I will wear them all while here, and probably leave a few things behind.
Why?
Total investment? >$20US. SWEEET! Forget Zara's and the mall, this is my new
shopping paradise.
Maybe not the height of fashion, but it was cheap!
Notice I didn't iron these items for the photo. . .
Don't worry Mom, I did wash and iron them before putting them away. All your work in raising
me wasn't lost. . .
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A Great Way to Waste Time
Although I found this game earlier this year, while we were still parked at home in
snowy Michigan, I haven't played it in over four months.
Which led to me wasting 1.5 hours this morning trying to get past Level 11.
Seems I'm not quite as geographically suave as I thought.
Around the Olympic Village and some Chinese Culture
It's been a while since I've had a self- guided field trip, mainly due
to the weather. I can't quite motivate myself to go out and take pictures when I can't see my hand in front of my face
(or it's raining, or it's just a billion degrees). But yesterday was clear and sunny and *only* around 85 with a nice
breeze. . . so I would have felt too guilty not doing something.
Believe it or not, we haven't been down to the Olympic Park (not that you can actually go inside or
anything, so it's really not that exciting), only driven past a handful of times (it's kinda far north to be going by on a
regular basis enroute to somewhere else), so I went on down to see what progress had been made and if I could get some good
pics.
Not being familiar with this part of town, my cab dropped me off right next to the Bird's Nest, but
I wasn't really sure where I was in relation to what I did know. I walked along the fence for a while until realizing
I was going the *wrong* way, turned back around and headed along the front of the complex.
I had to try and cram my HUGE lens through the tiny openings in the fence, AND focus, but I got a
couple good shots. The stadium is massive, and although I'm not wholly in love with the architecture, it is quite amazing.
A good picture, considering, but you can't imagine the SIZE of this place. . . I'll show you later
This is supposed to look like the Olympic Torch. . . just squint a little
Directly across the eighteen lane highway running in front of the Bird's
Nest is the Chinese Nationalities Museum. We have also seen this many times from moving vehicles. It's like a
Chinese Epcot Center, with all 56 minor ethnic groups represented inside by traditional architecture (and supposedly food
and entertainment, but that wasn't really true). After finding the bridge across the road I couldn't find the entrance.
And again, there were NO SIGNS in English. It was still very hot but I walked around the complex (well, halfway, and
this is 50 ACRES!) and found the entrance.
It cost 90 Yuan, which is the highest admission price I've paid to get in anywhere here in Beijing.
And probably the biggest rip-off in town.
These were big, multi-colored flowers all along the backside of the park, never seen them before. .
Canoe's from the Li minority (maybe)
Groovy waterwheels from the Va's (?)
This section of town is DEFINITELY ready for the Olympics. The sidewalks
are wide, the flowers have been planted, the stadiums are finished (complete with western toilets, after a HUGE remodel of
the bathrooms), and yesterday, the air even was clear.
There were a lot of traffic signs in English, but not many directions to the new and now open Olympic
Subway line. In fact, there were none. It was quite warm walking around the park, and nowhere to buy water or
take a leak, but I'm sure that will change once the fences come down.
There was a TGI Friday's just inside the fence as well. Obviously, we must have an American
hand in everything.
I never did find the subway station. I can imagine it might be inside the fences.
What it looks like from the outside, and this is a HUGE area
These dudes from (possibly) the Gaoshan minority
Everything (almost) is written in Chinese, so I have no idea what these cool dudes represent
The admission price included two maps, one in Chinese only and one in English
and Chinese. It was pretty hard to follow, as it appeared that many things on the map weren't actually in existence.
The park is two different sections on opposite sides of the road, and I explored the North section first. There were
impressive areas and structures, but again, very little information in English about what I was actually looking at.
And, although there may be 56 different ethnic groups, overall the architecture wasn't all that different amongst groups living
in close proximity. A bit redundant.
It IS a park, however, and a nice place to spend a very warm day. There were winding stone paths
through the brush, suspension bridges, stone bridges, wooden bridges, and even some hills to climb (little ones).
The park did seem a bit run-down, however. Not entirely well tended. A lot of weeds on
the pathways and just a general sense of abandonment, which wasn't helped by the absolute lack of fellow tourists. I
think there may have been a total of 100 people inside, not including the gals with the straw brooms sweeping the weed infested
pathways and the hawkers selling handicrafts.
The Dong's like their geese, put them on top of their temples
Huge display of the Dong minority, and neat to see
I think this is from the Dai minority, reminescent of Burma (and Cambodia, and Thailand)
I'm going with the Miao's here, sweet tepee
I finally stroll into Tibet, at last a culture I can recognize
It took me about two hours to meander through the north section and I thought
about calling it a day. I was literally sopping wet with sweat. But after climbing the "Tibetan" hill I could
glimpse the South Side and it DID look interesting, so I soildered on, knowing I was going to be a mess by the end.
I like this Dong tower, or maybe I just like typing the word Dong
And an actual goose hiding out under the Lahu house
Cute Achang dancers (I'm ALMOST making this up, but I really do think I'm right)
Up on top of a hill, near the end of the North Park circuit is the Tibetan
display. It is by far the biggest section of the North Park, and the most impressive (to me), possibly because I could
recognize it. I felt a little like I was walking into Lhasa.
And a colorful Tibetan Temple
Entering the South Side was quite impressive. The first thing you
saw after traveling through the Bai Village was a big temple up on a hill. I, of course, headed straight for it, which
led to me getting myself in trouble.
I mentioned there were all types of creative ways to get from point A to B, and halfway up the side
of the hill I saw a neat elevated cement walkway through the treetops with rope side. Instead of backtracking down (which,
in fairness, I tried to do but the pathway I tried was flooded), I decided to just climb up a tree and on to the walkway where
it was nearest to the tier I was on. After walking for about five minutes and taking some pictures from above of the
park and the Bird's Nest (by far the best view of the day) a security guard started yelling at me from below.
Obviously, I wasn't supposed to be up there. There wasn't anyone else on the walkway, but in
my defense, as I mentioned there were very few people in the park.
I thought I would probably get evicted once I got down, but I never saw the security guard again,
and I had to climb down the same way I got up, as it was overgrown just past where I had gotten up.
Corridor bridge connecting the She and Gelo communities
My illegal shot. . . you can get a better sense of it's looming presence from here
Most of this side of the park appeared to be closed. The "mountain
side" I was trying to scale was closed, as were many other exhibitions. I saw as much as I could, including some goats.
This section of the park has been "completed" since 2001, so I'm not sure why there was such limited
accessibility.
I think it was the Holiday Inn Express' fault! They are building a HOTEL inside the PARK.
In fairness, they were trying to camouflage the outside to blend in with the park, but still seemed
odd.
And I never did find the entrance to the Main Exhibition Hall, either. Would have probably been
air conditioned.
Strange to see a mosque here in China, even here, tucked WAY IN THE BACK of the park
three different ethniticities and a big tower
Grabbed a cab at the exit and almost caught hypothermia from putting my
hot, soaked body into an air conditioned compartment for thirty minutes. Grabbed a shower, picked up the laundry and
greeted my lovely husband at the door looking fresh as a daisy.
Or at least fresh.
Then I finally got my mussels and wine. . . YUM.
Might as well take one of the "white tower" before I scramble down. . . no idea of ethniticity. . .
Home sweet home for the Mongols, or maybe the Kazaks, or the Ewenki, they all look the same. . . :-)
oh the corruption, the absolute corruption. . .
So, anyway, now I can chalk the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park off my list
of things to do. Not that it was actually ON the list, but whatever. Not sure I would recommend it, at least not
in hot weather.
It would have been a bit more interesting with more English signage and such. Could be a real
learning opportunity, but instead felt like a wander through a neglected, if not diverse, garden.
At least I didn't get arrested for my scrambling up on the walkway. Might have been a bit hard
to explain to Mike and the authorities. . . .
Tuesday,
July 15, 2008
Thank You and Goodbye
There's
no way to accurately state the amount of migrant workers (workers from outside of Beijing) present in the capital today.
Last years estimate from the government was 5.3 million, almost 30% of the population. However, many sources say this
number is low, as they regularly do not register with the police
These
migrant workers have been important to the re-construction/de-construction of Beijing since awarded the Olympic bid.
They have single handedly rebuilt this city and provided an income to their more impoverished families out in the hinterlands.
They
have also been the main recyclers in this self-stated "Green City", which, as of today, has no formal recycling program in
effect. 18 Million people + throwing away all their cans, bottles, and glass. I can't remember how many plastic
bottles it takes for them to make one CNY, but something like a thousand.
But
you see them daily diligently picking through garbage cans and waste bins, piling them on their bicycle-powered carts and
hauling them to the recycling center outside of town.
And
their reward for all their hard work? A three month vacation starting 7/20. Anyone without official Beijing residency
(READ: BORN IN BEIJING) must return to their home towns.
Migrant
workers are commonly blamed for all the "improper" behaviors in Beijing: the spitting, the littering, the shoving, the
inability to stand in a line. They are also blamed for most the hepatitis and tuberculosis in the city.
Now,
I'm not saying these people are the most couth or even the most clean residents of Beijing, but I do feel sad that they won't
be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors during the Olympic festivities.
Not
that they could have got tickets or anything.
(To
keep in line with my current postings, it turned out to be a beautiful day today, despite the forecast, so I'm going for a
long overdue visit to the Bird's Nest Stadium to take some pics. Of course, I can only stand on the road and do this,
but better than the drive-by shots I've taken in the past. And, for the record, I didn't get my mussel's last night,
as Morels is closed on Monday! Tonight I will feast upon them. Oh, and I'm going to try and resume posting at
my "other site" if you are interested.)
Monday, July 14, 2008
Lovely
You just can't make me happy. I cried all
weekend about the heat, even with blue sky in evidence. I woke up this morning to smog, talked to my parents on the
phone for an hour, took a shower, looked outside and it appeared that rain was on the way.
So I pulled up the weather forecast. Looks like I'll have lots to whine about for
the next ten days.
10-Day Forecast
High
/ Low (°F)
Precip.
%
Today Jul 14
PM T-Storms
75°/67°
60 %
Tue Jul 15
Rain / Thunder
80°/70°
100
%
Wed Jul 16
Mostly Cloudy
89°/70°
10 %
Thu Jul 17
Mostly Cloudy
89°/68°
20
%
Fri Jul 18
Scattered T-Storms
86°/68°
60 %
Sat Jul 19
Scattered T-Storms
87°/70°
40
%
Sun Jul 20
Scattered T-Storms
86°/71°
40 %
Mon Jul 21
Scattered T-Storms
86°/71°
50
%
Tue Jul 22
Scattered T-Storms
88°/71°
60 %
Wed Jul 23
Scattered T-Storms
85°/72°
60
%
But, regardless of the weather, I will dine on
mussels from Morel's (and a whole bottle of wine all to myself) this evening. I swear it.
Do you sometimes think all I talk about is the weather, food, and the Great Wall?
Me too.
Except when I'm talking about drinking. . .
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Blinded by the Light
After a cruise through the Hutong last night, dinner on the
rooftop at the Kebab place (the one I threw up after last time), spending a whopping 200 kuai on dinner and drinks (US $28),
we woke this morning to. . . . CRISP, BLUE SKIES. Amazing. Went up to the roof and took pictures.
OMG!?!? What is all that BLUE STUFF above Beijing?
The requisite Saturday morning activities were handled:
Lounging around drinking coffee, making Mike a formidable breakfast, lounging some more, Mike doing his expenses, we decided
to walk over to the Hilton, get the papers and go to the park.
But after the grueling 10 minute walk, we realized it was just too dang hot to go to the park.
That sun is vicious. So we went to a cafe, drank tea and worked the puzzles.
Walked home absolutely glistening. Well, I was glistening. I'm pretty sure Mike was just
plain sweating.
Funny article on the front page of the China Daily this morning, though. . . .
No dog for you, Olympic visitors. . .
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
We're all about the Spice!
I don't think we will be able to eat much Chinese food when we return to home (WHENEVER
THAT MAY BE!). When I first started really enjoying Chinese food at home (long enough ago we don't need to mention a
time frame here), I thought it was "spicy". Since then, my palate has evolved, and what I used to find spicy I now find
bland.
I can't remember the last time I ate Chinese food at home and found it spicy.
And while we have been eating at rather touristy Chinese food places here (read: expensive in
comparison to a "local" joint), we've had some rather good food (read: SPICY!), I've wondered if we were getting some
watered down version or Westernized adaptation of REAL Chinese food.
But after bravely wandering into some more off the beaten track type places in the last months, I'm
convinced we are getting real Chinese food, even when we are ordering Kung Pao chicken (hey, it ain't General Tso's!).
Although wikipedia claims them both to be equally Chinese-born.
Some of my faves include the pepper beef with vegetables on an iron skillet, Beijing dumplings, Mongolian
beef, and duck.
Which will never be as good in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Sigh.
HOWEVER, it does appear I have at least 10 more weeks to enjoy our authentic Chinese cuisine.
Once again, are leave date has been pushed. September 16 is now D-Day.
For now. And does include a return trip sometime later in the fall. If we ever actually
leave.
So, the other day I was making a list of things to write about here and I wrote down this: Safe
$. Today, two days later, I have no idea what this means. I'm looking at it scratching my head. Safe Money?
Save Money? Safe Dollars? WTH?
Kinda scary. It's bad enough to look back at things you wrote in the distant past and wonder
"What was I thinking?", but two days ago? Hmmmm.
So needless to say I won't be writing about "safe $" today.
But I will tell you about our weekend at the Wall and the Red Capital Ranch at Mutianyu. I booked us a fairly
expensive weekend away ($200/night plus transportation plus food and drinks) in honor of, well, in honor of nothing really.
Just an excuse to get out of town. The Red Capital Ranch is advertised as quite a posh place and we booked a Weekend
Special, which included a private bungalow with a view of the wall, Half-bottle of Moet champagne, horseback riding and a
spa visit.
The location is great, in a river valley between two mountains with unrestored sections of the wall, accessible by
hiking. It is in a little town where all the residents have a family name of Mao and are direct descendants of The Chairman
of the Same Name.
But posh? Not really.
Horseback riding? Uh, two horses, no place to ride them. Oversold option. Private Bungalow? Check.
View of the Wall from bungalow? Nope. Spa visit? Yes, you may go to the SAUNA for free. Oh thanks,
it's already a SAUNA just standing outside! Half bottle of Moet? Check.
Home Sweet Home. Our bungalow was named Thunder. Tj's was Wind. How fitting. . .
Despite the somewhat false advertising, we did have a very nice time at the Ranch, but were somewhat disappointed at
the (lack of) activities available to us. The accommodations were advertised as medieval Manchurian Hunting Lodges,
but they were actually constructed (quite nicely) by ruins from places knocked down in Beijing over the last 5 years in preparation
for the Olympics.
There were a lot of beautiful carvings and sculptures around the grounds. And
a caged pack of husky-looking dogs.And ducks.Felt very rustic and campy and groovy.
The Tea House where we never did have any tea. . . just malt beverages. . .
Our "hitching post" outside the bungalow
The manager was highly helpful and very friendly. The owner was on site for the weekend with his family, but
did not speak to anyone despite sharing the dining room on at least three different occasions. Oh, sorry, on Sunday
he did say "Good Morning".
The food was fantastic, we ate a lot of it, but the beer supply was lacking. TJ, Mike and I managed to pretty
much drink them out of cold beer over the weekend. The Tibetan gals who worked there were highly apologetic, but I think
they were in awe of our beer consuming abilities.
Sometimes I'm in awe of our beer
consuming abilities.
Rainy view of the wall from NEAR our bungalow, I'll show you a sunny picture later. . .
Local doggie. His owner was trying to explain the red mark to me, in Chinese. . . no idea. . .
Lots of honey production in the valley, saw lots of "bee-boxes"
Despite the rain, lots of locals out and about fishing, eating, drinking. . .beautiful area
Although it was still raining when we returned we decided to scale the mountain up to the first unrestored tower of
the Wall. It was a bit treacherous, wet and slippery, but we made it and had some decent views. I would have liked
to gone all the way to the top, but the day was so dismal we knew we wouldn't be able to see much. The Wall was cool,
though, had trees growing all over it (just like the photos, imagine!) and we took lots of pics (of course).
Back down to the ranch, a shower, a nap, then on to dinner (Mongolian BBQ Lamb Ribs, Spicy Chicken and corn fritters
with local honey - YUM!). Decided to go to Mutainyu Great Wall Park on Sunday, leaving at noon, then back to Beijing.
Arranged our transport with the manager, played cribbage for a while and walked back to our bungalows. Where we noticed
the sky had cleared considerably and there were a Ga-trillion stars in the sky.
It was amazingly beautiful.
And we were all sick in the night. I'm blaming it on the lamb ribs. . . .
As far as we made it, and dirty and wet when we arrived. Hard work, but only took about 45 minutes
Cool dude came to help us with our cribbage game, but we shooed him off, those claws look dangerous!
So much prettier when the sun is out, glad we stayed an extra night!
Our new destination, after we messed up on the cable car ride
Such a beautiful day, and such a gorgeous Wall!
I hope this is a different photo, I got confused on what I called them. . .
I am a beauty queen. . . what being sick all night and walking in 90 degrees ON A WALL does to me
The slide ride down could have been a blast, but too many
people on it behaving too timidly. It took about 10 or 12 minutes to ride down in a aluminum tube (think half tube,
like a water park) on a little wheeled cart with a brake lever and an accelerator. Unfortunately, we were trapped in
traffic jams and couldn't let her rip. Worth the 20 kua ($3) and definitely better than walking down.
We arrived back in Beijing safe and sound, taking a very
scenic route back through lots of farm land until BOOM we were in the city, very close to our house.
It was also a very clear and blue and HOT day in Beijing, but it was late afternoon, and we were in
need of showers so waited until the sun went down and went and grabbed a light dinner down the street.
Yesterday and today? YUCK. Hot, sticky and rainy. Hence I do not feel so bad I just
spent SIX HOURS doing the above. . .
Suppose to be the same all week, so be prepared for mega-postings. . . heehee.
Cute bar where we spent surprisingly little time. . . we drank elsewhere, never fear. . .
Another decent place to have a cold one. . . one of many pavillions around the property
Outside of bar and restaurant and War Room (lobby)
These old fashioned lights were scattered throughout the ranch, I thought it looked like an owl
We arrived around noon on Friday morning and it was a very hot and sticky overcast day. Late in the day a thunderstorm
swept through the valley, providing us some entertainment into the evening with lightning and thunder and sideways rain.
It did break the heat a bit, however.
Saturday, after breakfast we wandered through the town (in a light rain), through some agriculture areas, saw some
bee hives and strolled down the (only) road through some fish farms and ended up at an outdoor fishing and restaurant area
full of Chinese people. A very resort-y type valley, and I'm sure there are thousands of places to stay and enjoy the
scenery without spending the money we did, if you can speak Chinese. There were very few (none) round-eyes around.
Except our hotel which was almost all Americans (odd).
The locals seemed very friendly,
even with the communication problems and did engage us without the normal gaping and staring we get in Beijing. Made
we wish I spoke Chinese (not just for convenience).
Some colorful Mao descendants hanging out in the rain
Friendly beekeeper showing off his bees
A lone tower perched above our valley
Our rainy day climb, we will be heading for that FIRST level, not the mountain top. . .
Would have been hard to walk amongst the trees, but would have done it on a sunny day. . . maybe
We woke up Sunday to a magnificently sunny and clear day, complete with puffy clouds. Despite all of us not feeling
up to par, we decided to muster on to the Wall. We have been so lucky with the weather on our Wall expeditions.
Although we knew it was going to be HOT HOT HOT, the visibility was going to be awesome.
Drove about 40 minutes over the park, left our driver in the parking lot, took the cable cars up and walked for about
and hour and fifteen minutes. We didn't get to do the walk we wanted, we bought tickets on the wrong cable car and didn't
realize it until about 1/4 of the way up. We had booked cable car up, slide down (more about that later), but we really
needed to buy tickets for the OTHER cable car up, then slide down. We made the best of it by walking through a newly
opened section, then back to the slide. It was an adequate walk, not sure we really could have done too much more.
Okay, it IS gray, but STILL, this is the TICKET BOOTH. Need some proofreaders here. . .
Looking up, but still can't see that last tower. . .
Looking back along the entire Mutianyu stretch
Not only is the Wall amazing, so are the surroundings
Mike has the chore of "beer run", followed closely by TJ
Friday, July 4, 2008
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
It's one of our FIVE PAID HOLIDAYS!
Woot!
Thursday, July 1, 2008
We "HEART" Lamma
Our Hong Kong trip turned into a Lamma weekend, which, of
course, worked out just fine. We spent a total of about 3 hours on the big island. . .
Seems Lamma is a bit of a black hole for Mike and I.
In our defense, we had nothing but downpours from pretty much the moment we arrived on Lamma and just
couldn't find the gumption to walk ALL THE WAY to the ferry to walk around HK in the rain.
Not like we'd never been there before.
Plus, it was soooo relaxing to just lounge around a car-free, noise free, pollution free island (with
a drink in hand). A very pleasant escape from Beijing and its mayhem.
We did a quick circuit around Lan Kwai Fong with TJ and Donnie Friday afternoon after (finally) getting
into town. We dropped our bags at their hotel and hit a couple of our ex-regular places, including the Globe, Ebenezer's
Kabobs and XTC Gelato (HOT CHOCOLATE! Chocolate gelato with black pepper. It ROCKS).
When we jumped the 6:40 ferry to Lamma we ran into Louise and Louise, so we had their company on the
way over, and after disembarking, fell directly into the Island Bar. Until 11 PM when we finally went and checked into
our hotel.
As I mentioned, when we woke Saturday it was raining, so we adjourned to the pub for breakfast and
lots-o-coffee and watched the rain. Went and had haircuts, bloody mary's at the Island Bar (Hi to Kay!), back for a
nap then rendevouzed with John and Louise T back at the homestead for snacks and drinks, which led to dinner and drinks and
then to drinks with most the crew, again at the Island Bar.
We about wore out the pavement between the two best drinking establishments on Lamma.
The "crew"
This is the "junk" next to ours, which is what ours looks like, but I didn't take a picture. . .
Fisherman at "our" cove
Despite the weather it was a WONDERFUL weekend. I can't
believe we've been sitting in Beijing for four months without a get away. It was great. I didn't hardly take any
pictures, though, as I kept thinking, "Gee, I have enough intoxicated pictures of these people right at home on my computer,"
and lots of pics of Lamma as well. I should have taken more.
Bad me.
When we returned to Beijing it was NASTY for two days. Rainy and sandy and dirty. Today
it cleared off and was just plain HOT. At 10 AM it said it was 88, felt like 97. I haven't been back to check
it since. I don't want to know.
But we are getting packed up for a lower key weekend at the wall where I promise I'll take plenty
of photos. Maybe even some of familiar drunk people.
UPDATE: We are now scheduled here FOR SURE through the Olympics. Oh joy. Good side?
Planning another HK weekend for Labor Day (8/29 - 9/1), hope that works out. Got a little taste of my fave city, now
I'm jonesing to go back.
Funny, seems there are a plethora of hotels available for the Olympics. But no tickets.
Hmmmm. Bad planning? Will have to see if I can score some to something. . . my first Olympics and all.
The "kids" (yes, Rajen, you qualify!)
The highlight of the weekend was Sunday, with a pre-planned "Junk Trip"
(thanks John!). We walked through torrential rain to the ferry dock just as the boat was pulling in, and as the first
foot hit the ship, the rain miraculously quit falling.
And stayed quit for an entire 8 hours while we cruised around, swam, drank, ate and generally
enjoyed each others company. Even had a little sunburn action out there.
When we docked and moved the party to the Island Bar it immediately started raining again. Maybe
it had something to do with US being on SOIL. I don't know.
Mike doing what Mike does best on a boat
Weather is not affecting the shipping industry. . . that's a BIG BOAT
The famous Lamma Windmill
Thursday, June 16, 2008
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!
Eight years ago today on a hot and sweltering afternoon in West Virginia, high above
the New River Gorge, I became Mrs. Rachelle Stout.
SCARY. Heeheehee.
And, because we dated for FOUR YEARS before getting married, we pretty much knew what we were in for.
Serene happiness. Most the time.
It amazes me that after eight years I can still love him a little more everyday, find out something
new about him almost every week, and appreciate him on an hourly basis.
I'll get back with you after 20 years. . .
I kid.
Besides being spoiled rotten with a wonderful husband, I also get to leave for Hong Kong with him
for a four day weekend tomorrow AM. And, when we get back?
Three days of work, then another long weekend at the Red Capital Ranch at the Great Wall, Mutianyu
where we will have a spa package, horse back riding, and champagne. With a view from our Manchurain Hunting Lodge bungalow
of the Great Wall.
My life rocks.
It will, however, probably rain the entire time we are in Hong Kong.
Pics to come of the weekend (not that there will probably be any new sites in Hong Kong since last
year, but whatever!).
Monday, June 23, 2008
I am SO HOT
Once again, I must ponder the overwhelming fact that Asian people DO NOT SWEAT. Seriously. What is
up with that?
Dear Asian Chickadees: How can it be 95F and humid and you can walk around looking fresh as a daisy?
I first encountered this phenomenon in 2001, in Seoul, Korea, my initial Asian spree. It was an absolutely sweltering
day with a humidity level of about 10 billion. I set out from our apartment to walk to Mike's work place (about
a 25 minute stroll) and by the time I arrived I was SOAKED. Seriously dripping wet.
As I crossed the street at my destination, there was a Korean policewoman standing in the direct sunlight, wearing
long sleeves, pants, a police-y looking cap made of WOOL, hardware around her waist that probably weighed more than her,
and GLOVES.
Looking just like she stepped out of a salon. Make-up? Perfect. Hair? Well, mostly hidden by
said very hot looking hat, but no signs of streaming sweat rolling down the back of the neck.Not even a glimpse of womanly glistening.
While I felt like I just spent the last 25 minutes in a sauna, she looked like she'd been sitting in an icebox.
I remember thinking exactly the same thing I'm thinking now. "What the HELL is UP with THAT?" Are Asians
missing some kind of sweat gene? Do they just not feel the heat? Now, unlike other Asiatic places (like Thailand,
Cambodia, Brunei, Bali and Burma), Korea actually has FOUR MAJOR SEASONS (in fact Seoul lies on the same longitude as Gaylord,
Michigan, home to Mike's Mom), so it cannot be they are inured to the hot.
Anyway.Enough of the mysteries of the world.
Beijing has been fairly polite to us weather-wise.We knew the ungodly
heat was coming, but we’ve been pretty blessed.I actually recall saying
more than once, “Well, if this is as bad as it gets, it’s pretty livable”.But we have not been looking forward to enduring the hottest month of the year (July) in a humid and polluted city.
And this weekend. Ewww. It was HOT. And next weekend? We are
going to Hong Kong where yesterday at 9 AM it was 84 with a heat index of 94, and RAINING. Woot.
I can’t thank the person who invented air conditioning enough.Then
I think of all the billions of people in the world who live in chronically hot and humid locales without air conditioning
and I wonder how they survive.Or in extremely cold areas, without central
heating.Or in developing countries, without running water.
With all our attention focused on the rising cost of oil these days, I worry about the scarcity of water.Like oil, there is only a finite amount of fresh water on the planet.Already, one sixth of the world’s population has no access to fresh drinking water.Today’s fresh water supply in the US is the about same as it was 200 years ago.However, at present it is the resource for 250 million people instead of 4 million.
Will there be a day when we wake up and realize how much water we waste.I
think about it when I brush my teeth.No, I do not need to let the water run
while I’m brushing.I think about it in the shower.One day will I have to pay $4/gallon for water as I shower (which would be a horrific bill, a ten-minute
shower equals 20 gallons of water)?I think about my underground sprinklers (albeit,
equipped with a rain sensor), my power washer, my washing machine.This is in
interesting website for estimating how much water you use:http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sq3.html.Mine said about 90 gallons daily.Whew.
In our lifetimes, will we see air conditioning, daily showers, cars and air travel as advantages for only the very
rich, like in the past?I have to say, with our history of misuse, it’s
decidedly probable.We have a blatant disrespect for such issues until they become
insufferable.While we literally flush gallons and gallons of potable water away
on a daily basis there are already people living without any access to fresh water, at any price.
In America, if you want to wash your car, you attach your hose to the spigot, get a bucket of soapy water and go at
her.You know how they do it overseas?They take two buckets of water, one with soap and one without.They suds
up the car, then rinse.From those two buckets.No gallons of water flying through the air, creating pretty prisms in the sun, then running off to rain gutters or
sewer systems.
Folks, we have lots to learn (and to teach our children).Water is more
valuable than oil.Humans lived without aggressively drilling oil until about
200 years ago.
But we cannot live without water.
Oops.I really didn’t mean to rant about this quite so hard, it’s
just been on my mind as of late.Probably because I’m not driving right
now so I don’t have $4/gallon gasoline to occupy my every thought.
Let me instead tell you the slightly entertaining story of how I acquired our Hong Kong airline tickets from Air China.
Thursday I decided it was time to take getting airline tickets for our group into my own hands, as no one else was
doing anything.I had previously tried to buy them online from Air China, but
they don’t take MasterCard and rejected my VISA (what’s up with that!?!?).
My only option was to find the Air China ticket office nearest me.I found
the address which appeared closest to us, but it was just “the name of the building” on North 3rd Ring
Road.Of course, I don’t know the names of all the buildings on our street.
So I googled the building name and found a website that had PICTURES of buildings in major cities. And, the building is just across the street from us.
Now, I could have went downstairs, had the front desk call Air China, and then have them tell me where to go, but it
was SO MUCH MORE FUN playing Sherlock Holmes on Google.
Plus, they took MasterCard there.
This morning I walked over to the Hilton (amongst other things, including going to the Bookworm to get books to find
the lending library CLOSED!No fair!I
walked all the way there!) to buy the weekend edition of The Herald Tribune (which we buy Thursday through Monday basically
for the crossword).The young gal who works there knows me by sight and always
engages me in a conversation.Today, we talked about the weather (how HOT it
is), and I started saying how many natural disasters there has been this year.She
didn’t even know about the cyclone in Burma or the one that just hit the Philippines.I wonder just how isolated this people are from news.Obviously, most
Chinese only get the government television channels, and a lot of people who can speak English cannot read it.
But, man.Is it good to keep your people so in the dark about the world?I can’t think so, especially now when they are such a huge part of the world
economy.It never ceases to amaze me.
And now?It’s late afternoon and has been raining for about two hours.I hope it cools things down a bit.
Alrightly, Thanks for sticking with me through that massively meandering missive.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
There is a chicky here with long brown hair. Seriously long. She hasn't
had her hair cut in THIRTEEN YEARS! She trims it herself, I think.
Now, I'm not going to comment on her hair or what I think about growing it for so long, or even on
what it actually looks like.
But I will comment on the fact it takes her TWO HOURS EVERYDAY to mess with it.
If this was me, at some point in my life I would want those hours BACK. It's bad enough we have
to waste time waiting in line, sitting in traffic, going to meetings and such. And I do think a certain part of each
day should be dedicated to appearance and overall hygiene.
But this just seems like having a part time job!
I, on the other hand, have been wasting copious amounts of time in the last 10 days. I've finally
investigated selling some of my photos for profit, which ate up about thirty six hours of loading pictures to various
"photo warehouses", where well over 90% of what I uploaded has been declined.
Okay.
And investigating various outlets for creative travel writing on the web for around 48 hours, only
to find I should probably write something worthy of submission BEFORE such research. And also discovering I'm having
difficulty coming up with AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT!
Which may be worse than not having anything to submit.
I spent another 14 hours being seriously sick from something I ate or drank (TJ had the same time
period and sickness, so I think our beer glasses were being inadequately washed or something).
Chalk another 40 hours in the last ten days up to dinner and drinking, 70 to sleeping and 5 to my
own vanity and I only have about 25 hours I need to account for (which I already know I used for reading, doing crosswords,
messing around on the internet, napping).
But at least I didn't spend 20 of them on my HAIR!
Just letting you know what I've been up to on the far side of the world.
NOTHING PRODUCTIVE!
We are going to Hong Kong for a long weekend July 27 - 30. At least I hope we are.
We haven't bought any airline tickets yet. But our friends have a big Junk Tour planned for the 28th, so that will be
fun. As long as we get there.
And last weekend marked the date we were originally suppose to fly home. Although I haven't
expressed any overall love for Beijing everytime I think we are nearing our departure date I get a little nervous. Seems
part of me just doesn't want to leave. Which leads me to believe there's something here I'm still suppose to do.
Which means I better quit wasting so much time.
Tuesday,
June 10, 2008
Climbing
the Walls
10 Kilometers
from Jinshanling to Simitai
Last week I booked
us a car and driver for Sunday with the sole intention of getting back to the Great Wall.Although I enjoyed both Badaling and Mutianyu, I haven’t felt like we’ve truly absorbed the Great Wall
experience in the same intensity as other “wonders of the world”.In
Egypt, we went to the Pyramids at least three times and saw them on an almost weekly basis while golfing.Machu Pichu and the surrounding areas were done in a four day weekend.Angkor Wat in two days.Petra in one very long day.We lived and breathed the sights of Rome and Athens daily.
Climbing
on the Great Wall is strenuous.It’s NOT flat.Like a giant dragon, it creeps and winds along the very crest of mountain ranges.Which are typically NOT FLAT.The little wall walking we’ve
done has been a deterrent to more, not an experience leaving you wanting more.Well,
you may WANT more, but your body is unwilling.
So in deep
defiance of the above, we decided we could walk the 10 kilometers from Jinshanling to Simitai.
Most reports say
it’s a four hour trek.There are no organized tours.If you want to do it, you must arrange for it yourself.I
would imagine this is because once you get started there is no backing out, and not many tour guides are going to be willing
or able to carry your exhausted body along the wall if you poop out.Spouses
are not willing either, I found out.
When we booked
our transportation we still were not certain we were going to walk.We talked
about it all week, I researched it on line.I wasn’t convinced I/we were
in good enough shape to actually make it.Not a lot of true hiking experience
between the three of us.We also had no idea what the weather would be, and walking
in the rain, or in a deep fog did not seem appealing.We could opt to drive between
the two points and experience them separately.
Sunday morning
came with bright sunshine and some haze.Our pick-up was at 10 AM, and Jinshanling
is about 2.5 hours out of town.By the time we arrived at the park it was very
clear, and very, very hot.We needed chow and took our driver to the café inside
the gates.Somewhere in the time frame of the drive and before lunch we had decided
we were definitely walking.From the parking lot and café you cannot see the
wall.Or the mountain.But you can
see the mountains.And we saw plenty of them on the way in.It looks intimidating.
Lunch was
good, although I almost ordered the Dog.It was on the menu.Dog50 Kuai.I
was pointing it out to TJ when our waitress peeked over my shoulder.I had to
assure her in no uncertain terms we were not interested in Dog.Besides, we weren’t
interested in much that might come back at us on the walk sans outhouses.Something
simple and light with enough carbs to power us up and over.Lots of rice and
potato (spicy potato strings, very yummy).A little chicken, a little beef, some
unknown very sweet dish that was suppose to be cucumbers but I’m sure was not.Bid our driver adieu, told him to send out the PLA if we weren’t in Simitai in 5 hours, and headed over to the
cable cars for the initial ascent.
The cable cars
were very old and very slow.Two people per car and the climb took about 20 minutes.As we crested over the first foothill and saw the Wall meandering above us, complete
with massive amounts of stairs and climbing, I thought, “Uh, Oh”.Did
I forget to mention it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit?Oh dear.
No turning
back now, however.Our driver was already in route to Simitai where he would
patiently spend the day napping, playing cards, and hopefully not drinking, awaiting our arrival.
First peek coming up in the cable car
One of the first of 30 towers we will hike through, this one is very much rebuilt
Immediately,
we were “assigned” Mongolian tour guides.They just follow you.For a LONG TIME.Carrying water and souvenirs.Trailing after you, telling you important facts in broken English.Like, “This tower has 138 steps.Next tower 143 steps.”Not very encouraging.Any attempt to
rebuke them or shoo them away is rebutted.They ARE going with you until the
15th tower, where you will be forced to buy something in exchange for their company on your walk.
Thirty minutes
in, I think I’m going to die.We are at Tower 5, of the 30 we will pass
through on the way to Simitai.It is punishing.My legs already feel like concrete each time I attempt to pick one up.My
breath is coming raggedly and the hills just keep on coming.I’m seriously
doubting I will make it.The damn boys are doing fine, setting a pace I can’t
quite keep up with.And showing very little sympathy.I blame this on Beijing’s utter flatness.I have been
walking a lot, just not up and down.And because we don’t use the subway
at all I haven’t even been climbing up and down stairs there, which would probably have helped.
And
the stairs on the wall?They aren’t your normal stairs.First of all, many of them simply don’t exist.And the
ones that do are varied in height and depth from 6-12 inches high to 4 to 20 inches deep.Why would these ancient Chinamen make such big steps?All I can see is
more and more hills.Definitely questioning my sanity.Maybe you know, I don’t like heights, either.In many
places the wall has fallen down enough that there is nothing between the edge of the wall and a tumble down the mountain.So a little vertigo in addition to the stress of watching every footstep on slippery
terrain is adding to my fatigue.Can you say heat exhaustion?I already have drank two of the three bottles of water I carried.No worries, though.Little Mongolian women at each tower selling ice water
for 10 kuai.I would have paid 50.
The first of a plethora of photos you will see of the road to Simitai
Taking a break, these guys are wearing me out. . . lots more up to go before the down
A lot of the wall is crumbling and the sides are gone and it looks like it just drops off to forever
And again as we get closer
Looking northwesterly "behind" us at the road not taken. . . no zip line at the end there!
More typical condition of the majority of the towers we will pass through
View of Tower 15, the most dreaded (just kidding, Ihave no idea)
Looking back, we've made it so far you can't see where we started!
Another breath-stealing view (in more ways than one)
In the very middle of the picture you can see a white line going around the mountain. . . zip line
Some of the declines are just as bad as the inclines
Sun is setting behind where we've been. . . and the sand is starting to blow a bit
Squint and you will see a guy dangling precariously on the zip line. . . will I live through that?
And the zip line? After our arduous path, no big deal. It looks
like a pretty "fly-by-night" operation up here on the hill. Just a cable, a harness for your butt and a big ole carabinger.
And a ticket taker. Sit down, shove off and you're there before you know you left. Almost.
TJ has pics of me on the line, but (of course) I don't have them. But I am smiling, I saw it!
Then a short boat ride across the river to the parking lot where more cold beer awaits.
The whole ticket thing was entertaining. We aquired five different tickets. Fifty kuai
to get in Jinshanling park, Thirty kuai for the cable car. Somewhere around Tower 20 you cross into Simitai park and
pay another 40 kuai for a ticket. When you get to the suspension bridge you must pay 5 kuai to cross. Then the
zip line ticket for 40 kuai (which is a two parter, another ticket attached for the boat). They got this tourist trap
thing down.
Just glad my job isn't to walk out to Tower 20 everyday to stand and collect money from hikers.
Wonder what they do if you don't have 40 kuai? Send you all the way back?
No mishaps except Mike took a little slip and scratched his arm up pretty good.
The Wall after the zip line looks quite formidable. You can't really tell from the extremely
zoomed up photo following but you can see it in the way distance in some of the other pictures. Talk about a climb.
And, we could actually make out people doing it.
We all agreed it was the highlight of our Beijing trip thus far, a ONCE IN A LIFETIME deal.
Except after being in the car for oh, about 10 minutes, TJ says, "Hey, would you guys consider doing that again?".
Hmmm. Maybe in the fall, when it's cooler and the trees are turning. And I do some practice
on the stair master.
Ride back to town was uneventful, except our driver KEPT FALLING ASLEEP. Had to turn the air
on high, the radio up loud and keep slapping him on the back to keep him awake. And he didn't even WALK 10 kilometers.
I remained ever vigil on the way home.
Took showers (third best shower of my life!) and ordered in food and watched Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (bootleg copy).
And last night? I fell up the stairs on the WAY INTO THE BAR and gave myself a basketball sized
bruise on my hip. So much for escaping unscathed.
Does it sound
like I’m hating on this?Because, believe it or not, I’m NOT.Our “guide” even offered us the shortcut, which runs from base of Tower
12 to Tower 25 and only takes an hour.Do I go?No. Am I shamed into not going?A little.But the views?They are incredible.It is so clear and vivid and spectacular.We are truly getting a Great
Wall experience of a lifetime.
After Tower 17
it’s mostly downhill to the zip line.Did I mention the zip line?Oh yea, me.Afraid of heights.Going to take the zip line down over A RIVER (didn’t know that going in) to the parking lot.Although we’ve cleared most of the uphill battle and are only 2 hours into our
tramp, I’m already starting to freak myself out about the zip line.
Seriously,
though.IT IS INCREDIBLE UP HERE ON TOP OF THE WALL!We are all loving it, and even more so as the end of the line comes into view (albeit way, way off in the
distance).And the walking downhill is helping too.
Not only is the wall gorgeous, but so is the surrounding area
Still can't see the end. . .
At Tower 15, with the end in sight, I buy the requisite "I Climbed the
Great Wall" T-shirt and some chopsticks, TJ purchases a book and gets two hugs from his tour guide and we look east to our
destination. The layer of sand and salty sweat on our bodies has a chance to dry and harden like cement.
We stink.
As we learned last weekend at Fragrant Hills Park, walking downhill for extended times can be almost
as demanding as up, and a lot of it is so steep you could probably sit on your butt and just slide down. By the time
we make it to the suspension bridge (another of my favorite things) we are pooped out. It has been a magnificent trip,
but man. We are tired.
Do the last climb up to the level where the zip line is and drink a cold beer to celebrate.
And also in case we die on the zip.
I'm starting to believe we (I) might actually make it!
"All" that's left, cross the bridge, climb up to zip line, ride it home!
Mike at the end of the zip, he made me go ahead of him, so he could push me if I didn't go!
Now the boyz want to go WAY UP THERE. . . we could just barely make out some hardy souls. . .
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Just Another Day
Well, unfortunately (as no one seems to want to remember
this day in any historical context) and fortunately (as we don't want a REPEAT of such a day), there was absolutely nothing
out of the ordinary going on at Tiananmen Square yesterday.
Except for a lot of police vans, trucks and officers at every entrance and cruising around the tourists
blandly taking souvenir photos.
No public outcry, not even silent sign carriers. Nor, from what I could see, even quietly
grieving parents, siblings or spouses of those senselessly killed here 19 years ago.
A dark day goes unpublicly remembered in Beijing. However, I'm sure there were Chinese people
who consciously marked this day in their minds, even without being able to openly denounce their governments actions toward
its people.
After cruising the square, I got it in my mind that I would walk home. So I started a zig zag
route, mostly sticking to hutongs I hadn't been through to get home.
Didn't see anything really, really interesting, but was better than walking on the main roads and
I got a lot of gaping stares.
I only made it to ghost street, which is still pretty far, before the rains set in and sent me scrambling
for a taxi home.
Today was a "reduced visibility day" and I pretty much stuck to the neighborhood. A little bookswap
at The Bookworm, a little wandering around through a market, nothing too exciting.
Oh. And the official word is we will be here until July 27th, with either a week or a long weekend
starting June 27 in Hong Kong.
End to the mystery of "How close to the opening day of the Olympics will we be allowed to stay?".
Also, despite the "hype" of escalating housing costs in July, we are maintaining our apartment for the same rent as previous
months. BONUS!
And the flowers were in full bloom
This is my first "out in public" monk sighting, don't know if it had anything to do with the date
Old Jag, have no idea how old, anyone? anyone?
Must be a huge amount of nesting birds in the gate here, as the sky was full of them and their songs
Lots of police, but no work for them to perform. . . how can the Chinese be so complacent?
Sleeping on the job
Another absolutely hideous wedding gown
Here's a photog-montage documentation of a uniquely Beijing fashion faux
pas I could live without. Came into vouge right about the time of the warmer weather. . .
Now, I can handle the striped pants with striped shirts and the clashing florals, I've seen those
before. And the silly striped socks, too. I can even handle the absolute tackiness of white shoes.
But this? Is so painful to look at it makes my head want to crack open and bleed all over
the pavement. And it's so rampant!
With sandals. . .
the young
with heels (and shorts)
the old(er)
with tennies and workout clothes
and everyone else!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
When in Doubt, Deny Deny Deny
In all may navel-gazing of the last couple weeks, I forgot to google the anniversary of Tiananmen
Square "Incident". I couldn't remember if it was June or July.
Guess what? It's today.
There will be no flags at half-mast to mourn these dead. No government outshow of love for her
people. Instead, google blocking and CNN censorship will be the play of the day in Beijing.
I think I'll go down there, see what's happening.
I'll let you know.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
I Fought Beijing and Beijing Won
Beijing - 12,436 Rachelle - 7
I've tried the frontal assault and lost. I attempted the sneak attack and failed.
This town is BEATING ME, and I don't like it. I'm not familiar with this feeling.
Any one who knows me has heard my declaration I'm not a "city girl". I was thinking
about this claim the other day and it made me laugh. After visiting friends and family in large cities, Mike and I always
leave and say, "Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there". But in reality, we DO live there. It's just
not a specific "there".
Over the last eight years we've lived in thirty different places, including 13 capital cities
for stints of at least 3 months. No cars (except Tel Aviv), rarely a common langage, reliant on our own wits
and each other for survival. All the things we say we HATE about big cities.
Yet, we love our lives and say we ain't "city folk".
That's a dicotomy, kids.
And in my ongoing war with Beijing, I'm definitely feeling beat. After 3 adventure filled months
I do not know this city. I do not know its nooks and crannies, it's hidden gems. I know some of them, but there
are vast areas of this town I've never stepped foot in, districts I've never even heard of, locales I can't begin to
pronounce, and thousands of places I will probably never go.
And I HATE that. If someone was coming here and told me they would be living in Xicheng (western
section of Beijing) I wouldn't be able to tell them the first thing about their neighborhood. I wouldn't have any more
useful information than a guidebook.
Besides telling them to look EVERY way before crossing a street and how to avoid flying phlegm, I
really wouldn't be all that much help on how to harmonize oneself with the culture that is Beijing.
But despite suffering defeat in my personal battle with Beijing, I am still enjoying myself.
Sometimes surrender is good for the soul.
Speaking of souls, I hate such soul-sucking establishments as McDonalds and Starbucks. Sure,
they serve their purpose in a pinch (i.e. the train station on the way to Xi'an offered KFC or McDonalds as eating venues
for western travelers, and McDonalds BATHROOMS can't be beat when out hoofing around town, espeically in squat prevalent Asia.
I don't HATE hate the Starbucks in the bustling Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as it's
the only place to get a cup of coffee before early morning flight) but I would never seek either out in any country we've
been in.
There goes my big mouth again, as I'm now totally dependent on the Starbucks in my neighborhood (well,
ONE of them in my neighborhood) for ground coffee. In a tea drinking society such as this, it's really hard to find
ground coffee. In fact, the nice folks at Starbucks grind it for me. And, I truly DO hate on Starbucks, not just
because I think their coffee, in general, if you don't get all the frou-frou trappings, SUCKS. I also despise their
corporate culture and the audacity to build stores on opposite corners of the same street. As if anyone couldn't live
if they had to go more than thirty feet for a Venti Carmel Macchiato, nonfat mik and sugar free vanilla syrup.
Dudes, that ain't even coffee.
But I digress.
I'm just saying, in a town where there's a tea store every twenty feet, it's nice to have a place
where I can conveniently get a bag of ground, extra bold Sumatra coffee for my home brewing pleasure.
Thank you, Starbucks (and I'm gagging on my own tongue here having to say it).
So, despite my lack of updating here, which I do have several defenses and excuses for, mainly that
I WANT to share pictures with y'all, and it takes me, SERIOUSLY, 10-12 minutes for EVERY photo I post to make it onto the
webpage, and by the time I load 8-12 of them I've HAD IT and just walk away from the computer and don't write anything, so
there are a bunch of pictures to follow here and I, thanks to my Chinese censor friends, CAN'T EVEN SEE THEM, so I'm not 100%
sure what they are after A WEEKS TIME.
A whole 'nother diatrabe, obviously.
Regardless, I'm going to attempt to explain what you'll be seeing (or what I'm NOT seeing).
Also, please forgive the BIG BLANK SPACE in the second montage, I have no idea what is causing it, how to delete or fill it,
or even what it truly looks like in it's finished form, any help on that matter would be appreciated.
Last night, after mediocre food and phenomenal dart playing (by me, at least) at the Goose and Duck
(we haven't been there in months!), we came home and stormed the roof. About a week ago we heard there was access up
there, but keep forgetting/not caring enough, to go and check it out. We grabbed nightcaps and headed up, as it was
a pretty clear night. Not an awesome view of anything but the third ring road (WOOT!), but still a cool place right
under the signage.
The "high" light of our night
This past Sunday we headed west (further west than The Summer
Palace - much further) to Fragrant Hill Park (Xiangshan - one of those places I can't pronounce) to take the cable cars up
to the top of the mountain and stare in wonder and awe at the vista of Beijing laying below our feet. It was a clear
and springlike day (when we left - raining cats and dogs by the time we got back to town) and after a long taxi ride we arrived
at the gate of the park.
Strolled around the lower area for a moment, gazed up at the peak and decided to get thee on the cable
car. Which was actually a ski-lift. Which, with my silly fear of heights, was not quite what I had imagined, but
liveable. It was an extensive ride up the hill, had about three stages. Everytime we came up on a "landing sight"
that wasn't, I thought we were done, then we'd crest over it and see a whole other huge stretch of mountain.
We were very high. How high? I have no idea. High enough it took about twenty minutes
on the high blood pressure, nausea inducing, feet dangling chair lift. Thank GOD taking pictures helped keep my mind
off the inevitable crash and burn of the #159 car.
Pagoda on Spectacle Lake, before the amazing chair lift ride up the mountain
And the skyline of Beijing is behind us, but we have a long climb ahead
I literally have no idea what this is, it's not inside the park, I don't think. . . .
Close up of the Summer Palace. We thought we were on the edge of the wilderness then!
After making it successfully to the top without dying, we
wandered around a bit, gazing at the green wilderness and soaring mountains, then consulted our Chinese map (no English
map, solly) to find a walking path down.
No dummies here, we RODE UP, WALK DOWN.
Except, did you know walking down almost vertical mountains will make your legs very, very shaky?
I did. But I forgot.
Anyway, neat little resting places long the way, lots of people out and about (most of them climbing
up, so worth the 60 kuai we paid to RIDE).
And, even though Mike sometimes forgets it's about the JOURNEY, not the DESTINATION (READ: We
had to keep yelling at him when we wanted to take sidetrips, as he was about 50 yards ahead all the time, as if the bottom
of the hill was some great place) we saw some neat temples and gates and pagodas and what not.
Various temples and pagodas appear through the trees. . . and keep me from FREAKING OUT!
But, really, it's just a bunch of beautiful green trees
the best way to get a perspective on how high up we are. . . it's HIGH
The city is a LONG way away, but still very visible. . . today
The other side of the mountain. There is also a nuclear reactor to the south
Another close up through the trees
In the fall, these hills turn a fiery red, but other than green we mostly saw these white flowers
This cat was making the most intricate bamboo animals I've ever seen
Like I mentioned, it was a very clear day (for Beijing),
but it was windy. On our way down the treacherous, shin-splitting path off the mountain we noticed the sky was darkening
behind us and the smell of precipitation was in the air (and we also noticed a few WORMS. ON THE GROUND. IN MY WAY! Which
led to the inevitable screaming and jumping around of yours truly).
But there was no doubt we were about twenty minutes ahead of the rain. And, we are in the middle
of taxi-nowhere. When the cab dropped us off, my first thought was "How the hell are we going to find a cab home?"
There were none around and all day I had resigned myself to the fact we would have to walk into the town, and maybe through
it, in order to find a taxi, or possibly jump on a bus going ANYWHERE THERE MIGHT BE TAXI's.
Upon finally arriving at/near the East Gate, we decided to spend 15 of the 20 minutes we were ahead
of the rain having a beer. As we drank the last dregs from our Beijing drafts, thunder was starting to clap and the
hordes were definitely moving in a much more hurried manner toward the gate.
We joined the mass exit.
And just as we walked out, a taxi pulled up! Such luck! Such providence! And just
as we pulled the last door shut, such RAIN!
Speaking of rain (second time I've used that segue this entry - WEAK!), our taxi driver turned out
to be the Chinese version of Rainman.
Now, I'm all for the taxi drivers of Beijing learning English. Hello, Goodbye, Where are you
going, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Thank You; these would all be helpful phrases for them to know and understand.
Our taxi driver, however, had a helpful English language translation tape (probably provided
by some taxi governing agency) which was teaching him such things as "I am driving 70 kilometers per hour", which doesn't
seem extremely helpful in any way. And he was obsessed by these statements, with varying speeds. And kept repeating.
And repeating. And repeating. And repeating (you get the point, right?).
Also, he was very interested in teaching us Chinese, like how to say, "This is my first time in Beijing".
Which, really, I had no desire to learn. Because I was in the front with him and TJ and Mike were pretending to sleep
in the back, I was privileged to this onslaught of language learning all by myself. For AN HOUR. To Houhai, our
hutong hanging paradise.
We had beat the rain through town by about five minutes, with the occasional sprinkle, and were wondering
about our decision making process of having the taxi take us 30 minutes away from home to a place we normally hang out
outside, but when we arrived there was no rain. Played it safe and went and ate at the No Name, upstairs, inside.
On our way over to Huxley's it started to spit a little, but by the time we were done imbibing, it had pretty much played
out. A good day.
Cool temple plaza deep inside the woods on the way down
And at the end of the day? HUTONGING IT at Huxley's
Okay, here's where it starts to get a little foggy, as I
don't quite remember what each of these photos are, just that they are from the Temple of Heaven. One day last week
it was very nice, sunny, and WINDY AS HECK, so I made the long trek (in a taxi) across town to revisit these spectacular temples.
I also brought my book, as they are in a large park I left mostly unexplored last time.
And they sell ice cream.
I took about 100 photos, mostly of the sky (CLOUDS! THE WONDER! THE AWE!), ate ice cream
and read my book in the park.
Then I took a taxi home. That's about all I remember.
Big old Temple of Heaven, gotta love the sky
It was a "heavenly" day. . . GROAN
Still loving the clouds. . . so rare a sight
In the Chinese defense, it IS rather gray, but STILL, this is the TICKET BOOTH!
A much more subdued colored little temple in the park
These balloons were just so "Amazing Stories". Wanted one. Or a bubble gun. Couldn't decide.
Let's see. These pictures must be of last week Sunday,
when we were SUPPOSE to go to the Botanical Gardens, but some people in our party were unable to detach themselves from the
couch until around 1 PM, then insisted we drive in the opposite way to Steak & Eggs for breakfast (BANANA PANCAKES MAKE
ME HAPPY, THOUGH), and the gardens close at 4:30 soooooo we needed a plan B, which was here, at Yuyuantan Park, in southwest
Beijing.
I wanted to go as there were suppose to be tulips, but we
didn't see any. In fact, the whole park was mostly lake, which is nice, but not really that interesting. And we
pretty much walked around the lake, watched the locals, then headed for the hutong. We ate at a new Kabob place
up on a rooftop (can't remember the name now) with 8 kuai drafts and lots 'o food, chicken wings in four different sauces,
squid, squid tentacles, many salads I can't remember 10 days later (SURPRISE! But, I do remember the price of beer -
I'm amazing).
It was all very good and when we got home I threw it all
up. Nice.
The bubble boys and girls, this seriously looked like a blast, if you want to feel like a hamster
This old guy probably lives in that soon to be knocked down hutong
Love their bridges and causeways. . .
Sneaking through the hutong east of the lake, caught some folks out enjoying the evening
Old hutong bordering the park, I'm sure it's on the list to be razed
Huifeng Temple at the north end of Xihai Lake
As for everything else and all this missing time in blog
entries? Guess what? Nothing really stands out (except steak night!) and the weather's been okay on and off, I
finally got a haircut (it SUCKS!), Mike is alive and well, job is moving along, it looks like were going to be here a *tad*
longer than expected (6 weeks, maybe more). So, we'll just leave it at this for now and I promise to update more often.
And possibly with less pictures, just for my the sake of my SANITY!
Love to all who are still reading!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Random Shots and Random Thoughts
If you've ever been to Asia, and you happen to be over 5'5''
or weigh more than 90 pounds, or, like some of us, BOTH, then you know what being in Asia can do to your body image.
I've been accused before of focusing/worrying far too much about my weight. I sure ain't perfect,
and I do stress about my weight, but by most accounts and charts, I would fall into that "normal" category. It's been years
and years since anyone called me too skinny, and I probably have a year or two to go before anyone starts referring to
me as "Mike's fat wife".
I hope.
But, spend a little time in Asia and you will start to feel huge. Huge, I say. Even if
you're not.
After a bit more than a little time, you sometimes just forget you're WAY larger than the average
person on the street. Until you catch sight of yourself with others in a store window or glass front building.
You start thinking like an Asian and say, "Holy SH!T, look at the size of THAT woman", until you realize THAT woman is YOU.
Making the locals look at you in fear? Priceless. . .
Case in point. That picture was taking over TJ's shoulder
while
