Well, our adventures in China have come to an end. Peter and I got back to Los Angeles this past weekend and are still recovering from jet lag. While it's hard to go back to school/work, it's also nice to be home. Plus, the last week of our travels, I was starting to feel a little bit too pregnant for heavy tourist activity.
Unfortunately, our laptop broke just as we started our travels outside Beijing, so I was unable to post while we were in Shanghai, Yunnan, and Hong Kong. I've taken the computer to the Mac Genius Bar and they tell me they can fix it soon, so I'll post a medley of pictures when they're available.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
I Love Megalomania
This past Friday was our last night in Beijing. Peter and the other UCLA interns, Andrea and Guillermo, gave their presentations at CAUPD on Wednesday. Not a huge turnout of people, but the president of CAUPD was there, which we didn’t even realize until the end. We had a last dinner out with Andrea, Guillermo, Stephan, an intern from Germany, and Song Ting, an intern from Beijing University at a yummy Yunnan restaurant near our apartment building.
Now we are in Xi’an, home to several Chinese dynasties, and most importantly, home to the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang was an amazing figure in history. He united the Warring States into the first China, he created a universal coin system that lasted until the 1900s, he unified Chinese characters writing systems so that despite different dialects, China could communicate at least in writing, built up the Great Wall, and best of all, spent 40 years working on his afterlife preparations. Which is what we’re here to see. The largest tomb in the whole world, estimated to cover 56 sq km. This is Peter’s first trip. I’ve been here before in 1996, but I am no less awed by the tremendous scale, beauty, and resource allocation.
The life size soldiers are exquisite. All the faces are different, probably modeled after real soldiers. The tomb contains a full army contingent – calvary, infantry, charioteers, commanders – with all the details of their rank and position demonstrated in their uniforms, their stances, their headgear. What really fires up the imagination is thinking that next door to these Terracotta Warriors is the rest of the mausoleum, with its untold treasures, which remains unexcavated until Chinese archaeologists can figure out better ways to preserve what they unearth. I hope that happens within my lifetime.
Us at the South Gate of Xi'an's Old City Wall
Some of the 6,000+ soldiers in Pit 1
Now we are in Xi’an, home to several Chinese dynasties, and most importantly, home to the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang was an amazing figure in history. He united the Warring States into the first China, he created a universal coin system that lasted until the 1900s, he unified Chinese characters writing systems so that despite different dialects, China could communicate at least in writing, built up the Great Wall, and best of all, spent 40 years working on his afterlife preparations. Which is what we’re here to see. The largest tomb in the whole world, estimated to cover 56 sq km. This is Peter’s first trip. I’ve been here before in 1996, but I am no less awed by the tremendous scale, beauty, and resource allocation.
The life size soldiers are exquisite. All the faces are different, probably modeled after real soldiers. The tomb contains a full army contingent – calvary, infantry, charioteers, commanders – with all the details of their rank and position demonstrated in their uniforms, their stances, their headgear. What really fires up the imagination is thinking that next door to these Terracotta Warriors is the rest of the mausoleum, with its untold treasures, which remains unexcavated until Chinese archaeologists can figure out better ways to preserve what they unearth. I hope that happens within my lifetime.
Us at the South Gate of Xi'an's Old City Wall
Some of the 6,000+ soldiers in Pit 1
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Peter’s brother, Andy, Andy’s girlfriend, Kim, and her 1 ½ yr old son, Oliver, are currently visiting with us in China. Having Oliver around has been so fun and interesting. The people are fascinated by him. Chinese love children, and a white kid is all the more lovable. When with him, I constantly hear people saying 洋娃娃 yang wa wa, which means “doll” or “Yankee baby.” Peter thinks it’s hilarious and telling that foreign baby and doll are indicated by the same phrase. People are always trying to pick him up, pinch his cheeks, coo at him, or just stare. Here’s a great photo of what happened when we paused in the shade at the Forbidden City and were discovered by a Chinese tour group.
We leave Beijing at the end of this week – Peter’s internship is over. Stay tuned for our further adventures in other parts of China. Our itinerary still isn’t completely planned, but we did buy tickets today to travel to Xi’an, home to the Terracotta Soldiers, and then on to Shanghai.
We leave Beijing at the end of this week – Peter’s internship is over. Stay tuned for our further adventures in other parts of China. Our itinerary still isn’t completely planned, but we did buy tickets today to travel to Xi’an, home to the Terracotta Soldiers, and then on to Shanghai.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Family Visit
Peter's mom and her friend, Sharon, arrived a few days ago, and we've been touring them around Beijing. They're fabulous guests, always pleased and entertained. The tour group is scheduled to expand soon when Andy, Peter's brother, and Kim, his girlfriend, arrive, along with Oliver, Kim's 1 1/2 yr old kiddo. I'm looking forward to seeing all the attention Oliver's going to get as a little white baby here. The Chinese love kids, and foreign babies are generally quite an attraction.
We started off with a little of Old Beijing, with meandering through hutongs. Of course, modern life intervened, see the below pics of a hutong traffic jam.
Next, we went to Jingshan Park, the highlight of which is a tall hill from which you get a great overview of the Forbidden City. And finally, a short walk over to Beihai Park, to see the famed Nine Dragons' Screen, a beautiful example of porcelain art.
On the next day, we tried to show them New Beijing, so we went back to Dashanzi/Factory 798, the largest of the contemporary arts districts in the Beijing area. Peter and I had gone about a month ago, but many exhibits had changed, and we hadn't seen anywhere close to the whole complex before anyways. It's a factory commune converted to art galleries, just an amazing space to display art.
We started off with a little of Old Beijing, with meandering through hutongs. Of course, modern life intervened, see the below pics of a hutong traffic jam.
Next, we went to Jingshan Park, the highlight of which is a tall hill from which you get a great overview of the Forbidden City. And finally, a short walk over to Beihai Park, to see the famed Nine Dragons' Screen, a beautiful example of porcelain art.
On the next day, we tried to show them New Beijing, so we went back to Dashanzi/Factory 798, the largest of the contemporary arts districts in the Beijing area. Peter and I had gone about a month ago, but many exhibits had changed, and we hadn't seen anywhere close to the whole complex before anyways. It's a factory commune converted to art galleries, just an amazing space to display art.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Qingdao
For my 31st birthday, we took a weekend trip to Qingdao. Before you think that Peter has become a master planner of romantic weekend surprises, let’s just say that we started out with a high-speed train to Qingdao which excited him much more than I. Certainly the technology has improved in Chinese train travel, but the ticketing system is still really arcane, and the trains still unfortunately smell of bathroom. But it did have a top speed of over 150 miles/hour (exactly 250 km/h).
Qingdao is a coastal city, home to Tsingtao beer, a nice leftover from its days as a German concession. The older part of the city has a distinctly European flair, with narrow, wind-y streets, and churches prominent in the skyline. We wandered around a bit, and stumbled upon its large, daily open-air fish and produce market, which I have pictured below. There are lots of “bathing beaches” in Qingdao, creatively named by number, which offer nice city views and a bit of respite from the crazy heat.
We splurged and stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel, a lovely five-star hotel. One of the nice things about traveling in Asia is that these luxury hotels, while still expensive by local standards, are much cheaper than in the U.S. Western breakfast in bed, that made Peter happy as a clam.
We went to the Qingdao Beer Festival Saturday night, in a part of town called Beer City. Basically you pay admission into this beer theme park, where Tsingtao Beer, Budweiser, Asahi, and a bunch of German brands each have tents under which there is a stage with a singer or other entertainment, and lots of tables filled with Chinese drunks. Basically a big beer garden. There was also an amphitheatre, and some state fair-type rides.
Unfortunately, we didn’t really have a train ticket back, and they were all sold out, so we had to take a flight back to Beijing. The only seats available were in first-class, where the two flight attendants fussed over the eight first-class passengers constantly. I sat in seat 1A. Definitely a luxury weekend.
Qingdao is a coastal city, home to Tsingtao beer, a nice leftover from its days as a German concession. The older part of the city has a distinctly European flair, with narrow, wind-y streets, and churches prominent in the skyline. We wandered around a bit, and stumbled upon its large, daily open-air fish and produce market, which I have pictured below. There are lots of “bathing beaches” in Qingdao, creatively named by number, which offer nice city views and a bit of respite from the crazy heat.
We splurged and stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel, a lovely five-star hotel. One of the nice things about traveling in Asia is that these luxury hotels, while still expensive by local standards, are much cheaper than in the U.S. Western breakfast in bed, that made Peter happy as a clam.
We went to the Qingdao Beer Festival Saturday night, in a part of town called Beer City. Basically you pay admission into this beer theme park, where Tsingtao Beer, Budweiser, Asahi, and a bunch of German brands each have tents under which there is a stage with a singer or other entertainment, and lots of tables filled with Chinese drunks. Basically a big beer garden. There was also an amphitheatre, and some state fair-type rides.
Unfortunately, we didn’t really have a train ticket back, and they were all sold out, so we had to take a flight back to Beijing. The only seats available were in first-class, where the two flight attendants fussed over the eight first-class passengers constantly. I sat in seat 1A. Definitely a luxury weekend.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Good Luck Beijing
There are 340 some days left until the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Beijing is wasting no time getting ready. Currently there is something called "Good Luck Beijing" going on, where they have exhibition tournaments in various events to test out the stadiums and staff.
Peter being the baseball addict that he is, we had to go to the baseball Good Luck Beijing event. We went to the final game, between China and Japan. Japan dominated, with the score 5-2 at the end. It was a pretty quick game, for which I am always grateful to the baseball gods.
In this case, I think it was more to ensure time for the elaborate awards ceremony at the end. The Chinese audience was not the most sophisticated baseball audience (baseball is not nearly as popular here as basketball, volleyball, badminton, diving, any other sport where China either has a star, or is historically strong in) and cheered for any bat to ball contact, even repetitive foul balls. The cheers were much louder for the fuwas 福娃, the "Friendlies," the Chinese Olympics' ubiquitous mascots. They came on the field, danced around while they set up the podiums, and then medals and flowers were distributed to the players individually. We caught the Caucasian press guy from MLB.com taking pictures of the crowd rather than the ceremony also, and agreed that the crowd reaction was more entertaining.
Peter being the baseball addict that he is, we had to go to the baseball Good Luck Beijing event. We went to the final game, between China and Japan. Japan dominated, with the score 5-2 at the end. It was a pretty quick game, for which I am always grateful to the baseball gods.
In this case, I think it was more to ensure time for the elaborate awards ceremony at the end. The Chinese audience was not the most sophisticated baseball audience (baseball is not nearly as popular here as basketball, volleyball, badminton, diving, any other sport where China either has a star, or is historically strong in) and cheered for any bat to ball contact, even repetitive foul balls. The cheers were much louder for the fuwas 福娃, the "Friendlies," the Chinese Olympics' ubiquitous mascots. They came on the field, danced around while they set up the podiums, and then medals and flowers were distributed to the players individually. We caught the Caucasian press guy from MLB.com taking pictures of the crowd rather than the ceremony also, and agreed that the crowd reaction was more entertaining.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Markets and Economics
There’s one English-language TV channel available to us, CCTV 9, run by the main Chinese TV network. Needless to say, we’ve been watching it frequently. It’s a mix of news, cultural pieces, and travel pieces. My favorite show is the economic news, as it’s the most clearly propagandized segment. It’s all about the art of reading between the lines. For example, there’s been a lot in the news here lately about the rise in consumer prices, mostly food, particularly pork. A big rise, something like 5% over the last month. The Chinese news reports about the increase in the consumer price index, in pork prices, and talks about various things the government is doing to improve the situation. But nothing about the actual underlying cause. I mean, they mention things like increased demand, and being sort of between pig harvests, but that makes no sense. The cyclical nature of pig availability is likely the same every year, and demand does not spike quite that suddenly. Really, what’s going on is some mysterious pig illness, but they’re never going to discuss that.
What they do constantly champion is the robustness of the Chinese economy. So, in the spirit of China’s economic prowess (its annual exports that now exceed US$1 trillion), it was time for us to finally go shopping for touristy things. We went to Panjiayuan Antiques Market, a giant outdoor market with everything from vases to shadow puppets to embroidery to paintings and everything in between. It was overwhelming. The things for sale were likely not true antiques, but there were still lots of beautiful things. We bought some small watercolor paintings depicting Chinese girl children and babies to put up for the impending kiddo. Check out the pictures below…
What they do constantly champion is the robustness of the Chinese economy. So, in the spirit of China’s economic prowess (its annual exports that now exceed US$1 trillion), it was time for us to finally go shopping for touristy things. We went to Panjiayuan Antiques Market, a giant outdoor market with everything from vases to shadow puppets to embroidery to paintings and everything in between. It was overwhelming. The things for sale were likely not true antiques, but there were still lots of beautiful things. We bought some small watercolor paintings depicting Chinese girl children and babies to put up for the impending kiddo. Check out the pictures below…
You Need A Shower After This Meal
Lucky for us, some of the Chinese interns at the China Academy for Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) are foodies. And literate. I do OK in live conversation, but it’s frustrating for me that I have such difficulties reading Chinese; the whole world of the Chinese-language Web is inaccessible to me.
So they found out on some food website about this hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Wu Ge Ji Chi, 五哥鸡炽, tucked into a 胡同 hutong district that specializes in spicy chicken wing skewers. Basically that means you wander down this little alley until you come to this tiny, non-air conditioned restaurant where it turns out you need to make a reservation at least a week in advance. Wang Wei, one of the interns, had called last week, yay!
The chicken wings come in four levels of spiciness, from hottest to least hot, named 两面辣 liang mian la (two-sided spiciness), 一面辣 yi mian la (one side with spice), 微辣 wei la (less spicy), and 不辣 bu la (not spicy). Literally, the hottest kind had the spicy rub on both sides, then only one side, then less rub on one side, and finally no rub. Some sort of rub with dried chiles, cumin, and other spices I couldn't identify. The 一面辣 yi mian la was really enough for me. Really yummy chicken, but I was super sweaty and had a runny nose afterwards, despite lots of cold cold Coke.
Peter had 17 skewers total of various spiciness strengths. He’s pictured below with He, one of the interns from Nanjing University, who also ate many skewers, and who demonstrated a special skill at picking the bones very clean. I always tell Peter he leaves behind too much meat when eating off the bone. Compare and contrast their two piles after eating and you decide whether Peter’s being wasteful. ☺
They also had grilled bread, 馒头 man tou, on a stick, flavored with a bit of chicken drippings, with a lovely crunch. Peter, the bread fiend, was very fond of them. At one RMB each (the exchange is about 7.5 RMB to the dollar), who can resist?
So they found out on some food website about this hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Wu Ge Ji Chi, 五哥鸡炽, tucked into a 胡同 hutong district that specializes in spicy chicken wing skewers. Basically that means you wander down this little alley until you come to this tiny, non-air conditioned restaurant where it turns out you need to make a reservation at least a week in advance. Wang Wei, one of the interns, had called last week, yay!
The chicken wings come in four levels of spiciness, from hottest to least hot, named 两面辣 liang mian la (two-sided spiciness), 一面辣 yi mian la (one side with spice), 微辣 wei la (less spicy), and 不辣 bu la (not spicy). Literally, the hottest kind had the spicy rub on both sides, then only one side, then less rub on one side, and finally no rub. Some sort of rub with dried chiles, cumin, and other spices I couldn't identify. The 一面辣 yi mian la was really enough for me. Really yummy chicken, but I was super sweaty and had a runny nose afterwards, despite lots of cold cold Coke.
Peter had 17 skewers total of various spiciness strengths. He’s pictured below with He, one of the interns from Nanjing University, who also ate many skewers, and who demonstrated a special skill at picking the bones very clean. I always tell Peter he leaves behind too much meat when eating off the bone. Compare and contrast their two piles after eating and you decide whether Peter’s being wasteful. ☺
They also had grilled bread, 馒头 man tou, on a stick, flavored with a bit of chicken drippings, with a lovely crunch. Peter, the bread fiend, was very fond of them. At one RMB each (the exchange is about 7.5 RMB to the dollar), who can resist?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Weekend Pursuits
All the other urban planning students here from USC and UCLA have been raving about the Beijing Urban Planning Museum, so we finally went. Apparently, every major city in China has a planning museum, but Shanghai’s is the best, and Beijing’s is among the best. The life of a planner or architect is so different in China; you definitely would never lack for work.
Anyways, the highlight of the planning museum is the scale model of Beijing. There’s a photo below. You can walk around the perimeter and it’s really detailed. We were even able to locate our apartment building. The other highlight for us was this hilarious cartoon video of a musical public service announcement about transportation. It’s about 3 minutes long, and basically a little girl sings about how it’s best to use public transportation during the week and your car on the weekends, how you should drive courteously and safely, and how together we’ll build a better, modern Beijing. My description just doesn’t do it justice. The thing is, in Beijing, and really all of China, there are public slogans everywhere. Most are quite short, some are very strident, some are relentlessly cheery, but what one is most struck by is the ubiquity. They’re just everywhere. It’s a somewhat blunt instrument, but you wonder what life in the U.S. would be like if we had more positive public service announcements. Would we be nicer to each other? Would we have more of a sense of community? Or would the slogans just be ignored or mocked?
Our other weekend activity was to go to Chuandixia, a Ming dynasty-era family village outside of Beijing. After a nearly interminable bus ride, we arrived at this village perched on a mountainside. It’s basically a tourist village now, but the architecture is well preserved and you could tell by looking at the villagers that they are still mostly one large family clan. Kind of fun to see especially given that the day before we had read about how 95 of Mitt Romney’s relatives are helping him out in his Iowa campaign. Me being an only child and Peter being the son of two only children, that sort of extended family size is staggering. The village had lots of lovely in-home restaurants, a little temple, and lovely views.
Anyways, the highlight of the planning museum is the scale model of Beijing. There’s a photo below. You can walk around the perimeter and it’s really detailed. We were even able to locate our apartment building. The other highlight for us was this hilarious cartoon video of a musical public service announcement about transportation. It’s about 3 minutes long, and basically a little girl sings about how it’s best to use public transportation during the week and your car on the weekends, how you should drive courteously and safely, and how together we’ll build a better, modern Beijing. My description just doesn’t do it justice. The thing is, in Beijing, and really all of China, there are public slogans everywhere. Most are quite short, some are very strident, some are relentlessly cheery, but what one is most struck by is the ubiquity. They’re just everywhere. It’s a somewhat blunt instrument, but you wonder what life in the U.S. would be like if we had more positive public service announcements. Would we be nicer to each other? Would we have more of a sense of community? Or would the slogans just be ignored or mocked?
Our other weekend activity was to go to Chuandixia, a Ming dynasty-era family village outside of Beijing. After a nearly interminable bus ride, we arrived at this village perched on a mountainside. It’s basically a tourist village now, but the architecture is well preserved and you could tell by looking at the villagers that they are still mostly one large family clan. Kind of fun to see especially given that the day before we had read about how 95 of Mitt Romney’s relatives are helping him out in his Iowa campaign. Me being an only child and Peter being the son of two only children, that sort of extended family size is staggering. The village had lots of lovely in-home restaurants, a little temple, and lovely views.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
One year to the Olympics!
It’s the one year pre-anniversary to the 2008 Beijing Olympics! It’s heard not to get caught up in the Olympics fever here. There are billboards everywhere advertising the upcoming Olympics, and exhorting the local people to love it. Which they seem to do. It’s going to be China’s great debutante coming out to the world.
We’re enjoying racking up the information and crazy statistics about the Olympics prep. For example, more money is being spent on this Olympics than all the Olympics since 1976 combined. About $9 billion US plus. That includes “small” capital expenditures such as a brand new airport, 5-8 subway lines built in five years, various new stadiums including the famed Bird’s Nest National Stadium pictured below, the Olympic Village, the Olympic Park surrounding the Village, and about 30 other parks destined to function as “green lungs” around the perimeter of the city. But it’s not just the building frenzy, it’s also the campaigns to reduce public spitting (a personal fave campaign of mine, but none too successful) and to encourage orderly queuing; it’s the daily English lessons on Beijing TV and on the cabbie/traffic radio station; it’s the 2 week experiment later this month where all nonessential government vehicles get taken off the road to see what impact it might have on the constant summer smog. Every crazy detail leading up to the 2008 Olympics is being masterminded by some extremely obsessive central planner, and we love it! Even the opening time is super-special Chinese-auspicious: 8/8/08 at 8:08 pm. There are giant digital readouts of the countdown in days, hours, minutes, and seconds spread out all over the city.
Peter went to a transportation conference last weekend, where the opening session was held at the Hall of the People, off Tiananmen Square, so that’s what’s pictured below. The rest of the conference was at the International Convention Center, near the Bird’s Nest, so we took that as an opportunity to check out the Olympics’ most famous architectural piece. It’s so amazing looking. As you can see by the surrounding construction work (photos taken on a Saturday morning when work was nonetheless in full swing), there’s still a lot to do.
We’re enjoying racking up the information and crazy statistics about the Olympics prep. For example, more money is being spent on this Olympics than all the Olympics since 1976 combined. About $9 billion US plus. That includes “small” capital expenditures such as a brand new airport, 5-8 subway lines built in five years, various new stadiums including the famed Bird’s Nest National Stadium pictured below, the Olympic Village, the Olympic Park surrounding the Village, and about 30 other parks destined to function as “green lungs” around the perimeter of the city. But it’s not just the building frenzy, it’s also the campaigns to reduce public spitting (a personal fave campaign of mine, but none too successful) and to encourage orderly queuing; it’s the daily English lessons on Beijing TV and on the cabbie/traffic radio station; it’s the 2 week experiment later this month where all nonessential government vehicles get taken off the road to see what impact it might have on the constant summer smog. Every crazy detail leading up to the 2008 Olympics is being masterminded by some extremely obsessive central planner, and we love it! Even the opening time is super-special Chinese-auspicious: 8/8/08 at 8:08 pm. There are giant digital readouts of the countdown in days, hours, minutes, and seconds spread out all over the city.
Peter went to a transportation conference last weekend, where the opening session was held at the Hall of the People, off Tiananmen Square, so that’s what’s pictured below. The rest of the conference was at the International Convention Center, near the Bird’s Nest, so we took that as an opportunity to check out the Olympics’ most famous architectural piece. It’s so amazing looking. As you can see by the surrounding construction work (photos taken on a Saturday morning when work was nonetheless in full swing), there’s still a lot to do.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Art Scene
This past weekend Peter and I, with Andrea and Guillermo, two other students from UCLA who are interning with the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, went to the Dashanzi/Factory 798 art gallery district. It's a former commune/microelectronics factory converted (partially) into a huge arts gallery/studio complex. The scale of the place is oh-so-Chinese, and the faded Communist slogans all over the factory walls are great. The art was actually really good. Photos, sculpture, paintings, all types of media. The pictures below include a funny take on the famed Terracotta Soldiers of Xi'an, with a pregnant lady soldier, whom I couldn't resist standing by to compare bellies. I'm already planning my next trip, and maybe also to Caochangdi, the next great arts complex outside Beijing, where China's most famed artist, Ai Weiwei, has moved to (formerly in Dashanzi also).
Despite some super modern gallery space that rivals New York and a cafe which served dumplings with a pork and pate filling with a garlic butter sauce, you definitely knew you were in China because there was no air conditioning in the 90+ degree weather, and there was still commune housing and everyday Chinese life mixed in. We saw, for example, clothes hanging out to dry, a litter of newborn kittens being fussed over by an old man, and shirtless old guys hanging out playing chinese chess right outside the galleries. So wonderful.
Despite some super modern gallery space that rivals New York and a cafe which served dumplings with a pork and pate filling with a garlic butter sauce, you definitely knew you were in China because there was no air conditioning in the 90+ degree weather, and there was still commune housing and everyday Chinese life mixed in. We saw, for example, clothes hanging out to dry, a litter of newborn kittens being fussed over by an old man, and shirtless old guys hanging out playing chinese chess right outside the galleries. So wonderful.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Big Statements and Little Discoveries
We still haven’t checked out the Olympics sites, which are supposed to amazing architecturally, but I did go to the new Capital Museum. It’s less than a year old, and really a gorgeous building. It’s a little lacking in “wow” art and artifacts, which reminds me of the Getty, but I did really like some aspects of the museum. For one, it’s huge, which allows them to display whole hutongs. They had a cool exhibit of all sorts of different kinds of gates which lead into traditional courtyard houses, and explanations of how they represented different status levels. They had a reproduction of a traditional Beijing opera house, complete with all the two story seating and a two story stage. It really gave you the feeling of being there.
Beijing makes lots of big statements, like the museum, but there’s also so much little stuff to discover. Peter’s colleagues have been taking him to all sorts of hole-in-the-wall yummy places for lunch. They took us to a Hunan-style banquet lunch at a beautiful restaurant in some nondescript building the other day where we had course after course of wonderful food, and Peter had too much erguotou, a lethal Chinese very high proof rice alcohol. They were impressed by his ability to drink at lunch, but he definitely paid for it later.
Beijing makes lots of big statements, like the museum, but there’s also so much little stuff to discover. Peter’s colleagues have been taking him to all sorts of hole-in-the-wall yummy places for lunch. They took us to a Hunan-style banquet lunch at a beautiful restaurant in some nondescript building the other day where we had course after course of wonderful food, and Peter had too much erguotou, a lethal Chinese very high proof rice alcohol. They were impressed by his ability to drink at lunch, but he definitely paid for it later.
Monday, July 23, 2007
There are a lot of people in China
There are a LOT of people in Beijing. We keep jokingly saying this realization to each other, as you can have an intellectual sense of that before you get here, but the visceral feeling doesn’t really hit you until you’re at the popular Summer Palace on a weekend in the height of tourist season.
The Summer Palace is in the northwest of Beijing, not too far from our apartment, where the Empress Cixi used to while away her time without a care while the empire crumbled around her. It’s really a beautiful beautiful park, originally a birthday present from an emperor to his mother. I’ve since been dropping hints to Peter about what sort of comparable present I want for my upcoming birthday.
For you gadget geeks out there, we then subsequently went to the Hailong Electronics Mall, a six story complex that sold nothing but electronics. Peter was quite excited, and is looking forward to geeking out on electronics with our friend, Bill, when he comes in August.
Finally, as you’ve probably noticed, I still haven’t figured out how to rotate my vertical pictures so they look right on the blog, sorry!
The Summer Palace is in the northwest of Beijing, not too far from our apartment, where the Empress Cixi used to while away her time without a care while the empire crumbled around her. It’s really a beautiful beautiful park, originally a birthday present from an emperor to his mother. I’ve since been dropping hints to Peter about what sort of comparable present I want for my upcoming birthday.
For you gadget geeks out there, we then subsequently went to the Hailong Electronics Mall, a six story complex that sold nothing but electronics. Peter was quite excited, and is looking forward to geeking out on electronics with our friend, Bill, when he comes in August.
Finally, as you’ve probably noticed, I still haven’t figured out how to rotate my vertical pictures so they look right on the blog, sorry!
Friday, July 20, 2007
The Great Wall at Jingshangling
So, there are four access points to the Great Wall within a few hours' drive of Beijing. I vetoed going to tourist-overrun Badaling, and have been to Simatai, so we decided to embark on a subway to bus to taxi adventure to Jingshangling, the most remote access point. A crazy transit adventure only Peter could love.
So worth it. We nearly had the place to ourselves. Except for two local ladies who helpfully tagged along to help us up and down the steep steps, give us some information and history about this particular segment of the Great Wall, and of course, sell us some stuff at the end.
So worth it. We nearly had the place to ourselves. Except for two local ladies who helpfully tagged along to help us up and down the steep steps, give us some information and history about this particular segment of the Great Wall, and of course, sell us some stuff at the end.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Newbies in Beijing
Well, we're getting settled in here in Beijing. Peter had his first day at the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning, after which he was told the rest of his department would be gone on a business trip for the next few days and so, why don't you take the rest of the week off? Supposedly he'll get to go on a business trip sometime during our stay here too, and it gives us a chance to get settled in and explore a bit. Two trips to the crazy Carrefour supermarket later, our new furnished apartment is home. Check out some pictures! We're on the top floor of a 15 floor building, in a bigger apartment. The CAUPD generously arranged for us to have a larger apartment given that it's two of us. The other interns are calling it the "penthouse."
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