Beijing Evening 3: The Colonel, The Shark, and The Starfish

So it's a little rainy today, so I'm taking a break after my morning sight seeing to catch up a little. So with a savory veggie pastry from this awesome hole in the wall next door and a tall boy of Tsing Tao...

Call it East Meets West, a juxtaposition, a confluence, or whatever you like, the contrast of times and cultures is remarkable here. You can find it all over the city, everywhere from the downtown business districts to the super touristy Forbidden City area. Whether its the auto rickshaw and Audi vying for position in the turn lane or the lamasery filled with Buddhist monks that also doubles as a subway station, one of the most stark examples of this contrast is probably the Wangfujing Dajie, a very glitzy shopping corridor not too far from the Forbidden City. This crazy pile of stores showcases brands like Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo in ginormous shopping plazas that eclipse some of the original and still inhabitated neighborhoods of Beijing. It's a very popular lifestyle destination for both locals and tour groups alike. It's kind of like the Canal Shops in Vegas but even more overwhelming and yet through all the din and shopping melee, there's something very familiar, soothing, almost alluring in the air...


And just around the corner from my good friend, The Colonel, is the famous Donghuamen Night Market just off of Wangfujing Street. The block is lined with food stands grilling and frying all sorts of things on a stick that those with a western palate would have never imagined.

It has a very long history of serving specialty snacks from around the country. It was recently rebuilt by the city government in 2000 where a number of permanent stalls have been installed. The market is open from around 5pm till 10pm. By about 4:30pm, the vendors are already lining up in the squads of bicycles with side cars or carts filled with the days feast.

Given such an impressive breadth of options, I had to try something. While I wish I could say I was bold enough to try the scorpion or the fried silk worms, I eventually settled on


I know I wussed out but hey I got a few more days to build up the courage to move on something more exotic. And for the record, my fruit skewer had dragon fruit on it. How many of you can say that you've had dragon fruit?

Skewer in hand, I started walking back towards my hotel when I ran across St. Joseph's Church. I think it is one of four remaining churches in Beijing and at least on this day it was crowded with people just hanging out.


There were about 10 skaters trying to master a nose grind off of one the stone benches. Note random white dude on the right.


This dude was jamming and singing Don Mclean and the Eagles. Awesome. Oh and cos-play photoshoot. Almost didn't see them.


Next stop, Xian City the Shanxi Province, birthplace of a nation

Beijing Day 3: The Golden Gate Park Drum Circle - Chinesy Style

I have some time to kill before my flight so...

Day 3 started with a trip to the Temple Of Heaven. It's actually a series of ancient temples that have been restored and enclosed within a very large park, similar to Golden Gate Park


If you want the history, go checkout the Wikipedia article, because I have since forgotten it all. I think the neatest part of the park was the sheer number of locals who come to do their morning exercises, take singing lessons, play dominoes, dance, and a whole host of other social activities.



There was this one area I think called the Long Corridor that was one of the centers of the madness.


This was a group chinese flute lesson. Literally, a foot behind me there was a group singing lesson, and behind them was the big ol' hippie drum circle. I tried taking a picture of them too, but I drew lots of nasty glares.


This kid was super cute. He was jamming all over the place pulling his toy truck. Happy as a lark... Then he bailed, Yard Sale style. Then he was not so happy, but Mom was laughing.

Ok that's all for now, I need to board soon. But after the break, The Colonel, the Shark and the Starfish...

Beijing Day 3: Picking Up Chicks

So many chicks, so little time. Happy Easter!!!


There were some ducklings too. I'm not really sure why there was a dude sitting in one of the trinket shopping corridors selling small fluffy fowl, but he was popular with young and old alike. I think I sat there for a good 10min playing with the chicks. I finally left when I realized I had turned into Lennie Small.

Ok that's enough blogging for one night. It's late and I have a flight to catch in a few hours.

Beijing Day 2: The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Coolest Lime Invention EVER!!!

Refreshed from my 15hr nap, I leapt out of bed and headed to the Forbidden City. Ok, so maybe it was more like, rolled over groaning like a beached whale, I slid out of bed and into hot cup of coffee at the breakfast buffet downstairs... but then I was all sorts of bright-eyed and bushy tailed. After a quick 5 min walk, I arrived at the

The Forbidden City



It is big. Very very big.



Full of old buildings. Actually the picture above is the Northern Gate. But seriously, there are some goregous buildings inside that have more or less withstood centuries of wear and tear with a little help from the Chinese government.



There were a bunch of canons just inside the Southern Gate. I never did find out why they were aimed towards the interior.


Quick sidebar... Chinese Nationalism is pretty freaking pervasive. Every which way you look, there is a picture/sculpture/bust of Mr. Mao, some important military figure, or commemorative something or other. One could argue that this is simply one giant government sponsored indoctrination program. But its nonetheless amazing to hear the pride in peoples voices as they describe the banal origins of a jade comb, stone tablet, insert old object here... And even more amazing watching the listener soak it all up.



This particular Big Chairman Mao was above the Southern Gate facing...

Tiananmen Square


The logistics of getting to the square were a bit nutty. I experienced for the first time the underground crosswalk. Unlike most other intersections in Beijing where its one giant game of real life Frogger (more about that later), you can't actually just cross the street into the square. Instead, there are a number of subterranean walkways on the four corners with corresponding portals on the adjacent streets. The part that was a little crazy was the fact that each end of the tunnel had an active security checkpoint with armed guards, metal detectors, and x-ray machines that most people by and large ignored. Oh and not all the tunnels from the surrounding streets led to the square.

In the center of the square is the Monument of the People's Heroes. It's surrounded by Mao's Mausoleum to the south, and the Great Hall of the People and National Muesum of China to the west and east respectively, all of which were closed because evidently the government also rests on the seventh day. So in lieu of more sight seeing, I set out in search of a very late lunch. And thats when I discovered the greatest lime dessert ever invented. Sorry, I wish I had a picture to share, but I haven't been able to keep one whole long enough to actually pull out the camera, let alone take a picture. It's like lime meets coconut dreamsicle. And did I mention that it was amazing?

Beijing Day 1: Arriving...

No Kelli, the blog is not broken... jacka$$!

Nothing terribly exciting to report, except that I have reaffirmed that I am a champion sleeper. Arriving and checking in at my hotel was mostly uneventful. However, I wil note that attempting to tell my cab driver who spoke no english that I'd like to go to my hotel was rather comical, especially because my hotel evidently had just changed its name, so even handing him the hotel name written in chinese got me relativly nowhere. But after cruising around the general area, we eventually found it.



After dropping my bags, I set my alarm and flopped on the bed for a quick 30min power nap. Rolling over, I noticed it was pitch black in my room and 3am. WTF?!? Champion.

Random Thoughts on a 12hr Flight in 5 min or less

2:00p PST

This may come as a shocker to some of you, but I am not a tall man. Those would even go as far as to say I'm a wee lad. And I say screw the latter folks, but I digress.

If you are flying United and assuming you don't regularly sit up there with the ballers and are given the option of upgrading to Economy Plus, TAKE IT. Grab it. Steal it from the guy at the counter next to you if you must. My 3 hour slouch sleeping nap has never been so glorious. My a$$ is pretty much hanging off the seat and my knees are barely touching the seat in front me.


5:15p PST

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? We've been in there air for just about 7 hours and the cabin is getting a little restless. That and we all just finished a delicious and energizing Cup O' UA Noodles. Awesome.



10:45p PST

Across the last 10 hours, I think I've been asleep a whopping 8 hours. Not a bad way to start a vacation.


Friday Apr 10, 3pm GMT+8

Time to...

Doing Laundy @ 2am Blows!

Doing laundry at any time of day is not particularly enjoyable, but after midnight it crosses into a whole new area of pain. Why you may ask would I choose to stay up to some ungodly hour doing the wash? Well, earlier this evening in attempt to avoid the mad packing scramble that will inevitably occur while waiting for my airport shuttle to arrive, I decide to at least start contemplate what I might want to pack. Not actually pack mind you, that's just crazy talk considering I still have a shade over 55 hrs. before my flight.... I kicked open the closet and pulled out all my dresser drawers, only to find them all pretty much empty, which would explain the dirty laundry blob threatening to take over the lower 48 states. So I scooped up the ginormous pile and hauled down to the laundry.

And now I have some time to start posting while waiting to cycle the next load of laundry.

Flights... Check! Hotel... Check! Visa... In hand!!!