I am currently in my second Beijing hostel and will be moving into a third one tomorrow. We had some logistical issues with booking and to make a long story short it requires I stay in three different places so I can stay here until my train on Wednesday. If I stayed any longer I could become a critic on Beijing hostels.
Yesterday we did not end up making it to the summer palace or zoo but still saw some interesting things. We split up into two groups, me and Whitney went to the antiques market I mentioned in the previous post and the others went back to the silk market to buy more things. The market I went to was huge and is boasted to be the biggest in China. When I said the silk market had everything, it doesn't compare at all to this marketplace. It had everything from teapots, calligraphy paintings, and statues to cultural revolution memorabilia. Whitney was not so much on her game with haggling but still scored a teapot for a decent price. These people were harder to bargain with and I didn't manage to talk anyone down to a decent price for anything.
After the market we rested up in the hostel for a bit then I took Whitney to go eat hotpot. The Chinese patrons were amused watching us eat, Whitney is still working on her chopstick skills but she had managed pretty well here. We then went to a part of the city where they have a neighborhood called a hutong. These neighborhoods consist of a series of narrow alleyways and low roofed houses, more Chinese styled architecture than the huge highrises everywhere else in the city. The alleyways we meandered around led to a park area with a lake. A lot of people were trying to fish in the dark and there were a lot of dogs. All the dogs I have seen here are extremely well trained, they always follow their owners and don't bark or wander off. They are all purebreds too.
Eventually we wondered to the Olympic stadium where a Mayday concert (they are a Taiwanese rock-band) was taking place so there was a huge crowd, especially since we got there right when the concert was ending. We got our pictures then shuffled with the crowd towards the metro which was closing in 20 minutes. It was so crowded that the metro staff set up a van outside the station to sell tickets so the crowd wouldn't be so compact inside the station. When we finally made it into a train we were packed in about as tight as possible with almost no space to move at all.
We also attempted to find the TV tower building but ended up just getting lost in the completely wrong part of the city. Since the metro closed we had to compete with a crowd to find taxi, going back and forth across the street to find the best position to stand.
Today we went to the great wall with a tour group. Before getting to the wall they take to on a shopping stop which was jade factory where they want you to buy overpriced trinkets and jewelry. Next stop was the Mind tombs where the emperors of the dynasty are buried. Our guide told us the skeleton of the emperor was smashed during the cultural revolution when a lot of Chinese relics and historical sights were also destroyed in the ideological war against old ideas.
Finally we made it to the wall, traffic was really bad because it is labor day weekend here and everyone travels. We only got two hours to spend on the wall so I tied to make them count as soon as possible. Parts of the wall are rebuilt and not the original but I managed to make it to the old part of the wall that is falling apart and has trees and such growing on it. The whole wall is really an amazing sight with the mountains in the background. I wish I could have had more time to see it but I'm still glad we got there. On the way back we got stuck in so much traffic that we just asked for the van to stop and we took the metro back to our hostel.
This evening after taking a walk with Whitney around Tienanmen square I went out to explore the city on my own since the others needed to catch some rest since they have to catch their plane back to Spain really early in the morning. There is a hutong area at our new hostel that is interesting but also more developed. I took a second walk around the more main part of town and sat down in a square area where other people were also sitting. After I was there for 10 minutes a group of curious Chinese college students visiting from a neighboring province came over to try to speak with me. One is majoring in English and is in her first semester so was the easiest to talk to. I tried to use some Chinese as well. After they came up other groups of people either came to talk or to just watch. Most Chinese seem interested in foreign visitors but are shy about approaching you. By the time I left there were around ten people sitting around me, some my age and some past middle age just watching me or trying to talk. One girl wanted me to give her and English name but I didn't know what to say at the time.
On my way back to the hostel tonight some drunk Chinese dude put his arm around me and offered me a drink from his water bottle. He seem offended when I refused so I just took a sip to appease him. At least he opened it breaking the seal in front of me so I knew it was fresh and I got the first drink from the bottle. He told me I was is friend and welcomed me to Beijing and went on his merry way back home.
Overall the trip has been going well, I think I might like Shanghai a bit better but will comment on that later. The two travel companions Whitney are not very adventurous, especially with eating. They ate at McDonald's every day, so Whitney and I just went to places on our own to eat Chinese food. They were nice and everything, just not my favorite type of traveler when it comes to dining and such.
Since we are 4 people to a two bed room for the night I volunteered to stay out until 3am until the others wake up to get to the airport where I will then get the room to myself. So this entry is serving as a way to fill my time and record a few events.
I will be on my own for tomorrow and am not sure what I want to go see yet but I'll come up with something. It is bedtime for me now so if this is full of grammatical errors it is because I am not going to proofread this until later.
Sweet dreams,
-Michael
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