Live from Beijing it's ...
Here’s a quick recap before I begin. Internet availability is a couple of computers in the basement, and it costs a little less than a dollar for 30 minutes, so I’ve decided to maximize my MSN & e-mail time by writing my blog in Word before I get down there, so the next entry is a couple of days of work. That and I wasn’t in at all yesterday (there’s so much to do!)Day 1 – August 23/24
I arrived in Beijing today. Wow, it’s pretty scary. I’m here all alone, know none of the language that people speak here, except for the words that I can point out in my Mandarin book. It’s a lot harder than it looks. I can speak little bits of German, Spanish, French and can understand a little bit of Italian & Dutch. If I were almost anywhere else in the world, I’d be OK. I’m proud of myself, though. I now know that there’s more than just showing up in a country that makes you fit in and experience it fully. I worry that it may have been a bad decision to stop by here first rather than learn a little bit of the language, but it’s fascinating. I’m a complete observer. There’s nothing that I can say that people understand, and if I try, I know I’m completely bastardizing it.
The hostel that I’m staying at doesn’t look a thing like the ad on the website. It’s quaint and small and comfy. The hot & cold water works, but is in short supply. We’re right in the middle of a “slum” (at least by Canadian standards, but it’s really just an older residential area, and I feel much safer walking the darker alleys here than some of the brightly lit strip. Slum is a bit of a harsh word. The streets are paved, I just think the buildings are so ancient (seriously ancient, not just old) that the doors & roofs are really low. It’s fascinating architecture and a very different way of structuring housing than we could ever imagine. Arriving at 11:30/12:00pm, I didn’t get to meet my roommates, but I unloaded my things in the 8 bedroom bunk and decided to go for a bit of a stroll.
I went over to the Drum Tower, a short walk from my hostel. It houses one of the biggest drums in the world, and along with the Bell Tower would help signal days & times for the locals. It also explains how the Chinese calendar is divided into segments. The combination of the different segments leads to a 64 month calendar year or something like that, which also helps explain the whole “year of the rooster” thing. It was kind of pretty, but I think I may have been better to spend my Yuan elsewhere.
For lunch I stopped at a restaurant and tried my best to point out some form of edible animal product, the waitress pointed out a beef dish, and some rice, which I accepted. Yeah, I didn’t know there was squid included in the beef dish. The weirdness of the combination and the messed-up-ness of my sleeping/eating pattern made me not very hungry (and sadly this has lasted now two days. It’s the 26th and I’ll hopefully be eating my first full meal, a breakfast provided by the hostel). I wandered around a bit more and for about $5 Canadian I purchased some toilet paper, 4L of water, some candy and snacks. Probably a 15-20$ bill at the A&P. I ended up going to sleep super early but before I retired I signed up for a Great Wall Tour the following day, the bus left at 6:40 AM, so the early night wasn’t too bad for me.
Day 2 – August 25, 2005
I departed at 6:40 AM for a Great Wall trek. I didn’t know quite what to expect, so I wore my runners, packed some things in my backpack. Looking back, I would have packed more food or snacks, but hindsight is 20/20. It took us 3 ½ hours to get to the Wall, we did not go to Bu da li, the most famous (and busy) part of the wall, but Si Ma Tai, a much more isolated section of the wall that was absolutely beautiful. Some points we could climb so high that we could see the wall snaking for miles in one direction. I took a few pictures, and will hopefully have them up either here or at some photo site, since it might be a little too much for the blog to handle.
I met a girl named Patricia originally from Tahiti but working in France (who was fluent in English, French & Mandarin) who decided to take the shorter hike with me, and the cable cars to get halfway up the mountain. I’m seriously glad that I did, without eating regularly I haven’t felt quite myself since arriving. It was leisurely for most of it, a little harder for other bits, and we made a lot of friends while we were up there. Patricia’s ability to speak Mandarin earned her some friends with the peasant farmers who follow you up the wall, and when you get too tired, they try to sell you souvenirs. They have an infallible spirit, sometimes following people for 30 minutes to an hour up the mountain.
We also made some friends with some American tourists who had left their tourgroup at Bu da li in favour of the more isolated part of the wall. They were Executive MBA students at the Univeristy of Denver (I think) and welcomed us at the bottom with a few bottles of local beer. It was a good way to end the afternoon. After the 3 hour busride back, I took a shower and went to get some fool (again, I barely ate anything) and went to bed at about 8:30 or 9 pm. I figure that tomorrow I’ll start at a regular time and not get so whacked out with the weird schedule. I’ll post as soon as I can again, but until later!
Jenn
posted by Jenn @ 8:41 p.m.
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