I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but you will get stared at when in China. I actually don't mind the stares; makes me feel like a celebrity. Besides that, most of the time the stares are coming from elderly people. It's understood. The funny part about that is the fact that I admittedly stare at foreigners when I see them. You're seeing hundreds and thousands of Asians a day so when you see someone foreign, they stand out like a sore thumb. I can't help it. You look for a familiar face or just wonder what the hell they're doing out here. They're probably thinking the same thing about you.
Everyday, I make an appearance at the office once or twice. It's real close to my hotel, and I just like to stop in and say hi to some of the assistants. Tool around a bit. It's good to get to know them and make yourself known as long as its not in a negative manner. I figure when push comes to shove, they'll know me and be able to help me out since I've been forming a friendly relationship with a lot of them. Besides, I like to do some ball busting with them and they're funny. They seem to enjoy my silly American ways.
But the zoo. Let's talk about the zoo as promised. What a piece of s*#t. Seriously. This is why I don't go to zoos. My roommate and I had discussed going to the zoo the day before. We found out it was pretty cheap, about 20 yuan, and decided to go. The day of, he ended up having a demo to do so after some debate I decided to venture there by myself. I figured if I wanted to take pictures and what not, I could go my own way without any hassle by myself. Once I arrived, I had to walk through an underpass I guess to get to the zoo. This underpass was a little depressing. Upon walking in, I saw a woman standing next to a sack full of puppies. There were about 6 in there, all very cute. What puppy isn't cute? I took a few photos of them that I'll put up on facebook when I have the time. Poor dogs. Hopefully they find good homes. There were also 2 guys singing and playing some music. It was actually decent. I threw him a single yuan. Why not? One yuan is nothing, and I knew he would appreciate anything I gave him. He did.
On to the zoo. Luckily, I took the right subway exit and found myself in front of one of the zoo entrances. There's 4 gates, I believe. After staring at the signs for a little while, trying to figure out how much it was, it looked like it would cost me 10rmb. I was expecting 20, so it seemed good to me. Again, figure about 6.5rmb/$1.00. I ended up paying 15, but it came with some kind of ticket for something else within the zoo. Figured I would maybe find out sooner or later.
The zoo started off ok. I found myself at a pond that contained fowl, ducks, and other birds. I got some decent shots of them with my camera. Those pictures will be up next month on flickr since I maxed out for this month. I'll probably get some on facebook in time. I know, I've mentioned this like three times, but I didn't want anyone to feel left out about the pictures. There will be NO crying on this blog. Haha. Alright, I'm done. Any who. I saw a sign pointing towards amphibians and reptiles. I love reptiles so I decided to check this place out next. There were some cool creatures, but the glass was really dirty on all the tanks and there didn't seem to be anything real special. This was at least how it was presented. Remember, this is a sad excuse even for a zoo. Spent a little bit of time there checking things out, but I realized that this zoo could take me a while with all the walking around I'd be doing. I'm not gonna go on about the zoo too much though, so I'll sum it up. Seeing a hippo close up is nuts. I mean I knew they were big, but you really don't know how big they are until you're up close and personal. They're like small submarines. His/her home/environment was terrible. Way too small. Again, seeing a rhino and an elephant up close was awesome. They're just such magnificent creatures, it's a shame they're stuck in that garbage zoo. Again, their environments, if you can call them that, were very small. It's almost enough to bring you to tears seeing such awesome creatures like that in such small cages. I'm very tempted to sneak in at night and set all those animals free. Where would they go you ask? I don't know, and I don't care. Go wreck some cars or something. Run over some people and free up some space in this city. You might think I'm sounding a bit sadistic, but don't forget I'm freeing animals. So it's ok. And back to the zoo. I saw a couple different types of monkeys, some really neat birds, lions and tigers and bears, OH MY. But seriously. I saw them. All of those. It just happened to come out like that when I was typing. What can I say, my fingers have a mind of their own. If you slice open the ends of my fingers, you will find little brains in each one. Haha, I'm a little bored and taking this too far.
There were plenty of cool animals to be seen at the zoo, but there was little to no upkeep done to maintain the zoo. The animals and their cages were filthy. It was a sad sight, indeed. I came across the panda part of the zoo when I was trying to get back to the entrance I came in through. This requires an extra ticket, so I decided to give mine a shot. Bam, got in. Seeing the panda bears was one of the saddest sights I've ever seen. They are amazing to see in person. Even the pandas were dirty and their zoo homes were a disgrace. No life for a panda. My only consolation in seeing them was that the one panda turned and looked directly at me when I was taking a picture of it. This is actually hard to even talk about now, so I'll stop there. I walked around the zoo once there simply because I paid to be there. It was hardly enjoyable. Funny story, though. I saw this guy eating something that looked pretty good out of an orange looking wrapper. When I found myself in one of the zoo's little food courts, I saw something in a similar wrapper. The size was somewhat similar as well, so I figured this has got to be it. It was only 4 yuan, just what I was looking to pay. I didn't inspect it too much prior to opening it. Discovered it was a loaf of bread. GREAT. Just what I wanted, a fricken loaf of bread. So I walked around eating a loaf of bread. It made me feel a little better when I saw other people eating it here and there.
Funny story number two. It is such a small world. When I was walking near the Oryx, I saw two women that looked familiar. I'm very good with faces. The one woman saw me looking on and said, "It's a beautiful world, yeah?" (In her Italian accent, I think) Now I had to ask. I asked her if she had flown out of Russia. She told me she had on Aeroflot Airlines.. I knew I recognized them. We all briefly laughed at realizing the coincidence. I doubt they recognized me, but it didn't matter. How strange. There are approximately 11 million people in Beijing, and there are plenty of different things to do. Somehow, I ended up at the zoo and saw these two people there on the same day I was there. Your chances of running into someone at the zoo alone is slim enough. Weird.
Lantern Festival. At first, I was excited to see this. By night time, I was pretty tired and had lost interest. While on the bejinger website though, I saw a picture of tons of lanterns being let go into the sky. This enticed me to get up and try to find some. I ended up at Tian'anmen Square. The subways were packed, the streets were crowded. Fireworks were being lit all over the city, but there was very few here. I understand this is an important place, but there was nothing here. It was cool to see the square and some of the buildings at night, like the outside of Forbidden City, but overall I was pretty disappointed. I should have listened to one of the assistants and gone to Ditan park. It was more of a hassle than anything going to the square. I've got some pictures of it you'll be able to see in due time. I found out that Ditan Park should have more lanterns for a few days. I'm grateful for this because it's very traditional and looks really cool. As I understand it, people make a wish or something like that and let their lantern go off into the night sky. Hopefully, I'll get to see this. It's a big celebration, so I should be alright. As for fireworks, I could have seen better ones outside my hotel. It seems like people invest their life savings into the stuff and buy enough to last them until midnight. Firecrackers and fireworks go off for hours. Crazy. They're a bunch of pyros. All of 'em.
That's it for now, enjoyed just walking around today which I'll talk about in the next post. Ta ta for now.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Out and About
So seeing how I have the week off before I start work, I've been going out and doing some touristy type things. I mean, it's gotta be done at some point. The beautiful thing about being here for a year; I'll get to see the stuff most tourists don't get to see as well.
On Tuesday night, 3 of us decided to go out to Sun Li Tun to check out some bars or something along those lines. It was easy enough to take the subway and get in the general vicinity of the place, but finding it was slightly more difficult. It wasn't too bad, typical stuff really. Ya know, say hi to a few Asians here and there, point at a map or attempt to say Sun Li Tun and hope they point you in the general direction. We ended up finding it without too much searching. We just kind of walked around until we found the place. Sun Li Tun (pronounced more like san-lee-twor) is kind of a big night life scene for Westerners and college kids. There wasn't much going on seeing how it was Tuesday night, but still fun to go out and get a drink. We passed a bunch of lady clubs, and people will offer you deals and try their best to get you to go in. I used a 'no' gesture and said, "Xia xia" (pronouced sheea sheea, but dont' drag it out too much). It means thank you. As I walked away, he responded "You can't speak Chinese". Haha, this made my night. I wish I had said back to him that he couldn't speak English, but I was still half laughing about his comment. Amusing to say the least.
Anyways, we were sort of looking for this bar called Bar Blue, walked down an alley, payed for this awesome little sandwich type thing, and bam; there was Bar Blue right behind us. We got the sandwich from this little street vendor. It consisted of 2 pieces of dough rolled out like pancakes with oil on them. The vendor then proceeded to open it up a little bit with chopsticks and crack an egg in/on it. These get cooked and then lettuce, bits of pork, relish type stuff, and sauce all get put in between the 2 pieces. Delicious and cheap.
Bar Blue is alright. It's kind of a cool place, but I don't dig the smoking inside. Seems that's the case with most places. The music mostly consists of older hits remixed with an upbeat tempo. It was also 40 yuan for 1 pint, but you get one free. So figure 20 yuan per beer. This is a little steep considering I can buy a large beer in a bottle for 2.5 yuan (if I return the bottle, other wise 3) from a place near my new apartment. I mean you are out at a bar, granted; but still, 10-15 yuan is more reasonable. Whatever, I was out. Most people don't come out though until around 10 PM - 12 AM. We were there at like 7:30 PM, so there was not a lot of people. Again, it was Tuesday also. Oh well, live and learn.
Wednesday was an awesome day. With time and nothing to do this week, I figured seize the day. I wanted to go and do a little sight seeing so this kid Johnny and I decided to make our way out to Houhai Lake. This place was really cool, even in the winter. If you'd like to see some photos of this, check out my flickr site. There's a link on my page. I'll probably put some up on facebook as well. But back to the lake. You'll find that most excursions, when new to Beijing, turn into little adventures just searching for places. It's all part of the experience. This place wasn't too hard to find, but as usual took a little time. We actually ended up finding it by asking the first white person we came across. When walking around, you may come across a white person every two or three hours so they'll stick out and may end up being as misguided as you are. See, you're not necessarily lost - just misguided. Walking towards the lake was cool enough on its own, though. It's just a different part of the city and it's nice to see some variation. We came across these two massive buildings that look like the architecture you think of when thinking of China. Apparently, they're about 700 years old. Pretty neat.
When we got to the lake, one guy on a rickshaw immediately tries to get us to pay for a ride around the place. Johnny was up for it, I wasn't. For one, I didn't feel like paying for it. Two, I don't mind walking. I've got legs. So he went, and I proceeded to walk around the entire lake on my own. The lake is pretty big and there are plenty of cool shops and restaurants around it. Again, lots of cool architecture. I enjoyed the time to myself, got some great pictures, and it was nice to be in one of the regions that encourages people to come to China. For the most part, a city looks like a city, so you've got to get out and see places like that. Johnny enjoyed his rickshaw ride, and I have to admit that the guy was pretty cool. Very friendly. I suppose you have to be when you're trying to sell rides, but nonetheless. I met up with Johnny in about 40 minutes, and we walked around a little more before making our way back to the subway. We even walked out on the lake for a little bit. It was frozen after all, and other people had done it. It's like the old saying goes, 'When in China'.... I'm fairly certain that's not actually a saying. Finding our way back to the subway proved a little difficult and again; we had to play the dumb American card, ask some people, point to the subway map, and smile. It works from time to time. The trick is to ask multiple people because I've been told (and I've witnessed this) that people will point you in a direction and appear very confident. This is done simply to save face and not look dumb. It's all well and good, but just be aware.
Unfortunately, I checked out the zoo today (Thursday). I don't like zoos, and I remember why. I don't know the last time I was at one, and it's going to be quite a while before I'm back in one. I can tell you a little more about that in the next post.
As for tonight, it's Lantern Festival. Should be pretty cool and I'm excited to see some neat things, whatever that consists of. I'll be sure to let you know afterward.
-Jeff
On Tuesday night, 3 of us decided to go out to Sun Li Tun to check out some bars or something along those lines. It was easy enough to take the subway and get in the general vicinity of the place, but finding it was slightly more difficult. It wasn't too bad, typical stuff really. Ya know, say hi to a few Asians here and there, point at a map or attempt to say Sun Li Tun and hope they point you in the general direction. We ended up finding it without too much searching. We just kind of walked around until we found the place. Sun Li Tun (pronounced more like san-lee-twor) is kind of a big night life scene for Westerners and college kids. There wasn't much going on seeing how it was Tuesday night, but still fun to go out and get a drink. We passed a bunch of lady clubs, and people will offer you deals and try their best to get you to go in. I used a 'no' gesture and said, "Xia xia" (pronouced sheea sheea, but dont' drag it out too much). It means thank you. As I walked away, he responded "You can't speak Chinese". Haha, this made my night. I wish I had said back to him that he couldn't speak English, but I was still half laughing about his comment. Amusing to say the least.
Anyways, we were sort of looking for this bar called Bar Blue, walked down an alley, payed for this awesome little sandwich type thing, and bam; there was Bar Blue right behind us. We got the sandwich from this little street vendor. It consisted of 2 pieces of dough rolled out like pancakes with oil on them. The vendor then proceeded to open it up a little bit with chopsticks and crack an egg in/on it. These get cooked and then lettuce, bits of pork, relish type stuff, and sauce all get put in between the 2 pieces. Delicious and cheap.
Bar Blue is alright. It's kind of a cool place, but I don't dig the smoking inside. Seems that's the case with most places. The music mostly consists of older hits remixed with an upbeat tempo. It was also 40 yuan for 1 pint, but you get one free. So figure 20 yuan per beer. This is a little steep considering I can buy a large beer in a bottle for 2.5 yuan (if I return the bottle, other wise 3) from a place near my new apartment. I mean you are out at a bar, granted; but still, 10-15 yuan is more reasonable. Whatever, I was out. Most people don't come out though until around 10 PM - 12 AM. We were there at like 7:30 PM, so there was not a lot of people. Again, it was Tuesday also. Oh well, live and learn.
Wednesday was an awesome day. With time and nothing to do this week, I figured seize the day. I wanted to go and do a little sight seeing so this kid Johnny and I decided to make our way out to Houhai Lake. This place was really cool, even in the winter. If you'd like to see some photos of this, check out my flickr site. There's a link on my page. I'll probably put some up on facebook as well. But back to the lake. You'll find that most excursions, when new to Beijing, turn into little adventures just searching for places. It's all part of the experience. This place wasn't too hard to find, but as usual took a little time. We actually ended up finding it by asking the first white person we came across. When walking around, you may come across a white person every two or three hours so they'll stick out and may end up being as misguided as you are. See, you're not necessarily lost - just misguided. Walking towards the lake was cool enough on its own, though. It's just a different part of the city and it's nice to see some variation. We came across these two massive buildings that look like the architecture you think of when thinking of China. Apparently, they're about 700 years old. Pretty neat.
When we got to the lake, one guy on a rickshaw immediately tries to get us to pay for a ride around the place. Johnny was up for it, I wasn't. For one, I didn't feel like paying for it. Two, I don't mind walking. I've got legs. So he went, and I proceeded to walk around the entire lake on my own. The lake is pretty big and there are plenty of cool shops and restaurants around it. Again, lots of cool architecture. I enjoyed the time to myself, got some great pictures, and it was nice to be in one of the regions that encourages people to come to China. For the most part, a city looks like a city, so you've got to get out and see places like that. Johnny enjoyed his rickshaw ride, and I have to admit that the guy was pretty cool. Very friendly. I suppose you have to be when you're trying to sell rides, but nonetheless. I met up with Johnny in about 40 minutes, and we walked around a little more before making our way back to the subway. We even walked out on the lake for a little bit. It was frozen after all, and other people had done it. It's like the old saying goes, 'When in China'.... I'm fairly certain that's not actually a saying. Finding our way back to the subway proved a little difficult and again; we had to play the dumb American card, ask some people, point to the subway map, and smile. It works from time to time. The trick is to ask multiple people because I've been told (and I've witnessed this) that people will point you in a direction and appear very confident. This is done simply to save face and not look dumb. It's all well and good, but just be aware.
Unfortunately, I checked out the zoo today (Thursday). I don't like zoos, and I remember why. I don't know the last time I was at one, and it's going to be quite a while before I'm back in one. I can tell you a little more about that in the next post.
As for tonight, it's Lantern Festival. Should be pretty cool and I'm excited to see some neat things, whatever that consists of. I'll be sure to let you know afterward.
-Jeff
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