Last Week I Went to China. No, Really!

Whew! So after a whirlwind tour of Beijing with my lovely friends Sarah and Kristina, I finally have found the energy to return here and update again! So last week, I went to Beijing. It was quite possibly the most insane trip humanly possible; I'm not sure if that was Beijing or just us. Our trip began with Sarah and Kristina almost missing their flight because someone had committed suicide by jumping in front of Sarah's train and so it was late. (Sidenote: if a train is ever late in Japan, somebody probably used it to kill themselves. Because otherwise Japanese people are never late, and that goes for planes trains and buses, too.) In the meantime, I ended up spending the night sleeping under police supervision at the Haneda Airport koban (police box - yes Japanese policemen are just so badass that they work in a box. And also the emblem for it is a cop giving a kid a lollipop. Hardcore man.). As it turns out one cannot camp out overnight in Japanese airports, as they close. I was informed of this at midnight, after all the trains had stopped running, by a surly Japanese man in a uniform who stood about shoulder high to me. After much groveling, pleading and ninety degree bowing, I and the two other stranded foreigners who had glommed onto me because they spoke no Japanese, we were permitted to camp out on benches at the koban. They took down our passport numbers so that we can't ever do it again though. The next day I finally arrived in Beijing and to the hostel, where I met up with Sarah and Kristina. We decided to ride bikes over to the Forbidden City.

This was a horrible idea. Beijing traffic is what the ninth circle of Hell must be like, and helmets have yet to be invented in China. It is like a nightmarish game of Frogger, if Frogger had a love child with Grand Theft Auto. To make things worse, it was way below freezing! We got lost for several hours, and spent them being chased down by buses, cop cars and taxis, bouncing from Beijinger to Beijinger trying to get directions - which we did get, in both English and Chinese, and all of which were horribly wrong. We eventually arrived, but it had already closed. We went and wandered in Dongshan Park instead. Sarah had to give me handwarmers because I was so cold! Eventually we found our way to Starbucks, and warmed up before returning to the hostel.

That night we went out for hot pot with some new friends from our hostel, and those same friends talked me into going out with them that night. It turned into a ridiculous late night of drinks and dancing. I made it back just in time to grab a few winks before we departed for the Great Wall! One of the perks of visiting Beijing in February (which translates roughly to "visiting Beijing in the dead of winter")  is that nobody else is crazy enough to do it, so you have major attractions like the Great Wall entirely to yourself!

After the Great Wall, we went back into town and wandered, ate some snacks at a local restaurant, and rested up for the Peking Opera that night!

 

I filmed this guy. He caught me. And winked.

After the opera, we went out for Peking duck with two of our new hostel buddies. Well, Kristina and I (by the way, dude, I still have to stop myself from calling you Kemmi all the time...) did. Sarah was sadly too tired and didn't come with us. Sad face. Suffice to say... Peking duck was AMAZING. EAT IT. Don't miss it. It's really, really good.

The next day, we got up and went to the Forbidden City. Folks, this is a palace. It makes Versailles and Fontainebleau look like total and complete pikers. The sheer scale of the place is overwhelming.

After the Forbidden City we went for lunch. We picked a random restaurant. They didn't speak English. We don't speak Chinese. We coped. Though I have no idea what the NAME of what we ate was, it was tasty. Though our attempt to order 400 grams of chicken apparently only came through as "four" and "chicken", resulting in four orders of chicken, we managed to eat it all. We were hungry from all the exercise we were getting!

 

When we tried to leave the restaurant, a random guy started talking to us and flagged us a cab. Then the cab driver tried to screw us and was generally being difficult so we got back out; but some random old lady was biking between the cab and the curb and we hit the back of her bike with the door. She went flying! For whatever reason, our random street corner friend shouted her down in Chinese for us and made her go away. What actually happened here I have no idea. We went back to the hostel and rested, then went tea shopping! The first tea shop we tried, the owner told us to go away! I don't think he wanted to sell tea to foreigners. After over six months of living in Japan, this is the first time I've been chased out of an establishment for being foreign. It wasn't that big of a deal; the next tea shop was cuter anyway and the girls were really friendly. Win! Also they gave us free candies and let us taste the teas.

 

After that we went back to the hostel for a dumpling/Chinese New Year's party with the AMAZING gang of Chinese Box Hostel . If you go to Beijing, I don't care if you can afford a luxury hotel. Stay here. Trust me. You will not be sorry.

Anyway, the New Year celebrations were a wonderful success! We learned how to fold dumplings... er, well, we tried. Most people had more luck than I did!

Later in the night, we set off fireworks of our own, and at midnight, the entire city lit up as Beijingers writ large greeted the Year of the Tiger in style. As a proud feline representative myself (1986) I am especially delighted to have celebrated the lunar New Year in China! Sadly, this was the end of my trip - I caught a cab to the airport at 4:45am to return to Akita. Back in the office the next day, if you can believe it! 8:15 just like always.

While this post is basically just a trip report, I found a lot of interesting and compelling things about visiting China. It has certainly given me some new perspectives on all the talk you hear about "emerging China" and so on. Since you read my blog, and this is where I talk about stuff I want to talk about, and I want to talk about that, expect a post in the next few days addressing my social and political observations from my trip! But till then, enjoy the pictures. There are more on FaceBook!

Sarah, Kristina, I had so much fun. Sarah, like me, is recontracting; I'm going to try and chase her down for another Asian adventure come fall! Sadly Kristina is leaving us - but I'm very excited for her, as she will be attending grad school next year! Seriously, dude, I'm crashing your pad in London. Thanks also to the Box Hostel gang and all the new friends met there! This was an awesome trip. Let's hope the awesome ball keeps rolling for my upcoming adventures in Cambodia and Thailand next month!