Disney Land....Sort Of

 After my late night on the fourth of July, Liz and I decided to stay in on Friday night, but got up early on Saturday to go to Shijingshan Amusement Park. We wanted a break from being tourists so we went to Beijing’s attempt at Disneyland and rode rollercoasters all day. I have to say that it was a lot of fun, but there is no way you could even compare it to Disney world. Bush Gardens or something smaller in scale would be a better comparison. I was a little nervous going on a number of the rides simply because the Chinese do not do a lot up keep but I lived to tell about it so it all worked out. J If you ever come to China that is one thing you will notice. Not only do things appear old and dirty due to the pollution, but because they do not clean or refurbish a lot. A great example is the Birds Nest or the stadium that was built for the Olympics. It does not look like it was built in 5 years ago because it is so dirty from the pollution and they do not bother to do anything about it. Infrastructure makes me a little nervous when it comes to bridges and the subway here, because with 20 million people they get used a lot. Maybe my worrying is for nothing and they do more refurbishing than is physically noticeable, but I would not be surprised if a ride broke down at an amusement park here. 

Beijing's Magic Kingdom

 These mice were the mascot's of the theme park. I think they were trying to mimic Mickey mouse without actually copying Disney Land. Didn't really work in my opinion. Can't beat Mickey.

On Saturday night we went to a very nice club called Element. Going out here has been a lot of fun, not only because I am in a different country, but because I am in a huge city. North Carolina just doesn’t cut it with regards to going out. It has been a lot of fun here, and I cannot wait for my brothers to come out with me in two weeks. There are no age limits here so I can’t wait to show them the city.

Other than that, Liz and I have gone to a few shopping malls to buy skirts and short sleeve shirts because it is just so hot here. The weather is very comparable to NC, but unlike NC the air conditioning is not the same.  You walk inside and the office is pretty stuffy. I am sitting at my desk right now in a skirt and short sleeve shirt sweating.  The shopping malls are just like any U.S. shopping mall and the prices are also the same, which is why we have tried to do our shopping in the markets where you can bargain. Not much else is new. Can’t wait for my family to get here. Until next time. 

Kristen xoxo

Homelessness, Hutongs, and Great Friends

I am going to apologize in advance for this long blog, but due to my slacking, I have to catch everyone up on the past week and a half.  Liz and I went to Houhai lake on Friday night two weekends ago which is surrounded by bars and restaurants. It is more of a relaxed atmosphere, and the view at night is beautiful. Everything is lit up and music is playing at almost every establishment. It was a nice change from the crazy club scene in Sanlitun that we had experienced the weekend before, and unlike Sanlitun, Houhai is mainly local Chinese. 

On Saturday we went to Prince Gong’s Mansion, which was absolutely gorgeous. I think that my favorite thing about it was the garden in the back, which was more of a park than a garden. I could picture him and his many wives enjoying the sun in this beautiful outdoor escape. The landscape was wonderful with huge rocks and a pond incorporated into the architecture of the mansion. Unfortunately, however, a lot of the architecture looks very similar at these various tourist destinations. I was told that before the Beijing Olympics, China refurbished all of these monuments, but now they look very new. It seems like all of the authenticity is gone. So although beautiful, Lama Temple, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and Prince Gong’s Mansion all appear to have very similar designs. They are still worth seeing, but it is definitely a shame that their originality was not preserved. 

Then on Saturday night we went to Nanluoguxiang, which is a very popular hutong (alley). In China a lot of people near the city center live in the hutongs, which are a maze of alleys, and there are also a lot of small restaurants and shops there. This one is quite large with a few popular bars and restaurants, so we ate dinner here and got Mojito’s at a very popular place that can best be described as a shack. It does not look impressive, but it was definitely the best Mojito I have found in Beijing for the best price (30 yuan = about $4), and you can carry it around as you shop because China does not have open container laws which is also kind of neat. The hutongs are a very popular with foreigners because we do not have anything like them in the West. If you were to walk down an alley like this one in the United States, you would probably get mugged, but that is not the case here. I do not think the Chinese understand why foreigners like the hutongs so much, but again, they are just very unique and fun. 

Liz with her Mojito.

 On Sunday we ventured to the silk market which is 7 stories of knock off brands and goods.  Liz and I both got a pearl necklace and a jade ring, so we are starting to look more like the locals (not really, but we are trying). We both also haggled for a knock-off bag, which was a fun experience. I thought that shopping in the U.S. was tiring, but in China it is quite a challenge when you haggle for everything. There is a lot of yelling involved, and we found the best technique was to walk out and then they will yell for you to come back and agree to your price. On the bright side you can really get a bang for your buck if you stick to your guns and stay cheap. I have to admit that I am not very good at this, but I made out ok.

On Wednesday, we decided to go to Wudaokou for the fourth of July, which is an area with a lot of universities so there are a lot of college students. We were meeting up with some UNC students that are here for another program. Well, after we ate dinner, Liz decided to go home. She was tired from the day and really did not want to go out. I had promised my friend who was a part of this other group that I would meet them out so I stayed. So around 10:30 I met my friend Chex, she is actually from China, but she goes to UNC and we met last year on an alternative Spring Break and became great friends. So I had a blast with her and the other 12 UNC students singing and drinking for the 4th. Around 12 a.m. I ran into another friend, Jinny, who I met here. She is from Pennsylvania, and we went to a club called Propaganda and danced for about an hour. I had a great night, but I decided to leave around 1 because I had work the next day. Below is Jinny, me and Chex.

WELL…. On the cab ride home I realized I forgot my key, so when I got home I called my roommates but their phones were off, so I started pounding on the door and ringing the doorbell. Well after 30 minutes they did not wake up, and I literally had about 50 yuan or $10 in my wallet. I really did not want to sleep in my hallway so I called Chex and she attempted to talk to the security guard for about 30 minutes, but apparently he did not have access to keys so I was shit out of luck. So I desperately got a cab to Peking University at 3 in the morning. In addition to her internship, Chex is taking classes at Peking so I slept on her floor for the night. She was such a good friend and after not sleeping for four hours I got up and took a cab back to my apartment where I waited for my roommates to go to work. Needless to say this was not the best night of my life. However, I can officially say that I was homeless in Beijing for a night, but I do not wish to repeat the experience. My roommates are both sound sleepers (obviously) so I will not be forgetting my key again anytime soon. It was quite the adventure and now I can tell you what goes on in the middle of the night in Beijing, which is nothing. 

Kristen xoxoxo

Beijing Nighlife, Wilderness and Massages

Last weekend we decided we needed a break from tourist activities, so we experienced Beijing nightlife Thursday and Friday night from around 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.  Need I say more?  It was such a blast, and there are a number of different bar/club hubs, but we went to the east side of the city which is dubbed Sanlitun.  Sanlitun has streets of bars where a lot of foreigners go to find each other. I think that is my favorite part of traveling; you just never know who you are going to meet. One second I was talking to someone from the U.S. and the next Ireland and the next Nigeria. It is so fun and exciting to hear everyone’s story. Anyway, we did that and ended up at KFC both mornings since we were starving. Outside of the bars there are a lot of vendors/street food, but nothing  like the stereotypical ‘late night’ in the U.S. Unless you crave bugs, vegetables and fish in the early hours of the morning, KFC and McDonalds are you best bet. 

On Sunday, Liz and I decided that getting out of the city and the pollution would be a good change, so we signed for a hike 3 hours outside of the city in Cypress Falls. The first hour of the hike was fine, but I started feeling ill about half way up the mountain, and by the time we got to the top I was very sick. On top of vomiting 4 times before getting to the bottom of the mountain 3 hours later, it poured, so our entire group was soaked for the 3 hour bus ride back to Beijing. I think that this might have been one of most difficult days of my life. I thought that I was going to either pass out from dehydration or slip and fall down the mountain.  I am positive that I had food poisoning because it was so abrupt, and the next day I felt much better, but if you ever come to China I recommend bringing antibiotics and probiotics for digestion issues and WATCH what you eat very carefully. 

Work has been the same old routine – I do have two more articles that were published.

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2012-06/24/content_25710314.htm

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2012-06/21/content_25709004_2.htm

Last night, we went needed a change from Chinese food so we went to a Mexican place called La Bamba, which was excellent. We decided to walk around after dinner, and we passed a massage place in the process.  On a whim, the three of us decided a foot massage would be good and it was fairly inexpensive so we went for it. If I only knew what I had signed up for….. This was definitely the most painful foot massage I have ever had, and the guy who rubbed my feet kept talking to me in Chinese (I am pretty sure inappropriately). So, in addition to my foot massage, which consisted of a lot of hitting, suction cups (increased circulation???), and hammers, I was hit on for 60 minutes.  I posted a few pictures below in an attempt to help you understand this ridiculous experience. On the bright side, the three of us were laughing the entire time because there wasn’t much else to do. 

Other than that, not too much is new. It took me a few days to recover from the food poisoning, so this blog is a little late, but keep your fingers crossed that I don’t get sick again. Love Kristen.

Hospitals, Temples and the Olympics

Hello All,

I am still having a wonderful time, apart from the fact that I got really sick last week. I don’t know what is with me getting sick in foreign countries, but I must say that I am not a fan.  I just had a bad stomach virus, but it was so bad that I decided to go to the hospital on Sunday.  I texted a friend who lives here and she suggested a hospital and texted me the address. So I got in a cab, and found the hospital fine. Once I was inside, however, I walked through half of the hospital before finding the registration desk.  Nothing is in English so navigating here is quite the task, especially when you feel like you are going to fall over. By the grace of God (literally) a woman in line spoke English and she asked them if any of the doctors or nurses did. The answer was a definite “no”, so they wrote down the address of another hospital that had an international clinic.  

So I got in another cab, and made my way to hospital number 2.  After searching there for 15 minutes, a teenage girl could tell I was getting flustered and walked me to the international clinic. Once I finally got there after an hour and a half of driving/walking around, a doctor was there that spoke English. She did a blood test, and gave me some medicine after discovering I had the virus. Overall, the second hospital was great, but a checkup that would have taken me an hour or so took me the entire evening because finding people that speak English are so hard to come by. I realize that I am the one who should be speaking Mandarin, since I am the one in the foreign country, but man, when you don’t feel good and no one understands you, it is all you can do not to just cry or get angry.

In addition to my adventures in Beijing hospitals, we went to the Olympic Park and the Temple of Heaven last week. The Olympic Park was very impressive, and although there is not a lot to see, it was definitely worth the trip. It was so odd seeing the Olympic stadium (nicknamed the ‘birds nest’) after seeing it on TV in 2008 and thinking it was so far away. Our friend and colleague, Jozy, bought us the characters/mascots from the 2008 Beijing Olympics which was really sweet of her.

 The Temple of Heaven was beautiful as well. It is a circular temple, which is different from other architecture I have seen here, since everything seems to be square. Like the Forbidden City, it consists of multiple buildings that extend over acres of land. It was beautiful, but we went on an incredibly hot day. The weather is getting consistently hotter (comparable to NC), and in addition, the pollution is also getting worse. I don’t know if the smog gets worse with the heat, but that seems to be the trend. There is a radio tower that I can usually see from my apartment window, and for the past week there has been so much smog that I can’t see it. Every time I go outside, I feel like I am smoking, which is apparently pretty accurate since the rate of lung cancer here is 5 times the world average due to the pollution. 

Tomorrow (Friday) is a holiday, so we will have a 3 day weekend. I should I have more stories/adventures on Monday. Until then :)

Operas and Articles

Hello All!
I am still having a wonderful time in China. I went to the Opera last weekend, which was a wonderful experience. It has always been on my bucket list to go to the Opera "Pretty Woman" style, and know I can finally say that I did.  It was at the National Theater of the Performing Arts near Tiananmen Square, which is nicknamed 'the egg'.  It is a huge dome that was very controversial when it was built because it is so modern, but I loved it. I thought it was absolutely beautiful.  It is surrounded by water so you have to go underground to get inside and once you are underground the ceiling is glass so that you can see the water above.  

Other than that, we have been going to work from 8:30 to 5 every day, and a lot of touristy things close around 6, so we can't see much during the week. We did go to a tea house last night for dinner, which was a really neat experience.  They had the traditional Chinese puppetry show during dinner, which is where they have flat figures or puppets that they move behind a screen.

 I had two more articles published today:

http://china.org.cn/opinion/2012-06/13/content_25640362.htm

http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2012-06/10/content_25611264.htm

One is an opinion article and one is a feature story. I want to write more instead of just editing, but it is hard for me to report on anything because press conferences, events etc. are all in Mandarin. Even interviewing people is a challenge.  I have to see if I can’t find a story idea where people speak English.  Let me know if you all have any ideas.  I am going to the Olympic Park this weekend, the Buddha Bar, and a going-away party for a friend, so I will give you all an update on Monday. 

Love Kristen ;)