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
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