So this past week has been crazy. I had my first big presentation at one of the universities and it went well, and I've gotta give another tomorrow. Working on building a box the size of a jail cell in North Korea right now, it's really not that big. I don't think I can fit in it without falling over. Or maybe I just can't balance. It's only 2ft wide by 3ft tall...
Also went to dinner w/ my entire school faculty on Friday to this GORGEOUS traditional restaurant somewhere near us. For the first time since I told them I wasn't coming back, things were really chill and it was a hi/goodbye dinner for a new teacher and me. Some of us went out to a norebang (Korean karaoke) after that and Candace and I finally figured out how these girls stay in shape - shaking it like crazy in the singing room! We were totally put to shame when they got up (but we did score a 99/100 singing 99 Red Balloons, best score of the night!)
A few hours after getting home from school festivities, hopped on the plane and flew to see Wilson in Beijing! It was SO good to see a friend from home, and he was an AWESOME host. We started running around the city immediately, taking a cab from the airport and going straight to the Forbidden City, which we did backwards (note: incredibly hard to go against the current of giant tour groups!) and then proceeded to pretty much go full-on til I left at 630 on Monday morning, when I got back just in time to teach my little kids. Whew!
All the faculty of Wonderland - looks like we all get along, doesn't it? Missing one teacher, Joy, who is the other American, but it was a good dinner. The second picture is the bizarre Maori background that would play during every single karaoke song. What it has to do with ANYTHING we sang, I have no idea...
In case you were wondering, the cab is SARS free. And this is the nuclear plant on the way to the Forbidden City from the airport.
My Mao watch! The hand waves back and forth. It sort of works. But I already broke the band. Yes, only 2 days later.
So Wilson and I went in backwards through the Forbidden City, and this is what we were met with. 8000 people wearing red Nike caps or some other marker for their tour groups - lots of wading and darting trying to go against the current. Wilson and I took the same picture - standing against the columns - they look kinda cool all in a line. And the next is the massive courtyard of the Forbidden City. The whole place is definitely impressive, and makes me want to watch "The Last Emperor", but the fact that SO much of it is closed off to the public is kind of annoying. This is also one of the many thrones you see (each has its own purpose, I forget what this one's is). And finally, the main entrance, complete with Mao's portrait, and the up-close shot too.
Tiananmen Square - sight of the big demonstrations and man standing up to a tank. Which we must've walked at least 4 times, and it's pretty big, in search of a place that would exchange my money. In the end, we wound up at the big hotel right next to the Forbidden City. Always go with your first instinct!
After the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, Wilson took me to a tea house where we met his friend, Jane (picture below). Wilson had some kind of jasmine tea and I had an AMAZING lychee tea which was so good, but you couldn't buy it on its own at the tea store. Oh well. These two guys here made incredible animal noises - as if there were birds, dogs, horses, and whatever else they did actually in the room. Wilson said it was like "Chinese traditional beat-boxing." And here we are at the tea house, though Wilson is not smiling because he likes awkward pictures.
For dinner, we went for Peking Duck which was really good, but didn't actually seem like we got all that much meat. The guy carves it near your table, and I guess they're supposed to make a stir-fry or something out of the meat not carved off at first, but the remainder of our bird simply disappeared to who knows where. Wilson really liked the chopstick holders, and this is me and Jane, definitely not paying attention to the camera we're supposed to be looking at. Oh yeah, and if you put your jacket over the chair, they put a cover over so no one will steal it. Nice of them to watch out for you like that.
Beijing's version of Bangkok's tuk-tuk. Though these are WAY smaller. I'm not quite sure how comfortable it would be for one person to fit in there. Wilson and I thought about doing it just to say we did it, but nixed that idea quickly.
The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven which is huge and is in this really big park. There are two pretty large temples on the grounds and a few checkpoints to make sure you only see them once if you've only paid once. Up close, the paint is peeling off and could definitely use some of the money being charged for admission to do some restoration work. The inside was still nice though. The whole thing is still pretty impressive.
After the temple, Wilson took me wandering through the hutongs - Beijing's old neighborhoods that are slowly being torn down. Imagine old Chinese movies from the Cultural Revolution and the houses they show there and that's what these were like, though in much worse condition. I thought they were really interesting to see though, especially in contrast to everything being done to prepare for the 2008 Olympics. Though sadly, most turn into the broken down frame you see next to the other picture.
Street food! Beijing's street food actually seems to be semi-protected behind windows, unlike the carts here. And here are our noodles in a bag. SO good. Ridiculously good. They made them fresh for us, and we got random steamed bun type things to go with them.
We finished our sightseeing at the lake by the hutongs, which was beautiful! We ate our noodles by the side and then walked around the other side of the hutongs which has been turned into a trendy bar area, including a bar called "Sex and Da City" and a Starbucks all done in traditional Chinese decorating style.
Candied fruit on a stick! EXCELLENT. Crabapples and mandarin orange slices coated in sugar. Mmmmm...
Pay up.
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