I have safely returned to ECNU just now form Beijing and am ready for class tomorrow. I am planning a Holloween post and a Beijing retrospective some time this week so keep your eyes open for those.
2 Comments
Today was a really weird day. I returned to the Great Wall (长城) but I had a very different time there then I did the first time I went last year, I still had a good time it was just very different. I did not go to the end of the south side of the wall this time. I went part of the way south, then turned around and returned north because one guy in our group said there was a slide down. There actually was a slide down and it was kind of terrifing in that Jersey Shore "I think this ride is held together with ductape qnd I don't know how long it will stay together" kind of way.
Saying anything about such well traveled sites like Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, or the Temple of Heaven is very diffcult since there is not much too new to say. So I will only say that Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, or the Temple of Heaven are all very impressive sites. Tiananmen is abnormally secure, even for China. The "insident" is only talked about in a round about way, never direcrly refered too. We took out an ECNU banner for our group photo and were quickly shut down by a member of the People's Armes Police AKA the Chinese military. I did get a Russian hat with a red star that is extreamly warm and very helpful in Beijing's current weather. I also don't know how anyone did any work in the Forbidden City, it is too cold in late-Fall and too hot in the Summer. Since I am a 20 something American in Asia, I ate a scorpion or three tonight. Basically, some poor fellow sticks live scorpions on a stick, they are flash fried alive, then served. In the words of the guy selling the scorpions "scopion very good," but it is not an item I would eat often. Finally, I got some Peking duck which I would recomend over the scorpion unless you are trying to scare your friends and class mates.
Shortly after getting to Beijing and putting our stuff down we quickly went back out to go to the hutong (胡同) behind Tiananmen Square (天安门广场) for dinner. I should have brought a heavyer jacket to China because Beijing is actually cold. The hutong was OK, it had a Madam Tussauds so it was a bit touristy. We got some hot pot and hot pot is always fun, but this was not the best hot pot I ever got. Beijing at night does not feel nearly as lively as Shanghai at night. Beijing at night feels kind of closed while Shanghai feels like I can do 50,000RMB worth of trades on the New York Stock Exchange, buy a new suit as a reward to myself, then go out to a rooftop bar overlooking the Bund for dinner and drinks all before the sun comes up. Tomorrow is my first full day in Beijing so we will see how that goes.
I have arrived in Beijing safe and sound and am currently sitting in my hotel room at the Beijing Penta Hotel. I went via high spead train which is an experance I can wholely recomend. It is really interesting to go from rural countryside to a development of what seems like 50 identical highrise buildings so quickly. If you are taking the train, don't do what I did and buy food on the train. China Rail's food is both expensive and bad.
The University has orgnized a fieldtrip to Beijing. We are leaving today at 7:45AM. I have post or two planned but will see if the train stations even have internet. I will see y'all in Beijing.
So today a delivery guy asked a classmate and myself for directions to Internatuonal Dorm 2 in Chinese. As we tried to figure out how to tell this guy how to get to Dorm 2, he called the recipiant if the package and she anwsered in Chinese. In Chinese I told her to go to the Mao statue, then to Dorm 2, then I asked if she spoke English, then we started walking to Dorm 2, then she asked if I spoke Korean, then she said she was at Mao, then I passed the phone to my classmate who told both the Korean girl and the delivery guy to go to dorm to. All in all, it went OK; I did have to pass the phone off and there was a lot of confusion but the package did get delivered.
Today for my China’s Economic Impact class, the class and I went to The HongQiao International Pearl City/HongQiao Silk City fake market in Shanghai. Just an FYI, I did not go to two faker markets, I went to one fake market with two names. As its name sugusts, the fake market sells mostly fake and knock off items for far lower then the original products. Mostly the venders sold watches, purses, wallets, electronics, pens, and clothing. There were also several venders selling art and custom tailered suits. For a fake market it was actually a very clean space, it felt like a mall actually. I believe this is because The HongQiao International Pearl City/HongQiao Silk City fake market appeals to foreign tourists who want to go to a Chinese fake market but want the whole process to be somewhat clean. At the same time my class was there their was also a group of wealthy tourists who I think were some type of Europeans. While you would think the venders would be very agressive they actually arn't unless you take a good long look at something, then they will spring into action. I got a Curren watch, it is not a fake watch but a Chinese watch trying to look more expensive than it is. It actually has buttons that don't press and diles that don't move all in the name of looking expensive. I finished the day with noodles at a nearby restraunt that was not as good as Lamian.
|
AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
November 2021
Categories
All
|