7/24 A Night at the Opera and KTV

In the evening we all went to see a Chinese opera at the futuristic Beijing opera house (国家大剧院 ). The building was a spectacle in itself - a oval shaped dome composed of glass and steel, completely surrounded by a man-made lake. It basically looks like an egg rising out of the water. If that's not cool I don't know what is. About the opera, it is a tragic story of a lady who falls in love or something to that effect. I fell asleep for half of it. And apparently the couple next to me was making out the whole time.
After the opera me and some friends went to Lush, a cozy Western style bar/restaurant. It was cool to see so many 外国人 in such a small place, it hardly feels like China in there. We enjoyed some french fries and mojitos before heading out to the karaoke across the street. After two hours at the KTV that included our amazing renditions of "Drop it Like its Hot" "Ole Sole Mio" and some Chinese, Korean, and Japanese pop songs, we called it an evening. Tomorrow we will set off for a weekend in Xi'an.

7/19 Summer Palace

I woke up at 6:45am today to catch the bus to visit the Summer Palace, or Yiheyuan (颐和园). This is one of the many weekend tours that the program arranges for the students, which is great because everything is paid for, but waking up at such an unholy hour on a weekend is never easy. Besides the getting up early part, the tour was fun. Sitting on the outskirts of Haidian district, the Summer Palace is essentially an amusement park built for Chinese royalty, a place for them to chill out in the summer. It became a park for the public when the last emperor was thrown off the throne.
The size of the place just shows the overindulgence of the royal families. It must have been amazing to have such a place to yourself. Imagine what kind of parties you could throw in there. You could have boat races on the gigantic lake. And if you ever got tired of walking in the garden, just get carried around on one of those sedan chairs. Anyway, enough daydreaming. If anyone actually owned that property today, they would probably rent it out or develop on it, turning the place into another mall or apartment complex. Its a good thing that the Chinese government has preserved the place as a historical landmark for us tourists to scope out.
This was actually my second time there, but for some reason, I appreciated the place a lot more. Last time it was just a stroll through the park with the madre and some relatives, nice and relaxing but nothing too exciting. This time, it was a return to the same place but the walk was a lot less lame. Everything I saw seemed new and fascinating to me, either because I have a terrible memory or because I've grown new eyes.

Frog

Maybe I should have posted this earlier, but I just found photos of an exciting dining adventure that I would like to share. I brought my camera to the restaurant just for the occasion, because on the menu was: Frog! Here are some photos, before and after.

Before

After

7/14 Qingdao

We had a good rest that night. It was now time to check out the beach. Most of them were closed for algae cleanup but we were able to find a nice one a short bus ride away. It was a small beach but it must have been special, because there were at least 10 newlywed couples in wedding attire having photoshoots. I loved watching the dramatic poses, i.e. chin upwards, staring into the distance, hair blowing in the wind (you get the point). There was also a swimsuit model on the beach having a photoshoot, and I was able to stand behind the cameraman and steal some snapshots until she caught me, with a face that said, “No free calendar for you!” I had some beer and popsicles, walked around, chilled for a while, then took more pictures. All in all, a relaxing afternoon.


At around 4pm we went to the Tsingtao Brewery, the source of goodness. After taking the tour of the museum and factory we had a complimentary pitcher refreshing Tsingtao. But the fun was not over yet. Across the street from the brewery was a line of restaurants full of fresh seafood and fresher beer. We enjoyed an assortment shellfish consisting of clams, mussels, oyster, and shrimp. Accompanied by fried rice, of course. This would be the last meal of the long weekend so we figured we would splurge a bit.

An hour later we were again at the train station, on our way home. These few days were like a vacation within a vacation. It was only a short break from our normal classes but I felt that I had learned so much during this short time. We visited the place of Confucius family, walked around in a cemetery in the woods, climbed a mountain, made new friends, went to the beach, and had the freshest refreshment in China. And the best part about it was that this student organized expedition cost less than half of what the others paid for their travel-agency-arranged trips. I’ll drink to that.

07/13 Taishan Part II: Sunrise

We woke up at 2am this morning, to the sound of people scrambling in the hallways and the yelling of "Sunrise!" Though I had only slept for three hours on beds that were no more than wooden planks with some thin padding thrown on top, I was not tired at all, only excited to climb up the rest of the mountain.

It was pitch black outside, but the rest of the village was already up. Shopkeepers and vendors were ready to start selling again. The other tourists, still rubbing their eyes, were starting their climb. Led by the green beam from my flashlight, we headed up. As we went on, it got steeper and steeper until the only thing you saw looking up were the heels of the person in front of you. Everyone was sweating balls by the time they got to the summit, but it turned out to be worth it. Even though the wind was a bit chilly. Many people rented out winter coats resembling the ones worn by the Chinese Red Army, making them look like Long Marchers as they walked in line along the cliffs of the mountain. From the top we watched the sun rise through the clouds. I remember admiring the view but hoping that I would not roll off the edge of the cliff. Because then my new camera would be damaged.

The funny thing about getting up so early is that by 7am, you feel like it's almost lunchtime. Except then you realize that most people are just waking up. After having another overpriced meal with our new friends from Israel - who actually ate this time - I joined them to a quieter part of the mountain to learn how to meditate. I closed my eyes, imagined myself outside my body, and was transported to another place. This feeling, combined with the natural surrounding of rocks, trees, birds, and waterfall made the experience almost magical. Imagine all that, without having to use any mind-altering substances! I now understood the power of meditation. This self induced state of serenity could only be achieved by those who believe, so to all skeptics out there, it is your loss. Meditation = Good stuff.

At noon we checked out of the hostel and took the bus to the train station. Luckily we were able to catch a train that afternoon to go to Qingdao, our next destination. We finally made it to Qingdao in the evening and checked into our sweet hostel, a giant step up from the place we stayed the night before. Not only did this place have western toilets, air conditioning, and free internet access, there was a lounge area with a bar, pool table, and couches, and almost all the people there spoke English. The rest spoke Engrish.

For dinner we headed down the street for some sweet food. We called it Big Mamma's house because the lady that worked there had her hair up like a big black mama. And the dishes was fixed up by Big Mama herself. Great taste, great prices. With a stomach full of food and beer, I'm off to bed to pay off my sleep debt for the day.

7/12 Taishan Part I

In the morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to KFC, of all places. The prices, after conversion, were about the same at the states, but compared to other restaurants in China, it is very expensive. This gets me thinking about fast food branding in China and how even with the same relative prices after conversion, the perception of American food is a “treat." Kids go to KFC as a reward after a perfect exam. Because the bathrooms in the KFC were relatively upscale, I mean we’re talking clean with free toilet paper, sink, soap, and hand dryer, I decided to drop off the kids at the restaurant (if you can call it that). This ended up being a good idea, because squatting in the public toilet is not pleasant. Anyway, after some waiting we caught a bus that took us to the actual mountain. Along the way we drove through the city, which, compared to Beijing, still needs to catch up 10 years. The buses need some major updating, as do the clothing style, the storefronts, and automobiles. But enough about the city, we were about to climb a holy mountain.

Our plan was to climb halfway, stay in the hostel, and then go up to the top for sunrise. The trek upwards was all stairs, a far reach from the rugged terrain we were expecting but still tiring nevertheless. We ended up buying lots of water and taking breaks about every 10 minutes. The stairs were steep and there were many of them. The elderly climbed up just the same. They probably had less baggage with them but still were troopers, and healthy ones at that. When I get old I want to be able to climb thousands of stairs just like that, but even dragging my twenty year old self up the mountain proved to me how out of shape I am.

When we reached the midpoint of the mountain, or Zhong Tian Men, we found a hostel. The room is much smaller then the one we stayed at the night before, but much more expensive. The shower did not look too good, and the bathroom was smelly. The sink was outdoors. But since this rate is probably better then what we would find at the top, and because we did not want to carry our stuff all the way to the summit, we decided to take the room and set down our stuff. We took the valuables with us and went to lunch.

Lunch was pretty crappy, actually. A bowl of noodles cost 15 kuai, and my meat dish was 20 kuai, even though it contained mostly vegetables. But what can you expect, we were at a tourist destination. After lunch we met a friendly man who worked at the store across from the hostel. He seemed fascinated with America and foreign currency. He asked to see my 20 dollar bill and was absolutely thrilled when Mike gave him a dollar. We had made a new friend. We chilled for a little bit, and then at about 5:30, decided to go up to the temple, a twenty minute trek uphill, to see sunset. We walked up the stone steps, which turned into rocks, which turned into a dirt trail. The climb to the top was not very long or tiring, but it was probably not the safest either. In any case, it was definitely worth it. We chilled at the temple, a good relaxing time with a great view. I was able to take some nice photos too. Poopmaster, being full of shit, dropped another one at the shrine. He seems to have a knack for crapping in holy places. Holy Crap is what it literally comes down to.

Later we headed back down to the hostel and ate some ice cream and met two guys from Israel. Zohar, a soul seeking martial artist, and his sidekick Eli, both fresh out the military. Zohar, the more talkative of the two, was a bearded man with many stories and a sense of adventure. His friend, Eli, was a mild, slightly heavier man of about the same age who was tagging along for part of the journey. We had dinner together (though the Isrealis did not eat, they were stuffed with dumplings they had earlier) and had a nice chat, with tales about pink hippos, ladyboys, and boat rides. "At first your ass hurts but once your butt goes numb, you just have fun." By this time it was almost 9pm and so we decided to go to bed. Tomorrow we will rise early, and by early morning I mean late at night – 2am. We will then climb the rest of the way to the top of the mountain to watch sunrise.

7/11 Qufu

After an evening on the train, we were ready to get off at Qufu, the home of Confucius. Smiley, at the head of the pack, got stuck behind the crowd of people standing in the aisles and so we all missed the stop. So we ended getting off at Si shui, a town in the middle of nowhere. At the train station we were greeted by a mob of drivers who offered us a ride and we chose the one that had a blue van. Pulling out of the train station we passed some goats. The driver took us to a bus stop where we would be able to get to Qufu. Every single person stared at us - and by us I mean the white people I was with - wondering where these foreigners must have come from, as if Martian humanoids wearing neon spandex (from american apparel) had just landed at the station. We were just as surprised with the bathroom, which was probably one of the most atrocious we have ever experienced in China thus far, with a completely wet floor and troughs for both no.1 and no.2. After taking care of business we boarded the bus and went off to Qufu, our original destination.

At Qufu we saw the temple the forest and the mansion of Confucius. It was interesting, especially the forest, which was basically a cemetery in a forest. B (aka Poopmaster) took a dump and we have photographic proof of it so when he gets famous we will sell it to the tabloids. After the visit we went off to Taishan. We stayed in a hotel at the base of the mountain, in a large room with four single beds and a shower. What a luxury to have your own running water and a sit down toilet. That night I learned how to play poker, an interesting yet addicting game. Now I see how people can spend thousands a night at a casino. That night we had some good rest, a solid 12 hours of much needed sleep.

7/10 The Long Weekend Begins

For the next five days everyone in the program will have a break from classes to go travel around China, to a destination of their choice. There are several travel packages to choose from, but we are free to do our own thing. Some people are going to Inner Mongolia, some to Hanzhou, and others to visit family in other cities. I will be going on a student organized trip around Shangdong province to Chufu, Taishan, and Qingdao, in that order. We will leave tonight on an overnight train; I'm excited to see how it goes. Should be fun.