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A Chinese Cinderella Story

Once Upon a Time.....In A Land Far, Far Away......

Our hero, Redbeard, is distraught. Every day he must wear the same worn-out, Dirty Gray Hoodie. Even though it has the proper Michael Jackson-style zippers here and there to proclaim his stylishness to the world, it now has several small holes in the right sleeve, it has a repugnant smell and his amazing girlfriend, Princess Lex, is becoming embarrassed to be seen wit Redbeard and Dirty Gray Hoodie in public.

A decision is made: the sweatshirt has to go. But how? And what will Redbeard wear to keep him warm?

Princess Lex and Redbeard search high and low in Shanghai. Unfortunately, Redbeard is much bigger than the average Chinese man. And Redbeard has decidedly different taste than the average Chinese man. What to do, what to do?

Then, one day in the French Concession, Redbeard and Princess Lex stumble upon their guilty pleasure: The Holy H&M Castle.

Rejoicing throughout the Traveling Duo Kingdom!

Redbeard before his sad parting with Dirty Gray Hoodie…..

Redbeard sadly saying goodbye to Dirty Gray Hoodie and wishing him all the best in his future life, wherever and whatever that may be.

Redbeard after his shopping extravaganza in The Holy H&M Castle…..Redbeard emerges a triumphant new man worthy of the company of Princess Lex.

A Happy Ending...

As Princess Lex and Redbeard are (naturally) photographing everything for future posterity, a Chinese trash-picker comes and takes Dirty Gray Hoodie away. As a trash picker herself back in the Kingdom of New York City where she sometimes resides, Princess Lex feels a special kinship with the trash-picker and happy that Dirty Gray Hoodie lives on.

And there is happiness throughout the Traveling Duo Kingdom!

Calling in Sick….

Eeeek! When you’re sick in your everyday life, you give your boss a jingle jangle (using your convincing 'I'm so sick I could die' voice to get extra sympathy points), get back into bed and pull the covers over your feverish head. But what do you do when you’re sick and you’re traveling? It is quite the conundrum.

Rusel and I have been outrunning sickness for two continents now, but it finally found us. We’ve both been coming down with various illnesses and ailments and today it really just hit us -- Rusel especially. We went to a crazy and amazing acrobatics show tonight and afterwards, on the subway home, poor Rusel was burning up and was feeling just terrible.

But what do you do? You can't really call in sick when you're not really working, can you? We don't want to let one day go by in bed when our time is so limited....yet, if we continue to push ourselves it just seems to be taking longer to get over our bugs.

Up until now, we went pretty much all-out whenever we got off the trains and then collapsed into one huge, exhausted heap once we boarded the next train. But even when we were on the trains, as Rusel noted tonight, we were still under low-level stress of one sort or another. Even if we were just sitting on the train watching the world go by, we were still always dealing with: snoring old men, dirty toilets, anxiety about missing our stop, anxiety about finding our hotel when we got to our appointed city, hunger pains from lack of food without meat, etc. etc (and usually a combination of the abovementioned). Don’t get me wrong, it was a hell of a good time, but we were never truly relaxing. I think that it just really took a toll on our bodies.

So what we really need is a day off, but we’re leaving tomorrow for Japan. Rusel leaves on a really early flight and I leave in the early afternoon. So we just have to deal with our current sniffles and sore throats.

Wish us luck! Our next update will come from Japan and, hopefully, healthier bodies.

From Lenin to Mao

Today, I realized that I never wrote about seeing Mao’s body in Tiananmen Square. It certainly was a trip highlight -- in a totally creepy way -- to see Lenin’s waxy figure in Red Square and then finish our trip with another corpse in Beijing.

The thing that I guess I never realized is that countries actually preserve the bodies of their revered leaders. I mean, I guess it’s kind of a modern-day phenomenon. I don’t think that it was probably possible, scientifically, to preserve bodies so well until quite recently. Mummies are the best attempt to do this and who knows how they looked 50 or 25 years out.

The preservation of Lenin’s body is mired in mystery and controversy and it is even rumored that it’s not his body on display but a wax figure. To be honest, Mao’s body looked faker than Lenin’s, but they both were totally weird. Maybe the thing that made Lenin’s body look more “real” was the fact that we could see his hands, whereas with Mao’s body it was just his head. Both were decked out in finery: Lenin in a nice suit and Mao in a military-like uniform.

In Russia, we were ushered in two at a time (I guess if you’re alone, you’re ushered in alone) and, as we entered the mausoleum, a Russian soldier who pointed to his left promptly shushed us. We followed his direction until we came to another Russian soldier who pointed to his left, and so on and so forth. This probably went on for about seven turns and seven different soldiers, all in dimly lit corridors and stairways. When we finally got to Lenin, there was a strange, low light shining on his body, which was placed in a glass box.

For a few moments – ten seconds, max – it was just Rusel, Lenin, and I. We were then motioned on by yet another Russian guard and the same process that had happened before, in reverse, took place until we exited back into the cold Russian winter.

Viewing Mao’s body was a completely different experience and ultimately, it says a lot about the differences between the two countries. We got to the mausoleum at about 11:20 a.m. and it closed at 11:30 so we were cutting it close. The actual building was about ten times the size of Lenin’s, as was Tiananmen Square. The long line outside was crowded with Chinese tourists – we were the only Westerners.

As with Lenin, security was extremely tight at Mao’s memorial. We had to check our bags and cameras and, as we were running late, we didn’t know where to go or what to do. A Chinese man, whom we mistook for an actual employee at the mausoleum, offered to “help” us figure out the entire system in exchange for 50 yuan – about $6. In the end, the mausoleum was free to visit and he did really help us so it was probably worth it. Had he not assisted us we may not have made it in time.

After we hurriedly checked our bags across the street from the building and ran back to the line, we were pretty quickly ushered up the huge stairs with a big group of other tourists. We entered a large room with high-vaulted ceilings and a statue of Mao sitting in a chair (perhaps this is why he’s called ‘The Chairman’?) in front of a huge, tacky mural of mountains. In front of the statue were hundreds of flowers left by previous visitors.

Unlike Lenin, where it was only the two of us, this time two huge lines were formed in their outer area and the foot traffic just flowed into one huge room behind this one. Before we knew it, we were staring at Mao’s body – with about one hundred other people. And then, we were gone.

The experience was definitely a shared one. A baby in front of us was crying and someone’s cell phone went off behind us. Everyone was trying to be quiet, but there was an excited buzz in the room as we actually walked by the body, which was also enclosed in glass. It was evident that Mao was just as respected as Lenin – if not more so – but this experience was more communal.

In the end, that’s probably what I liked so much about China. Today, as we were through the French Concession’s narrow back alleyways, it was evident that so much of China’s space is shared space and there seems to be a totally different mentality about identity and relationship. It’s more like Bali, in a way. Here, people are literally living on top of each other and I get the feeling that they’re happy to do it that way and probably even prefer it.

It got me thinking about New York City as well, where people live in a similar manner. But it’s different. Here, people’s doors and windows are open and friends stop by to chat, play cards, drink tea. In New York City, once you get home the door is locked and the city is left behind. Loneliness seems to be more of a hallmark of New York City, whereas here more value seems to be placed on shared experiences.

But all that is changing in Shanghai and perhaps other places in China as well. Loyal and well-read reader Julie sent me some information today about the demolition of Shanghai’s traditional neighborhoods to make way for new apartment complexes and buildings (read more about it here). I do get the feeling that China is in a current state of rapid change – which is exciting and sad at the same time.

We’ve had such a great time here and I have really fallen for the people here who have been so quick to smile and lend a helping hand. I wish them the best in this transformation, although my sentiment is slightly bittersweet because I actually like it just the way it is right now.

Shanghai Surprise

We’ve been in Shanghai two full days now and we like it. We’re not in love with it in the same way that we were in love with Beijing, but it is still a cool place to be.

This city is a strange mix of old-world Europe (it was once called the ‘Paris of the East’) and nuevo Chinese entrapments. The level of seemingly capitalistic activities in Beijing surprised us but it was nothing compared to Shanghai. It’s truly hard to believe that we are in a communist country when surrounded by the lights and dazzle found here.

Our hostel is located at the end of Nanjing Lu, a pedestrian-only shopping smorgasbord rivaling Times Square and Vegas. It’s about a mile long and filled with huge, lit-up billboards, flashing lights and every shop imaginable.

And every few steps, we are approached by a person who shows us a small brochure filled with imitation purses and watches. These people are extremely persistent and there seems to be a small army of them everywhere. “Purses? Watches? DVD?” we are asked again and again, repeatedly.

“The thing I don’t understand is….where do they take you?” Rusel asked. I have no idea where the merchandise that they are hawking in the brochure is actually located and we never went so far as to even look.

We splurged on a delicious dinner in the revolving panorama-style restaurant located on the 45 floor of the Radisson (identical to the one at the Marriott Marquis in NYC). The meal was actually delicious and the view was great. It was interesting to look at the entire city from so high up and it's a great way to get a feel for the layout of a city. We ordered the buffalo mozzarella salad and enjoyed eating cheese -- something that has been hard to find here and we have both been missing a bit.

As we looked out the huge windows, we saw the changes that the city seems to be going through from up above. Shanghai seems to be going through a massive upheaval and many of the traditional neighborhoods are being demolished to make room for these huge skyscrapers. Many pockets of the old neighborhoods still remain; when looking down at them sandwiched between these new monsters of steel it’s not difficult to see their inevitable fate.

We spent the day just wandering around with no real set plan. This was a nice way to approach the day, rather than our usual long list of things to do and see. We wandered into a hectic shopping area geared towards tourists but eventually ended up exploring these small little alleyways and neighborhoods that I mentioned before. Laundry was hanging up above, old men were playing cards below and we could literally see right into people’s houses here and there. It was fascinating and reminded me so much of Chinatown in New York.

Anyway, after dinner we were walking home down the pedestrian walkway to our hostel and we saw a Western man in front of us approached repeatedly: “Shoes!” “Bags!” and then a woman came up to him, started walking with him, and began aggressively rubbing his back. He finally deterred her and she walked off disappointed. He caught our eye and we started laughing with him.

“Never have I seen anything like this, and I have traveled the world!” he said. “I’ve traveled around to many communist countries, and I cannot believe that this is a communist country. I mean, go to Cuba…..I’ve been to Cuba….that’s communism!”

We walked with him for the next ten minutes or so and he told us that he was here from Buenos Aires on business. I think that he was happy to have the company and use us as a shield to all of the prostitutes and hawkers approaching him – the lone man seemed to be more of a target.

“Will you please take a video of me so I can show my wife at home?” he begged us, jokingly “I want her to know that I went home to my hotel alone!”

We approached his hotel and he said goodbye. Tomorrow is our last day in China and the last day on this “segment” of the trip. I still find it hard to believe that we’ve made it this far and part of me is sad that it’s over -- but I’m also excited about the things to come.

Unfortunately, both of our bodies have taken a little bit of a beating and we’re both still a little bit sick so we’ve been trying to take it as easy as possible these past few days. Shanghai is a bit smaller (although still pretty big) but we've been able to see pretty much everything we're in the mood to see so that's good. We’re both extremely excited about traveling to Japan and want to be in the best shape possible to tackle the upcoming adventures.

Asked & Answered

What is up with Rusel’s beard?

The beard has grown in slowly -- or maybe it’s because I spend every waking moment with Rusel and so I didn’t notice it come in. I didn’t give it much thought until everyone started e-mailing me about it.

Many theories abound: in Perth, where Krista is from, the men grow beards in November to support "Mouvember"………….where basically every man and his dog (and old Italian ladies if they have the urge) try to grow a moustache for the 30 days of November. It is all very tongue in cheek and it’s all for a good cause as people raise money for Prostate Cancer (this from Krista, thanks!).

Cheryl in Nebraska thinks it looks “very handsome,” (Editor’s note: extremely biased source who wouldn’t be surprised if Rusel woke up tomorrow morning and walked on water.)

The beard suited Rusel well in Russia, where it was freezing and kept his face warm. It has also earned him a new nickname: “Redbeard.” For some reason, it is growing in red! I guess I could also call him “Rusty,” although he doesn’t seem to like that at all.

Rusel’s answers:

1. It’s a “traveling beard.” (I have no idea what this means, talk amongst yourselves.)
2. I don’t like to shave.
3. I’m not working.
4. It is weather-appropriate. We traveled through Russia in winter. Enough said.

Rusel tells me that he will probably shave it off in warmer climates to come. Stay tuned.

How are you and Rusel getting along?

To be honest, before Rusel and I met up I was slightly anxious. We had been apart for three months, one of which I was traveling on my own and doing my own thing completely. How would it be, after not seeing each other for three months, to spend every day together?

Yesterday as we were waiting for the subway in Beijing to go to the Lama temple, we did the math and figured out that by the end of this trip, we will have spent the same amount of time together that we usually spend together in one year. So in three months time we’ll have spent a normal year’s worth of time together.

And it’s going great. Like any normal couple, we have moments (which sometimes even span out into “uncomfortably long moments,” and – rarely -- “ten minute breaks”) but for the most part it’s going really well. Rusel is an extremely patient man.

Strangely, we rarely do separate things even though we do have separate interests in our everyday lives. It’s just easier and more fun to do things together. Today, I was tired in the afternoon so I went back to the hostel to take a nap and Rusel hit up a museum on his own, but this is the first time this has happened since St. Petersburg. So on the whole, all is well.

I would say, on average, that Rusel makes me laugh out loud (the kind that makes my belly hurt and sometimes even ends with a snorting noise) at least once a day.

Are you going to run away and get married by a Tibetan monk?

I don’t think that Tibetan monks perform wedding ceremonies. ☺ And anyway, we’d have to sneak into Tibet to do it…..although now that I think about it, that does sound romantic……..although probably not legal and binding in the end. Everyone can learn a lesson from Mick Jagger.

How’s the money situation?

Well, Russia kind of drained us. Moscow was expensive, but we were prepared for that. However, everything else in Russia was expensive as well. And admittedly, we’re a little bit too old to be the stereotypical backpackers. Many people really rough it and sleep in the “bunks” in the hostels but Rusel and I don’t do that.

We were staying at “cheap” hotels in Russia but found that they were slightly isolating and not as friendly. As much as we want the most authentic experience possible, it’s also nice to be tapped into a community of travelers so we can swap information and just talk to some friendly people. So, since Irkutsk in Russia, we have been staying at hostels and enjoying it much more.

The hostels that we have been staying at have private doubles, which are just fine and comparatively not that much more than the open rooms. For instance, at the hostel we’re staying at right now in Shanghai, a bunk bed is 50 yuan each (so it would be 100 yuan/$13 US total for the two of us), and our room is 200 yuan ($26 USD). So we could be doing it cheaper, but this is pretty cheap as it is. It really just depends on how you look at it.

Many people we met along the way also traveled platskartny on the trains. This is the train car where all of the bunk beds are open, like one big dorm. Although that did seem to have its advantages – cheaper, and easier to meet other travelers – Rusel and I felt like kupe was roughing it enough. We also have laptops and Rusel has a nice camera and so we kind of are always keeping an eye on these things, which would’ve been more difficult in that car.

So Russia was a budget-buster, but Mongolia was cheaper and China cheaper even still. Japan is going to be expensive, but we’re only there for ten days. Thailand is cheap cheap cheap and in Australia we’ll be with Krista’s family so that shouldn’t be too bad either. We’re definitely watching our cash flow (only flowing one way at this point, sadly), but our kidneys aren’t on ebay….yet.

Are you sick of the red coat and hat yet?

A resounding YES! should now be heard throughout the land. I am still struggling with what will happen to my winter wear once we hit Thailand.

As anyone who has traveled with me or has visited my apartment knows, I grow attached to inanimate objects for sentimental reasons. When I was six, I saved our old, broken hair blow-drier from the trashcan because I felt sorry for it. So although you may not see any more pictures of them soon, they will probably live on. Maybe we will mail our winter stuff home? But then, that feeds into the above question….so who knows.

The Track of Luxury

Rusel and I must’ve done something right in a past life – or maybe it’s just everything righting itself after our last train to Beijing – but the overnight train that we took last night from Beijing to Shanghai was first class, VIP, rock star all the way.

We almost didn’t make the train and it was truly a total photo finish. We arrived at the main train station around 7:00 and our train left at 7:44 – plenty of time to find our train, leisurely board, and relax.

The funny thing about Rusel and I lately is that usually, one of us is paying attention and the other person is just kind of coasting. This is an unspoken agreement and not something that I even realized until quite recently. Since we left Russia, where both of our brains were needed at all times, we have been able to trade off regarding brainpower. Rusel likes maps, so in Beijing for the most part I just told him where I wanted to go, or vice versa, and Rusel figured out how to get there and we went. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

So we arrived at the massive train station in Beijing to catch our train, and Rusel read the main board and thought that it said “Waiting Room 2.” In Rusel’s defense it was written in Chinese so in the end who knew what it actually said – maybe “Whatever you do, if you’re going to Shanghai, do not go to Waiting Room 2.” Anyway, just like airports elsewhere, train stations here have waiting rooms. So we went up to the jam-packed waiting room and settled in until our train was announced.

I asked Rusel a few times, “Where is our train number posted?” because I didn’t see it on the board in the waiting room. I got in trouble for “questioning his wisdom,” and “micromanaging” so I just decided to give up and let him handle it. A sweet Chinese couple started talking to him with their limited English and I started people watching.

Soon, the couple asked him where we were going and on what train. The husband looked at him excitedly and although he didn’t speak much English, it was easy to see that we were in the wrong area. He motioned for us to follow him and we literally had to run through the station to the completely opposite end. We made the train with only a few minutes to spare and would’ve completely missed it had it not been for that sweet guy.

Once we caught our breaths and wiped our brows (very sweaty from the sprint with both of our backpacks) we looked around in wonder. Honestly, I think that I saw the table in the corner actually sparkle. I have never seen anything like this train compartment. It was from a dream.

The carpet – new and spotless. The sheets and pillows -- a pristine, spotless white. The bathrooms – almost sterile. Everything was brand new. Even the hangers, placed so you could hang up your clothes before you went to bed, were padded satin. Joan Crawford would’ve been pleased. It was honestly the nicest surprise I’ve ever had. Rusel and I were both bracing ourselves for the worst-case scenario and instead we were met with luxury. This train compartment was nicer than the majority of places we have stayed on this trip and to top everything off, we had the entire immaculate 4-person compartment to ourselves for the entire 10-hour trip.

If our trains through Russia had been this nice, it would’ve been such a completely different experience. I guess that’s the point of taking the Russian trains – in a way you’re testing yourself to see how much you can take. I’m happy that we had that experience but at the same time, I was thrilled to pull up the nice clean covers in my sweet little bed last night and fall asleep after growing tired of watching nighttime China pass me by out the clear, clean picture window.

MADE IN CHINA

We’re leaving Beijing tonight for Shanghai. On a train. Yes, you read correctly. We are taking an overnight train to Shanghai.

I didn’t even have to talk Rusel into taking the train, he suggested it himself.

“I can’t put the effort into figuring out how to buy a plane ticket,” he said. I agreed. We’ve both been grappling with some small health issues and it’s been nice to just stay put for more than a few days.

So we talked to the person at the front desk of the hostel about booking train tickets, gave him the money, and wa-la: something that took us about a half a day in Russia took us less than five minutes to do here.

I’m sad about leaving Beijing but at the same time, I feel as if we did it up right. As I mentioned before, everything was a pleasure and so easy. The time flew by and we grew happily complacent with the little haven that we found at the end of the train tracks.

Beijing is a marvelously cool city. It’s strangely much cleaner than I thought that it was going to be. The streets, the metro system, Tiananmen Square – they are all pristine in comparison to other large cities like New York. Everything is very efficient, neat and tidy, which really took me by surprise for some reason (perhaps the train I rode in on?).

One of my favorite things about this city is that no matter where you are, a public restroom is close by. One of the reasons for this is that many of the houses in the hutong don’t have bathrooms, so these toilets serve as neighborhood restrooms as well. So, you would think that they would be filthy, right? Wrong. They are strangely extremely clean. They are staffed and I guess that these people do a good job, because I’ve yet to find a bathroom in even comparable condition to our nightmare toilet on the way here.

One thing that I am trying to wrap my brain around is the entire communism thing. The strange thing is that Russia – which is actually now a capitalist country – felt more communist to me than China does. What is extremely perplexing to me is the consumerist attitude found here, and yet they are a communist country. I just don’t really understand.

For instance, hawkers on the street are very aggressive and constantly trying you to buy their souvenirs, postcards, flashlights, rickshshaw rides. But if this is a communist country, wouldn’t you think that it didn’t matter whether or not you get in their rickshaw – they are getting paid the same amount no matter what? Also, why do some people live in shanty-like houses in the hutong but right down the block there is a beautiful new New York-style skyscraper apartment building being constructed? Isn’t everyone meant to live equally in communism?

Why is the service so amazing here? Meals are served at restaurants promptly, and with a smile -- yet no tip is expected. If everyone is getting paid a flat amount then why do people take such pride in their work? Again, I don’t get it at all.

Conversely, Russia is now an open market and capitalist to boot. However, we often had a hard time finding ATM’s and service at restaurants, etc. was extremely poor for the most part. I just don’t get it at all. I’m sure that there’s a book written about Chinese communism and I’m really interested to learn more about it. Judging by everything I have learned or been taught about communism up to this point, Beijing really obliterates my stereotypes.

One last very weird thing to me is that China, a communist country, is responsible for producing so many things for consumerist/capitalist countries like America. Julie told me that she looked through Tommy's toys the other day and almost all of them were stamped "MADE IN CHINA." I know that all of this also has to do with the free trade agreement with China made in the Clinton years, it's just very interesting to see everything in practice.

Although we've had a great time in Beijing and have really fallen in love with it, all is not completely perfect in here. The one overriding and unmistakable issue here is the pollution. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. The first day that we arrived, the smog was terrible, but then it seemed to clear for a few days. Today it is back. It’s just as if everything is in a haze – even the mid-day sun appears red or orange when you look at it in the sky. Many people in the hutong heat their homes with coal, which I’m sure is a big part of the problem. Our hotel room has been freezing the entire time we’ve been here, which I guess is a very communist thing so in some ways it’s very apparent that we’re in a communist country – just not in the ways that I expected.

The city is definitely gearing up for the Olympics, we see the slogan, “One World, One Dream” everywhere we look. Thinking about the Olympics here does give me pause because on all levels I feel as if this is the perfect place for the games, but I also wonder how athletes will feel about the pollution. Someone here told me that the government is shutting down all of the factories for a certain amount of time before and during the Olympics to stop it, which sounds crazy but could actually be true.

Another strange thing is that the Internet is censored. Whenever we google something and wikipedia comes up, we can’t load the page. Wikipedia is censored here, as well as many other sites. To me, that’s just crazy and of course censorship is something that is near and dear to my heart.

This government control has been noticed in other ways as well: each artist in his or her stall has an official, plaque like poster with a picture and their biography. I assume that everyone needs to be registered with the government to be an artist. At the front of our hostel is a similar poster explaining the two men (who are decked out in military attire in their pictures and looking very sternly into the camera) who run the hostel. I’m guessing that certain people are “rewarded” by the government for their service; however, does it matter whether or not the hostel that they are running succeeds? Don’t they get paid the same amount of money, no matter what?

At the end of the day, as I’ve said before, it all comes back to the people that you meet. The Chinese people we have met in Beijing have just been fantastic. Today, as we were walking through a market, we stopped in a shop where a calligrapher was selling his art. He proudly showed us each piece and they were all lovely. We bought one – a small one – and his face just lit up. He lovingly rolled it up in a piece of newspaper for us and tied it closed.

I asked Rusel to take a picture with the artist and me and by this time his wife had come back to help him package the painting. She mentioned to me that I needed to straighten my hair, as it was coming out of its ponytail, and she combed through his hair to make it neat. We both smiled into the camera and said our goodbyes; all the while he kept saying xiexie (shie shie) -- thank you.

In the end, I’m the one who is thankful. Thankful that we made it to Beijing (quite the feat!) and thankful for the special time that we had here.

It's Just Food

Oh, how I love Chinese food. We’ve had some really great meals here, where it is just called “food.” Last night, Rusel and I had a quick dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hostel at a place called Tian Hai before going to a Kung Fu show.

The menu made me laugh, so I copied some of the most entertaining items down. All of the items had pictures, which helped us quite a bit in the ordering process. Also on the menu were steamed dumplings with dog meat, but we skipped those. Strangely, someone’s pet dog was walking around the restaurant as we ate.

We were boring and had spicy tofu (for me) and pork and pineapple (for Rusel). Our dinner ended up at about $5 – this place was very local and not really very touristy at all, although they did have an English menu.

Here goes:

Exquisite article domestic life vegetarian
Explode the belly
Lion Head
Fry to infuse the bowel
Explode the pickle
Turnip skin
The fire explodes the kidney
Sheet iron squid winding
Squirrel fish
Big hot pepper fatty intestine
Delicious and delicious (regret not ordering that one)
On the ant tree
The temple explodes the chicken cube
The stem burns the cow shredded meat

Beijing, I’ve Lost My Heart to You…..

Everyone, at one point in his or her life, has been in a bad relationship. The type of relationship where everything seems like work, and sometimes you question to yourself why you’re even bothering.

Of course, there are some beautiful, blow-your-mind moments thrown in every once in a while to keep you together. But finally, after many heartaches and sleepless nights, you break up. Then, one day you find someone else to love and everything is just….right. Easy. No work.

Well, on this trip and with this analogy, I would have to say that Russia was the rocky relationship, and Beijing is the one that just feels…good. Rusel and I arrived here on Wednesday, and after a little bit of a trepidatious beginning in China, we found our hostel and went out to explore the city. And what a city it is – just absolutely…….right.

Such beautiful buildings. Such nice people. Such great food. No work, everything’s nice and easy. At times, it even feels a little bit too easy. I almost feel guilty for having such a great time, and a masochist for expecting it to be painful.

I could list off all of the things we’ve done…..here goes: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Mao’s Mausoleum, the Great Wall, great Chinese restaurants, markets…we’ve basically been going non-stop. Yesterday and today we rented bicycles and covered an amazing amount of ground. The cool thing about Beijing is that cycling is really encouraged and many people do it. It’s the only city I’ve ever been to where the bicycle lane is just as big as the lanes for cars and is almost just as busy. Everything is laid out in a grid and the city is pretty flat so it’s easy to get around on bike and it’s been such a fun way to see the city.

Yesterday, Rusel and I were riding around and decided to venture down one of Beijing’s hutong (Beijing’s traditional alleyways and neighborhoods) and we hit a dead end. It was this charming little courtyard and as I was turning my bicycle around, a flock of birds flew overhead. It was that moment of the day where the light is hitting just right – it’s no longer daytime but it’s not nighttime either. It was just so beautiful and it felt as if everything was correctly aligned in my life.

There is something vaguely familiar about Beijing and I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps Chinese culture -- Chinese food, Chinatown, Feng Shui --- is just so ingrained in American culture at this point. I don't know, but this familairity has been a comfort after so many challenges and negotiations. It's nice to just be.

Last night, we went to the Qianhai Lake area for dinner, which is just north of the Forbidden City. It was the first time that I can remember that we went someplace that was actually romantic (well, I guess sleeping in a Ger was pretty romantic as well….this was more traditionally romantic). We sat outside, overlooking the lake, and had a delicious meal. Afterwards, we hit a bar or two (hilarious karaoke was the lure to get people into the many bars lining the road) and then went back to get on our bikes. In the courtyard near the area that we had parked our bikes, someone had set up a stereo system and Chinese couples were dancing together under the stars. Rusel and I joined in and had a laugh as everyone was waltzing and we kept stepping on each other’s toes. Regardless, it was so much fun.

We had to have the bikes back by 11 p.m. so we had to high-tail it home. We rode our bikes through Tiananmen Square and back down to our hostel, located nearby. We’ve been so content – and frankly, so pooped – that we haven’t even thought of where we’re going or what we’re doing next. Each day, we say, “We need to figure out where we’re going next….” And then another fabulous day goes by. We fly out of Shanghai on the 16th so I guess we’ll have to leave eventually….oh, how I am dreading this parting.

In a Haze

We’ve been in Beijing two full days now and the city has a strange familiarity to me. I love it. It’s a very crazy smash-up of everything all at once: organized chaos, flashing lights, rising smoke, chicken on a stick sizzling on the grill, “Hey lady! Buy! Buy!”, McDonalds ‘I’m Lovin’ It,’ Mao Mao Mao.

Soldiers, smog, a city that’s Forbidden. Twisting, turning back alleys with lines holding today’s washing. Rickshaws, fashionistas, buses, bikes, 2008 Olympics signs, temples, rice, smog, smog, smog.

Screaming children with pants that show their bare bottoms. Grinning old men without teeth. Uniformed
men that look away, then glance at you and smile. An impromptu concert in a darkened park. Mournful voices. Chinese tourists. Japanese tourists. American tourists. Dutch tourists. Sulking French tourists. Where. What. Who? Mao, Mao, Mao.

The Great Wall. Incomprehensibility. Aching feet. Clear skies. Rusel’s eyes. Mountains. Bricks, bricks, bricks. Browns, blues, yellows. Night market: scorpions on a stick, anything/everything on a stick, fried rice, fried ice cream, steamed dumplings, grilled centipedes. Ready to be devoured. Aching stomach, throbbing feet. Overload. “Hey lady, how much you pay for this? Good price! Good price!”

Just like New York. Nothing like New York.

Your name written on a scroll! Your name written on a piece of rice! Your feet massaged! What do you want? Joyful/Happy Customer Good Food. Your wish fulfilled. Bigger, brighter, cleaner, newer, better.

Sleep.