Relaxation Tour, Day 3

Woke up Monday morning, grabbed some breakfast and headed to Ritan Park. Walking through the park reminded me of the parks in Sevilla...right in the middle of the city are these beautifully landscaped parks with little ponds, snack kiosks, benches, pavillions and shady spots to read or play cards.

My friend Jennie and I headed to Ritan to play some rummy (she recently taught me how to play and now I am consistently kicking her butt!). We sat in a nice little pagoda (pic above) and played a couple rounds. We got up and wandered through the park--found a little temple, a place to race toy speedboats, even a North Face sponsored rock climbing wall.

All the walking made our feet pretty tired and we'd been wanting to get foot massages pretty much since we got here, so we headed to the Dragonfly spa...a 15 minute walk from the park. We both got the Oriental Foot Massage and it was glorious. I just felt bad for the lady! Walking around for the past 3 weeks in flip-flops had definitely taken it's toll.

After the massage we headed to the Sanlitun area. There was cafe we wanted to check out: The Bookworm. It was a very 'chill' place, we sat on big comfy chairs, ordered some coffee and continued our rummy game (I won, again!). We lingered for almost 2 hours, alternately reading and playing cards.

That night we ate Persian food, something else I've never tried, and it was DELICIOUS. There are so many different ethnic groups in Beijing and we've been sampling lots of exotic and sometimes unusual food.

Lazy Sunday...

After returning from Simatai and recharging our batteries with a big dinner and shower, we headed out to sing some karaoke.



This was the first time on the trip where I distinctly felt the language barrier. The people there did not speak a bit of English...which is fine--we've obviously been spoiled by the fact that so many Chinese know English. Which makes me wonder, how many Americans know Mandarin? Not many. It was difficult to order, because the woman waiting on us kept writing down the Mandarin characters, and we REALLY don't know those. But after with the help of three phrasebooks, some creative sign language and pointing, we ordered a round of beers for the room. (That's how karaoke bars work here--you come in a big group and you get a private room with your own TV and some pretty hilarious songs).



We laughed and sang and danced our way through some pretty big hits, but the highlight, BY FAR, was our friend Bruce (all 250+ pounds) singing "Oops I Did It Again."



We woke up late Sunday morning and Jennie and I decided it was time to cave and go in search of a Western Breakfast, capital W capital B. We found it at a delightful restaurant "Grandma's Kitchen." They had waffles, French toast, pancakes, omelettes, bacon, home fries...and the BEST- bottomless coffee! Unless you want to pay big RMB it's hard to find a good cup in the city. So we sat and lingered over breakfast and coffee and it was glorious. We read some expat magazines and made a massive to-do list of EVERYTHING we want to do before we leave.

All in all, it was just the kind of lazy Sunday we needed.

Link to my roommate Susy's blog

Okay, I'd been holding off on linking to Susy's blog because it's all professional-looking and polished...and I have a bit of blog envy.

Here is her post on our trip to Bob's for the Tea Ceremony
http://www.susan-jackson.com/tea-party/

Link to Simatai photo album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024512&l=50a29&id=43500156

Simataiiiiiiii!

Friday night 3 of my friends here and I decided we needed to get OUT of the city and away from the drama of dorm life. Yep, even when you are in your early to mid-20s, there can be drama in the dorm. Nothing crazy, but we needed to get away. We had been wanting to go to Simatai pretty much since our first weekend here and our less than perfect cattle-herding like visit to Badaling, a crazy-popular Great Wall tourist spot complete with a Starbucks. Buyao! (I don't want)

Simatai is a 2 1/2 hour bus ride out of Beijing. Helen, Jennie, Laura and I woke up bright and early (5:45!) to head to the tourist bus station. Jennie's tour book said we could only buy tickets between 6:50 and 7:30 so we wanted to make sure we were early enough to get tickets on the 'luxury bus' that would take us to Simatai. (NOTE: everytime I said Simatai I would do it in a semi-annoying high-pitched voice and hold the last "I" for a good 30 seconds. I will re-enact it for you when I get home). Anyways, we got to the ticket window and asked for Simatai, the nice lady gestured to a part of the parking lot where people were sitting and said, "Wait a moment." Well, a moment turned into abour 45 minutes and we were getting confused. Two more times Jenne and I went up and asked again, "Simatai?" and she gave us the same, now curt, reply. Then, the third time she gestured to a bus, so we all got on. Maybe we pay once we're on the bus? Nope, we had to get off the bus to get the tickets.

After a slight miscommunication on ticket prices, we got back on the bus, tickets in hand, ready for the driver to crank the AC. (I don't think I will EVER get used to the heat here, it is literally suffocatingly hot...every day.) We grabbed seats, and I took out the "Oracle Bones" to read on the almost 3-hour drive. Then, the driver came in, said a bunch of things in Mandarin, and everyone groaned. Apparently we were moving to a smaller bus. As we boarded the smaller one, we realized all the seats were full and there was no place to sit. A family travelling with 2 boys moved them out of seats so we could sit, but then 5 German guys came on and there was NO way we were all fitting on that bus. BACK to the bigger one. And that's where we stayed. I've adopted the mantra "Welcome to China!" and I say it whenever things don't really make sense to us or it appears that things are being done in a less-than-efficient way.

The bus ride was uneventful, except for the fact that our bus driver was driving extremely fast, so we made it to Simatai in less than 2 1/2 hours. As soon as we got off, we were hit with a wave of heat, but we were SO pumped to be there. Already we could tell it would be much different from Badaling. Badaling was swarming with tourists and Chinese there making a day of it. Simatai was practically deserted, and it was a Saturday!

We began by taking a cable car (pic above) up the hill and then a mini train so we could get on the Wall. We wanted to spend as much time as possible ON the Wall, so we payed a little extra (about $7) to get up there a little faster. The Wall in Simatai is the original wall, not like the reconstructed one in Badaling, so that makes it a little more dangerous--more steep, no steel handrails to hold on to, much more sloping. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately it was not a clear day, so our pictures will not have a clear blue sky. We hiked up to one of the watch towers and began our descent down. We took our time, savoring the sights and the silence! There were parts where we had an entire section of the Wall to ourselves, and it was great.

Pic below: the four of us after our lunch break.

About 2 hours in, we made it to the zipline. Helen and Jennie were all about it, but Laura and I were a little more apprehensive. We were VERY high up. HUNDREDS of feet...zipping over a river. Helen and Jennie paid and got in line, Laura and I stayed behind. But after ten minutes of standing there, we decided to JUST DO IT. When would we ever have the opportunity to zipline off the freaking Great Wall?! We could even zip down together. We were buckled into safety harnesses (similar to mountain climbing ones) and then snapped into a carribeaner on the line. So Laura and I screamed our way down, and it was amazing. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Pic above: Laura and I coming in on the zipline!

Once we got down, we had to take a boat across the river back to the Wall. We had a celebratory Tsingtao (beer) and got back on the bus. It was my favorite day here, by far.

The Enlightenment Tour of China Continues...Day 2: Temple of Heaven

After the DHL fiasco, Mike and I met our professor Janet at the Temple of Heaven. It is a huge compound of Temples and monuments--with names like Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, Imperial Vault of Heaven, Hall of Abstinence (which is the place where fasting would take place--slight mistranslation there) special echo stones, and a Round Altar.

We wandered around there for a few hours, taking in the temples and also the people. Many Chinese come to the Temple of Heaven to relax, play cards, dance, and sing opera. Pics below

ome parts were more busy than others, it was not quiet like the Lama Temple, but there were some quieter spots around the grounds as we walked from temple to temple. It's the kind of place I hope to go back to with a good book and just sit and read.

Desperately Seeking DHL

I woke up Friday morning with a mission: find a DHL to ship some items home that I a)did not need (Yes Kathy, you were right, I DID overpack!) and b)a couple of gifts that I wanted to get home before I did.

My friend Mike and I set out for the China World Trade Center--2 mammoth business towers with an inter-connected mall in the lower floors. His Lonely Planet assured us we would find a DHL there. (DHL was recommended because the company has been doing business in China for the longest time and therefore the most reliable). Well, we searched the mall- up and down, back and forth, between the Towers 3 times. We did find an indoor skating rink, 2 Starbucks, and, my personal favorite--much to Mike's shock and chagrin--a HUGE Sanrio store. (see pic below...also, notice my Spain jersey? I got it at the Silk Market for 60 RMB, less than 6 bucks...this picture made me realize why. The sleeves are two different lengths! Oh well).

After almost 2 hours we found the DHL--which was actually a hotel's Business Center. AND the Business Center was being renovated so it was in a different location. While filling out the paperwork, I found out that I could NOT ship home any official Olympic merchandise without my receipt. So, sorry fam, you are not getting Olympic stuff to wear DURING the Olympics.

Moral of the story: never ship stuff home from China, it's just not worth it. Lesson learned. But don't tell Mike, I'm psyched we found the Hello Kitty store!