Today (Monday) the four of us had our exploratory time all on our own, as the rest of the group won’t be in until tonight. After consulting the concierge, we decided to try a shopping-type district south of the hotel. It didn’t seem too far so walked so we could see other things along the way. It turned out to be quite a walk, and the map of Beijing was somewhat terrible, so we ended up a little lost but found it eventually.
Last night Frank warned us about people wanting us to come see ‘their art shows’ or something like that, and indeed we encountered about three groups that were very friendly and helped us find our way, but also asked us to come with them. We gratefully declined. We also went down a sidestreet that looked like it had some good merchandise. BIG mistake. The merchants basically just yelled at us to look at their stuff. One woman grabbed my sleeve and tried pulling me toward her area, and I would have none of that. We left quickly.
On the way to the shops we stopped in at Tian’anmen square, but didn’t stay long since we’ll be going there later on. We saw the “Great Hall of People” (i.e. Government building) and “The National Museum of China” as well as some monuments and such.
The shopping district wasn’t all that great, just a lot of antique shops mixed in with eateries. We walked through some neighborhoods that were somewhat slum-looking, but the people coming out of the houses were well dressed/seemed like American middle class. Quite the anomaly. Another anomaly being all the nice cars, yet people in hut-like houses selling small food items on the streets. Yay communism!
We attempted to warm up in a tea shop, which turned out to be a mix of tea set retailer and business meeting-type-rooms. The rooms were 100 ¥ per hour just to sit and tea was something like 280¥.
I ate sweet and sour chicken for lunch, with a gigantic coke. I don’t think they normally drink pop, as the only size available was 1.25 liters. Definitely no fountain drinks anywhere. We were told to forego cheap food for nicer restaurants due to cleanliness, but honestly everything seems the same wherever we go. We have yet to find any sort of supermarket that provides American staples (milk, bread, wegmans freshly made chocolate chip cookies)…definitely lacking in the sweets department overall. The cookies mom made me take are coming up clutch. Thanks Mom!
Beijiing hasn’t been that thrilling, just seems like a big city with Mandarin writing everywhere and people who are predominantly Asian. It doesn’t even have the hustle and bustle or crowds of Manhattan. We did learn from the concierge that the inner most part of the city where we were was demolished many years back and replaced with modern buildings like the hotels and such. Apparently what was here before was ancient and much cooler. He said had the government not done that tourism would be much greater, which I would definitely agree with.
I have liked how clean the city is. We were trying to figure out if no one litters, or if they have people who clean all the time. We finally did see someone walking the streets with a garbage-picker-upper.
We took a cab back to the hotel (18 ¥ or $3…which should have been about a $20/$25 ride in most cities) . We almost ran over approximately 8 pedestrians, 3 cyclists and another car. We quickly learned that pedestrians do not have the right of way, despite traffic signals that indicate ‘walk or do not walk’ in green/red signage.
The fact that no one speaks English has been terrifically horrible. People pretty much just laugh when we try to talk to them. Its funny, but pretty inefficient.
The smog is unbelievable. There were no clouds in the sky today and I could stare at the sun without it hurting my eyes. I’ve noticed a little bit of breathing difficulties, but that could be because of the cold (just under freezing today) which also made for fun walking around the city.
Our baggage is apparently on its way from Tokyo. Don’t worry, I’ve showered three times already. It may be here tonight. Emphasis on the MAYBE. So glad I need my suit for a business meeting in the morning. Apparently Continental is going to be giving us 400 ¥ to buy clothes with, which certainly isn’t going to buy me a suit. I don’t know why it didn’t come over on the same flight as the one we took Saturday like they said but who knows. At least we’re here safe!
Happy Monday!
-R-
Last night Frank warned us about people wanting us to come see ‘their art shows’ or something like that, and indeed we encountered about three groups that were very friendly and helped us find our way, but also asked us to come with them. We gratefully declined. We also went down a sidestreet that looked like it had some good merchandise. BIG mistake. The merchants basically just yelled at us to look at their stuff. One woman grabbed my sleeve and tried pulling me toward her area, and I would have none of that. We left quickly.
On the way to the shops we stopped in at Tian’anmen square, but didn’t stay long since we’ll be going there later on. We saw the “Great Hall of People” (i.e. Government building) and “The National Museum of China” as well as some monuments and such.
The shopping district wasn’t all that great, just a lot of antique shops mixed in with eateries. We walked through some neighborhoods that were somewhat slum-looking, but the people coming out of the houses were well dressed/seemed like American middle class. Quite the anomaly. Another anomaly being all the nice cars, yet people in hut-like houses selling small food items on the streets. Yay communism!
We attempted to warm up in a tea shop, which turned out to be a mix of tea set retailer and business meeting-type-rooms. The rooms were 100 ¥ per hour just to sit and tea was something like 280¥.
I ate sweet and sour chicken for lunch, with a gigantic coke. I don’t think they normally drink pop, as the only size available was 1.25 liters. Definitely no fountain drinks anywhere. We were told to forego cheap food for nicer restaurants due to cleanliness, but honestly everything seems the same wherever we go. We have yet to find any sort of supermarket that provides American staples (milk, bread, wegmans freshly made chocolate chip cookies)…definitely lacking in the sweets department overall. The cookies mom made me take are coming up clutch. Thanks Mom!
Beijiing hasn’t been that thrilling, just seems like a big city with Mandarin writing everywhere and people who are predominantly Asian. It doesn’t even have the hustle and bustle or crowds of Manhattan. We did learn from the concierge that the inner most part of the city where we were was demolished many years back and replaced with modern buildings like the hotels and such. Apparently what was here before was ancient and much cooler. He said had the government not done that tourism would be much greater, which I would definitely agree with.
I have liked how clean the city is. We were trying to figure out if no one litters, or if they have people who clean all the time. We finally did see someone walking the streets with a garbage-picker-upper.
We took a cab back to the hotel (18 ¥ or $3…which should have been about a $20/$25 ride in most cities) . We almost ran over approximately 8 pedestrians, 3 cyclists and another car. We quickly learned that pedestrians do not have the right of way, despite traffic signals that indicate ‘walk or do not walk’ in green/red signage.
The fact that no one speaks English has been terrifically horrible. People pretty much just laugh when we try to talk to them. Its funny, but pretty inefficient.
The smog is unbelievable. There were no clouds in the sky today and I could stare at the sun without it hurting my eyes. I’ve noticed a little bit of breathing difficulties, but that could be because of the cold (just under freezing today) which also made for fun walking around the city.
Our baggage is apparently on its way from Tokyo. Don’t worry, I’ve showered three times already. It may be here tonight. Emphasis on the MAYBE. So glad I need my suit for a business meeting in the morning. Apparently Continental is going to be giving us 400 ¥ to buy clothes with, which certainly isn’t going to buy me a suit. I don’t know why it didn’t come over on the same flight as the one we took Saturday like they said but who knows. At least we’re here safe!
Happy Monday!
-R-
Pictured are:
Outside of Tian’anmen square 
A car the size of a bike
Soliders marchin through the capital
Slums (for lack of better word)
An electricians nightmare 
Gigantic coke
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