Beijing

Ok so we're back from Beijing! Time for a fun filled recap plus rambling thoughts:

-Staying over at the airport, while very effective, was kind of a bad idea. It worked well enough in terms of getting us there on time, but it sets you up for a very tired/exhausted trip. Not very comfortable + it's an airport/construction/other people + having to watch the stuff = late nights

-We definitely were helped by the Olympics having happened recently - there were information stands and volunteer helpers everywhere. Plus they all had pamphlets, maps, and tourism guides. Very good, very good

-The Beijing airport has a train that runs inside of it. Sweet

-Security is a big deal. They x-ray you. Constantly. Cameras line the streets, and are omnipresent at all the touristy places. Police and military are seen patrolling everywhere (this is good because we tourists need to ask a lot of questions). The mainland > HK in terms of feeling the presence of the state

-Our hotel, the Zhongan Inn was ok. Strange that when I stay at a 2 star hotel in the mainland is when my various flea/mosquito bites go away, and that they appear when I walk around in Mong Kok...

-Tianamen square: a big square, lots of flags, big ol' picture of Mao in the distance. Tourists and guards mixing freely, sometimes taking amusing (and slightly awkward) pictures with each other

-Hot damn if Chinese people don't like to try and sell you things. Wherever you go people are selling drinks/cheap plastic crap. Unrestrained capitalism at what cost?

-There are a couple of things that will never be sold out of Chinese culture: hocking absolutely wicked loogies, and squatting (the Asian squat)

-When the guards march, they have painted symbols on the ground to tell them where to stop. Some guards are also apparently stationed to stand exactly in the shade of a lamppost. Lucky guys

-Peking duck = tasty. The first thing they served us was just skin and fat. It's a delicacy!

-Li Ning, a Chinese sports company got owned by Adidas. Li Ning: "Anything is Possible". Adidas: "Impossible is Nothing". Li Ning: smaller company, thought of slogan first, still doesn't get anything from Adidas. Adidas: "hah!"

-Yao Ming is still everywhere. Liu Xiang? Still around, but not nearly as much. Hope he comes back to win some World Championships!

-Big Paralympics push. Kinda cool, interesting to see.

-Ate fried scorpion. Had to get over the weirdness at first, but honestly it just tastes like fried shrimp tail (if anyone eats those too). Not much flavor, just a crunchy/crispy texture. Verdict? Overpriced. The guy who was selling them to us was cool though; he saw us pointing and started shouting "HEN HAO CHI!!!!!" (roughly: really good eating)

-I really liked hearing all Mandarin. Here in Hong Kong it's all "Do you speak Cantonese? No. Do you speak English? No." "Oh."

-Wasn't that smoggy, but after working a paddle boat for 20 minutes my lungs hurt...

-Jade factory: 10 minutes of history, 50 minutes of shopping. Typical Chinese. My necklace is apparently "the best kind" but I think they were just being nice. It's the thought, ladies and gentlemen, that counts.

-China has AWESOME signs. You'll see.

-I like the statues too

-Tombs/pillars/thrones: all wonderfully brilliant, but at some point they begin to blur together...Thank goodness for the pictures though!

-Two out of two doctors of traditional Chinese medicine agree: my digestion moves too slowly, and I should stay away from eating/drinking cold things because my body type is "cold". My mom knew that second part years ago though. Validation!

-Great Wall: a great time out. Very steep and lots of steps, wear good shoes. I don't understand why people are all out of breath on the wall and then they're all "Oh smoking now would probably help." Saw a tour group of midgets on the wall, plus an Italian waxing poetic (in English) into his videocamera "Thousands of different people come each day to marvel at..."

-They have this like...bear park thing at the base of one of the sections of the wall. It's just this walled enclosure where a bunch of fat bears wander around and wait for tourists to toss them an apple for 3 RMB. I threw one (the other tourists who didn't want to pay loved it), then walked away before paying as the bear caught the apple in mid air and began to eat. Yes!

-Tram ride down from the Great Wall. Youtube destroyed the quality of the video though. That's John in front, Vicky in back.

-Lamb. On. A. Stick. 10/10. "Yang Rou" for the win

-Excellent food in Beijing: hot pot, traditional, street food - all good, all decently priced. So great

-Summer Palace: sprawling, infested with people crawling through each nook and cranny. Took a paddle boat around a lake, acted like a pirate. All good.

-Did you know there's a mooncake dance? It looks...goofy...

-Speaking of which, it was a complete pain to find mooncake. Places were sold out, places only sold the sketchy 1 RMB mooncakes, stores were hard to find. It took us 1/3 of a morning just to get our hands on 6 mooncakes. It was worth it though; back at the hotel just shooting the breeze and eating mooncake

-Bird's Nest Stadium area: very crowded (especially on the train!) Very clean and orderly. The only people selling stuff on the street (I'm sure the other vendors were banished to the countryside) were people selling fake tickets. As we walked in a guy tried to sell us one ticket, but we were a group of five so we were all "No thanks we have five people." Got as far as the security checkpointed, got disappointed, purchased flags/a headband, then headed back. Same ticket seller as before comes back up to us, fans out 20 tickets, then tries to sell again. We suspected that he just went to his printer, and jammed out another couple of copies...

-Forbidden City: lots of walking, lots of old buildings, statues and thrones. All with interesting names too (The Gate of Harmonious Unity and stuff like that). Defying the traditional Chinese doctors, ate a honey-peach popsicle and it was a great decision.

-Flight delayed on the way back (from 6 until 9), ran around the international terminal only to end up getting lousy food, missed the night bus back to Sha Tin so had to get another bus/take a cab, got back at ~3...but all in all it was a solid trip!

Pictures to come, video hotlinked above.

All in all: 700 pictures taken, 1 video, 1 scorpion eaten, and I'm probably leaving out a bunch too...