Beijing, China

I realize there’s a lot to catch up on since my last blog post, but before I write about the end of my first semester of teaching let me tell you about my summer vacation. It has been just over a week since I returned from my one week summer break vacation and I spent it in Beijing, China. One of the main reasons for coming to Seoul, Korea to teach was so that I could travel and see more of Asia. China is a major country within the continent of Asia and I have wanted to travel to it for quite some time. So it was without question that I would spend my summer break in China. Having this in mind, I was excited to hear how on board Mark was and was happy he wanted to fly and meet me in Beijing. It had been five months since we last saw each other and it was a long day of waiting to great him in the Beijing airport but well worth it. Both of us arriving safely, we were greeted by our hostels airport pick up and taken to our fabulous Beijing Downtown Backpackers Accommodation, recommended to us by Mark’s wonderful friends.
Having been my usual self I arrived to Beijing with little planned but Mark being the researcher he is had a long list of things he wanted to see, eat and do. Since it was near dinner time by the time we arrived Mark suggested going to the Nigh Market where he could eat a wide range of strange foods. Me, trying to be supportive but having no interest at all in eating the unimaginable I quickly jumped on board and was excited to see the Night Market. Upon arriving I was quickly taken back by the new atmosphere surrounding me but also enthralled in the night market’s crowded, long and busy street of venders selling a range of foods from stirred fried noodles to dead cicadas on a skewer. Immediately, Mark started to see all the things he had seen on Andrew Zimmerman’s’ strange food show and before I knew it our fist purchase was snake skin, snake meat and silk worm larva. Having no interest in the larva because I have heard they are awful I did embrace my adventures side and took a bite of the snake skin and meat…chewy, little flavor but will pass in the future. As Mark finished eating is “hardy” food we were greeted and warned by this friendly French couple that we should be sure to haggle and count our money when we get our change back. Slightly taken back, it became more apparent as the night went on that these food stands rank up prices and blatantly don’t return your exact change. Thanking the couple and further chatting with them, we found ourselves to be a good match because, both the guys were in to strange foods while us girls, sat back with our beers and watched the boys swallow scorpion and cicadas. They also tried a few other things but one thing we all caved in and tried were these bizarre Jell-O looking sea mushrooms. Still unsure what exactly it was it tasted like garlic and had a gummy bear chew to it, wasn’t too bad. After shutting down the night market the four of us took a nice stroll around the Forbidden City and they shared with us some of their traveling around China stories and offered good friendly advice.
For our first full day we ventured to the worlds largest most crowded square, can you guess what it is… that’s right, Tiananmen Square. Not realizing how early Beijing’s sites close we were short of time to step into Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, but in all honesty I was okay with passing. It was however fascinating to walk around this massive square and see all the people. Walking around Tiananmen Square, seeing the Chinese flag hang high and Chairman Mao’s face hang proudly over the square I become slightly fascinated yet baffled by the love and admiration the Chinese have towards this man. Upon arriving Mark and I read a memoir called Wild Swans by Jung Chang and she tells her family story of three generations which paints a very detailed picture of the communist evolution in China. By the end of the book it is quite clear that Mao is nothing but a crooked political murderer. And yet, all over Beijing and my guess all of China, there are posters and charms of Mao’s face that hang in these people’s houses and they say, “Good man.” Why might I ask…why? :(
Drowning in our own sweat from the heat, smog and sun we headed towards another market with strange and bizarre foods. Before arriving we did stumble upon a cute, quaint and quite river park called Changpu River were we took a brief rest from the sun. Embracing my next encounter to strange foods, Mark kindly passed on eating the dead seahorses do to my request and instead went for baby pigeon. Clamming pigeon meat is tender and good yet bony I enjoyed my nice bowl of mixed fruit. We also tried a few more traditional items but none of it was outstanding.
Upon our walk back from the market we stumbled upon a sushi restaurant and a tea shop just down the street from our hostel. So after our brief siesta it was with out question that we would hit up both of these places that evening. Our Taiwanese tea experience was a little pricey, unusual, yet overall very good. We went with a pot of green tea and in watching the server prepare our tea he pored the tea into these shot glass type cups and then covered them with little tea cups and proceeded to flip them upside down. Unsure as to why or what was going on we went along with it. Taking back our first cup, Mark pored our second cup of tea straight into the little tea cup. Trying to be tea tasters, we quickly noticed this round tasted a bit bitter and so for our third round we reenacted what the server had done and our third cup was much smoother. Mark and I figure, that in doing this tea cup flipping, air gets filtered through the tea to make it more aromatic. Either way it was a fun experience.
Going a long with Mark’s list he was excited to venture out to Olympic Park to see the famous Birds Nest Stadium and The Cube. Unsure as to what either of these things were I went a long with his enthusiasm reminding him that I was not around during the Beijing Olympics but instead traveling through Mexico and that is why I was un aware of these famous buildings. In favor of taking the subway, it ended up dropping us off right in between both of these buildings which was perfect. The haze and smog that day was so bad that if we had been just a few streets away the chance of us not knowing which way to walk would have been very likely. Although I am being a bit dramatic, the smog here is absolutely horrible and it wasn’t till we went to the Great Wall where we could actually see the blue sky and the yellow sun. Getting back to the Olympic Park I have to say the Birds Nest Stadium really does look like a birds nest. Since we were both money careless, we paid the ridicules fee to get inside and walked around briefly. I think Mark really enjoyed it and may have taken a moment to remember watching the track and field events air on TV at home. I on the other hand sat and rested my feet for a bit before walking over to the not so impressive Cube. Sadly it seemed to be under renovation so we couldn’t go inside but, I imagine it to be more admirable to see on the inside then it is on the outside in comparison to the Birds Nest. The look of the Birds Nest is all on the outside.
With it being lunch time and Mark full heartdly believing that this Donkey restaurant he saw Anthony Bourdain eat at to be close by we made our way out of the park and into a taxi…eventually. Mark the prepared one he is had the address and telephone number to the restaurant. Earlier that morning, we asked the hostel to please write the name and address in Chinese for us so we could give it to a taxi driver, which is exactly what we did. However, the taxi driver wasn’t sure where exactly where it was located but the kind man called the restaurant and got better directions. Once again, thinking it was close; we ended up sitting in the taxi for almost 45min driving to who knows where, getting slightly lost and paying nearly 80 Yuan nearly 12 dollars. Nevertheless, we did finally arrive and can assure you that very few if any foreigners make it out to this Donkey restaurant. Ready for a beer we kindly asked for two beers but instead got an estranged look. But don’t worry, I saw some empty beer bottles in the corner and walked the server over to them and said two with my two fingers. Sipping my beer, Mark took his time looking at the massive menu and picked out his two donkey dishes, green onion donkey skin salad and donkey hotpot stew. I went for some tofu spring roles and a spice tofu dish. Over all the meal was good, it was and adventure to get to and it was especially rewarding eating at a restaurant that no foreigners make it too.
Before leaving Mark was able to get across that we wanted to know the closes subway station to the restaurant. Having the server circle the subway station we hopped into a taxi and headed towards the subway station where we proceeded to travel back into the city. Having no jet lag and forgetting Mark is still coping with the time difference I suggested we go to the Temple of Heaven, which is exactly what we did and yet maybe should not have. Our time at the Temple of Heaven was good but Mark was a bit sluggish and could have gone for a siesta since he spent most of the time tripping over his own feet, poor guy. The temple sits inside this massive park which given more time would have been fun to explore. Doing our best to stay energized we explored all three parts of the Temple of Heaven and the best is the color décor and architecture of the three tiered circler temple, it is quite a marvel.
This completes our first few days, I will write more tomorrow. Promise!