beijing.
Day 1: Sunday September 19th, 2010
I have arrived!
My flight landed around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. Finding the right airport bus shuttle to the main train station was no problem. After being stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half, I finally arrive. Getting off the bus was crazy as there were so many sketchy taxi drivers willing to take me to my hostel. I refused. I’m sure they were all trying to scam me. NOTE: As soon as the Chinese people know you are a foreigner, they will try to get as much from you as possible. After walking around for about 30 minutes, trying to find a way to get the hostel, I began to feel hopeless. I started praying in my mind, Dear God, help me find a way to get there. At first, I found three legit taxi but they all were trying to scam me, wanting to charge 100 Yuan for the fare. I declined as my hostel stated it should only be around 20 Yuan. I could’ve caught a bus but didn’t know where to catch it. Forget trying to ask for help, no one speaks English. I started to cross the street but about half way, I turned around and went back the way I came. I thought I would try asking a taxi one more time, and thankfully I found an honest driver who used his meter rather than naming his own price.
I got to my hostel around 5:30. It was located in the Forbidden City, the perfect location. I checked in and the receptionist walked me to my room. The room was small and dark but cozy. No one was around except for one fellow who happened to be American. He had been traveling for about 3 months and had just come from Seoul. He was decent.
I didn’t do much that evening/night. I called Anne and John, the couple from my school who went to Beijing as well, to see if they had arrived. Luckily, I got a hold of them but it was too dark to try to find their hotel; they too were staying near the Forbidden City. Around 8pm, I went out on my own to find dinner. I started walking towards their hotel and found it to be a lot closer than I expected. It was only about at 15 minute walk from my hostel. Right down the street from their hotel was a street filled with restaurants. A few of them had English menus. The first meal I had was pork skin with mixed vegetables. The picture and translation was misleading, it said pork with vegetables…..I wasn’t expecting pork skin. It was a crappy first meal.
Day 2: Monday, September 20th
The Pearl Market and Acrobatics
I woke up pretty early, I think I left my room around 9am. I went to the lobby/common room to do something but ended up making a new friend, Katie at the reception desk. She is from Seattle, Washington. We booked seats for an acrobatic show for that evening. The show was disappointing, I’ll explain more in details later. Anyhow, she and I made plans to go to the Pearl Market that day with John and Anne. We got to the pearl market around 11am and went shopping right away. It was an experience I will never forget. Haggling is fucking crazy there. It was fun for the first three hours because you get all excited and worked up with the whole process. It was almost like gambling but a lot more stressful and frustrating, especially if you spend 6 hours there like we did. I advise not to spend any more than 3 hours at the market. Okay the whole haggling process. If you interested in an item, you ask them how much. They’ll pull out a calculator and punch in a ridiculously high figure. You smile and say cheaper. Continue saying cheaper until they ask you how much you want to pay. You then punch into the calculator the lowest price you can get. Most of the time, you’ll be able to work something out but if not, walk away. They usually call you back or in our cases, they’ll grab on to you, your arm, your clothes, pulling you back. This is the part where it gets frustrating. They’re desperate and don’t want to lose the sale so they hold on tight until either you agree to buy or if they’ve walked too far from their stall and have left it unattended and need to go back. Like I said, it was fun for the first couple of hours until shit like this continuously happens. I wanted to shoot myself by the time we left.
That night: Katie and I went to an acrobatic show not too far from the hostel. The performers were all young, I’m guessing middle school / high school age. A lot of them did juggling acts rather than that crazy shit like bending over one another while trying to balance on a 15 person pyramid. The best act of the night involved a giant metal cage ball with 5 guys riding their motorcycles at full speed. They were doing zigzags, criss crossing , riding in all kinds of directions. I don’t how they didn’t crash into one another, but it was crazy exciting to watch. We had 2nd row seats by the way.
Day 3, Tuesday September 21, 2010
The GREAT WALL of China and the Ming Dynast Tomb
Day 4, Wednesday September 22, 2010
Summer Palace and the clothes market outside of the stop for the zoo.
Day 5, Thursday September 23rd, 2010
Quick tour of the Forbidden City and then jumped on a plane to head back to Seoul.
I have arrived!
My flight landed around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. Finding the right airport bus shuttle to the main train station was no problem. After being stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half, I finally arrive. Getting off the bus was crazy as there were so many sketchy taxi drivers willing to take me to my hostel. I refused. I’m sure they were all trying to scam me. NOTE: As soon as the Chinese people know you are a foreigner, they will try to get as much from you as possible. After walking around for about 30 minutes, trying to find a way to get the hostel, I began to feel hopeless. I started praying in my mind, Dear God, help me find a way to get there. At first, I found three legit taxi but they all were trying to scam me, wanting to charge 100 Yuan for the fare. I declined as my hostel stated it should only be around 20 Yuan. I could’ve caught a bus but didn’t know where to catch it. Forget trying to ask for help, no one speaks English. I started to cross the street but about half way, I turned around and went back the way I came. I thought I would try asking a taxi one more time, and thankfully I found an honest driver who used his meter rather than naming his own price.
I got to my hostel around 5:30. It was located in the Forbidden City, the perfect location. I checked in and the receptionist walked me to my room. The room was small and dark but cozy. No one was around except for one fellow who happened to be American. He had been traveling for about 3 months and had just come from Seoul. He was decent.
I didn’t do much that evening/night. I called Anne and John, the couple from my school who went to Beijing as well, to see if they had arrived. Luckily, I got a hold of them but it was too dark to try to find their hotel; they too were staying near the Forbidden City. Around 8pm, I went out on my own to find dinner. I started walking towards their hotel and found it to be a lot closer than I expected. It was only about at 15 minute walk from my hostel. Right down the street from their hotel was a street filled with restaurants. A few of them had English menus. The first meal I had was pork skin with mixed vegetables. The picture and translation was misleading, it said pork with vegetables…..I wasn’t expecting pork skin. It was a crappy first meal.
Day 2: Monday, September 20th
The Pearl Market and Acrobatics
I woke up pretty early, I think I left my room around 9am. I went to the lobby/common room to do something but ended up making a new friend, Katie at the reception desk. She is from Seattle, Washington. We booked seats for an acrobatic show for that evening. The show was disappointing, I’ll explain more in details later. Anyhow, she and I made plans to go to the Pearl Market that day with John and Anne. We got to the pearl market around 11am and went shopping right away. It was an experience I will never forget. Haggling is fucking crazy there. It was fun for the first three hours because you get all excited and worked up with the whole process. It was almost like gambling but a lot more stressful and frustrating, especially if you spend 6 hours there like we did. I advise not to spend any more than 3 hours at the market. Okay the whole haggling process. If you interested in an item, you ask them how much. They’ll pull out a calculator and punch in a ridiculously high figure. You smile and say cheaper. Continue saying cheaper until they ask you how much you want to pay. You then punch into the calculator the lowest price you can get. Most of the time, you’ll be able to work something out but if not, walk away. They usually call you back or in our cases, they’ll grab on to you, your arm, your clothes, pulling you back. This is the part where it gets frustrating. They’re desperate and don’t want to lose the sale so they hold on tight until either you agree to buy or if they’ve walked too far from their stall and have left it unattended and need to go back. Like I said, it was fun for the first couple of hours until shit like this continuously happens. I wanted to shoot myself by the time we left.
That night: Katie and I went to an acrobatic show not too far from the hostel. The performers were all young, I’m guessing middle school / high school age. A lot of them did juggling acts rather than that crazy shit like bending over one another while trying to balance on a 15 person pyramid. The best act of the night involved a giant metal cage ball with 5 guys riding their motorcycles at full speed. They were doing zigzags, criss crossing , riding in all kinds of directions. I don’t how they didn’t crash into one another, but it was crazy exciting to watch. We had 2nd row seats by the way.
Day 3, Tuesday September 21, 2010
The GREAT WALL of China and the Ming Dynast Tomb
Day 4, Wednesday September 22, 2010
Summer Palace and the clothes market outside of the stop for the zoo.
Day 5, Thursday September 23rd, 2010
Quick tour of the Forbidden City and then jumped on a plane to head back to Seoul.