China Post Four!
Oh internets. Full of lulz and :P.
So yep. Back to chinaposts!
The zoo was Tuesday, and it was a trip we planned and researched extensively, and were certain of all the details of when we left, which was on time.
Permission to laugh.
I actually found out about the trip purely by virtue of being in the same building as a number of other GMU people, and a "hey, we're going to the zoo today, you wanna come?" I did, because hey, why not, right? and I've been meaning to, anyway. And so after class we went off, and ate at the Muslim place (they've got some pretty bitchin' caramel apples, btw, but I'll get to that later in this post), and then zoo'd.
We took cabs there. We had seven people, and could've done a van, but cabs are cheaper, and ever since Kate and I interrupted popsicle time I've been leery of the vans. (This is a story in itself. On the afternoon we wanted to go to Beihai, we had a dumb attack and decided to take a van instead of a cab. So we went up to the drivers, and they were all sitting around eating popsicles. They gave us annoyed looks for interrupting them, and we got overcharged by the one who took us. Yeah, by like five kuai, but still.) The zoo's right close to Xizhimen, a major metro station, but far enough that people didn't feel like walking from there to it.
So, cabs and traffic. The traffic was an absolute bitch. You think DC's bad? DC you can at least breath, and you usually have AC. Here's another case in which I used my fan. It has proven useful to the point that I find me actually considering getting people fans as gifts, before remembering, "oh yeah. It's not sticky and hot and ugh where they live." Still, though, I've grow exceedingly attached to my fan. I've even learned how to zip it open closed all professionally.
SO. ZOO.
The Beijing Zoo is not a large place. I've heard it is, and wonder what kinds of zoo these people have gone to, to say so. Possibly I'm spoiled, growing up with DC's zoo closeby - still, it was not a particularly huge zoo. It was a manageable size, which turned out to be a good thing.
Entrance fee wasn't much: 15 kuai to get in, 5 extra to see the giant pandas. We had, of course, to see the pandas, and went there first thing; it was a separate enclosure, fenced off from the rest of the zoo. It was hot, like everything else, and the two pandas who were outside looked rather Do Not Want about the matter - one was eating and the other was lazing around his play equipment, and ignoring people. Inside - inside wasn't too different temperature, maybe a tad cooler. Couple gift shops with panda merchandise: panda shirts, panda hats, panda fans, panda umbrellas, cloisenne pandas, etc and etc and etc. Couple other pandas inside, one sleeping and ignoring people yelling throug the glass at it, and the other eating and ignoring hte people taking pictures through the glass at it.
We left the pandas, and went and saw a red panda and meerkats next, then waterbirds ("naw, let's go see some real birds." / "These are real birds, man!"). Then we got mobbed.
A whole slew of schoolkids - like between twelve and fifteen - found us and started crowding up around us, and they ALL HAD CAMERAPHONES. Emlyn and Frances got the most of it, which was surprising - although not so much in Frances' case, because she looks like America's Next Top Model or something like - but the rest of us got pictures taken, too. I finally got to the point where, upon catching someone trying to surreptitiously take a photo, I up and did the Japanese Photo Pose (head tilted, big grin, two fingers up in a V sign).
We escaped the mob, finally (Emlyn took a picture of them), and saw some more animals (emus, kangaroos, tigers, lions, swans, foxes, more foxes, monkeys, lemurs, and flamingos, in that order). They were all used to people, and used to people feeding them: the foxes were playing, but stopped when a woman started throwing bread into their enclosure; the emus came right up to the fence.
We got to the bird garden, finally, beofre the place closed, and it was awesome. These birds had absolutely no fear. They came right up to a foot away, and - and I have pictures and oh my gosh I'm going back there during the year, when it's not so hot and they'll be more awake.
HOKAYSHORT BREAK to say this:
That computers in China like to break when they're not supposed to, and so I thought I lost this entry a couple hours ago, but by happy circumstance of EllJay working on Kate's macputer, I did not!
REåJOICE.
Yeah. After the zoo, we wandered off, and intended to take a cab to campus; we wandered under a tunnel and around a corner and under a shopping center and down a street ("okay this is like the most sketch street in the world") and up to a hotel, where, contrary to all logic, cabs were not to be found, in the passive voice.
We did finally get a cab, whose driver we all decided was the most awesome driver ever: he told us he'd been driving ffor 27 years, and he used the horn liberally and cut people off and played classical music warhorses all the while. He was pretty awesome, yep. So yeah, that's the end of that.
I'll do a daily-life post laterish - try to get to an EllJay tomorrow - but right now I'mna be polite and get off the computer. Because it would take me hours to write one. Other thing, though: if I don't get to an EllJay by tomorrow, then don't worry - I'm off from Friday to Monday on the Datong trip, and am hanging around (quite literally - ther's a Hanging Temple there) there.
Mondya AM, though, I'll be getting back to campus too late to go to class, and so will try to be on chat from my 9AM to my 11.40 (when the puterlab closes). In the meantime, I have a gmail for this account, though: picothegreat (at) gmail dot com. I'm thinking if this's a persisting problem during hte year - the LJlessness - that I might jsut send out mass letters? Or maybe get a blog at a different site? I dunno. I'll figure it out.
But for now, I'm peacing out. Ta!
So yep. Back to chinaposts!
The zoo was Tuesday, and it was a trip we planned and researched extensively, and were certain of all the details of when we left, which was on time.
Permission to laugh.
I actually found out about the trip purely by virtue of being in the same building as a number of other GMU people, and a "hey, we're going to the zoo today, you wanna come?" I did, because hey, why not, right? and I've been meaning to, anyway. And so after class we went off, and ate at the Muslim place (they've got some pretty bitchin' caramel apples, btw, but I'll get to that later in this post), and then zoo'd.
We took cabs there. We had seven people, and could've done a van, but cabs are cheaper, and ever since Kate and I interrupted popsicle time I've been leery of the vans. (This is a story in itself. On the afternoon we wanted to go to Beihai, we had a dumb attack and decided to take a van instead of a cab. So we went up to the drivers, and they were all sitting around eating popsicles. They gave us annoyed looks for interrupting them, and we got overcharged by the one who took us. Yeah, by like five kuai, but still.) The zoo's right close to Xizhimen, a major metro station, but far enough that people didn't feel like walking from there to it.
So, cabs and traffic. The traffic was an absolute bitch. You think DC's bad? DC you can at least breath, and you usually have AC. Here's another case in which I used my fan. It has proven useful to the point that I find me actually considering getting people fans as gifts, before remembering, "oh yeah. It's not sticky and hot and ugh where they live." Still, though, I've grow exceedingly attached to my fan. I've even learned how to zip it open closed all professionally.
SO. ZOO.
The Beijing Zoo is not a large place. I've heard it is, and wonder what kinds of zoo these people have gone to, to say so. Possibly I'm spoiled, growing up with DC's zoo closeby - still, it was not a particularly huge zoo. It was a manageable size, which turned out to be a good thing.
Entrance fee wasn't much: 15 kuai to get in, 5 extra to see the giant pandas. We had, of course, to see the pandas, and went there first thing; it was a separate enclosure, fenced off from the rest of the zoo. It was hot, like everything else, and the two pandas who were outside looked rather Do Not Want about the matter - one was eating and the other was lazing around his play equipment, and ignoring people. Inside - inside wasn't too different temperature, maybe a tad cooler. Couple gift shops with panda merchandise: panda shirts, panda hats, panda fans, panda umbrellas, cloisenne pandas, etc and etc and etc. Couple other pandas inside, one sleeping and ignoring people yelling throug the glass at it, and the other eating and ignoring hte people taking pictures through the glass at it.
We left the pandas, and went and saw a red panda and meerkats next, then waterbirds ("naw, let's go see some real birds." / "These are real birds, man!"). Then we got mobbed.
A whole slew of schoolkids - like between twelve and fifteen - found us and started crowding up around us, and they ALL HAD CAMERAPHONES. Emlyn and Frances got the most of it, which was surprising - although not so much in Frances' case, because she looks like America's Next Top Model or something like - but the rest of us got pictures taken, too. I finally got to the point where, upon catching someone trying to surreptitiously take a photo, I up and did the Japanese Photo Pose (head tilted, big grin, two fingers up in a V sign).
We escaped the mob, finally (Emlyn took a picture of them), and saw some more animals (emus, kangaroos, tigers, lions, swans, foxes, more foxes, monkeys, lemurs, and flamingos, in that order). They were all used to people, and used to people feeding them: the foxes were playing, but stopped when a woman started throwing bread into their enclosure; the emus came right up to the fence.
We got to the bird garden, finally, beofre the place closed, and it was awesome. These birds had absolutely no fear. They came right up to a foot away, and - and I have pictures and oh my gosh I'm going back there during the year, when it's not so hot and they'll be more awake.
HOKAYSHORT BREAK to say this:
That computers in China like to break when they're not supposed to, and so I thought I lost this entry a couple hours ago, but by happy circumstance of EllJay working on Kate's macputer, I did not!
REåJOICE.
Yeah. After the zoo, we wandered off, and intended to take a cab to campus; we wandered under a tunnel and around a corner and under a shopping center and down a street ("okay this is like the most sketch street in the world") and up to a hotel, where, contrary to all logic, cabs were not to be found, in the passive voice.
We did finally get a cab, whose driver we all decided was the most awesome driver ever: he told us he'd been driving ffor 27 years, and he used the horn liberally and cut people off and played classical music warhorses all the while. He was pretty awesome, yep. So yeah, that's the end of that.
I'll do a daily-life post laterish - try to get to an EllJay tomorrow - but right now I'mna be polite and get off the computer. Because it would take me hours to write one. Other thing, though: if I don't get to an EllJay by tomorrow, then don't worry - I'm off from Friday to Monday on the Datong trip, and am hanging around (quite literally - ther's a Hanging Temple there) there.
Mondya AM, though, I'll be getting back to campus too late to go to class, and so will try to be on chat from my 9AM to my 11.40 (when the puterlab closes). In the meantime, I have a gmail for this account, though: picothegreat (at) gmail dot com. I'm thinking if this's a persisting problem during hte year - the LJlessness - that I might jsut send out mass letters? Or maybe get a blog at a different site? I dunno. I'll figure it out.
But for now, I'm peacing out. Ta!