The Far East: Beijing, China

What better way to see China than to stay with one of your best friends? I can't think of a better one either! My friend Kristin is living and working in Beijing, China while she watches over Madeleine, who is a Junior in high school teaching English at a private primary school for one school year. Kristin lives in an apartment nearby to Madeleine and her host family. 

The Forbidden City...

Home to loads of emperors, or Sons of Heaven, from the 15th century to 1911, the Forbidden City's grounds cover 720,000 square meters with over 8,000 rooms (800 buildings). It is said that many servants never left the Forbidden City's walls, even some emperors never ventured beyond its protection. All of the thrown rooms were built with decorative, marble ramps leading up to the entrances so that the servants could carry the emperor from place to place without touching the ground. Above the main entrance to the Forbidden City (which is across from Tiananmen Square) sits the infamous portrait of Mao; every year they repaint the portrait by hand. Kristin said that some Chinese believe that Mao is not dead but only sleeping. As an aside, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, no one was allowed to cook for themselves; everyone had to gather in public dining halls to eat together. If anyone said something against Mao in the slightest, they were sentenced to death; the same fate was for anyone who did not report a case if overheard. In an autobiographical book Kristin was reading about 3 generations of a Chinese family,  a man overheard someone speaking against Mao but never reported it and lived the rest of his life in absolute fear. What a different world....

Watching you!

798 Art District...

More than forty years after the Cultural Revolution, China has made great strides to break out of its socialistic society which sought to destroy, essentially, most of China's rich cultural history, including the arts. Once home to Beijing's factories, this section of Beijing, called 798 by virtue of its address, has blossomed into the artistic hub of the city. Lined with art galleries, Scandinavian inspired boutiques, outdoor statues, and hip cafes, Kristin and I had a blast hopping in and out of 798's adorable shops, galleries, and cafes.

The Hutongs...

Thankfully, not everything was destroyed by the Cultural Revolution, including the Hutongs of Beijing; this area of Beijing is a preserved bit of what old China looked like. Hutong literally means neighborhood. In Beijing, hutongs are one-story stone buildings lined along windy cobblestone alleyways that are connected by inner courtyards. Once considered to be for the poor, these stone residences are a hot commodity for locals. The area is surrounded by a large lake with incredible cafes.

Area right outside of the Hutongs.

The Great Wall of China...

Thanks to an introduction by Olivia, a mutual friend and fellow Martelian, Kristin and I met up with William to go to the Great Wall of China. William is native to China and pursuing his PhD in material science at a university in Beijing where Olivia interned last year. Kristin and I quickly decided that he is way more American than the two of us combined; he spoke in fluent idioms and cracked American TV jokes left and right. He was a riot! After meeting up with William, the three of us took a train ride north to the mountains. The ride consisted of me looking out the window and Kristin and William doing this:

Sorry Kristin; I think you two look adorable!

After a 15 minute walk, we found ourselves hiking up one of the man-made wonders of the world. The wall really is unfathomable. It stretches for miles and miles along the peaks of mountains beyond your eye's reach. You just sit there and look out into the expanse not understanding how it could have ever been achieved, especially when the first bits of the wall were put up in the 7th century BC. The most famous parts of the wall were constructed from 220 to 206 BC under the rule of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Even more parts have been built throughout history since the reign of Qin Shi Huang.

With our new friends from Harbin, China that we met while hiking up (they were so sweet) and William. 

We hiked up and along the snakelike wall for quite some time. Although it may not seem like it, the inclines are very steep and we found ourselves slipping backwards at parts. I can't even imagine traversing the wall during icy spells. However, the views are worth it. Very quickly the crowd thins out as you walk along the wall; after thirty minutes time we were completely alone and looking out at this. 

I loved this couple.

Weather Norms...

If you go anywhere in the city you will notice loads of people hacking up a storm followed by a good ole' spit. A BIG one! I'll admit it, at first I was very repulsed by the constant hacking surrounding us everywhere we went; however, Kristin filled me in that it's a necessity for a Beijing resident. The pollution is that bad; that's all you can do to clear your body of the city's toxic presence. Yup. When you wake up in the morning you're usually greeted with a scratchy throat; Kristin says its just the norm of living in Beijing.

Additionally, the air is insanely dry! We had to keep moisturized at all times or our hands and lips would start cracking. It took less than a day after our return from the Philippines for our skin to start cracking again.

For some reason, I never realized how far north Beijing is in China; it's quite a ways up there! Since I visited Kristin during the end of winter, it was verrrry cold, especially in comparison to Southeast Asia's ideal weather. One day I wore 7 shirts and 3 pairs of pants; I can't remember Kristin's count but it was even more than mine - talk about insulation!

Antique Market...

In downtown Beijing there is an antique market with hundreds of stalls set up with various types of goods from furniture to vases to beads to anything you could ever want. Kristin bought some thread and beads to repair a bracelet and I bought a small brush to use for painting. The workers had such a different look than the typical Beijing local; we gathered that many who worked in the market must be from Mongolia; their features were so chiseled and gorgeous.

Adorable children...

Yes, I'm still obsessed with all the children I see on my travels; I'm convinced that I find Asian babies to be way more adorable than Western babies. Nothing against Western babies or anything; they're adorable too! Maybe it's just how cutely swaddled and clothed the babies are in China!

I took this picture more for the teddy bear than for the adorable child with a bunny hat.

Food Anecdotes...

Baozi


The food below is called baozi (which is heavenly); essentially it is a bread-covered dumpling filled with various things such as spinach, pork stew, a mushroom medley, etc ... This photo was taken at a restaurant close to Kristin's place. The counter where you order is on the first story but upstairs there is a menu with photos on the wall so we ran up and took shots of everything we wanted to try. After ordering downstairs with the help of Kristin's Chinese number vocab knowledge, we went upstairs to collect our order, which turned out to be what you see below... Just as a point of reference, most people eat between 3-5 baozi and call it quits. Two locals came up to us at different times and made the following remarks:"you're going to eat all that?!" "we can help you out"(this person was with a group of 8 people and they only had one plate...).  Fortunately, they are delicious and we heated them up throughout the week.

Hot Pot

Another evening we went out to a restaurant to have a hot pot meal with Elizabeth. While we were waiting for Elizabeth to show up, we started thumbing through the menu and bookmarking what we wanted as there is no other real way to communicate what we wanted to order. However, as soon as we sat down, we didn't know how to let them know another person would be coming so they stood there waiting for our order. After some pointing at various tables, we were served up some beer and more time! 

Here's what our menu skills yielded.

And our hot pot was phenomenal...

Food Escapades...

Eating out at restaurants is always comical; the cultural custom in China, and many other Asian countries for that matter, is that you are already well aware of what the restaurant serves and prepared to order what you would like to eat before even sitting down. As soon as your butt hits the seat waitresses are standing there staring at you expecting you to order. And as a Westerner with no Chinese words at your disposal, you attempt to say through hand signs that you aren't ready, which never works. So you either make them wait or point quickly; both methods usually result in incredible food. And yes, the Chinese food is everything you hope it would be and more!

A local market outside of Kristin's metro station.

This is HEAVENLY.

Best cucumbers possibly ever?

Peking Duck!

Cooking in...

Kristin has a local market very close to her apartment. One day we braved the cold and went out to fetch some local produce and meat to whip up a traditional Chinese meal. The most eventful part of the trip was turning around to see a woman squatting on the ground slapping a large fish to death with the side of her huge mallot/knife so that she could weight it before gutting it in front of all of us. Fresh sushi anyone?

We biked over to the market :)

We picked up a chicken for the feast!

And produce.

Yes, this is how Kristin cuts onions.

And Voila! Bok choy, chicken, sauteed (assorted) mushrooms, & a traditional egg/tomato dish.

Olympic Park...

We ventured over to Beijing's Olympic Park, which was more than impressive; the architectural designs were beyond anything I could have imagined. London has quite big pants to fill!

The Birds Nest design is incredible. The way they light it up throughout the day really tops off its appeal.

At night it's even more spectacular.

I really liked their lights.

Mittened Peace Sign

Cannonball in front of the Aquatics center....naturally!

Life of an Expat...

Kristin's apartment sits within the 6th and final ring of Beijing's city limits. You can access the final stop of one of the metro lines by taking a 10 minute bus ride to the station, which is quite a cost effective option! The commute to downtown takes approximately one and a half hours in total. During peak hours, some metro rides may look a little like this...

Getting the camera out for this shot was quite a feat!

Another option for transportation is to hail a taxi. Sounds easy right? Well, unfortunately it's quite hard, especially for Kristin who has blonde hair. It was one of my first personal accounts with discrimination, but in some ways the discrimination is quite understandable even though it isn't enjoyable. Taxi drivers don't like to pick up Westerners because of the huge language barrier; and believe me, it's enormous. I've never been in a country where charades is so essential. I asked Kristin what crazy things she has successfully acted out and my favorites of the list are bleach and toilet. Bravo!

Speaking of toilets, if you haven't taken a trip to the Orient, one of the first things that might startle you are the squatty potties. Yes, they are essentially holes in the ground. Remember to bring your tissues with you! It's a different experience!

Kristin lives with a fellow Westerner and DC-area native, Elizabeth, at the top of an apartment building in a very residential area of Beijing. Despite the cold, I found their apartment to be extremely cozy and homey feeling. At the time I visited, they were in the midst of attempting to get their landlord to fix a huge list of things for their apartment, which was quite comical. This consisted of their washing machine, hot shower water, and toilet flushing mechanism. Nevertheless, I found the apartment to be perfect. We had loads of wonderful evenings where we cooked food and enjoyed a hot cup of tea.

Boiling water for a cup of tea.

Shower time!

Washing clothes.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the trip was going to visit a residential neighborhood where only expats were allowed to live. Kristin takes Madeleine to a church youth group at the community center of an expat residential neighborhood every week. During the week I was there we took her and went to the center's spa with Elizabeth for foot massages. Perfecto!

Visiting Kristin in China was so wonderful; as she put it, you learn to live much more patiently in China. You just have to. And with that patience you gain some of the most invaluable and incredible experiences you could ever wish or hope for.

Off on my solo trip to Dubai!