As promised, I am filling all of you in on my life since my last post. This past weekend was Chuseok in Korea. It is pretty much their Thanksgiving, so if I told you it was their Independence Day earlier, my apologies. Anyways, as mentioned 2.5 million times before, I went to Beijing with Jo for three days. After hearing about Beijing from all of the teachers at my school over the summer, it seemed like the next best place to go. Katelyn, Prairie, Whitney, and Caroline went to Beijing as well, but we all went on our own separate ways for the most part. Other teachers went to Tokyo (Sam, Steph, Devon, and Jake). We only worked three days last week and they seemed to drag on forever! But alas, Thursday came along and it was time to finish all my last-minute details.
On Thursday while Jo was still working, I went and picked up our passports. We paid around $120 to get Chinese Visas in order to tour the city. It was totally worth the money just to have something else stamped in my passport. My day consisted of getting my haircut, and exchanging my Korean Won to Chinese Yuan. I was told everything was incredibly cheap there, so I had put quite a bit of money back just to make sure I had enough for touristy stuff and also blow at the Silk Market :) After packing and taking a nap, I met Jo at her apartment where she threw her stuff into my suitcase to cut down on luggage. We met Jessie, Lauren, Kate, and Beth outside of a market before Jo and I left for the bus station to head to Seoul. We had a few drinks and met two people who by the end of the conversation, I wasn't too fond off. They were too opinionated and talked way too much. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they had too much to drink.
I knew my vacation with Jo was going to be kick-ass from the moment I bought us coffee with members of Big Bang on the cups. While my expresso was good, Jo's had some disgusting jelly-like condiment and it didn't settle too well on the tongue. We laughed about this for a while until we finally boarded our bus as 12:30 am.
While Jo watched a movie on my laptop on the bus, I read over 100 pages in "Twilight." We didn't sleep a lot on the way to Incheon Airport. We finally got to the airport at 4:30 am. Young-tae met us there to see us off. We had, and I can't believe I'm about to tell you this, KFC. It wasn't bad. It was the first American fast food I've had in over four months. So, I wasn't too upset. We hung out in the airport until our check-in time. We said goodbye to Young-tae and checked our bag.
The flight was short. It was only one hour and forty minutes. I still was too wired to sleep, although Jo managed to crash and sleep the majority of the way. When we finally arrived, we had to go through security, quarantine stuff, etc., like all other airports. As expected, China was very over-dramatic about everything-- even worse than Korea! Because we were in a city that a lot of people tend to travel to unlike Gwangju, South Korea, we heard a lot of other languages that we weren't used to hearing like Russian. We managed to find our way to the Airport Express subway where we traveled an hour or so to downtown Beijing where our adventure finally begins.
After noticing the subway skipped our stop and went to the next one, we decided that finding our hostel was going to be quite the thrill. When we left the subway, we were immediately bombarded with taxis, bicycle taxis, heavy traffic (both cars and on foot), and no sense of direction. We finally took two (what seemed to be) kind gentlemen's offers to Tiananmen Square (our hostel was near it). We loaded up onto their carriages and were quickly (and not-so-quickly) on our way.
We went through some strange parts toward the Square. We randomly stopped at places where the drivers insisted on taking pictures of Jo and I. When we finally made it to Tiananmen Square, the drivers quickly changed their tone and we're trying to manipulate us out of money because we were foreigners. They wanted 300 CYN which was WAY over priced. We ended up paying them 50 each because they were starting to get sketchy and pretty angry. Little did we know, this wasn't the last of our troubles...
When we finally reached the heart of Beijing, we were suddenly submersed into a heavy, large crowd of constant traffic with no hope of finding the right direction. Police, the Military, and even the SWAT team were everywhere.
It was the People's Republic of China's 60th Anniversary, so as opposed to having 15 million people in Beijing, there were easily a million or so more people celebrating. Roads were blocked off and everyone was in a mad dash to get to their destinations. This was why our subway station was blocked, we later found out. We were lost in a city we knew nothing about-- not a single word nor an inclination to even begin reading any signs. Jo and I must have made God very happy at some point during the day because two university students came up to us and asked if we were lost. I forgot their names, but they called the hostel and led us in the direction. They were the nicest people we met in China the entire weekend! They waited with us until the hostel came and picked us up in the crowded streets. We waited on a street that was just reconstructed and reopened on September 28. The hostel sent someone who was going to be wearing a purple shirt. Alright, easy task. Not. I've never seen so many purple shirts in my life. When he finally met up with us, he was wearing a lilac-- not a purple. We would never had found our hostel if it wasn't for these two girls! They walked us to our hostel, and then offered to take us around. But because we had already made plans to go to Olympic Park, we knew we had to get the ball rolling if we wanted to see everything we wanted to see in two days.
Our hostel was a very nice place to stay and the staff was super friendly. We got settled in and I, naturally, took some pictures. Emperor Qian Long is said to have lived in the hostel. There is a pretty large courtyard outside of out bedroom door. The room was very nice and definitely worth the money! I was just glad we finally found it!
When we finally freshened up, got the subway map, and figured out a more general direction of where to go, we headed to Olympic Park. The traffic was outrageous! It was like a scene of a disaster movie. Everyone was piling into buses (almost throwing elbows), pushing and shoving in the crowd, and almost fighting over getting taxis. It was a madhouse! It took us about 30 minutes or so to walk to the next subway station. Normally, I would imagine it only taking us half that time. Inside the subway, there was no organization. People were cutting line to buy tickets and once again, China succeeded in being very cautious in its security, as every time you entered a subway with any type of bag, you had to get it scanned. Yes, it makes sense, but it was completely inconvenient-- especially with that many people.
We had to board five subways in order to get to Olympic Park. I'm not going to lie, this was probably one of the things I was most excited about. I had watched almost the entire Olympics when they were in Beijing with my parents so it was really cool to see stuff that I had previously seen just a year ago.
When you walk out of the subway, we saw the Bird's Nest on the right and the Water Cube on the left. I would say the architecture of the Bird's Nest was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It was so intricate. It cost about $5 to go into the Bird's Nest which we gladly did. Because we found that China could never really find an easy way of doing things (for example, placing the booths as far as being convenient as possible), we did not enter the Water Cube because we were already in the opposite direction. The outside of the Water Cube was great! One thing I wish I could have done was see at night when it is lit up, but because of time restraints and the lurking, overwhelming feeling of exhaustion, we only saw inside the Nest (to the right). It felt pretty awesome being inside a place that just one year ago, people had one Gold Medals. Maybe I'm just being too sentimental, I don't know, but I thought it was pretty freakin' cool!
After we left Olympic Park, our hunger set in, as we had not eaten anything all day besides the KFC and the lunch that was provided on the plane. After getting back to the area our hostel was at, we found the first place that looked expat (foreigner) friendly and sat down. This was, by far, the best food we had on our trip. We ordered two Tsing Tao beers, Kung Pao Chicken, Fried Noodles, and two egg and vegetable soups. It was good, cheap, and very filling! That's the thing I learned with Chinese food-- it settles much heavier than Korean food.
Exhaustion won the battle after we ate, so we headed back to our hostel and crashed by 10:30. We booked out tour to the Mutinayu section of the Great Wall for the next day. We had to be up and ready by 7:20 am. EEEK! But as expected, it was totally worth it.
It was one of the best sleeps I had in a long time. We got up pretty easily, got ready, had some fried bread, then after speculation that we may had been left, found our guide and we were on our way. We had to fight the crowd a while in order to find our driver. We headed past Tiananmen Square, picked up another girl, then hit the road to the Wall. Jo and I slept the entire way.
It took about two hours to get to the wall. We walked through some markets and finally made out way to the Rope Lift. Jo is afraid of heights so that made for an interesting trip. It took about ten minutes or so to finally reach the top. The ride provided spectacular views! Mountains outlined the entire horizon, along with miles of greenery and more miles of Great Wall!
We toured the Wall about three hours or so. It was so awesome to be standing on something who's construction began in 7th century B.C. Here are some facts about the wall:
- Construction began during the Ming Dynasty.
- The average height of the wall is 25 feet.
- Watch towers line the wall periodically, which were used to house soldiers who armed the wall in case of intruders.
- It spans about 5,500 miles total.
The Great Wall is something I'm so happy to knock off my list of things I've done. It's one of the Wonders of the World and I get to see that I've seen and walked on it. Not many people can say this. It is overwhelming to think that this man-made wall has withstood the hands of time for centuries! Like I said, the view was amazing from the wall and I think that was what was most amazing. I hope everyone I know gets the opportunity to see something like this in their lifetime-- it's definitely breath-taking.
When we finished touring the wall, we took a toboggan down the mountainside. It was so much fun! Naturally, I got yelled out by Chinese people working the slide on the way down for going too fast. (Shea and Brandon: I took a video but I had to turn my camera off. It would say it was between 8-10 minutes. Can we call a truce and say we are both right?) :) When we reached the bottom, we shopped through the markets where we got our first taste of bargaining in China. They are definitely more aggressive than Mexico and honestly, probably a bit more fun as long as you know how to have fun with the person and the situation. I bought a few things for some people back home, met up with our tour guide, then had some lunch that was provided by our guide. We soon made our way back to Beijing. Jo and I, again, slept for the majority of the way, only to be woke by the endless mass of traffic, deafening horns, and constant yells of the population outside.
We cleaned ourselves up at the hostel then headed to the Silk Market. By then, we had managed to figure out the subway maps pretty easily. I had heard a lot of the Silk Market from other teachers and how cheap things were, but I had definitely underestimated the truthfulness of their statements. Bargaining on Silk Street was, for me, a form of gambling, and it was very hard to stop. I usually tried to bring a joking-type manner to the table when I talked to vendors about their products and prices. Eventually I won the battle almost every time and got what I wanted for an unbelievably cheap price. Granted, these thing are not real, manufactured products-- they're knock-offs, but no one needs to know that :). By the end of the night, I walked away with three pairs of shoes, a Luis Vutton wallet and satchel, a large North Face backpack, two North Face jackets, and three scarves. It was like walking out of a goldmine.
This girl was hilarious! She would kick me, hit me, and pinch my cheeks. Eventually she sold me her scarves for a cheap price.
After spending more money than we had originally planned, we wanted to go back to our hostel, get dressed, and find some good food and bars to go to. This, however, was more of a challenge than expected. Being the second biggest city in China, having a 60th Anniversary parade, and having at least 20 million people in the city the weekend we were in Beijing, you'd think things would be open late. But, no. Restaurants were closed at 9:30 or 10:00 and we found no bars. We finally ended up eating at the place near our hostel and we ate some sketchy food. It wasn't bad, but it definitely made me appreciate Korean food much more. I always felt bloated after eating Chinese food and I definitely felt like I was venturing over to the unhealthy food lifestyle again (Korean good isn't always healthy, but for the most part, it is). After we ate, we went to a local expat bar next door where had a few beers, talked to some people from Ireland and Italy, then called it a night.
Our last day finally came and honestly, even though we had a a day full of site seeing some amazing things, we were both worn out, tired of Beijing, and ready to get back to Korea. But, we still had a great time visiting Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We had some much-needed breakfast and coffee at the expat bar then fought our way to the Square.
The crowd, as always, was outrageous. It was like the chaos you'd see in Armageddon! People were fighting and shoving but we finally made out way to the center of the Square. We were surrounded by the main Parliamentary building, Mao's Tomb, the Chinese National Museum, and the Forbidden City. All weekend, Beijing had parades to celebrate its 60th. One thing I found annoying here was the consistent groups of people who just chose to sat down in the middle of everything to take a rest or eat. Annoying.
After maneuvering through the masses, we went to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was awesome! It was built in the 15th century in the Ming Dynasty. It was called the Forbidden City because at the time that the Emperor lived there in the Ming Dynasty, no citizen was allowed in it-- only his family, friends, and concubines. Now, it is called the Palace Museum. It spanned what seemed like forever! We didn't walk all the way through it because we were didn't want to be pressed for time and miss our flight. But we saw the majority of it and what I saw was extraordinary! Vast courtyards, large buildings, and moats lie within the walls. It was definitely one of the coolest things I saw on the trip.
After picking up our luggage from the hostel and getting a quick lunch, we dove back into the mass of people and headed for subway. We couldn't decided what was easier: to take a taxi or the subway. Inevitable, we took the subway, as we knew how long it would take and which trains to take. It didn't take that long once we got on the subway, but the process (difficult, of course) to get on the subway took some time, as we were lined up outside the terminal like a roller coaster at an amusement park.
It was good to be back in the airport; it was nice to walk and not fight our way among people to get somewhere. We finally boarded the bus to our plane (yes, we were surprised and slightly angered), got on the plane and were on our way back to South Korea.
I thoroughly enjoyed my vacation in Beijing. It was a great experience that I would never trade for anything and I recommend anyone to go; however, living in South Korea has spoiled me, caused me to be a bit biased, and has caused me to set precedents. I try to separate where I've been and what I know when I visit another culture-- I really do. But it was so hard to do that with Beijing. It was too big, too chaotic, and frankly, I felt the people were not as welcoming. I kept trying to convince myself that the people who would just flat out stare with what seemed like animosity were from smaller, rural areas of China. Will I ever go back? I wouldn't say no, but I won't make a special trip or take up another vacation. I've got a lot of the world to see still and I don't particular want to spend another free weekend feeling like a herd of cows. China has a lot to offer and has some awesome history! That is what made my trip-- seeing the places and things I've always wanted to see. But what I'm doing with my life and how I'm doing it is not based on only site seeing; loving, accepting, and understanding cultures is a part of it too. I accept China's culture, and I embraced it as much as I could in the three days I was there, but my heart lies in Korea in this moment and time. It's nice leaving a country sometimes knowing that I could never live there; it makes me feel a bit picky and not one of those people who can say " Oh, I can live there, and there, and there!" No. No one can live at any place and at any given time. Cultures are too different, and that's what I find out on this trip-- I learned that China, although amazing in its history, is not the place for me. But nonetheless, it's one more place to knock off my list of places I've been.
