I have been in Shanghai for a week now. This place is very very different from Beijing. I don't have any photos of the city yet because I wanted to take a break, but it is seriously mind-boggling. It only took the first day of hanging out with the 12 other students here to make me realize I was with an awesome group of people. We all are having the greatest experience of our lives and we love sharing it with each other. My chopsticks skills have improved tremendously. Two days ago I raced Nick, one of the Chinese students, to finish a a bowl of noodles. I crushed him. He said my skill is much better than that of many Chinese.
At first I really did not know what this place was going to be like or why I wanted to come. After a week I can already tell that I'm here to learn about the opportunities in this amazing city and meet as many new people as I can. People from Canada, Mexico, the U.S., the U.K., Poland, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, and Zambia are all here for the same reason. And those are just the ones I've met so far. It wasn't until 1992 that Shanghai was able to once again emerge as the country's economic center, and this place has come so so far in 20 years. Shanghai does not have the historical attractions like Beijing after years and years of war and foreign rule, but it does make up for it with a very futuristic skyline.
I really like the fact that I got to see the two very different cities. I saw the historical, but now I'm in the playground.
For now, here is some of what I saw during my last couple of days in Beijing.
Started off the third day with some of the best breakfast I've had. Beef pancakes.
Checked out the Botanical Gardens west of the summer Palace. (20 min cab ride from subway for about 20 Yuan, or just over $3)
The conservatory.
One of the best meals I've had so far and by far the best dumplings. I found this walking down a random alley way before finding Fragrant Hills park. No menu, just took what she made from scratch right in front of me.
Awesome dumplings. Didn't know what was in them. All I know is that I felt awesome afterwards so no questions were needed.
I small pond inside the Fragrant Hills.
The Temple of Clouds. This wasn't even the main attraction of the park. There was a chairlift to the summit but it was closed due to a slight drizzle.
A view from the top.
On the top.
So I ended up walking out a different gate of the park then I came in... As soon as I walked out of the gate the thunder started. I had no idea where I was, I just figured if I kept walking I would run into a main street where I could grab a taxi. As the storm got louder and louder, I had to whip out my camera.
Everyone was trying to get out of town quick. From 3:00 to 3:30 I watched the sky turn pitch black except for the lightning that lit up the sky every 10 seconds.
Just as I found a main road, the rain began instantly. I took cover in a a store and waited out the worst (or best) part of the storm. I have never seen it rain like this anywhere in my life. After 5 minutes the rain lightened up and so did the sky. I took my camera back out for the flash flood which soon came. (Check the last post for the link to the video).
A little later on after the rain stopped. I probably shouldn't have walked through this water..
Staying dry and mopping?
As I continued to walk down the road I began to realize there were no Taxi's around. I finally found one and tried to get him to give me a ride. I had a card for the hotel and I knew how to say subway, but neither worked. He starting yelling at me in Chinese very quickly and made the motions that the water was knee high where I wanted to go. He eventually pointed me in the right direction. I was no where near my hotel or a subway, and didn't even know if I was walking in the right direction. With the sun setting in the next 30 minutes, I knew that I needed make something happen or else face a very bad situation. After 10 minutes of walking, I decided to ask 5 girls in long dresses if I was going in the right direction. After struggling for a minute, one of them started speaking english. She was actually great at speaking. After another minute of talking about possibly taking a bus, I realized they all spoke english. They were just too nervous to talk. They were all Law School students at one of the best Universities in China, Peking University. I ended up taking the bus back with them to a subway stop putside their university. They turned me down for going out to the bars afterwards, but they did point me in the right direction of the subway.
The next day I started off with taking a stroll through the well known fake electronic store, The Pearl Market
Didn't buy anything.
I did however find the CD shop underneath KFC where I found some new Chinese music to add to my collection. I made it a quick trip in and out as my book told me too. The place was also a well-known stop for police inspections for pirated music.
I then started my journey to the Temple of Heaven. I found the people more interesting the everything else.
This guy had apparently been here for years hanging out in the long corridor day after day. The whole park served as a place for community members to dance, talk, sing, play cards, and just have a great time.
His friend flipped through a photo album of him with who I was guessing were famous Chinese people.
Reached the Temple of Heaven. The capital's must-see sight. It was founded in the first half of the 15th century. "Ming and Qing emperors left the Forbidden City to come here four times a year to offer sacrifices to the gods and to pray, and along with them tens of thousands of courtiers, soldiers, and officials proceeded in great ceremony through Tiananmen, and down to the complex beyond the southern gates of the city, with commoners forbidden to open their shutters and cast their eyes on the procession in the pain of death." -Helena Iveson
Me with the Temple of Heaven. The numbers 3 and 9 occur all over the construction of the temple. 3 roofs, 3 sets of nine stairs, three tiers making a total of 9 tiers. Nine in chinese cosmology representing heaven. The 3 characters on the plaque mean "the palace of prayer for a new year." The peak is 38 meters above the ground and the temple was rebuilt in 1890 after being struck by lightning and burned down. The roof's 3 tiers are covered with 50,000 glazed tiles. The deep blue symbolizes the sky.
Of course I bought one... How could I turn down that smile?
More people around the temple of Heaven.
Cute kid.
Games.
After the Temple of Heaven, I continued onto the Forbidden City. Unfortunately, this place was packed. As soon as I walked out of the subway I was approached by a girl in an umbrella that was way too nice. There are women in the city that look for foreigners and ask them to practice their english. They take the foreigner to a restaurant for tea where they are left with the bill and the woman leaves. The person is forced to pay the 3000+ yuan ($450+) bill before leaving by the owner. I read all about it before I left so I was not surprised. I love staring a conversation and right away saying that I hate tea and I suck at english.
Anyways, heres the entrance to the Forbidden City. This is the South Gate with a portrait of Mao. It was from this gate that Mao addressed the crowds in Tiananmen Square and announced the formation of the PRC. Tiananmen Square, across the street to the south, is the world's biggest public square. "During 1989 young people occupied the square calling for democracy, until an army put an end to it by ruthlessly firing on thousands of unarmed citizens." Unfortunately, the very historical square is known for this throughout the western world and left me not even wanting to walk inside.
One of the Gates.
Another gate. Not so forbidden anymore..
Another gate. I liked the temple of Heaven way more because this place was very packed and just kind of looked like all of the other buildings that I've seen. It was still very cool to step inside a place that only emperors could have hundreds of years ago though.
Russia? The Great Hall of the People is located on the West end of the Tiananmen Square, south of the Forbidden city. It was constructed in '59 as one of the "10 great Constructions" for the 10th anniversary of the People's Republic. I decided not to walk in or take pictures of Tiananmen Square.
The National Center for Performing Arts with the Great Hall of the People in the Background. It ended up being one of the most clear days.
Me with the Center.
After all of that walking and exploring I went back to my hotel to get some rest in before my hike on the Great Wall of China.
Before coming to China, I knew this would be something that I would remember for the rest of my life. I started researching the different parts around Beijing of the wall that I could visit. After finding an online forum completely dedicated to the wall, I knew that I wanted to do an overnight trip and really get away from the busy sections. Unfortunately, the bus system is the only public transport that goes to the wall, and thats even hard to figure out for the locals. I had to sign up for the tour through the hotel and I left at 7:30 in the morning. I was not very well rested after not being able to sleep because of excitement. It also didn't help that the tour guide showed up 45 minutes early making me skip breakfast.
After an hour and a half drive I got to the entrance. We took a gondola to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. At the top the section split into two different routes. The tour guide warned me the going right was the difficult way and involved 65% pitches with no stairs. I decided to take this route.
At the top, the place was full of people. Even on the difficult section there were little children and and very old people walking really slow. I figured if I kept up the pace maybe I could get through the crowds. Unfortunately, the tour guide told me that I would have to be back in 2 hours at the bottom. After a 10-minute gondola ride, my time was already winding down. She said that I should turn around after I reached the second tour which was normally a 45-minute hike. So I stopped thinking about it and starting jogging. Every time I stopped to take a picture I found someone else taking a picture of me, or trying to take a picture of me. (This has happened at practically every other tourist attraction.) But I had to keep up the pace.
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Plenty of people.
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The crowds started to thin as I kept moving.
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It soon got very very steep. And I was definitely not in the shape to try to run the Great Wall. The sections without any stares is really what got me. If you aren't holding onto the hand railing, theres no way to stop. Half the people walk backwards while descending these sections. |
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So I soon arrived at the second tower. It was a lot shorter than 45 minutes, but I was about ready to pass out. In the distance I could see a section with no people. I knew I had to get there. I put my camera in my backpack and jogged until I couldn't go any further. Here is the view out of the second tower looking to the end of where you can still walk. |
So I got to the end, the rest was off limits. And what do ya know? No people. With it being 10 o'clock I knew I had to be back to the bus in an hour. I'm not sure if they would have left me or if I would have been charged more if I were late, so I set up my tri-pod as quickly as I could.
Looking to the off-limits section. No more hand rails out here.
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Me and the Great Wall of China. |
The far left tower is where I started, as you can see very far away from where I was. This is an HDR photo. 3 different exposures blended into one photo. (Higher resolution at the end of the blog.) After getting what I wanted I had about 40 minutes to get back. After packing up I started running again. I made it about a quarter of the way and realized that this was a very bad choice. I took a short break and kept going. I guess I forgot that the section from the 1st tower to the second was all extremely steep and downhill. This meant the opposite on my return. And I thought people were taking too many pictures of me before... They did not hesitate to snap photos of an out-of-shape American who thought he could run the Great Wall of China. Did I mention it was 90 degrees and sunny? I seriously almost passed out 5 or 6 times. But I eventually made it. At the entrance of the Gondola I still had 15 minutes to spare.
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Going down. When I walked out of the gondola the tour guide asked me what was wrong with my face because I was red as a cherry and covered in sweat.
Stopped at the museum of Jade on the way home.
Pretty spendy ($57k)
Also stopped at Ming's Tomb.
Originally constructed without and nails. Built completely out of wood and fit together like a puzzle piece.
Woven completely out of one strand of gold.
Emperor Yong Le. Founder of the Ming Dynasty.
After a trip to the museum of silk I went back to my hotel to get a nap. I couldn't sleep and it was my last night. So instead of staying in like I had every other night, I checked out the Sanlitun bar district. The place was great. But after being approached by two different people trying to persuade me to come to their "lady bar" which was only a taxi ride away, after being followed by two people where I had to double back several times to shake them, and after being grabbed by the hip of a group of Africans trying to convince me to smoke, I decided to stick to one drink and just people watch at the biggest club in Beijing. I had a great time and slept in the while next day until I had to check out.
My train didn't leave until 9 o'clock so I still had time to check out some of the last places I hadn't seen. A view from the top of the Jing'an Park north of the forbidden city.
Panorama from the top. 3 16mm photos together. Higher resolution at the end.
Saw the beautiful lake Hohuai. This is an awesome place near the center of the city surrounded by bars and people enjoying themselves.
A fisherman on the lake.
Collecting water in a canal.
Taking a break after a long swim. I would never want to even stick a finger in this city water.
A dancer.
The lake at sunset.
Finished up by grabbing a pizza for myself at the famous and hidden Hutong Pizza. It made me practically miss my train but was very delicious.
Higher resolution photos: (Click)
So thats all I did in Beijing. It was one of the coolest places I've ever been and a great experience to do it completely on my own. I learned a ton about traveling and communicating.
It was definitely the right place to learn a lot about China's history before I came to China's modern world.
I'm not sure when I'll update this again or when I'll start taking photos again because there is so much to do here. Maybe in a couple of weeks.
Until then.
Later
Some sources:
http://www.unc.edu/~lubbers/flash/temple%20of%20heaven/Temple%20of%20Heaven.html
Moon Handbooks Beijing and Shanghai. Helena Iveson.
