I had a really fun weekend hanging out with friends and eating good food, but it was bittersweet, as it was my last weekend here in Beijing. I'm spending this week just seeing some random sights that I haven't seen yet, as well as eating my favorite foods before I leave.
Today, I took care of some shopping. My first stop was the 马连道茶叶城 (MaLianDao Tea City), which is a huge neighborhood that is filled with shops and malls selling tea. There aren't even any other stores in this area, just stores that sell tea, tea tables, tea pots, tea ceremony tools, and the like. When I first got there, I was overwhelmed, because I was just looking for rose tea, but there were too many options. I bought some from a random small store on the street, because I was (stupidly) worried I wouldn't be able to find any later, and then I went inside one of the malls that had been recommended on a website. I went to a couple of the stores/stalls on the third floor but didn't find any other rose tea. On the second floor, I bought some pretty fragrant and inexpensive rose tea for much cheaper than on the street. The girl at that store commented on my paper, on which I had taken notes on which stores to go to, as I had written most of it in English (except for things like 马连道茶叶), which she couldn't read. I asked if they had any 龙井 (LongJing) tea, and then I finally got the full experience that I had read about online. She invited me to try a couple of the teas to see which one I wanted. I was initially a little apprehensive, because I thought it would be a somewhat pressure-filled situation in which she would try to push more expensive teas at me. On the contrary, once I told her I didn't want anything too expensive, she chose two lower-quality teas to try. I then proceeded to have a very relaxing 45-60 minutes of just sitting by a fan (it was warm today), drinking cup after cup of tea with the salesgirl (from Meizhou, Guangdong province, the fourth person I know from that city now). I probably drank a liter of tea. I drank so much that I was getting sleepy and the girl joked that I had 喝醉 (gotten drunk from the tea), haha. The one I bought ended up being 55 RMB for two 两 (I think about a quarter pound), so not too bad.
I then went to Xidan to continue my search for hair ornaments for Tam. I first bought a couple of belts for myself, because they fit really really well, and it's very difficult to find belts (or anything else, besides shirts) that fit me in the US. Once I found some hair stuff, I fell into my old trap when I bargain for stuff. Susan (my fellow exchange student, from Harvard) also has this flaw, and she explained it well. The flaw is that we get too attached to the item we want, so it's difficult to walk away from the deal or offer too low a price, for fear that we won't be able to buy the item. When I went to Silk Street last week, I did pretty well, because I didn't get attached to the stuff I wanted to buy, so I offered very low prices and walked away if they weren't willing to initially bargain, only to get called back when they finally agreed to sell. Today, however, I got nervous that I wouldn't be able to find any other hair pins/clips/chopsticks, so I think - no, am certain - that I got cheated quite a bit. I bought everything from one seller, when I could and should have left to walk around, look some more, and do some comparisons. However, I reverted from my cool, confident buyer alter-ego back to my weaksauce n00b form =( =( Oh well. I think it's worth it when you're trying to make a friend happy. =)
The rest of this week will be spent eating at a couple more places that I haven't tried, seeing my friend from Beida, and running a couple more errands before I leave. Oh yea, and packing. =(
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Delayed massage entry
Jasmine pointed out that I never commented on my massage, which was about a month ago. It cost 88 RMB (about USD 12) for 80 minutes and was a whole body massage. I have to say, 80 minutes was a bit long, but it did feel good. I kept my clothes on, and it started with me prone, and the guy massaging my head. It moved to my shoulders and back, and then I flipped over to the supine position, and the guy started massaging my arms. The weirdest part came next, when he massaged my belly (?!), which was actually pretty painful, as he pushed with considerable force on my abdomen. It ended with leg/feet massages, with me still in the supine position. I did the massage because I've found that massage helps with my chronic L scapular pain, but I was actually pretty sore the next day. But I've felt better since (with some off days), so I guess it did end up helping in the end. If I go again, though, I'm only getting a shoulder massage (38 RMB for 40 minutes)!!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Lazy Saturday
I had some interesting experiences today. I got to eat braised cola chicken wings again, the flavor of which transported me back to 1 year ago when I ate many meals with the PUMC students who came to UCSF. I also got to hear my friends sing lots of "Communist" songs that they sang as children. It was pretty fun. I then went to see a new Chinese movie, called "红河" ("Red River"), a dramatic love story involving a Vietnamese-Chinese (not sure which one) girl. I won't give away any of the plot, if you want to watch it. The story was pretty interesting, although the one thing I wondered is how accurately the actors' Vietnamese was pronounced, since most of them (being Chinese actors) learned it specifically for the movie. If some who speaks Vietnamese watches it, he/she should let me know. It's late now. I'll update with more pics tomorrow or something.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
憶江南
The above is a phrase that roughly translates to "Recollect the JiangNan area" (the area south of the Yangtze River). During this last weekend, we had a holiday on Monday due to the QingMing Festival (清明节) that occurred on Saturday. A few of my classmates and I decided to take Thursday and Friday off, as well, to take a trip to the Shanghai area. It was a lot of fun.
We took Hainan Airlines there, and it was a really nice airline. I would highly recommend it in the future. Individual entertainment systems, decent food, and comfortable reclining seats. I had just watched 非诚勿扰 (If You Are The One), in which Shu Qi (see below) plays a flight attendant on Hainan Airlines. I joked with a couple of friends here, before I left, that I hoped that "笑笑" (her character's name in the movie) would be my flight attendant, but unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case =( =(
In any case, we checked into our hostel once we arrived, and it, too, exceeded expectations. Paying $26 USD for four nights is a good deal in my book. We set out to find the 城隍庙 (Temple of the City God) and the 豫园 (YuYuan Gardens), and it was a great day to enjoy the gardens. I really enjoyed the different shapes of each of the doorways and all the greenery and flowers that were blooming in the garden.
After visiting the temple, we ate some 小笼包 (xiaolongbao) at 南翔馒头店's takeout window, but they weren't that great. I was a little disappointed.
I also ate some stinky tofu from the street...very tasty!
At night, we walked around Nanjing Lu (expensive shopping area) and then along the Bund (along the Huangpu River) at night, to enjoy the nighttime skyline, which reminded me a little of Hong Kong's.
On Friday, we originally had planned on going to Suzhou, but all the train tickets for that day and Saturday were sold out (in retrospect, this was due to the Saturday holiday). So we bought tickets for Sunday, as well as buying tickets to join a tour group to Hangzhou on Saturday (the only way we could get train tickets for Hangzhou). We spent the rest of the day walking around the French Concession area, which was the part of the city that used to be controlled by France during China's . We visited the former house of 宋庆龄 (Soong Ching-ling, Madame Sun Yat-sen), where she lived for many years. She is the Soong sister who "loved China" (the three Soong sisters were often described as "一个爱钱、一个爱权、一个爱国" [One loves money, one loves power, and one loves the nation], because one married a banker, one married Chiang Kai-shek, and one married Sun Yat-sen and later did a lot of work herself in building the nation). It was really inspiring to see the museum exhibit on all her work and achievements in trying to build a strong nation with the Communist government early in China's republic existence.
After that, we leisurely strolled through the French Concession and some parks until we reached Taikang Road, which is a relatively newer art studio section of Shanghai. We visited a lot of shops and checked out some artwork, most of which was pretty neat. There were a lot of traditional paintings/photograph stores, but I saw a few paintings that were pretty neat (no photos allowed, unfortunately, otherwise I would have taken a few!). Similar to the previous day, there were lots of flowers blooming along the streets and in the parks:
And we ate noodles and 生煎包 (pan-fried buns) for lunch! =D
We stopped by Dr. Sun Yat-sen's former residence as our walk continued, but they were just closing. The security guard was nice enough to let us in to use the restroom and take a picture outside, though.
We also visited XinTianDi, which is a small area near the former site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China that has a lot of touristy (and expensive!) boutique shops. We tried to find a restaurant that I had read about that supposedly had really good xiaolongbao, but once we found the address, we were told that it had been torn down a long time ago. =( =( Major FAIL. In the future, don't look for 佳家汤包 on 河南南路, because it's not there.
Saturday was the QingMing Festival and also the date of our trip to Hangzhou. Before I left Beijing, I had read a poem by the Tang poet 杜牧 (Du Mu), simply called 清明 (QingMing) (look up "QingMing Festival on Wikipedia for the English translation):
清明时节雨纷纷
路上行人欲断魂
借问酒家何处有
牧童遥指杏花村
I thought this poem was apropos for our trip, especially the first line, as it was misty/raining lightly as we arrived at Hangzhou. A few of my friends from China were saying that it was actually good for it to be raining during our trip there, since 西湖 (West Lake) would be more romantic in the rain. Too bad I couldn't take advantage of that. In any case, our first stop was West Lake, and the scenery and foliage were breathtaking. Lots of green, pink, and yellow, and barely-visible pagodas on distant islands in the mist surrounded us as we walked along the shore and on one of the islands.
I can see why people would think it would be a romantic place to go (excepting all the tourists...)
I really enjoyed the idyllic atmosphere that surrounded us, too. This particular scene made me feel like we were there 1000 years ago.
Our next stop on the tour was the Temple of Yue Fei (岳王庙). Yue Fei was a general during the Southern Song Dynasty who fought against the Jurchens from the north. The emperor executed him and his son, on the advice of an evil couple in his court, and as Yue Fei voluntarily returned to the capital for his execution, despite being on the brink of defeating the Jurchens, he is seen as a model of loyalty in Chinese culture. He also had a famous tattoo on his back, that was done by his mother, that reads, 盡忠報國, which means "Serve the country with the utmost loyalty." We learned on our tour that the uppermost dot in the word for "country" was left out in the tattoo, and that his mother said that she would finish the tattoo once he had reclaimed the lost Chinese territory, but it was never done. The tour guide also said (in a totally serious manner) that the dot also was not in the painting on the wall of the temple, because "Taiwan has not returned to us yet."
The tour group then took us to a couple of classic tourist traps, i.e. a silk market to buy silks, and also a tea-tasting place to buy 龙井茶 (LongJing tea), for which the area is famous.
We also went to a village built in a Song Dynasty fashion, as it was the capital during the Southern Song dynasty. It was pretty interesting, as they had lots of handicrafts and local food for sale, as well as people dressed in Song Dynasty-era clothes, but it was definitely built for tourists. I did get an awesome picture that a cariacturist drew...all I have to say is that if I were a Jurchen, I would be terrified to see a 7'6" Yao Ming bearing down on me with a sword or a spear:
The last couple of stops were famous temples in Hangzhou, but by then, I was too tired, wet, and cold to really enjoy them, which was a little too bad. Although the day was pretty fun, I reminded myself why I hate large tour groups.
Sunday was our Suzhou trip. I ate a 饭团 (rice roll) for breakfast =D
Anyway, Suzhou is famous for its silks and private gardens, and although we didn't take a look at any silks, I have to say that the gardens did not disappoint. We visited the 拙政园 (Humble Administrator's Garden), considered to be the best garden in Southern China. I think a couple of pictures will demonstrate why. I only wish I had the $$ and land to build a garden like this:
In my future yard, though, I am definitely planting plum blossom trees, cherry blossoms, and magnolias, as well as a myriad of ground flowers. I have become inspired. We met up with my roommate Peter, who's originally from Suzhou, and we had lunch, then went to his grandparents' house for tea. We visited 盘门 (PanMen), the old city gate or Suzhou, that was both a land and a water gate (the only one in the world). Pretty awesome to see the strategic fortifications of old. We also went to 虎丘 (Tiger Hill), which is another nice scenic area. We got in for free, because Peter's cousin works there. Pretty awesome. At night, we went to the Jin Mao Tower (金茂大廈), which was formerly the tallest building in China (until the World Financial Center was built right next door), and which houses the Grand Hyatt on floors 54-88. We went up to Floor 88 to go to the highest bar in the world and to enjoy the night view. It was fun, though pricey.
Jin Mao Tower:
Shanghai World Financial Center:
A view of the Bund from the bar:
The Oriental Pearl Tower from the bar:
So in recap, it was a really fun trip, but exhausting. I am definitely not travelling very much more until the end of my trip. I still need to explore more places in Beijing, anyway!
We took Hainan Airlines there, and it was a really nice airline. I would highly recommend it in the future. Individual entertainment systems, decent food, and comfortable reclining seats. I had just watched 非诚勿扰 (If You Are The One), in which Shu Qi (see below) plays a flight attendant on Hainan Airlines. I joked with a couple of friends here, before I left, that I hoped that "笑笑" (her character's name in the movie) would be my flight attendant, but unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case =( =(
In any case, we checked into our hostel once we arrived, and it, too, exceeded expectations. Paying $26 USD for four nights is a good deal in my book. We set out to find the 城隍庙 (Temple of the City God) and the 豫园 (YuYuan Gardens), and it was a great day to enjoy the gardens. I really enjoyed the different shapes of each of the doorways and all the greenery and flowers that were blooming in the garden.
After visiting the temple, we ate some 小笼包 (xiaolongbao) at 南翔馒头店's takeout window, but they weren't that great. I was a little disappointed.
I also ate some stinky tofu from the street...very tasty!
At night, we walked around Nanjing Lu (expensive shopping area) and then along the Bund (along the Huangpu River) at night, to enjoy the nighttime skyline, which reminded me a little of Hong Kong's.
On Friday, we originally had planned on going to Suzhou, but all the train tickets for that day and Saturday were sold out (in retrospect, this was due to the Saturday holiday). So we bought tickets for Sunday, as well as buying tickets to join a tour group to Hangzhou on Saturday (the only way we could get train tickets for Hangzhou). We spent the rest of the day walking around the French Concession area, which was the part of the city that used to be controlled by France during China's . We visited the former house of 宋庆龄 (Soong Ching-ling, Madame Sun Yat-sen), where she lived for many years. She is the Soong sister who "loved China" (the three Soong sisters were often described as "一个爱钱、一个爱权、一个爱国" [One loves money, one loves power, and one loves the nation], because one married a banker, one married Chiang Kai-shek, and one married Sun Yat-sen and later did a lot of work herself in building the nation). It was really inspiring to see the museum exhibit on all her work and achievements in trying to build a strong nation with the Communist government early in China's republic existence.
After that, we leisurely strolled through the French Concession and some parks until we reached Taikang Road, which is a relatively newer art studio section of Shanghai. We visited a lot of shops and checked out some artwork, most of which was pretty neat. There were a lot of traditional paintings/photograph stores, but I saw a few paintings that were pretty neat (no photos allowed, unfortunately, otherwise I would have taken a few!). Similar to the previous day, there were lots of flowers blooming along the streets and in the parks:
And we ate noodles and 生煎包 (pan-fried buns) for lunch! =D
We stopped by Dr. Sun Yat-sen's former residence as our walk continued, but they were just closing. The security guard was nice enough to let us in to use the restroom and take a picture outside, though.
We also visited XinTianDi, which is a small area near the former site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China that has a lot of touristy (and expensive!) boutique shops. We tried to find a restaurant that I had read about that supposedly had really good xiaolongbao, but once we found the address, we were told that it had been torn down a long time ago. =( =( Major FAIL. In the future, don't look for 佳家汤包 on 河南南路, because it's not there.
Saturday was the QingMing Festival and also the date of our trip to Hangzhou. Before I left Beijing, I had read a poem by the Tang poet 杜牧 (Du Mu), simply called 清明 (QingMing) (look up "QingMing Festival on Wikipedia for the English translation):
清明时节雨纷纷
路上行人欲断魂
借问酒家何处有
牧童遥指杏花村
I thought this poem was apropos for our trip, especially the first line, as it was misty/raining lightly as we arrived at Hangzhou. A few of my friends from China were saying that it was actually good for it to be raining during our trip there, since 西湖 (West Lake) would be more romantic in the rain. Too bad I couldn't take advantage of that. In any case, our first stop was West Lake, and the scenery and foliage were breathtaking. Lots of green, pink, and yellow, and barely-visible pagodas on distant islands in the mist surrounded us as we walked along the shore and on one of the islands.
I can see why people would think it would be a romantic place to go (excepting all the tourists...)
I really enjoyed the idyllic atmosphere that surrounded us, too. This particular scene made me feel like we were there 1000 years ago.
Our next stop on the tour was the Temple of Yue Fei (岳王庙). Yue Fei was a general during the Southern Song Dynasty who fought against the Jurchens from the north. The emperor executed him and his son, on the advice of an evil couple in his court, and as Yue Fei voluntarily returned to the capital for his execution, despite being on the brink of defeating the Jurchens, he is seen as a model of loyalty in Chinese culture. He also had a famous tattoo on his back, that was done by his mother, that reads, 盡忠報國, which means "Serve the country with the utmost loyalty." We learned on our tour that the uppermost dot in the word for "country" was left out in the tattoo, and that his mother said that she would finish the tattoo once he had reclaimed the lost Chinese territory, but it was never done. The tour guide also said (in a totally serious manner) that the dot also was not in the painting on the wall of the temple, because "Taiwan has not returned to us yet."
The tour group then took us to a couple of classic tourist traps, i.e. a silk market to buy silks, and also a tea-tasting place to buy 龙井茶 (LongJing tea), for which the area is famous.
We also went to a village built in a Song Dynasty fashion, as it was the capital during the Southern Song dynasty. It was pretty interesting, as they had lots of handicrafts and local food for sale, as well as people dressed in Song Dynasty-era clothes, but it was definitely built for tourists. I did get an awesome picture that a cariacturist drew...all I have to say is that if I were a Jurchen, I would be terrified to see a 7'6" Yao Ming bearing down on me with a sword or a spear:
The last couple of stops were famous temples in Hangzhou, but by then, I was too tired, wet, and cold to really enjoy them, which was a little too bad. Although the day was pretty fun, I reminded myself why I hate large tour groups.
Sunday was our Suzhou trip. I ate a 饭团 (rice roll) for breakfast =D
Anyway, Suzhou is famous for its silks and private gardens, and although we didn't take a look at any silks, I have to say that the gardens did not disappoint. We visited the 拙政园 (Humble Administrator's Garden), considered to be the best garden in Southern China. I think a couple of pictures will demonstrate why. I only wish I had the $$ and land to build a garden like this:
In my future yard, though, I am definitely planting plum blossom trees, cherry blossoms, and magnolias, as well as a myriad of ground flowers. I have become inspired. We met up with my roommate Peter, who's originally from Suzhou, and we had lunch, then went to his grandparents' house for tea. We visited 盘门 (PanMen), the old city gate or Suzhou, that was both a land and a water gate (the only one in the world). Pretty awesome to see the strategic fortifications of old. We also went to 虎丘 (Tiger Hill), which is another nice scenic area. We got in for free, because Peter's cousin works there. Pretty awesome. At night, we went to the Jin Mao Tower (金茂大廈), which was formerly the tallest building in China (until the World Financial Center was built right next door), and which houses the Grand Hyatt on floors 54-88. We went up to Floor 88 to go to the highest bar in the world and to enjoy the night view. It was fun, though pricey.
Jin Mao Tower:
Shanghai World Financial Center:
A view of the Bund from the bar:
The Oriental Pearl Tower from the bar:
So in recap, it was a really fun trip, but exhausting. I am definitely not travelling very much more until the end of my trip. I still need to explore more places in Beijing, anyway!
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