THAT SAID! Here goes. So I left for Beijing around January 10th I believe - and took a hard sitter train from Tongliao to Beijing Central Station. I was on the train for about 13 hours, and made a few Chinese friends on the road. That's one of the delightful things about the Chinese transportation system when it comes to being a foreigner. More often than not, and more usually when you're on a train coming from or going to a remote location (i.e. Tongliao..) the Chinese people on the train seem to wonder what in God's name you're doing sitting on a train. This is only natural, and provides a foreigner trying to learn the language (like myself) with a perfect opportunity to beef up their Chinese language skills for a good 5, 10, or 13 hours straight, especially when you're by yourself.
I spoke with a mother and her daughter, a grandmother, some kids from the countryside, a student going back to Beijing, and a young fellow going to Beijing to begin schooling who had a Chinese book he had finished reading, and ended up giving me as a gift for speaking with him for a few hours. I was touched! The book, of course, is completely in Chinese characters, and a little hard for me to read.. Alas, the gesture was genuine, and actually gave me some further drive to study Chinese characters (known as hanzi).
After skippin' off the train and spending some time finding a taxi that wouldn't rip me off, I made my way to the hostel that Steve and Dirk were staying at, named 'Beijing Sanlitun Youth Hostel'. The Hostel was great, cozy, and had food and a bar. The perfect place to nestle down for about a week (which is how long I stayed in Beijing!) I met up with Mr. Steven Mo
nahan that night, hugged it out, and met a few of the characters in the cast of people I'd be spending my time with. The first besides Steve was Dirk, a big guy from California who teaches in the same city as Steve - great guy. Also met his girlfriend Kristin, a lovely Chinese girl who teaches English in Beijing. And then Jing, a good good friend of Steve's.. Really good friend.. but that's a whole different story in itself. Hah.The rest of our week was spent between me and Steve catching up with each other, talking about our respective Chinese homes, friends, lives, etc. It was great seeing the big galoot. We also managed to make it to a few western style restaurants and bars to splurge a bit. We were on vacation! The section of Beijing we were in was called 'Sanlitun', which is well known for it's bars and western appeal. It also houses the 'Worker's Stadium', where many of the world's most incredible athlete's performed during the Olympics. I came to the conclusion that a restaurant/bar named 'The Cro's Nest' has the best pizza in Beijing/China, and immediately became a Gin and Tonic drinker while around Dirk and Steve. It's the gentlemanly drink of choice.
A few days into our vacation, we decided to take a day off from the local scene, and to go and find ourselves the great mascot of ancient Chinese culture. Indeed my friends, we visited the illustrious Great Wall of China (changcheng) near Beijing. It was about an hour's drive outside of the city. Now, the way we got there was a laugh in itself. We found ourselves at the Beijing Bus annex, and tried to decipher some of the bus schedules (written completely in Chinese) in hopes of finding our way to the wall on our own, for a cheaper price than going on a tour. Alas, a Chinese businessman saw that we were a big lost in our endeavor, and offered us his services. B
y the end of it, we had secured a ride TO and FROM the part of the Great Wall that we wished to see for little over 100rmb each. And we had the pleasure of a private driver. To be honest, the entire experience was terribly awkward, and a little spooky. Handing some guy a wad of money and hoping that he actually drives you out to where you want to go is a bit harrowing to say the least. BUT, it went off without a hitch! We made it there, explored the wall thoroughly, took our pictures, went down "The Great Wall Slide", and made it back home to Sanlitun quite safely! It was all in all an excellent experience, and now, according to Chinese tradition, I can call myself a 'True Man' for being to the wall. The views were breathtaking, and the history was something truly to behold. I was ecstatic to visit such a wonderful landmark of human history. Plus - who goes to China and doesn't visit the Great Wall of China? I'd be laughed at back home!From there on out, Steve and I decided that we wanted to see the financial charm of Shanghai, whereas Dirk elected to stay in Beijing for a few extra days with his girlfriend before taking leave of her to meet us at our third destination which would be Nanjing. Kristin was also kind enough to let us stay at her apartment for a few days instead of our hostel, since it was free to crash at her place, and was getting pricey for us to stay in the hostel. Plus, the night before in our 10-person room at the hostel, a Scottish fellow staggered into our room at 4am, completely drunk, and tried to climb into bed with an Irish fellow who was pleasantly sleeping until then. The outcome was a little volatile. Amusing, weird, awkward and loud are some words that come to mind.
After a day at the Beijing Train Ticket Office (which was a literally an EXPLOSION of people due to the Chinese New Year going on... everyone in China is trying to go somewhere else in China. The train stations in every single city we hit were MOBBED) we were able to secure some tickets to Shanghai in a few days. However, the tickets were the most expensive train tickets sold in China. They were Soft Sleeper tickets - something seldom heard of around China. Considering their price, I had always thought that they were like living in the lap of luxury for the hours between cities. I would soon find out if I was wrong or not!
Quick P.S. I must hand it to Beijing for having the most comprehensive and easy-to-use Subway system that I've encountered in all of China/the world. I don't speak Chinese, and I understood it immediately. It's very clean, easy to follow, and gosh darn it, Boston has a few things to learn from the way the Chinese set things up. Just had to get that out.
Next Episode: SHANGHAI.
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