Well we are a fortnight in and all is well. As suspected we are now quite familiar with the feeling of being a foreigner, and we even wave when people 'discreetly' take our photo when walking down the street. We are now more curious when browsing in shops not to appear too interested, as the last time we did that Abi got physically assaulted by a woman who continuously hit her over the head with a bag while shouting 'buy,buy,buy!'. Ironically it had be I who had been enquiring how much the bag cost! We are also aware of the fact that green lights don't mean anything if you are a pedestrian, and therefore tend to get tubes and buses which is no mean feat as the ratio of people to space is entirely different here and people will happily risk losing a limb to squeeze on board. Oh and we have a Chinese sim card! So if any of you fancy chatting to us we suggest you buy a phone card. Our Number is 15010477110 we think the dialling code is 0086, although to be fair you might want to check that out before you call!
We spent the remainder of our time in Beijing completing our whistle stop tour of all the other must see sights including the Olympic stadiums, a collection of art galleries called Factory 798, and an area of town called Bar street which was filled with Chinese business men getting blind drunk after work. Each bar had a different 'show' (not quite like Thailand... I can assure you there were no ping pongs involved), we had the delight of listening to a live act sing Chinese power ballads on a stage draped in gold fabric, which would then switch to techno in between every song! We also spent a day ambling around The Summer Palace which is where The Emperor and all his concubines would retreat to in the heat of the summer. Its set around a stunning lake lined with weeping willows and was a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. Then there was the Wall, which I'm afraid requires a whole paragraph all to itself!
In order for you to fully appreciate how immense The Great Wall really is, the geek in me must first provide you with a few brief facts! Firstly parts of it are over 2000 years old, secondly rumour has it that one of the building materials used was the bones of deceased workers, and thirdly it took over a hundred years to build. Abi and I decided to visit an unrestored section of the wall to avoid the tourist-orientated areas. We booked ourselves on a tour with 8 other adventure seeking travellers from the hostel and set off early in a rickety but functioning mini bus with a driver who spoke not a word of English. Two hours later we stopped at the side of a deserted road and a random old man hoped on board (we later found out he was 72). A few miles down the road the driver stopped, ushered us all out of the vehicle and proceeded to drive off. The old man then said 'ni hao', and with a smile begun wondering into the wilderness! Luckily one of our group spoke Chinese and was therefore able to inform us that this was in fact our guide. This man was half the size of Abi, with legs the width of my fore-arm and wrinkles so deep you could barely make out his facial features, yet while the rest of us struggled up the mountain side, red faced and out of breath, he appeared to glide, with not a bead of sweat on his brow... I was in awe! He even offered to carry one girls bag when he saw that she was struggling. We ascended from an altitude of 675 feet to just over 1000, with the climb providing breath taking views of the wall snaking across the land scape every step of the way. Once we reached the Wall there was not another person to be seen for the rest of the three hour trek, except for a loan man of similar age to our guide who was situated at one of the highest points of the wall selling a random selection of souvenirs, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to complain about my journey to work again! I cannot explain how exhilarating this experience was, and best of all it ended with a Chinese feast in a local village which was definitely well earned.
The only other experience we had in Beijing worth mentioning was a slightly surreal one to say the least. But first, some background information. One of the main reasons we are in China is because Abi is fascinated with factories and mass production, from an artistic perspective. Abi's sister makes knickers. Abi's sister is so talented that a Chinese company that mass produces underwear emailed her shortly before we left with a business proposal. Abi's sister is not remotely interested in pursuing getting her underwear made in China and therefore had not bothered replying to the email. Abi then took advantage of this situation and emailed them back to say that she was coming to china on behalf of said underwear label and would like to arrange a visit to one of their factories. I had questioned Abi as to whether or not the story she had told the companies representative was a little fictitious, but she assured me she had just 'bent the truth' slightly. Personally I would suggest that being told to say that I am a research assistant for a London underwear label, was not really bending the truth as such, but in fact a complete lie! Given that my knowledge of knickers starts and ends with putting on a fresh pair of primark specials each day you might like to conclude I was a little nervous at this point. So the following occurred... we were picked up by a driver in a car with blacked out windows, taken to their board room, and spent the best part of an hour talking pants. Our business associates brought out a range of packaging they can produce and a selection of catalogues demonstrating their work. One of which entitled 'alternative costumes' had a picture of a male model donning an black outfit embroidered with the word 'coroner' zipping up a girl in an all in one body bag outfit! After asking a number of questions she had scribbled down the night before, Abi then turned to me and asked if I had anything to add!! Funnily enough I felt she'd pretty much covered everything! We were then taken by the departments manager personally to another part of town to have a look around their factory, at which point one of our hosts took the opportunity to quiz me about my role in the company, which resulted in me telling her some bullshit story about only working for the label a month and therefore being a bit new to it all while going a deep shade of scarlet! Our tour finally ended with them taking us to a plush new restaurant and plying us with gifts. Admittedly by the time we were finally dropped off I'd got quite into my new role and even found myself saying 'we'll be in touch' while making a phone gesture with my hand. After a few minutes of walking in silence Abi said, 'I feel like a bad person now'.
We have since travelled in land and are now currently residing in an ancient walled city called Pingyao. We took a 12 hour over night sleeper train to get here, which is a less than desirable experience but necessary as the country is so huge. Today we intend to hire bikes and cycle to a near by temple, so lets hope the traffic here isn't quite as crazy as Beijing or we might end up being served up as road kill to some unsuspecting tourists!
We spent the remainder of our time in Beijing completing our whistle stop tour of all the other must see sights including the Olympic stadiums, a collection of art galleries called Factory 798, and an area of town called Bar street which was filled with Chinese business men getting blind drunk after work. Each bar had a different 'show' (not quite like Thailand... I can assure you there were no ping pongs involved), we had the delight of listening to a live act sing Chinese power ballads on a stage draped in gold fabric, which would then switch to techno in between every song! We also spent a day ambling around The Summer Palace which is where The Emperor and all his concubines would retreat to in the heat of the summer. Its set around a stunning lake lined with weeping willows and was a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. Then there was the Wall, which I'm afraid requires a whole paragraph all to itself!
In order for you to fully appreciate how immense The Great Wall really is, the geek in me must first provide you with a few brief facts! Firstly parts of it are over 2000 years old, secondly rumour has it that one of the building materials used was the bones of deceased workers, and thirdly it took over a hundred years to build. Abi and I decided to visit an unrestored section of the wall to avoid the tourist-orientated areas. We booked ourselves on a tour with 8 other adventure seeking travellers from the hostel and set off early in a rickety but functioning mini bus with a driver who spoke not a word of English. Two hours later we stopped at the side of a deserted road and a random old man hoped on board (we later found out he was 72). A few miles down the road the driver stopped, ushered us all out of the vehicle and proceeded to drive off. The old man then said 'ni hao', and with a smile begun wondering into the wilderness! Luckily one of our group spoke Chinese and was therefore able to inform us that this was in fact our guide. This man was half the size of Abi, with legs the width of my fore-arm and wrinkles so deep you could barely make out his facial features, yet while the rest of us struggled up the mountain side, red faced and out of breath, he appeared to glide, with not a bead of sweat on his brow... I was in awe! He even offered to carry one girls bag when he saw that she was struggling. We ascended from an altitude of 675 feet to just over 1000, with the climb providing breath taking views of the wall snaking across the land scape every step of the way. Once we reached the Wall there was not another person to be seen for the rest of the three hour trek, except for a loan man of similar age to our guide who was situated at one of the highest points of the wall selling a random selection of souvenirs, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to complain about my journey to work again! I cannot explain how exhilarating this experience was, and best of all it ended with a Chinese feast in a local village which was definitely well earned.
The only other experience we had in Beijing worth mentioning was a slightly surreal one to say the least. But first, some background information. One of the main reasons we are in China is because Abi is fascinated with factories and mass production, from an artistic perspective. Abi's sister makes knickers. Abi's sister is so talented that a Chinese company that mass produces underwear emailed her shortly before we left with a business proposal. Abi's sister is not remotely interested in pursuing getting her underwear made in China and therefore had not bothered replying to the email. Abi then took advantage of this situation and emailed them back to say that she was coming to china on behalf of said underwear label and would like to arrange a visit to one of their factories. I had questioned Abi as to whether or not the story she had told the companies representative was a little fictitious, but she assured me she had just 'bent the truth' slightly. Personally I would suggest that being told to say that I am a research assistant for a London underwear label, was not really bending the truth as such, but in fact a complete lie! Given that my knowledge of knickers starts and ends with putting on a fresh pair of primark specials each day you might like to conclude I was a little nervous at this point. So the following occurred... we were picked up by a driver in a car with blacked out windows, taken to their board room, and spent the best part of an hour talking pants. Our business associates brought out a range of packaging they can produce and a selection of catalogues demonstrating their work. One of which entitled 'alternative costumes' had a picture of a male model donning an black outfit embroidered with the word 'coroner' zipping up a girl in an all in one body bag outfit! After asking a number of questions she had scribbled down the night before, Abi then turned to me and asked if I had anything to add!! Funnily enough I felt she'd pretty much covered everything! We were then taken by the departments manager personally to another part of town to have a look around their factory, at which point one of our hosts took the opportunity to quiz me about my role in the company, which resulted in me telling her some bullshit story about only working for the label a month and therefore being a bit new to it all while going a deep shade of scarlet! Our tour finally ended with them taking us to a plush new restaurant and plying us with gifts. Admittedly by the time we were finally dropped off I'd got quite into my new role and even found myself saying 'we'll be in touch' while making a phone gesture with my hand. After a few minutes of walking in silence Abi said, 'I feel like a bad person now'.
We have since travelled in land and are now currently residing in an ancient walled city called Pingyao. We took a 12 hour over night sleeper train to get here, which is a less than desirable experience but necessary as the country is so huge. Today we intend to hire bikes and cycle to a near by temple, so lets hope the traffic here isn't quite as crazy as Beijing or we might end up being served up as road kill to some unsuspecting tourists!
2 comments:
Man I love you guys!! Sounds like you're having amazing adventures- I'm beyond jealous!! Pants incident sounds classic and the wall sounds stunning, I hope you're taking pictures!!! Love you tons can't wait for the next installment! Nell xxx
Gotta say hats off to Abi's audacious business coup, were the presents knickers by any chance? And well done for acting it out Jaz, I can assure you if it had been me I'd have blown it!
Like Nell I'm exceedingly jealous as well. Hope your still having a great time!
- Ali
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