I am back in my sister's apartment today after a very enjoyable morning at the Panda Research Center. The capital of the Panda Bear habitat in China...the panda is certainly China's beloved animal. It was pretty sweet. But I'll get to that later on. I will also note that trying to upload one video on YouTube or a dozen pictures is showing up to take at least "230 minutes" which is not what I was expecting. Therefore, videos and pictures might not come until Hong Kong and the States...unfortunately. But I will see what I can do.
So my mom and I left Beijing early Thursday morning on Hainan Airlines...a local airline leaving from the domestic terminal. People taking our tickets looked at us twice to make sure we were in the right place, seeming to say, "Are you sure you want to be here? Are you in the right place?" We were definitely the only foreigners on our plane. They put us on a stand up bus to get to our plane on the tarmac. They kept filling the bus up until you would be absolutely certain there was no more space available and then they would pile in a few more. Mom and I got on after about three of these instances...I jumped on the bus shoving a few guys into the mass of humanity standing helplessly without a pole or handle above them. Mom looked at me and said, "Are you serious?" I'm pretty sure she was the last one in, plastered against the door like a wall ornament.
We got to the plane, which was huge...8 seats across and 45 rows deep, and once the doors of the bus opened it was a mad dash up the stairs into the plane. There was no line. In fact,m I'm pretty sure since I have been here I have yet to see any resemblance of a line. And I've loved that, actually! The plane was very comfortable, plenty of leg room and a larger than usual video screen in each persons seat with plenty of movies and TV shows to watch.
After our 3 hour flight we arrived in my sister's city eagerly anticipating her friendly face and exciting smile. Once we got to our baggage, we could see Emily outside the gate eagerly waiting and waving at us. I grabbed our bags and tried to catch up to my mom who was running out the gate. And I tried to document the embrace on camera but I couldn't get there in time. I will say, it was SO good to see Emily, and so great to see her and Mom greet one another on Emily's home turf.
We jumped outside to grab a taxi and I was again thrown into the thrilling roller coaster ride that is the Chinese traffic world. It was crazy, yet again. Several times I could have slapped another driver in the face we were so close to other cars. Here's the thing I've observed about driving around big Chinese cities: 1) There are no rules. People go through red lights, drive the wrong way down a one way street, don't drive within the lanes, do not give pedestrians the right of way and park anywhere they can. 2) You must honk your horn at least 5 times per minute. OK that's an exaggeration, but there is so much honking of horns. If anyone is in your way and you are going faster, or if you are driving through a red light or going the wrong way down a street, honk your horn and people will get out of the way. 3) There is always traffic. I haven't noticed a difference to rush hour and calm traffic, though my sister says there is. There is always a huge amount of cars, scooters, buses, taxis, bikes, pedestrians, and all sorts of other transportation devices.
Anyways, we began driving closer to the heart of the city. And, while it's true that people are everywhere in China, I could definitely tell that the amount of people was increasing as we got closer and closer to the center of a city which holds 13 million people. Everything was still so new to me, so I was snapping pictures of buildings, signs with Chinese characters, traffic, dudes carrying huge bags of you name it on the back of their scooters...
Finally, we arrived at my sister's apartment complex, where she lives, but also the location of the apartment we were all going to be staying in for the next week. It is a large complex of about 8-12 buildings, maybe about 16-18 stories each, no elevators, and a big pool in the middle that you have to pay to use. After getting settled in a bit we were hungry for lunch and Emily wanted to take us to get Muslim noodles, a dish originating from northwestern Islamic Chinese peoples. This place was awesome! Only 6 yuan (or kuai which is the slang term, like "bucks") for a bowl, which is equivalent to around 90 cents. And it was a huge bowl of noodles, which can be fat or thin, with any kind of meat and sauce, just not pork. So much great food to eat for less than a dollar! I loved watching the guy made the noodles by hand, it was fascinating to see how he made each noodle, which originated from a large roll of dough. I have a video, but it'll have to wait I suppose. This was also my first time to use chop sticks in a very long tie, and honestly I have never really been able to use them before. But I am committed on this trip to not use any utensil but them and I hope I am getting better. I have been complimented twice by locals that I am doing pretty well...probably made fun of many more times.
I forgot to mention that to get to the noodle place we got there by way of scooter and bike. This certainly fulfilled my Chinese bucket list of riding a bike in the midst of traffic. My sister drove her scooter with my mom sitting on the back and I got to ride Emily's bike, pedaling hard to keep up with her while avoiding cars, pedestrians, bikes and mopeds going every which way. Often a bike would come in from a side street and try to zoom in front of me or a scooter would be going against the flow of traffic and you wouldn't see him until he was a foot in front of you. And often a taxi will make a turn through a red light and force his way through pedestrian traffic which would split me up from Emily and Mom and I would have to book it to catch up. Here I am talking about the traffic again...the thing is, it is SO unique, it continually blows my mind.
Anyways, after noodles we went the the outdoor market which was another sight to be seen. We are in no touristy location, by the way...this is my sister's world in the midst of the city, everyday, normal China. Which is what made it feel all the more raw for me. We stood out like sore thumbs everywhere we went the first couple of days because we were the only foreigners around. The market was filled with everything you would expect it to have, fruits and veggies galore. Plenty of stuff I didn't recognize. There were huge bags of rice, eggs, spices, etc. But there was much more that would wouldn't necessarily expect to see. Like huge slabs of meat hanging from a big rack outside the meat shops...several buckets of fish and eels alive in water, a cage of big frogs also alive, pig snouts and chicken feet unpleasantly sitting in an ice box. It was a pretty cool experience.
From there we took our goods back to the apartment and then went for a little walk around the neighborhood. Visited a few shops and stores that Emily frequents, went into the large Carrefore, which is like a WalMart and a mall combination to see more unique foods, a KFC, a ton of people...
At that point my mom was starting to feel the sleepiness...I was convinced that I was totally fine until we put on a movie in the apartment and all three of us fell asleep. I woke up and drowsily made my way outside to meet up with some of my sister's friends for dinner. We went to a place close by that served what Emily calls, "dishes". Local Sichuan dishes are amazing! There are some weird flavors and interesting mixtures, but overall the food was phenomenal...and it is NOTHING like Chinese food back in the States. I now know what REAL Chinese food tastes like, and I'm very thankful for that. My sister's roommate (a national) was telling us how upset she was that they don't get Chinese food right in the U.S. And now I completely see what she means by that...it's not even close. The food has definitely been one of the best things about China thus far.
Once back at the apartment, I jumped in bed and passed out until the morning. It was beautiful.
-b garrison
So my mom and I left Beijing early Thursday morning on Hainan Airlines...a local airline leaving from the domestic terminal. People taking our tickets looked at us twice to make sure we were in the right place, seeming to say, "Are you sure you want to be here? Are you in the right place?" We were definitely the only foreigners on our plane. They put us on a stand up bus to get to our plane on the tarmac. They kept filling the bus up until you would be absolutely certain there was no more space available and then they would pile in a few more. Mom and I got on after about three of these instances...I jumped on the bus shoving a few guys into the mass of humanity standing helplessly without a pole or handle above them. Mom looked at me and said, "Are you serious?" I'm pretty sure she was the last one in, plastered against the door like a wall ornament.
We got to the plane, which was huge...8 seats across and 45 rows deep, and once the doors of the bus opened it was a mad dash up the stairs into the plane. There was no line. In fact,m I'm pretty sure since I have been here I have yet to see any resemblance of a line. And I've loved that, actually! The plane was very comfortable, plenty of leg room and a larger than usual video screen in each persons seat with plenty of movies and TV shows to watch.
After our 3 hour flight we arrived in my sister's city eagerly anticipating her friendly face and exciting smile. Once we got to our baggage, we could see Emily outside the gate eagerly waiting and waving at us. I grabbed our bags and tried to catch up to my mom who was running out the gate. And I tried to document the embrace on camera but I couldn't get there in time. I will say, it was SO good to see Emily, and so great to see her and Mom greet one another on Emily's home turf.
We jumped outside to grab a taxi and I was again thrown into the thrilling roller coaster ride that is the Chinese traffic world. It was crazy, yet again. Several times I could have slapped another driver in the face we were so close to other cars. Here's the thing I've observed about driving around big Chinese cities: 1) There are no rules. People go through red lights, drive the wrong way down a one way street, don't drive within the lanes, do not give pedestrians the right of way and park anywhere they can. 2) You must honk your horn at least 5 times per minute. OK that's an exaggeration, but there is so much honking of horns. If anyone is in your way and you are going faster, or if you are driving through a red light or going the wrong way down a street, honk your horn and people will get out of the way. 3) There is always traffic. I haven't noticed a difference to rush hour and calm traffic, though my sister says there is. There is always a huge amount of cars, scooters, buses, taxis, bikes, pedestrians, and all sorts of other transportation devices.
Anyways, we began driving closer to the heart of the city. And, while it's true that people are everywhere in China, I could definitely tell that the amount of people was increasing as we got closer and closer to the center of a city which holds 13 million people. Everything was still so new to me, so I was snapping pictures of buildings, signs with Chinese characters, traffic, dudes carrying huge bags of you name it on the back of their scooters...
Finally, we arrived at my sister's apartment complex, where she lives, but also the location of the apartment we were all going to be staying in for the next week. It is a large complex of about 8-12 buildings, maybe about 16-18 stories each, no elevators, and a big pool in the middle that you have to pay to use. After getting settled in a bit we were hungry for lunch and Emily wanted to take us to get Muslim noodles, a dish originating from northwestern Islamic Chinese peoples. This place was awesome! Only 6 yuan (or kuai which is the slang term, like "bucks") for a bowl, which is equivalent to around 90 cents. And it was a huge bowl of noodles, which can be fat or thin, with any kind of meat and sauce, just not pork. So much great food to eat for less than a dollar! I loved watching the guy made the noodles by hand, it was fascinating to see how he made each noodle, which originated from a large roll of dough. I have a video, but it'll have to wait I suppose. This was also my first time to use chop sticks in a very long tie, and honestly I have never really been able to use them before. But I am committed on this trip to not use any utensil but them and I hope I am getting better. I have been complimented twice by locals that I am doing pretty well...probably made fun of many more times.
I forgot to mention that to get to the noodle place we got there by way of scooter and bike. This certainly fulfilled my Chinese bucket list of riding a bike in the midst of traffic. My sister drove her scooter with my mom sitting on the back and I got to ride Emily's bike, pedaling hard to keep up with her while avoiding cars, pedestrians, bikes and mopeds going every which way. Often a bike would come in from a side street and try to zoom in front of me or a scooter would be going against the flow of traffic and you wouldn't see him until he was a foot in front of you. And often a taxi will make a turn through a red light and force his way through pedestrian traffic which would split me up from Emily and Mom and I would have to book it to catch up. Here I am talking about the traffic again...the thing is, it is SO unique, it continually blows my mind.
Anyways, after noodles we went the the outdoor market which was another sight to be seen. We are in no touristy location, by the way...this is my sister's world in the midst of the city, everyday, normal China. Which is what made it feel all the more raw for me. We stood out like sore thumbs everywhere we went the first couple of days because we were the only foreigners around. The market was filled with everything you would expect it to have, fruits and veggies galore. Plenty of stuff I didn't recognize. There were huge bags of rice, eggs, spices, etc. But there was much more that would wouldn't necessarily expect to see. Like huge slabs of meat hanging from a big rack outside the meat shops...several buckets of fish and eels alive in water, a cage of big frogs also alive, pig snouts and chicken feet unpleasantly sitting in an ice box. It was a pretty cool experience.
From there we took our goods back to the apartment and then went for a little walk around the neighborhood. Visited a few shops and stores that Emily frequents, went into the large Carrefore, which is like a WalMart and a mall combination to see more unique foods, a KFC, a ton of people...
At that point my mom was starting to feel the sleepiness...I was convinced that I was totally fine until we put on a movie in the apartment and all three of us fell asleep. I woke up and drowsily made my way outside to meet up with some of my sister's friends for dinner. We went to a place close by that served what Emily calls, "dishes". Local Sichuan dishes are amazing! There are some weird flavors and interesting mixtures, but overall the food was phenomenal...and it is NOTHING like Chinese food back in the States. I now know what REAL Chinese food tastes like, and I'm very thankful for that. My sister's roommate (a national) was telling us how upset she was that they don't get Chinese food right in the U.S. And now I completely see what she means by that...it's not even close. The food has definitely been one of the best things about China thus far.
Once back at the apartment, I jumped in bed and passed out until the morning. It was beautiful.
-b garrison
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