Beijing - Where to Begin...

Yo Yo Yo!!

How are you all?!?! I know I am posting these super fast but I am getting the chance to use free internet so I figured I would just load all the China blogs that I have typed in the past 2 days. After this it will slow down for awhile because I will be living it up in Vietnam. Enjoy!

Shout Out Comments – JT – Haha yeah I got really lucky and got to see a ton in China! That market was crazy cool and they were really good with their English. It’s weird to think that we probably bartered with some of the same people haha. Yeah I am actually uploading these blogs from a hotel business center in Vietnam while waiting for the War Museum across the street to open. I already love Vietnam and can’t wait to spend the next 5 days here taking in the culture. Vietnam is beautiful and the people are awesome!

The picture I chose for this section of the blog is of Kara and I in front of the famous gate separating Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Square (read on for a better description). You can see the famous picture of Mao Zedong in the background. Kara and I were in front of this little dragon/lion figure (it is over my left shoulder, kinda looks like it is biting me actually) so we decided to give our best impersonation attempt. Got some weird looks from people but it’s whatever! Not like we will ever see those people again right lol.

Hope you all enjoyed the first couple China blogs. As I start to write about the rest of my journey I am overwhelmed by the fact that I have no clue where to begin. Guess I will just start writing and see what happens so here goes nothing!

Alright so day 3 of my China tour trip (overall it was day 4 in China and February 19th). The morning consisted solely of transferring to the airport in our buses and taking a 1.5 hour flight to Beijing. All three groups were together on the same flight this time so that vast majority of the plane was all the SASers traveling in a huge group. We flew with a different airline this time but the experience was pretty much the same. The cabin crew was excellent and the food was even better! They definitely blow the American airline companies out of the water as far as good food being served. Upon arrival in Beijing we were transferred by buses (still in the same 3 groups as in Xi’an…Bus C for life!!) to our hotel for the duration of our stay, the Courtyard Marriot Hotel. On the way to our hotel we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. Very similar to all the other Chinese meals up to this point: family style food (lots of it), chopsticks only, and your basic meats and vegetables.

After eating our group meal we proceeded to the hotel to drop off our suitcases (wait didn’t have suitcases, basically just our backpacks lol) then we had the rest of the day to do as we wanted. This was the only part of our China SAS trip that we had as free time and they chose to give it to us at the beginning of Beijing so that if there was anything specific we wanted to see we could do it first. The group I ended up hanging out with for the remainder of the day was Kevin, Jeremy, Jose (my roommate for the 3 nights in Beijing), and Gabby. So the five of us took off as soon as we could because by the time we got to the hotel it was already close to 3 and we wanted as much time as we could while we had freedom. For the first couple hours we wandered around the city trying to make our way to the local market district. This was actually quite entertaining because we definitely got lost. Jeremy was the one who “knew where we were going” but this didn’t turn out to be true. Somehow we ended up at Tiananmen Square which was where we were going the next day so we didn’t want to waste time viewing it when it was built into our tour later on. We also ran into another group of 3 girls (Stephanie, Lauren, and forgot the 3rd girl’s name) who were trying to make their way to the same spot we were. We spent time trying to find someone who spoke English to give us directions and ended up finding a group of tourists from Iran who took some time to point out the right direction. They told us to go south of the Square for about half a mile and then head east and we would run into it. So off we went, blindly following some random tour guide’s advice and hoping that Jeremy would get us there. Kevin and I were convinced that we needed to head north despite what the tour guide said but our advice fell on deaf ears. Well I don’t know what kind of tour guide this guy was or if he was just a major rookie but he sent us in the totally opposite direction. We walked for about a mile and a half in the wrong direction before realizing that Kevin and I had been right all along. It actually ended up being quite funny and we had found some random shops to head into on the way so we didn’t really care but it was fun giving Jeremy and Jose crap the rest of the night and bragging that we (Kevin and I) had been right. At this point it was getting close to 6 so we decided to take a taxi to where we wanted to go instead of backtracking what we had just walked.

We ended up at the right place somehow after a taxi ride (split into 2 groups of 4) that included us passing the exact same spot we were at Tian’an men Square which gave us more ammo to hassle Jeremy with lol. Okay this night market was so legit!! There was a giant avenue that was closed to traffic. On one side there was a 21st Century mall with all your high dollar stores then on the other side it was like a totally different world with all these little allies filled with street vendors selling everything from fake hand bags to every type of street-fair-food imaginable. We headed for the vendors because that was just way more appealing to all of us. Okay the food was dirt cheap so we decided to try all sorts of things. I tried the Chinese version of a Gyro (nothing compared to a Gyro in the Muslim quarter in Spain), some basic pork buns which were INCREDIBLE, these candy coated strawberries which were like little drops of heaven on a skewer stick, then for the best item of the night…SCORPION ON A STICK!!! Alright I definitely had to try that, I mean how many chances do you get to try scorpion on a stick?!?! The scorpions on a stick came with 4 on one skewer for like $1.50 which was perfect because I wanted one, Kevin, Jeremy, and the other girl whose name I forgot wanted one; which was a perfect 4! Oh and I should also mention that the scorpions are alive and squirming on the stick and then when you pay for it they fry them in front of you and season them with something. So that was cool seeing them squirm and then eating them 2 minutes later. No one wanted to be the first one to try it so I was like shoot I’ll do it! So I did and it wasn’t bad at all, definitely had worse things before lol. With the seasoning and it being fried it was nothing we couldn’t handle. Jeremy and Kevin did fine with theirs too but the one girl struggled. She did not like it at all!! I actually have a video of all 4 of us eating it for all you doubters back home; just made sure I would have proof! Sampling the street food was awesome; I’m actually surprised it didn’t get sick the next day because they were like legit back alley street fair vendors. Oh well I guess Pepto really does work!

After our experience travelling through the various vendors it was closer to 8 and we were ready for dinner because we had all just snacked on the various small vendor foods. The three girls that had met us at the square earlier went and did their own thing because they weren’t hungry enough to eat dinner yet. We headed back out onto the avenue in search of a restaurant. Nothing was close by and eventually we settled on McDonalds because there were no legit restaurants anywhere close and Jeremy and I wanted to try a Chinese Big Mac to compare it to an American one. Honestly I didn’t think there was much of a difference except that the American Big Mac is definitely greasier. Jeremy swears that the Chinese Big Mac was better so I mean who really knows. Another bonus was the fact that the Olympics were on so we were able to enjoy some Women’s Snowboard Super-pipe while we ate which was nice cause it was a sport that was actually fun to watch, unlike curling that always seemed to be on at the hotels. It was nice having an American meal after 4 straight days of Chinese food and everyone enjoyed their meal. Afterwards we walked around the hotel a little more, found a nice tea shop where Jeremy bought some tea (I found cheap loose leaf tea the day before so I had already bought my bag of tea for China). Then Gabby got a Starbucks cause of course there was one of those in the mall. By the time we left the mall and walked around the city for a little longer, it had gotten pretty chilly so we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel. We hung out for another hour or two in the hotel before calling it a night.

Day 5 in China (4 of the trip, February 20th) was jam-packed with sights to see and things to do. Breakfast was served in our hotel like every other morning and then we loaded the buses for transportation to our first stop of the day – Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City! I was really excited for this because whenever you see pictures of Beijing or hear about people going to Beijing you hear about the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The Square was huge!! We found out that it is the largest public square in the world. It is famous because on the north end is where Mao Zedong gave his famous speech founding the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949. We spent about an hour getting a tour of the square, a history lesson from our tour guide Jason, and then taking pictures with all our friends in front of the famous gate on the north end.

After the tour of the square, which was mainly spent walking across it, we entered the Forbidden City through the Rostrum (Tiananmen Gate) which is the big building connecting the north side of Tiananmen Square to the south end of the Forbidden City that has the giant picture of Mao Zedong on it. The Forbidden City was created in 1420 by Emperor Yongle and was home to 24 emperors after him. The entire complex consists of 8,706 rooms all within 170 acres that are surrounded by walls more than 30 feet high and within a 160 foot moat. The Forbidden City is split into an inner courtyard (where the emperor used to stay) and the outer courtyard which was for public events, guests, and the governmental leaders at the time. No one has lived in the Forbidden City since 1924 and its purpose now is a cultural landmark open to tourists and interested Chinese visitors. Like I said the city is situated on 160 acres so it took us awhile to cross from the south end to the north end while constantly stopping for pictures and explanations of the purpose behind certain building and/or structures. After 2+ hours of taking in the Forbidden City we exited through the north gate and walked a little ways to our buses that were parked down the street.

The next part of our day was truly as treat for everyone. We were split up into small groups of about 15 people and taken to individual families to experience a customary meal that would be served to visiting family and friends. It was awesome to get to see the inside of an average Chinese household, meet the family, and experience the famous Chinese hospitality firsthand. Before the meal we were given a private lesson on how to make Chinese dumplings (Jiaozi) by hand like the Chinese people have been doing for decades. The lady was very patient with us despite our inability to do it right; eventually we finished our lesson and were served all sorts of veggies and then the dumplings! They made us SO much food!! Chinese custom is to always make more food than is necessary to show that you are capable of being hospitable and providing enough food to satisfy your guests. It was very different from the customs of countries like Mexico where leaving food on the table is a sign of disrespect so it was a unique experience to me and I was privileged to have gotten the opportunity. The family also had a talking bird hanging above their doorway that would say “knee-how” (hello) back to you if you said it to him. That was also entertaining because the bird spoke more Chinese than all of us haha.

After spending time with our individual families and eating more dumplings than I could count, we were met by a fleet of Trishaw for a Trishaw tour of Hutong, a narrow network of lanes created by closely built quadrangular homes. The Trishaws were much like what you would find in New York City with a bicycle that was attached to a little carriage that could hold 2 people. We all paired up and went for our little tour of Hutong area. Mom it wasn’t quite as crazy as our ride through NYC as we didn’t have to dodge taxis, just other trishaws that our friends were in. My driver was named MAO and he was legit! I was riding with Ali and we would cheer and stuff and he would cut the other trishaws off and pass them if they went to slow. It was fun riding around and saying “knee-how” to the people as we drove by. It was cool seeing a more relaxed area of the city with fewer people and no traffic because the streets were too narrow for cars. Our trishaw tour was followed by a short stop at a local silk factory. Alright the silk factory was the biggest waste of time EVER and was totally unnecessary. It was just a modern tourist trap where they gave us a short 10 min talk on the process of getting silk and what they do with it; then they expect you to buy stuff at the store like scarves and blankets that were ridiculously overpriced. I think only one person bought something and it was a life-long learner so that doesn’t count. No one really enjoyed it and we were all ready to leave as soon as we got there lol.

The last stop of the day for our group was the Beijing 2008 Olympic Village. Alright that was way cooler than I thought it would be! I was looking forward to it but once we got there and were staring at the Bird’s Nest, Torch Tower, and the Bubble Aquatics Centre it really hit me where I was!! We got to walk down the streets where the marathons were held leading into the Bird’s Nest for the finish line. We weren’t given a tour of the village but simply got free time to explore the Bird’s Nest and surrounding area. The Bubble Aquatics Centre where Phelps won all his medals was undergoing renovation at the time so we weren’t allowed to tour the inside. Definitely a bummer but at least we still got to see. Ok so the Bird’s Nest was incredible!! We weren’t allowed to go on the floor because there was a winter festival going on and it would have cost a lot of money to go onto the floor which was covered with fake snow for the kids. So a group of us did the next best thing…we went all the way up to the far corner of the building on the top row to get some sweet pics! It was quite a hike up there but well worth it!! The architecture of the building is insane and it was just cool to know that so many Olympic events were held in the building, especially the amazing opening ceremonies with all the lights and drums. Very, very cool and we were all stoked to see the Bird’s Nest in its entirety. Just something about being there were so many people were a year and a half ago and imagining what they saw and the excitement in the air, it was so tight!!

Following our time at the Olympic Village, we loaded up and headed to our dinner location. This night we got the privilege of enjoying a traditional Beijing dinner…the Beijing Duck Dinner. We were taken to the Tangyuan Restaurant which specializes in preparing this duck. The customary way to cook this duck consists of slow roasting the duck in an oven at a certain temperature for a certain length of time in order to get the outside crispy but the inside extremely tender. I really like duck so I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner. Some people at our table weren’t too crazy about the duck meat which was fine because Chris and I did like it so we ate all the leftovers. The chef also was standing in the middle of the room constantly carving more strips off the duck to disperse among the tables. That was cool too because we got to see the entire duck before he started carving it, not really anything new to me cause I am around dead ducks all the time but it was cool to see their method of cooking and serving the duck. Much different than we do it at the ranch, but tasty nonetheless. Although I will definitely stay with the way we do back in Oklahoma pops. Nothing like a good marinade, so says the good Doc himself! Oh and I won’t go into detail right now, but there was also an incident between me and a waitress due to a language barrier but I will save that one for this summer. Just ask me about it when you see me if you wanna know. Dinner went late and afterwards I decided to call it a night after briefly chilling with some people in the hotel when we got back.

Well I just wrote 5 pages about 2 days in China and I feel like I didn’t do it justice. I could write so much more about what I talked about and then there are probably over 100 smaller stories that I could spout off but that would take FOREVER!! So this will just have to do for now I guess. Hope you all enjoyed it!

In Joshua 1:8-9 it says “For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Wherever I go. Even in China, surrounded by over 1 billion people, God never left my side. Little, insignificant me. God was with me. How flipping crazy is that?!?! One in a sea of many and God never took his eyes off of what I was doing. This truth is so incredible to think about, yet something that we so easily take for granted as we go through our daily lives. Think of how differently we would lead our lives if we dwelt on the fact that Christ was always right by our side? I guarantee you that it would make a difference! A drastic difference! Think about it, I know I did when I was overwhelmed by the mass of people everywhere in China.

Miss you all and hope everything is going great! Love you guys!!

T