Thankyou for staying in touch and reading the blog these past 5 months.
Please stop by my home this Thursday (July 29th) 5:30pm till 11:30pm to roast some dogs, cook some burgers and reconnect now that I am heading home to the fine US of A...
Jul 25, 2010
Jul 14, 2010
4th of July!
Happy Fourth of July Everybody! So I know that I might be in china, but you are never to far away to return home for birthdays. So for America’s birthday we decided to go to the American Embassy for a fourth of July cookout. Now they don’t just let any old person walk into our countries second largest embassy, you have to be pretty special to receive an invite here. So I knew a few people, made some calls, and boom-bada-bing we all have invitations sitting in our email inboxes. So the Fourth of July party was actually on the third of July, and after analyzing all the possibilities of time zone differences, Daylight savings time, and leap year changes, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they would possibly throw the Fourth of July party on the Third, but they did and for those hamburgers and hotdogs we were promised, we would of showed up on any day in any month.
The party was at 5 and we decided go to Beijing and return on the same day as to save some money and not stay in a hotel. We got to Beijing around 11 and had 5 hours in the city before we went to the embassy. We ended up going to Qiananmen again and you’ll never guess who I saw there, My ‘good Chinese friend’ who invited me out for tea then stuck me with the bill. I always had the feeling but it was confirmed that this guys intentions were foul the whole time. He was lying through his teeth the whole time that I talked to him this second meeting. He said he didn’t remember me at all, and I’m not positive but the girl with him, ‘his sister’ apparently, wasn’t the same sister that was with him before. I couldn’t believe when Leonard, Sanjay and I saw him again. And it was the same guy alright because I would never forget that Kermit the frog voice in a million years. So at the price of ruining every American’s reputation for this guy, I told him exactly how I felt about what he did, and then I left.
So we wandered around Qiananmen shopping district and decided that we weren’t such huge fans of the 90 plus weather, so we took the subway to the indoor, air conditioned, shopping market that we had visited the first time to Beijing. We spent quite a few hours messing with the shop attendants and practicing our bartering skills, which are quite good by the way. My most successful barter story of the day is this. So I was buying a present for somebody back home and it originally started at 300 Yuan. I said 80; this shop was attended by two ladies, an older mother and her daughter in her twenties. Now they were very reluctant to come down in price, they would say like 260 or 240. And I was persistent on 80 and told them a plethora of reasons why I should be able to buy it for my price. They weren’t being very cooperative because most foreigners would pay an upwards of 200 Yuan and I was asking for less then half of that. So I changed the price. I told them that I lived in china and knew how much it’s worth and lowered my price to 60 Yuan. That’s right I went form 80 to 60. They were losing the deal! They quickly came down to meet me closer offering 100 then 90 but I stood on the rock and didn’t budge from 60. Eventually they said 70 and said it was the lowest they could do. SO I told Leonard to do exactly as I instructed him and I told the ladies 60 was the highest I could go and turned and walked away. Leonard said that I should have taken the deal and I whispered to him two simple words, Just Wait. As I got closer to the end of the row of shops I realized that I may have asked for too low and lost this steal of a deal. Way to prideful to walk back to a deal I turned down before, I realized that with every step I took away from this shop I was one step further away from them calling me back. I listened and longed to hear them call me back but they weren’t saying anything. And just before I turned a corner I heard the old woman say ‘Boy! Come back!’ I got it! I turned around, looked at Leonard and saw how amazed he was at this victory. And I slowly, pridefully strutted back to the shop to make the deal at 60 Yuan. Victory was mine!
But enough about my sixth sense in Bartering, after a few hours in the silk market we appeased Leonard’s cravings by going in a BMW dealer and sitting in his cars. It was weird to sit in cars again, we had taken taxies but short of that we hadn’t driven in cars for 4 months. After Len drove us all to America in his BMW, we stepped out to find our selves still in Beijing. We then took the Subway over to the Embassy district and stopped at the local Starbucks to change and take an Asian shower. For those of you with normal hygiene habits a shower is different than an Asian shower. The Asian shower is a combination of washing your hands and splashing some water on your face and calling it a week. After cleaning up we went to the Embassy and waited at the east gate for our escort to take us inside. Our escort turned out to be this kid the same age as me named Gene Quilin. A real nice kid who’s father and mother worked for the embassy. His father was actually the embassy’s doctor. It was interesting to talk to Gene throughout the night and find out what life was like for a kid living with his parents and two brothers in a different country. I asked where he was from back in the states and he couldn’t answer that question. He has lived in about 5 different countries but never really lived in the states. He was really a fun kid though and made us feel welcome and chilled with us the whole night.
At the Cookout we had the opportunity to talk to a few employees who worked at the embassy and I know what you’re all thinking and no Obama wasn’t there and neither was Hilary. I actually prepared the night before and looked up about the ambassador expecting to have a few minutes to talk with him. I came up with a few comments I would discuss with him about his recent involvement with the Chinese government regarding (IPR) intellectual property rights. I was ready to make a stand out impression with Ambassador Huntsman but to my dismay this potential presidential candidate in years to come was state side at the time and didn’t come to the party. But it’s ok because the best part of the evening was still there.
The Grill was there and the burgers came off juicy and hot, really beautifully done. They had the whole spread out from potato salad to the burgers to deserts. It was a classic Fourth of July party and we ate more then we could comfortably handle. I forgot to mention that they had a chili contest and we got to eat the fabulous creation of about 8 different entries. After three hours we saw that people had started to leave and we got the message so we thanked Gene and a few other people and left the Embassy. We stopped back at the Starbuck for Sanjay and Leonard felt that Chili pretty quickly and after another Asian shower we headed for the subway to go catch our train home. As we sat on the sub we realized that we were cutting it pretty close. So we had a battle plan. We laced up our shoes and tightened our belts; we were sprinting the whole way from the subway to catch a taxi and then from the taxi to our train. We sprinted to the street and realized that there weren’t any taxis ready to take us to the station. We saw some on the other side of the divided high way and without saying a word we knew what had to be done. Being carful to avoid all on coming traffic we crossed the street, jumped over the divider, then crossed the other side. We got into a taxi and told him where to go, but he told us no because we were on the wrong side of the road and it would take way to long to get to a point where he could turn and head the right direction. So we pilled out of the taxi and into a small auto rickshaw. It should have fit one person but we fit in three. We speed negotiated from 30 down to 15 and we were off. Traveling on a combination of back roads, sidewalks, and bike paths, we took a back way to get to the station. We paid and sprinted for another 5-7 minutes to get to our waiting room. I actually ran though the security check and didn’t even give my bags to be checked. We sprinted to the gate and the lady closed them right before we got through them. We asked her to let us through but she said no and we showed her that her clock was fast but she kept pointed to the sign that say you must board 5 minutes before the train departs but we were there 8 minutes before but her stupid clock was fast so we missed our train.
Luckily China is really good with this; we were able to exchange our tickets for the next train free of charge. But unfortunately it was completely filled up so our tickets were standing room only. We found a place in between cars to sit but sadly so did about 20 other Chinese who didn’t have seats. This train was absolutely packed. Evidently there is an endless amount of tickets that can be sold for every train. And this train proved our theory correct. I heard somebody say that if the train we were on crashed and everybody onboard died the death count would have been equivalent as the whole population of Montana. Unbelievable right! Anyways we arrived in ShiJiaZhuang at 2 o’clock in the morning and that was the end of a long and really fun day!
So happy Fourth of July everybody! Believe it or not I only have a few more weeks here; I think the count is 20 days until I am home! Unbelievable! Ok so I will definitely post again before I get home so look for that. Miss you all and can’t wait to see you soon!
Peace and Love!
The party was at 5 and we decided go to Beijing and return on the same day as to save some money and not stay in a hotel. We got to Beijing around 11 and had 5 hours in the city before we went to the embassy. We ended up going to Qiananmen again and you’ll never guess who I saw there, My ‘good Chinese friend’ who invited me out for tea then stuck me with the bill. I always had the feeling but it was confirmed that this guys intentions were foul the whole time. He was lying through his teeth the whole time that I talked to him this second meeting. He said he didn’t remember me at all, and I’m not positive but the girl with him, ‘his sister’ apparently, wasn’t the same sister that was with him before. I couldn’t believe when Leonard, Sanjay and I saw him again. And it was the same guy alright because I would never forget that Kermit the frog voice in a million years. So at the price of ruining every American’s reputation for this guy, I told him exactly how I felt about what he did, and then I left.
So we wandered around Qiananmen shopping district and decided that we weren’t such huge fans of the 90 plus weather, so we took the subway to the indoor, air conditioned, shopping market that we had visited the first time to Beijing. We spent quite a few hours messing with the shop attendants and practicing our bartering skills, which are quite good by the way. My most successful barter story of the day is this. So I was buying a present for somebody back home and it originally started at 300 Yuan. I said 80; this shop was attended by two ladies, an older mother and her daughter in her twenties. Now they were very reluctant to come down in price, they would say like 260 or 240. And I was persistent on 80 and told them a plethora of reasons why I should be able to buy it for my price. They weren’t being very cooperative because most foreigners would pay an upwards of 200 Yuan and I was asking for less then half of that. So I changed the price. I told them that I lived in china and knew how much it’s worth and lowered my price to 60 Yuan. That’s right I went form 80 to 60. They were losing the deal! They quickly came down to meet me closer offering 100 then 90 but I stood on the rock and didn’t budge from 60. Eventually they said 70 and said it was the lowest they could do. SO I told Leonard to do exactly as I instructed him and I told the ladies 60 was the highest I could go and turned and walked away. Leonard said that I should have taken the deal and I whispered to him two simple words, Just Wait. As I got closer to the end of the row of shops I realized that I may have asked for too low and lost this steal of a deal. Way to prideful to walk back to a deal I turned down before, I realized that with every step I took away from this shop I was one step further away from them calling me back. I listened and longed to hear them call me back but they weren’t saying anything. And just before I turned a corner I heard the old woman say ‘Boy! Come back!’ I got it! I turned around, looked at Leonard and saw how amazed he was at this victory. And I slowly, pridefully strutted back to the shop to make the deal at 60 Yuan. Victory was mine!
But enough about my sixth sense in Bartering, after a few hours in the silk market we appeased Leonard’s cravings by going in a BMW dealer and sitting in his cars. It was weird to sit in cars again, we had taken taxies but short of that we hadn’t driven in cars for 4 months. After Len drove us all to America in his BMW, we stepped out to find our selves still in Beijing. We then took the Subway over to the Embassy district and stopped at the local Starbucks to change and take an Asian shower. For those of you with normal hygiene habits a shower is different than an Asian shower. The Asian shower is a combination of washing your hands and splashing some water on your face and calling it a week. After cleaning up we went to the Embassy and waited at the east gate for our escort to take us inside. Our escort turned out to be this kid the same age as me named Gene Quilin. A real nice kid who’s father and mother worked for the embassy. His father was actually the embassy’s doctor. It was interesting to talk to Gene throughout the night and find out what life was like for a kid living with his parents and two brothers in a different country. I asked where he was from back in the states and he couldn’t answer that question. He has lived in about 5 different countries but never really lived in the states. He was really a fun kid though and made us feel welcome and chilled with us the whole night.
At the Cookout we had the opportunity to talk to a few employees who worked at the embassy and I know what you’re all thinking and no Obama wasn’t there and neither was Hilary. I actually prepared the night before and looked up about the ambassador expecting to have a few minutes to talk with him. I came up with a few comments I would discuss with him about his recent involvement with the Chinese government regarding (IPR) intellectual property rights. I was ready to make a stand out impression with Ambassador Huntsman but to my dismay this potential presidential candidate in years to come was state side at the time and didn’t come to the party. But it’s ok because the best part of the evening was still there.
The Grill was there and the burgers came off juicy and hot, really beautifully done. They had the whole spread out from potato salad to the burgers to deserts. It was a classic Fourth of July party and we ate more then we could comfortably handle. I forgot to mention that they had a chili contest and we got to eat the fabulous creation of about 8 different entries. After three hours we saw that people had started to leave and we got the message so we thanked Gene and a few other people and left the Embassy. We stopped back at the Starbuck for Sanjay and Leonard felt that Chili pretty quickly and after another Asian shower we headed for the subway to go catch our train home. As we sat on the sub we realized that we were cutting it pretty close. So we had a battle plan. We laced up our shoes and tightened our belts; we were sprinting the whole way from the subway to catch a taxi and then from the taxi to our train. We sprinted to the street and realized that there weren’t any taxis ready to take us to the station. We saw some on the other side of the divided high way and without saying a word we knew what had to be done. Being carful to avoid all on coming traffic we crossed the street, jumped over the divider, then crossed the other side. We got into a taxi and told him where to go, but he told us no because we were on the wrong side of the road and it would take way to long to get to a point where he could turn and head the right direction. So we pilled out of the taxi and into a small auto rickshaw. It should have fit one person but we fit in three. We speed negotiated from 30 down to 15 and we were off. Traveling on a combination of back roads, sidewalks, and bike paths, we took a back way to get to the station. We paid and sprinted for another 5-7 minutes to get to our waiting room. I actually ran though the security check and didn’t even give my bags to be checked. We sprinted to the gate and the lady closed them right before we got through them. We asked her to let us through but she said no and we showed her that her clock was fast but she kept pointed to the sign that say you must board 5 minutes before the train departs but we were there 8 minutes before but her stupid clock was fast so we missed our train.
Luckily China is really good with this; we were able to exchange our tickets for the next train free of charge. But unfortunately it was completely filled up so our tickets were standing room only. We found a place in between cars to sit but sadly so did about 20 other Chinese who didn’t have seats. This train was absolutely packed. Evidently there is an endless amount of tickets that can be sold for every train. And this train proved our theory correct. I heard somebody say that if the train we were on crashed and everybody onboard died the death count would have been equivalent as the whole population of Montana. Unbelievable right! Anyways we arrived in ShiJiaZhuang at 2 o’clock in the morning and that was the end of a long and really fun day!
So happy Fourth of July everybody! Believe it or not I only have a few more weeks here; I think the count is 20 days until I am home! Unbelievable! Ok so I will definitely post again before I get home so look for that. Miss you all and can’t wait to see you soon!
Peace and Love!
Jun 22, 2010
Hold up! Did you say Beijing?
I know that i didn't inform you about this trip but it all came together pretty fast so hold on to your diapers babies cuz were going in.
We got back from a four day Beijing trip and needless to say it was amazing! We left on Sunday afternoon, and only four of us went. The group consisted of Sanjay, Leonard, David and I. It was really awesome because we are all real close, and completely on our own! This was our first taste of independent traveling and I must say that I was impressed with the functionality of our language skill.
Sunday
On Sunday we arrived in Beijing around 4 o’clock, and after checking into the hotel went to go see the CCTV tower in Beijing. As we came out of the subway we saw that our plans might end up being spoiled because it was raining hard accompanied by thunder and lightning. But after a few rallying words our shirts were shed and we were running towards the CCTV tower. It was about a 15 min walk, and on our way we experienced one of the most impressive demonstrations that I have ever seen our mother earth put on. As we were walking towards the tower we saw lighting strike the tower not once, twice, or even three times; but TEN times! I even captured a few of the strikes on video. If you have never witnessed such an occurrence then it is an unforgettable sight. All four of us were completely flipping out every single time it hit the tower. We ended up not going up the tower because it was 70 元 not worth spending. But the trip was definitely worth it just to see the lighting strikes.
Monday
On Monday we were all in a complete Sightseeing mindset. Lead by Sanjay and I we were moving nearly the whole day. We started in the morning with Tiananmen Square. This was an impressive sight. Of course at the front of the square you saw the Forbidden City with the famous picture of Mao Zei Dong. In the middle housed the dead body of Chairmen Mao, and on side was the national museum and opposite of it was the Great Hall of the People. This was the first place we went into. If you’re not exactly sure what this place is, it is essentially the congressional hall of the CPC. Here people from every providence meet and discus and vote on the issues of china. I’m not exactly sure exactly sure how every detail works in the Government so this may be something you want to look up online. We were able to go in and walk along a pretty guided path, they had individual meeting rooms for the providences and also the great hall for the general assembly.
After the Hall of the People we crossed Tiananmen square and entered the Forbidden City. In China it is now called the Palace Museum so this lead to a little confusion but nothing we couldn’t handle. We entered the museum and I was impressed by the massive size of the buildings and the uniform architecture of the whole palace. One of the highlights was the ‘Large Stone Carving.’ This massive carving leading down from the back of a building was 16.75 meters long by 3.07 wide and 1.7 meters thick. It was absolutely massive. Another amazing thing about it was that it was carved off site and pulled into the museum of an ice road. At the end of the Forbidden city was the Imperial gardens which were absolutely beautiful to see.
On our exit of the forbidden we took a bus over to WanFuJin which is known as China’s equivalent to New York’s 5th Street. It was pure upper class shopping and an incredibly different side of china then I was used to seeing. At WanFuJin we walked to a famous bookstore and spent some time looking at both the Chinese and English books. This was a nice break from the rush of sightseeing. We caught some lunch on our way from the bookstore to the subway station.
In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace. It was a bit difficult to get there because we had to navigate both the subway and the bus systems, but we got there and it was an absolutely beautiful place to be. When you enter you are standing on the side of a lake looking at the palace structure perched at the head of the lake, so the four of us casually made our way over to the palace enjoying the scenery on the way. We made our way through the palace and along what the call the ‘long hallway.’ This ‘long hallway’ is exactly what its name would suggest. It’s a ‘long hallway,’ probably the longest that I have ever commuted threw. At the end of this so called ‘long hallway’ was the pathway leading to the top of the palace which gave us a great view of the lake and a great photo-op.
After the summer palace we found our way back to the subway and took that to our old friend La Bamba Mexican restaurant. Here it was 10 Yuan burger night and 5 Yuan Mugs of beer in honor of the world cup. So we watched a match of soccer here and enjoyed the game as well as the atmosphere. After the game we made our way back to the hotel and retired for the night.
The next morning we go going around 8 and our first stop was the Lama Temple. This Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple that houses the largest statue I have ever seen. I have been to many temples similar to thins one and they are all extremely beautiful. But this one will always stick out in my mind because of that 18 Meter tall statue of a fierce looking Buddha. The really remarkable thing about this statue was that the majority of it was carved from the trunk of one tree. That’s one big tree!
After the Lama Temple we went to the CPC Military Museum. This was a free Museum where China showed of their military power. They filled that place up with Tanks, Planes, guns, and everything in-between. Being a guy it was really cool to be looking at all these sweet military things. One of the weird attractions though was two downed and destroyed American planes. What those were on display for I’m not quite sure.
We then had lunch planned with somebody that is a very important man in China. This man named Steven Dong used to be a reporter on CCTV but now is a PR advisor to the government as well as being a professor at china’s top university. My explanation does not do his credentials justice but trust me this man was legit. We had connections with him because when he studied at Harvard he rented an apartment from Leonard’s grandfather. He treated us to the nicest buffet that I have ever been too in China or in America. After a few hours of great food and conversation, he told his personal driver to take us to our next destination, the temple of heaven.
The temple of heaven was something we had to go see only because it was on all the lists of what we must see while in Beijing. It was surrounded by beautiful parks and the temple itself was only three structures. The signature thing about the Temple of Heaven is its beautiful blue color. We saw the temple and then found a nice place in the grass to sit and digest. We then walked to a different entrance than we came in from, one with out a subway line.
We were running on a tight scheduled because we wanted to see the Pandas before it closed and now we had to navigate the bus to get to the subway. The Race was on as we tried to get to the Pandas before it closed. Luckily father time was on our side today as we made it to the zoo with 20 minutes left before it closed. So we got in and saw the two pandas. They were the cutest things, and were eating bamboo the whole time that we were there.
We then subwayed over to Olympic area to see it at night. It was unreal to be at the place that just two years before, was the center of the world. As the sun set and Water Cube and Birds nest lit up, I had a chance to just sit there and reflect about just how awesome it is what I’m doing here. That a 16 year old kid from Brecksville can be roaming around one of the most historic cities in the world with just his closest friends. It was an awe inspiring moment.
As if this day hasn’t had enough activity for one day, we fit one more thing in until we called it a night. We went to the night market. Here I ate some things that gave me nightmares for the next few days. Some of the more obscure things I ate consisted of Sea Horse, Snake, Chicken heart, Cicada, and scorpion. Now the hardest to put down was the scorpion. Imagine walking up to the stand and looking at the scorpions on a stick being somewhat unsure what to do next. As the shopkeeper sees an interested soul he taps on the top of the scorpion skewers and you are terrified as the scorpions claws, legs and tail begin to squirm. Ladies and Gentlemen these are what we ate.
The next morning we began by seeing one of the most sought after events on our agenda. We went to see the body of Chairman Mao. There was some conflict with our backpacks and a huge line to deal with but in the end we got through and saw his body. It was kinda creepy to see, and if you asked me he looked sick, Leonard and I suggested to a guard outside that he gets checked out by a doctor.
At this point in the day i split away from the group because they all wanted to go to the national library and there was no part of me that wanted to go, but instead wanted to go to a HuTong. I only knew of these because of what I had heard on websites and had no idea where to go but by asking people. Well, I found one and it was actually cool to see. The Hutong I went to was a very narrow shopping street. Here I bought a t-shirt for david to take back to Austria and met some very friendly Chinese people. They spoke English and so we talked a little bit and they invited me for tea. We walked in, and before I sat down here ordered the tea he wanted. In 5 minutes the tea was out and we drank until the pot was empty. He asked for the check and then shooked me with the question, assuming that I would pay for the tea. I check the bill and said No! It was about a 500 Yuan pot of tea. He then started to say that I could pay 400 and I said I couldn’t then he split it between the men saying the woman shouldn’t have to pay. I said screw proper the woman is paying. So I ended up having to pay a third of the bill which came to be 163 Yuan. UNBELIABLE! I was totally taken away by what happened, that maybe I want the best American diplomat to those people who still wanted to follow me and talk to me. I was pissed!
I then took the subway to meet everybody else and we all met to go back to the Birds nest so we could be there during the day and enter inside it. We got In and started walking around and Leonard found a utility door leading into the basements of the birds nest. Not exactly sure what we were going to find we stealthy avoided maintenance men and security guards and eventually came into a tunnel that lead right onto the track. We walked out and were standing on the track of the birds nest! It was unbelievable. Later we found out that people were allowed to enter the track for an extra fee but our way was cheaper, less legal, and much more fun. It was incredible to be right in the middle of the birds nest. I am speechless trying to describe the feeling, it was simply amazing.
We then went to the water cube to swim in the pool but were disappointed to discover that It was closed. But no worries, we made our way back to La Bambas for a bite to eat and then went to the train station and after a mad rush to buy our tickets and run to platform, we made it on our train heading back to ShiJiaZhuang safe and sound.
The trip to Beijing was some of the best days I have had in china mainly because I spent them with my three brothers in China. Sanjay, Leonard, David and I saw countless historical sites from thousands of years ago, but also a very modern side of Beijing as well. China is an interesting country that has just recently unveiled itself to the rest of the world. Foreigners are pouring in from all over the world to catch a glimpse at what china has to offer and to be experiencing that first hand I truly am a blessed man.
We got back from a four day Beijing trip and needless to say it was amazing! We left on Sunday afternoon, and only four of us went. The group consisted of Sanjay, Leonard, David and I. It was really awesome because we are all real close, and completely on our own! This was our first taste of independent traveling and I must say that I was impressed with the functionality of our language skill.
Sunday
On Sunday we arrived in Beijing around 4 o’clock, and after checking into the hotel went to go see the CCTV tower in Beijing. As we came out of the subway we saw that our plans might end up being spoiled because it was raining hard accompanied by thunder and lightning. But after a few rallying words our shirts were shed and we were running towards the CCTV tower. It was about a 15 min walk, and on our way we experienced one of the most impressive demonstrations that I have ever seen our mother earth put on. As we were walking towards the tower we saw lighting strike the tower not once, twice, or even three times; but TEN times! I even captured a few of the strikes on video. If you have never witnessed such an occurrence then it is an unforgettable sight. All four of us were completely flipping out every single time it hit the tower. We ended up not going up the tower because it was 70 元 not worth spending. But the trip was definitely worth it just to see the lighting strikes.
Monday
On Monday we were all in a complete Sightseeing mindset. Lead by Sanjay and I we were moving nearly the whole day. We started in the morning with Tiananmen Square. This was an impressive sight. Of course at the front of the square you saw the Forbidden City with the famous picture of Mao Zei Dong. In the middle housed the dead body of Chairmen Mao, and on side was the national museum and opposite of it was the Great Hall of the People. This was the first place we went into. If you’re not exactly sure what this place is, it is essentially the congressional hall of the CPC. Here people from every providence meet and discus and vote on the issues of china. I’m not exactly sure exactly sure how every detail works in the Government so this may be something you want to look up online. We were able to go in and walk along a pretty guided path, they had individual meeting rooms for the providences and also the great hall for the general assembly.
After the Hall of the People we crossed Tiananmen square and entered the Forbidden City. In China it is now called the Palace Museum so this lead to a little confusion but nothing we couldn’t handle. We entered the museum and I was impressed by the massive size of the buildings and the uniform architecture of the whole palace. One of the highlights was the ‘Large Stone Carving.’ This massive carving leading down from the back of a building was 16.75 meters long by 3.07 wide and 1.7 meters thick. It was absolutely massive. Another amazing thing about it was that it was carved off site and pulled into the museum of an ice road. At the end of the Forbidden city was the Imperial gardens which were absolutely beautiful to see.
On our exit of the forbidden we took a bus over to WanFuJin which is known as China’s equivalent to New York’s 5th Street. It was pure upper class shopping and an incredibly different side of china then I was used to seeing. At WanFuJin we walked to a famous bookstore and spent some time looking at both the Chinese and English books. This was a nice break from the rush of sightseeing. We caught some lunch on our way from the bookstore to the subway station.
In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace. It was a bit difficult to get there because we had to navigate both the subway and the bus systems, but we got there and it was an absolutely beautiful place to be. When you enter you are standing on the side of a lake looking at the palace structure perched at the head of the lake, so the four of us casually made our way over to the palace enjoying the scenery on the way. We made our way through the palace and along what the call the ‘long hallway.’ This ‘long hallway’ is exactly what its name would suggest. It’s a ‘long hallway,’ probably the longest that I have ever commuted threw. At the end of this so called ‘long hallway’ was the pathway leading to the top of the palace which gave us a great view of the lake and a great photo-op.
After the summer palace we found our way back to the subway and took that to our old friend La Bamba Mexican restaurant. Here it was 10 Yuan burger night and 5 Yuan Mugs of beer in honor of the world cup. So we watched a match of soccer here and enjoyed the game as well as the atmosphere. After the game we made our way back to the hotel and retired for the night.
The next morning we go going around 8 and our first stop was the Lama Temple. This Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple that houses the largest statue I have ever seen. I have been to many temples similar to thins one and they are all extremely beautiful. But this one will always stick out in my mind because of that 18 Meter tall statue of a fierce looking Buddha. The really remarkable thing about this statue was that the majority of it was carved from the trunk of one tree. That’s one big tree!
After the Lama Temple we went to the CPC Military Museum. This was a free Museum where China showed of their military power. They filled that place up with Tanks, Planes, guns, and everything in-between. Being a guy it was really cool to be looking at all these sweet military things. One of the weird attractions though was two downed and destroyed American planes. What those were on display for I’m not quite sure.
We then had lunch planned with somebody that is a very important man in China. This man named Steven Dong used to be a reporter on CCTV but now is a PR advisor to the government as well as being a professor at china’s top university. My explanation does not do his credentials justice but trust me this man was legit. We had connections with him because when he studied at Harvard he rented an apartment from Leonard’s grandfather. He treated us to the nicest buffet that I have ever been too in China or in America. After a few hours of great food and conversation, he told his personal driver to take us to our next destination, the temple of heaven.
The temple of heaven was something we had to go see only because it was on all the lists of what we must see while in Beijing. It was surrounded by beautiful parks and the temple itself was only three structures. The signature thing about the Temple of Heaven is its beautiful blue color. We saw the temple and then found a nice place in the grass to sit and digest. We then walked to a different entrance than we came in from, one with out a subway line.
We were running on a tight scheduled because we wanted to see the Pandas before it closed and now we had to navigate the bus to get to the subway. The Race was on as we tried to get to the Pandas before it closed. Luckily father time was on our side today as we made it to the zoo with 20 minutes left before it closed. So we got in and saw the two pandas. They were the cutest things, and were eating bamboo the whole time that we were there.
We then subwayed over to Olympic area to see it at night. It was unreal to be at the place that just two years before, was the center of the world. As the sun set and Water Cube and Birds nest lit up, I had a chance to just sit there and reflect about just how awesome it is what I’m doing here. That a 16 year old kid from Brecksville can be roaming around one of the most historic cities in the world with just his closest friends. It was an awe inspiring moment.
As if this day hasn’t had enough activity for one day, we fit one more thing in until we called it a night. We went to the night market. Here I ate some things that gave me nightmares for the next few days. Some of the more obscure things I ate consisted of Sea Horse, Snake, Chicken heart, Cicada, and scorpion. Now the hardest to put down was the scorpion. Imagine walking up to the stand and looking at the scorpions on a stick being somewhat unsure what to do next. As the shopkeeper sees an interested soul he taps on the top of the scorpion skewers and you are terrified as the scorpions claws, legs and tail begin to squirm. Ladies and Gentlemen these are what we ate.
The next morning we began by seeing one of the most sought after events on our agenda. We went to see the body of Chairman Mao. There was some conflict with our backpacks and a huge line to deal with but in the end we got through and saw his body. It was kinda creepy to see, and if you asked me he looked sick, Leonard and I suggested to a guard outside that he gets checked out by a doctor.
At this point in the day i split away from the group because they all wanted to go to the national library and there was no part of me that wanted to go, but instead wanted to go to a HuTong. I only knew of these because of what I had heard on websites and had no idea where to go but by asking people. Well, I found one and it was actually cool to see. The Hutong I went to was a very narrow shopping street. Here I bought a t-shirt for david to take back to Austria and met some very friendly Chinese people. They spoke English and so we talked a little bit and they invited me for tea. We walked in, and before I sat down here ordered the tea he wanted. In 5 minutes the tea was out and we drank until the pot was empty. He asked for the check and then shooked me with the question, assuming that I would pay for the tea. I check the bill and said No! It was about a 500 Yuan pot of tea. He then started to say that I could pay 400 and I said I couldn’t then he split it between the men saying the woman shouldn’t have to pay. I said screw proper the woman is paying. So I ended up having to pay a third of the bill which came to be 163 Yuan. UNBELIABLE! I was totally taken away by what happened, that maybe I want the best American diplomat to those people who still wanted to follow me and talk to me. I was pissed!
I then took the subway to meet everybody else and we all met to go back to the Birds nest so we could be there during the day and enter inside it. We got In and started walking around and Leonard found a utility door leading into the basements of the birds nest. Not exactly sure what we were going to find we stealthy avoided maintenance men and security guards and eventually came into a tunnel that lead right onto the track. We walked out and were standing on the track of the birds nest! It was unbelievable. Later we found out that people were allowed to enter the track for an extra fee but our way was cheaper, less legal, and much more fun. It was incredible to be right in the middle of the birds nest. I am speechless trying to describe the feeling, it was simply amazing.
We then went to the water cube to swim in the pool but were disappointed to discover that It was closed. But no worries, we made our way back to La Bambas for a bite to eat and then went to the train station and after a mad rush to buy our tickets and run to platform, we made it on our train heading back to ShiJiaZhuang safe and sound.
The trip to Beijing was some of the best days I have had in china mainly because I spent them with my three brothers in China. Sanjay, Leonard, David and I saw countless historical sites from thousands of years ago, but also a very modern side of Beijing as well. China is an interesting country that has just recently unveiled itself to the rest of the world. Foreigners are pouring in from all over the world to catch a glimpse at what china has to offer and to be experiencing that first hand I truly am a blessed man.
Jun 2, 2010
Xi'an
Hello Everybody,
I’m so sorry that its been so long since I last updated my post, but we got back from Xi’an last week and this trip definitely is worthy of the tremendous length that this entry will prove to bring. Anyways some basic info on Xi’an is that it is the most historic city in China. 13 dynasties have called this city there capital, so you can Imagine the emphasis that is placed on it. Our tour guide said that Xi’an is up there with Rome when it comes to the most historic cities in the world, and after our trip I think I might actually believe such a bold statement. Anyways, this trip was the AFS culture trip of the semester so we were in Xi’an with all the other AFS students from all around China. And I legally have to make the below statement so bare with me:
I would like to personally thank Ms. Hillary Rodem Clinton for sponsoring my and all the other NSLI-Y student’s trip to the beautiful and historic city of Xi’an.
Ok thank you, and now with out any further delay I would like to present to you for the very first time on cyber space Bens Blog Xi’an edition.
Monday:
We arrived to Xi’an early on Monday morning and discovered that AFS didn’t have any activities planned on Monday because students would be arriving throughout the day. We went out for some McDonalds breakfast and after that we came back to check into our room shower and nap. We got going again around noon and started to walk to an Indian restaurant that Sanjay had found on the internet. We weren’t really sure where we were going but that is part of the fun! Anyways we got to see a lot of the city and after a few hours finally Sanjay turned around, sniffed the air and said that we were close. We found it and Sanjay picked out some of his favorite things and we enjoyed some excellent Indian cuisine. My favorite was the Mango Lassie! Anyways after that late lunch we were still tired so we returned to the hotel and napped until dinner. Dinner was the first time that we saw the rest of the other AFS students and it was awesome to meet kids from every corner of the world. After a small welcome we left dinner and went out to see the city at night.
Tuesday:
For our first day we started out with a bang! First on the list was going to visit the Terracotta Warriors. We drove about an hour away and I was super excited because this was the thing that I was most excited to see. Anyways the Museum grounds consisted of five separate buildings. The first was a theater where a movie was shown giving a history of the soldiers. Then we walked over to see the main event. Pit number on which is the largest pit with the most warriors in the museum. This place was absolutely massive and it was unreal to see the terracotta warriors in person. The most surprising thing for me was the number of soldiers that remained broken. There were excavations going on as we were walking by so that was cool to see. After Pit one, we naturally went to pit two followed by pit three. These were much smaller but did boast a few things worth mentioning. We saw the kneeling archer which was the only warrior not destroyed by later dynasties. I can not supply a good enough history of the warriors, but feel free to read about it on the internet. In the fifth building were the two chariots excavated from the pits, but once again I don’t really know a lot about them. After the museum and lunch we drove another 90 minutes and visited a Chinese orphanage. There we interacted with the children and gave them presents. After an hour or so we drove back to Xi’an and called it a day.
Wednesday:
We spent this day traveling to a neighboring city. About an hour into the journey we stopped at a small village and there went into an artist’s home. She gave us a few demonstrations and then after a pitch to buy her art work, we browsed her galleries. Then we went to a different home where local foods were prepared for us to enjoy. And then it was back on the bus for another three hours. The scenery on the way was spectacular. We were driving threw the mountains and it was the most beautiful place in china, that I have seen yet. We stopped at a dam and traveled on an old walkway that was next to the river. It truly was a spectacular place. After some more driving we arrived in the city ate dinner and checked into our rooms. Wednesday was filled with allot of traveling but the scenery was really worth it.
Thursday:
We spent our morning exploring two different temple/ museum places. These places were old traditional style temple grounds, which consists of rooms on the perimeter and open areas with walkways and gardens in the middle space. I think I completely failed at describing them but you get the general idea. One of the temples was dedicated to an emperor of the providence who is one of the most historical men of the area, and so people came to sacrifice incense to him and show their respect. Both were incredibly beautiful and the history was interesting to learn about. After lunch we packed up and headed back to Xi’an. Another long but Beautiful trip through the mountains. When we arrived in Xi’an we went to eat a Jiao Zi Marathon, for those of you like myself who cant speak Chinese, Jiao Zi are dumplings. They brought an enormous amount of dumplings out in flavors I never knew existed. We tasted about 20 flavors of jiao zi… simply unbelievable. After dinner we went out side to this huge market street and Sanjay and I did some great work shopping. We are still practicing our bartering technique but we are definitely getting much better. I bout a few souvenirs and the best thing I came across with was the memory of this market. It was simply unbelievable the almost or castrated hustle of venders and shoppers, the fury of negotiation but the shared satisfaction of making the deal, this is something I will never forget.
Friday:
This was our last day of planned activity and turned out to be one of the best days in Xi’an. We started in the morning by going to the city wall, which was built a long time ago and used by many Chinese dynasties. We walked through a museum and saw a part of the wall that had not been renovated at all. Then we went up to the real wall and walked along it for a while. We came across a bike shop and decided to rent bikes. David and I shared a tandem bicycle and biked around the whole wall. It was about 13 Km long and was a great way to see the city. In the afternoon we bussed about two hours away to the most impressive temple that I have ever seen. I cant even explain this one to you, but it was completely modern and massive. And a really interesting thing was that it had one of Siddhartha Gama’s fingers. For those of you like me that had no idea who that was, it was the Buddha. They had one of his fingers, and we saw it from about 20 meters away. All in all the temple was completely spectacular and it was worth the trip to go see.
Saturday:
People began to depart home but we were lucky and our train didn’t leave until the evening so we were able to spend a whole other day in Xi’an. We were able to sleep in and after a great nights rest, went to see the famous wild goose pagoda in Xi’an. We didn’t actually enter because it was a bit expensive but it was equally as impressive to see from the outside. We also ate at the Indian restaurant again to give Sanjay his last fill for the next two months here. After lunch we went back to the market street and looked around some more. Afterwards we met our teacher in the hotel lobby and we departed for the train station. Our train left at 8:40 and as it had been before ten hours later we were home in Shijiazhuang.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This concludes my very brief and watered down presentation of Ben in Xi’an. Thanks for reading and I miss you all very much. I will get back on to the weekly routine of posting on Mondays so look for that. Peace and Love from China.
I’m so sorry that its been so long since I last updated my post, but we got back from Xi’an last week and this trip definitely is worthy of the tremendous length that this entry will prove to bring. Anyways some basic info on Xi’an is that it is the most historic city in China. 13 dynasties have called this city there capital, so you can Imagine the emphasis that is placed on it. Our tour guide said that Xi’an is up there with Rome when it comes to the most historic cities in the world, and after our trip I think I might actually believe such a bold statement. Anyways, this trip was the AFS culture trip of the semester so we were in Xi’an with all the other AFS students from all around China. And I legally have to make the below statement so bare with me:
I would like to personally thank Ms. Hillary Rodem Clinton for sponsoring my and all the other NSLI-Y student’s trip to the beautiful and historic city of Xi’an.
Ok thank you, and now with out any further delay I would like to present to you for the very first time on cyber space Bens Blog Xi’an edition.
Monday:
We arrived to Xi’an early on Monday morning and discovered that AFS didn’t have any activities planned on Monday because students would be arriving throughout the day. We went out for some McDonalds breakfast and after that we came back to check into our room shower and nap. We got going again around noon and started to walk to an Indian restaurant that Sanjay had found on the internet. We weren’t really sure where we were going but that is part of the fun! Anyways we got to see a lot of the city and after a few hours finally Sanjay turned around, sniffed the air and said that we were close. We found it and Sanjay picked out some of his favorite things and we enjoyed some excellent Indian cuisine. My favorite was the Mango Lassie! Anyways after that late lunch we were still tired so we returned to the hotel and napped until dinner. Dinner was the first time that we saw the rest of the other AFS students and it was awesome to meet kids from every corner of the world. After a small welcome we left dinner and went out to see the city at night.
Tuesday:
For our first day we started out with a bang! First on the list was going to visit the Terracotta Warriors. We drove about an hour away and I was super excited because this was the thing that I was most excited to see. Anyways the Museum grounds consisted of five separate buildings. The first was a theater where a movie was shown giving a history of the soldiers. Then we walked over to see the main event. Pit number on which is the largest pit with the most warriors in the museum. This place was absolutely massive and it was unreal to see the terracotta warriors in person. The most surprising thing for me was the number of soldiers that remained broken. There were excavations going on as we were walking by so that was cool to see. After Pit one, we naturally went to pit two followed by pit three. These were much smaller but did boast a few things worth mentioning. We saw the kneeling archer which was the only warrior not destroyed by later dynasties. I can not supply a good enough history of the warriors, but feel free to read about it on the internet. In the fifth building were the two chariots excavated from the pits, but once again I don’t really know a lot about them. After the museum and lunch we drove another 90 minutes and visited a Chinese orphanage. There we interacted with the children and gave them presents. After an hour or so we drove back to Xi’an and called it a day.
Wednesday:
We spent this day traveling to a neighboring city. About an hour into the journey we stopped at a small village and there went into an artist’s home. She gave us a few demonstrations and then after a pitch to buy her art work, we browsed her galleries. Then we went to a different home where local foods were prepared for us to enjoy. And then it was back on the bus for another three hours. The scenery on the way was spectacular. We were driving threw the mountains and it was the most beautiful place in china, that I have seen yet. We stopped at a dam and traveled on an old walkway that was next to the river. It truly was a spectacular place. After some more driving we arrived in the city ate dinner and checked into our rooms. Wednesday was filled with allot of traveling but the scenery was really worth it.
Thursday:
We spent our morning exploring two different temple/ museum places. These places were old traditional style temple grounds, which consists of rooms on the perimeter and open areas with walkways and gardens in the middle space. I think I completely failed at describing them but you get the general idea. One of the temples was dedicated to an emperor of the providence who is one of the most historical men of the area, and so people came to sacrifice incense to him and show their respect. Both were incredibly beautiful and the history was interesting to learn about. After lunch we packed up and headed back to Xi’an. Another long but Beautiful trip through the mountains. When we arrived in Xi’an we went to eat a Jiao Zi Marathon, for those of you like myself who cant speak Chinese, Jiao Zi are dumplings. They brought an enormous amount of dumplings out in flavors I never knew existed. We tasted about 20 flavors of jiao zi… simply unbelievable. After dinner we went out side to this huge market street and Sanjay and I did some great work shopping. We are still practicing our bartering technique but we are definitely getting much better. I bout a few souvenirs and the best thing I came across with was the memory of this market. It was simply unbelievable the almost or castrated hustle of venders and shoppers, the fury of negotiation but the shared satisfaction of making the deal, this is something I will never forget.
Friday:
This was our last day of planned activity and turned out to be one of the best days in Xi’an. We started in the morning by going to the city wall, which was built a long time ago and used by many Chinese dynasties. We walked through a museum and saw a part of the wall that had not been renovated at all. Then we went up to the real wall and walked along it for a while. We came across a bike shop and decided to rent bikes. David and I shared a tandem bicycle and biked around the whole wall. It was about 13 Km long and was a great way to see the city. In the afternoon we bussed about two hours away to the most impressive temple that I have ever seen. I cant even explain this one to you, but it was completely modern and massive. And a really interesting thing was that it had one of Siddhartha Gama’s fingers. For those of you like me that had no idea who that was, it was the Buddha. They had one of his fingers, and we saw it from about 20 meters away. All in all the temple was completely spectacular and it was worth the trip to go see.
Saturday:
People began to depart home but we were lucky and our train didn’t leave until the evening so we were able to spend a whole other day in Xi’an. We were able to sleep in and after a great nights rest, went to see the famous wild goose pagoda in Xi’an. We didn’t actually enter because it was a bit expensive but it was equally as impressive to see from the outside. We also ate at the Indian restaurant again to give Sanjay his last fill for the next two months here. After lunch we went back to the market street and looked around some more. Afterwards we met our teacher in the hotel lobby and we departed for the train station. Our train left at 8:40 and as it had been before ten hours later we were home in Shijiazhuang.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This concludes my very brief and watered down presentation of Ben in Xi’an. Thanks for reading and I miss you all very much. I will get back on to the weekly routine of posting on Mondays so look for that. Peace and Love from China.
May 13, 2010
May 6, 2010
Shanghai Trip
Warning this is a very long post. Make sure you have at least 10 minutes to devote to reading this post. If you have history of heart conditions, are pregnant or may become pregnant, please consult a doctor to see if Ben’s blog is right for you. Enjoy...
So we got back from shanghai and boy do I have a ton to report on.
So we began our trip on Friday afternoon and our train left at 2 in the afternoon. It lasted 20 hours so we arrived at 10 in the morning. I know 20 hours… Wow. On a plane I could literally get anywhere in the world faster then on this train. But it honestly wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We were surrounded by friends so we just chilled and talked for most of the trip. Also, we had beds on the train so we actually were able to get a decent night sleep. Originally we were supposed to ride on the faster train but somebody at the travel agency screwed up so we were stuck with an extra 8 hours on the train. But I am actually glad that we were able to experience the long train because it is part of Chinese life that you can never understand completely until you experience it.
Anyways after the train ride we took the sub way to ‘our hotel.’ The reason this is in quotes is because the travel agency screwed up again and they booked us a hotel that literally wasn’t able to host us. Chinese laws says that hotels must have at least 3 stars to host foreigners, and apparently the one we were supposed to stay in never had been ranked. So we spent the next hour trying to find a new hotel and eventually found a fairly nice hotel. After settling in and taking a much needed shower, we went to the Bund. This is where you see the most famous view of Shanghai’s T.V. tower and the rest of Shanghai’s beautiful skyline. It was awesome to actually be on the Bund and to see Shanghai, I mean you see the view on T.V. and in Movies all the time, but to actually be there was amazing. After taking pictures and spending a good amount of time walking along the river, we started to just walk threw the streets and get an overall feel of Shanghai. The area surrounding the Bund has old European styled buildings and it was beautiful to see. One interesting thing we saw while walking was the police driving up and down the streets busting the street vendors. I’m not sure why it was illegal, but I sure was funny to watch the Chinese sprinting away while pushing their little carts. I actually was trying to buy some squid kebab when the police came and the guy stopped everything and started to push his cart away. Unfortunately I happened to be in the way so I got hammered by this guy’s cart. I wasn’t hurt at all so it was actually really funny.
After the Bund we took the bus back to our hotel and while walking back from the bus stop found this Middle Eastern restaurant and enjoyed some of their cuisine. Sanjay actually knew all the good items on the menu because evidently Indian food was similar to the Middle Eastern food. After enjoying our dinner we went back to our hotel for the night.
On Sunday, we met in the lobby at six. The hotel provided a real bad breakfast so David and I decided to go on a hunt for a McDonalds. And I know you Americans wont understand this but their honestly was not a McDonalds with in a twenty minute walk. This is much different than In New York City where in some places there are McDonalds on opposite corners just so people don’t have to cross the street. But anyways after our failed explorations, we went to the Expo.
Entering the Expo resembled entering an amusement park like Cedar Point. Just to get in we had to wait in straight lines, and curvy lines, and lines that seemed to be leading away form the entrance. But bottom line is that tons of Chinese were their and they were their in vast numbers. And this does make sense because it was the second official day of the Expo being open and it was also a holiday weekend, so no surprise that it was busy.
Anyways I can never go through every single thing we did at the Expo so lets just give you a brief explanation. So the World Exposition is a fair where countries, if they choose to participate, build a pavilion and on the inside show different aspects of their culture. And these pavilions aren’t just some modern looking buildings; countries spend millions of dollars trying to make their pavilion the one that people remember. I would encourage you to Google “World Expo 2010” and just take a look at the spectacular pavilions that the counties had. You can also read about what they have to show inside.
The one pavilion I will explain to you is the one you all want to hear about; The USA’s. So first of all you have to understand that we were understandably really excited to see the pavilion but when we arrived there was one slight problem; about 3 million Asians waiting in a line to get in. As we had been doing all day, we decided that we were not going to wait 3 hours to see a pavilion so we reluctantly walked away. BUT, Ben doesn’t quit without a fight. As we were walking away I saw the exit manned by one wimpy Asian guard. I instructed our group to follow me and to just go along with what I did. So I first tried to just confidently walk threw the door with our American passports ready, like we were important and aloud to go in the exit. But the Asian had the audacity to step in our way and block our entrance. So I stopped and quickly thought of a plan. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that at the very end of the pavilion was a store where you could buy USA gear. So being the genius I am I told the guard in crude Chinese that we didn’t want to look at the pavilion but rather wanted to just buy things. HE BOUGHT IT!!! We were in. Needless to say we didn’t buy any thing but just looked at the last room in the pavilion. But there were doors that blocked our way to see the rest of the pavilion, so… we made casual conversation with the awesome American college student who were staffing the pavilion and then just told them that we snuck in and wanted to see the rest of the pavilion and they were happy to take us back through and show us the rest of the pavilions.
So the USA pavilion consisted of four parts. We didn’t actually visit the first room because the college students said it was boring so we started in the second room. Their was a movie where Hilary Clinton and Obama and other famous and average Americans were talking about working together and how much the world could accomplish if we unlocked the boundaries of standard thinking; Some real light-hearted stuff. After the movie we entered another theater and watched a 4-D movie about Perseverance and working together. The reason it was 4-D was because it actually rained on us and our chairs shook when it thundered in the movie. It was actually really cool. In the forth room was space where all of the American pavilion’s sponsors had a little area to display some advertisements. Evidently the US government is not allowed to fund any of these Expo’s so Hilary had to do some fund raising and find some sponsors. But she pulled it off and America had an impressive pavilion.
Another great part of the Expo was trying food from around the world. Some countries pavilions also boasted restaurants. For lunch we ate at my boy David’s restaurant, in the Austrian pavilion. Their I order Chicken Cordon Blue, and it was a very pleasant breath of fresh air for my taste buds after 2 months of only Chinese food. We also ate at the Ukraine restaurant. I had the Ukraine salad. I was expecting lettuce, but it was not the same type of salad we eat in America. It had egg, mushroom, chopped up chicken, all mixed up in a mayonnaise sauce. It was actually really good. At the French pavilion we also enjoyed some French pasties. And of course being only four guys we also enjoyed our fair share of Burger King and Papa Johns. By saying us four guys I mean that David, Leonard, Sanjay, and I ended up going around the Expo with each other. We have become the self proclaimed brotherhood.
When the sun started to set all of the lights started to come on and it was absolutely spectacular. Shanghai defiantly went all out for this thing, and it showed. Their where spot lights and lasers in the sky. Their where fake flames lining the river, and water shows for us to enjoy; and not to mention the pavilions. If they were spectacular during the day then I have no words to describe how awesome they looked when lit up.
Anyways we spent all day Sunday and most of Monday enjoying the Expo and our return train left shanghai at 8 o’clock at night. This one was a bit shorter it only lasted 18 hours. And we slept for 12 of those hours because we were so tired from the Expo. So once again, not a bad train ride at all.
So ya, we are back in Shi Jia Zhuang now and have returned to regular classes. I have heard rumors that next week some Americans from AFS are coming to see our improvement and our schools performance. So that will be a little scary. Ummm what else, our AFS culture trip has been scheduled for May 24 so only 19 days until were back on the road. The culture trip is to Xi’an. This is where the Terracotta Warriors are, so that will be amazing to see.
Other than that not much is new, I was happy to see that one of my friends from Brecksville received the scholarship and will be going to China for a semester next spring. We also had another girl from Brecksville who will be traveling to china for 6 weeks next summer. So go bees; way to rep it out.
Ok well that’s all I got for now, so ill check back in with you next Monday.
Peace and love!
So we got back from shanghai and boy do I have a ton to report on.
So we began our trip on Friday afternoon and our train left at 2 in the afternoon. It lasted 20 hours so we arrived at 10 in the morning. I know 20 hours… Wow. On a plane I could literally get anywhere in the world faster then on this train. But it honestly wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We were surrounded by friends so we just chilled and talked for most of the trip. Also, we had beds on the train so we actually were able to get a decent night sleep. Originally we were supposed to ride on the faster train but somebody at the travel agency screwed up so we were stuck with an extra 8 hours on the train. But I am actually glad that we were able to experience the long train because it is part of Chinese life that you can never understand completely until you experience it.
Anyways after the train ride we took the sub way to ‘our hotel.’ The reason this is in quotes is because the travel agency screwed up again and they booked us a hotel that literally wasn’t able to host us. Chinese laws says that hotels must have at least 3 stars to host foreigners, and apparently the one we were supposed to stay in never had been ranked. So we spent the next hour trying to find a new hotel and eventually found a fairly nice hotel. After settling in and taking a much needed shower, we went to the Bund. This is where you see the most famous view of Shanghai’s T.V. tower and the rest of Shanghai’s beautiful skyline. It was awesome to actually be on the Bund and to see Shanghai, I mean you see the view on T.V. and in Movies all the time, but to actually be there was amazing. After taking pictures and spending a good amount of time walking along the river, we started to just walk threw the streets and get an overall feel of Shanghai. The area surrounding the Bund has old European styled buildings and it was beautiful to see. One interesting thing we saw while walking was the police driving up and down the streets busting the street vendors. I’m not sure why it was illegal, but I sure was funny to watch the Chinese sprinting away while pushing their little carts. I actually was trying to buy some squid kebab when the police came and the guy stopped everything and started to push his cart away. Unfortunately I happened to be in the way so I got hammered by this guy’s cart. I wasn’t hurt at all so it was actually really funny.
After the Bund we took the bus back to our hotel and while walking back from the bus stop found this Middle Eastern restaurant and enjoyed some of their cuisine. Sanjay actually knew all the good items on the menu because evidently Indian food was similar to the Middle Eastern food. After enjoying our dinner we went back to our hotel for the night.
On Sunday, we met in the lobby at six. The hotel provided a real bad breakfast so David and I decided to go on a hunt for a McDonalds. And I know you Americans wont understand this but their honestly was not a McDonalds with in a twenty minute walk. This is much different than In New York City where in some places there are McDonalds on opposite corners just so people don’t have to cross the street. But anyways after our failed explorations, we went to the Expo.
Entering the Expo resembled entering an amusement park like Cedar Point. Just to get in we had to wait in straight lines, and curvy lines, and lines that seemed to be leading away form the entrance. But bottom line is that tons of Chinese were their and they were their in vast numbers. And this does make sense because it was the second official day of the Expo being open and it was also a holiday weekend, so no surprise that it was busy.
Anyways I can never go through every single thing we did at the Expo so lets just give you a brief explanation. So the World Exposition is a fair where countries, if they choose to participate, build a pavilion and on the inside show different aspects of their culture. And these pavilions aren’t just some modern looking buildings; countries spend millions of dollars trying to make their pavilion the one that people remember. I would encourage you to Google “World Expo 2010” and just take a look at the spectacular pavilions that the counties had. You can also read about what they have to show inside.
The one pavilion I will explain to you is the one you all want to hear about; The USA’s. So first of all you have to understand that we were understandably really excited to see the pavilion but when we arrived there was one slight problem; about 3 million Asians waiting in a line to get in. As we had been doing all day, we decided that we were not going to wait 3 hours to see a pavilion so we reluctantly walked away. BUT, Ben doesn’t quit without a fight. As we were walking away I saw the exit manned by one wimpy Asian guard. I instructed our group to follow me and to just go along with what I did. So I first tried to just confidently walk threw the door with our American passports ready, like we were important and aloud to go in the exit. But the Asian had the audacity to step in our way and block our entrance. So I stopped and quickly thought of a plan. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that at the very end of the pavilion was a store where you could buy USA gear. So being the genius I am I told the guard in crude Chinese that we didn’t want to look at the pavilion but rather wanted to just buy things. HE BOUGHT IT!!! We were in. Needless to say we didn’t buy any thing but just looked at the last room in the pavilion. But there were doors that blocked our way to see the rest of the pavilion, so… we made casual conversation with the awesome American college student who were staffing the pavilion and then just told them that we snuck in and wanted to see the rest of the pavilion and they were happy to take us back through and show us the rest of the pavilions.
So the USA pavilion consisted of four parts. We didn’t actually visit the first room because the college students said it was boring so we started in the second room. Their was a movie where Hilary Clinton and Obama and other famous and average Americans were talking about working together and how much the world could accomplish if we unlocked the boundaries of standard thinking; Some real light-hearted stuff. After the movie we entered another theater and watched a 4-D movie about Perseverance and working together. The reason it was 4-D was because it actually rained on us and our chairs shook when it thundered in the movie. It was actually really cool. In the forth room was space where all of the American pavilion’s sponsors had a little area to display some advertisements. Evidently the US government is not allowed to fund any of these Expo’s so Hilary had to do some fund raising and find some sponsors. But she pulled it off and America had an impressive pavilion.
Another great part of the Expo was trying food from around the world. Some countries pavilions also boasted restaurants. For lunch we ate at my boy David’s restaurant, in the Austrian pavilion. Their I order Chicken Cordon Blue, and it was a very pleasant breath of fresh air for my taste buds after 2 months of only Chinese food. We also ate at the Ukraine restaurant. I had the Ukraine salad. I was expecting lettuce, but it was not the same type of salad we eat in America. It had egg, mushroom, chopped up chicken, all mixed up in a mayonnaise sauce. It was actually really good. At the French pavilion we also enjoyed some French pasties. And of course being only four guys we also enjoyed our fair share of Burger King and Papa Johns. By saying us four guys I mean that David, Leonard, Sanjay, and I ended up going around the Expo with each other. We have become the self proclaimed brotherhood.
When the sun started to set all of the lights started to come on and it was absolutely spectacular. Shanghai defiantly went all out for this thing, and it showed. Their where spot lights and lasers in the sky. Their where fake flames lining the river, and water shows for us to enjoy; and not to mention the pavilions. If they were spectacular during the day then I have no words to describe how awesome they looked when lit up.
Anyways we spent all day Sunday and most of Monday enjoying the Expo and our return train left shanghai at 8 o’clock at night. This one was a bit shorter it only lasted 18 hours. And we slept for 12 of those hours because we were so tired from the Expo. So once again, not a bad train ride at all.
So ya, we are back in Shi Jia Zhuang now and have returned to regular classes. I have heard rumors that next week some Americans from AFS are coming to see our improvement and our schools performance. So that will be a little scary. Ummm what else, our AFS culture trip has been scheduled for May 24 so only 19 days until were back on the road. The culture trip is to Xi’an. This is where the Terracotta Warriors are, so that will be amazing to see.
Other than that not much is new, I was happy to see that one of my friends from Brecksville received the scholarship and will be going to China for a semester next spring. We also had another girl from Brecksville who will be traveling to china for 6 weeks next summer. So go bees; way to rep it out.
Ok well that’s all I got for now, so ill check back in with you next Monday.
Peace and love!
Apr 26, 2010
Just Another Day in Paradise
What’s uppppp!
So it’s Monday afternoon and time for another blog update. This has been a pretty average week, but I still have a few exciting things to report.
So David got his own little apartment here, we’re not really sure why but his old host family wasn’t able to host him anymore. So we have been hanging out there a lot this week.
On Friday we had another addition of AFS movie night! We watched ‘Inglorious Basterds’. The movie was good, but about half way through the movie one of our Chinese friends came up to our classroom and warned us about a fight that happened right outside our school. Evidently there was some sort of gang clash, and they had knives and it actually sounded serious, And one of the girls here had to go home like right after it happened! SO it was time for this Eagle Scout to act. I borrowed some pepper spray, and got out my pocket knife and escorted the lady home. Once again the movie ended late and so we got locked into the school again, when we finally got out there were still some police officers patrolling the area. I ended up sleeping over David’s apartment that night and I am happy to report that all the AFS students returned home safely that night.
On Saturday we went on an adventure to go Laser Tagging. After a 45 Yuen taxi ride, (FYI- by Chinese standards this is an extremely far ride) we were dropped off at the base of some mountains that we didn’t even know existed, in any other country we would have seen them thought our day to day activity, but because of the pollution you honestly cant see them until your right at the bottom. Anyways, we arrived at the laser tagging place and it turned out that some Asian rented the guns out for the weekend. We checked out the arena though and it was actually really cool. We decided to just go another weekend, and instead go climb the mountains. We spent a good amount of time ascending the mountains ruff terrain and climbing up rocks. It was a ton of fun and was actually quite beautiful. Once we reached the top we discovered a stair case that the Chinese were using. We took the stairs down and rented a small bus to take all of us home instead of three taxies. So at the end of the day no laser tagging but no worries because we discovered a mountain range that we never even knew existed!
On Sunday we went shopping downtown and did some famous Chinese shopping. I bought a new battery for my razor cell phone, for 30 Yuen. But besides for eating at McDonalds the highlight of the day was playing with the brand new I-Pad at a Chinese Apple store. This thing was so cool! We also played some Billiards and called it a night.
So now its Monday, and I have to admit we are having a ton of fun in class because we bought a cross bow, and have discovered an endless supply of ammo… Chop sticks!! And lord knows there isn’t a lack of those here. No but really, we have been having fun here and we are looking forward to going to the Expo in 4 Days!!! Ill post again next week on our Shanghai experience so look for that. But until then Peace and Love!
So it’s Monday afternoon and time for another blog update. This has been a pretty average week, but I still have a few exciting things to report.
So David got his own little apartment here, we’re not really sure why but his old host family wasn’t able to host him anymore. So we have been hanging out there a lot this week.
On Friday we had another addition of AFS movie night! We watched ‘Inglorious Basterds’. The movie was good, but about half way through the movie one of our Chinese friends came up to our classroom and warned us about a fight that happened right outside our school. Evidently there was some sort of gang clash, and they had knives and it actually sounded serious, And one of the girls here had to go home like right after it happened! SO it was time for this Eagle Scout to act. I borrowed some pepper spray, and got out my pocket knife and escorted the lady home. Once again the movie ended late and so we got locked into the school again, when we finally got out there were still some police officers patrolling the area. I ended up sleeping over David’s apartment that night and I am happy to report that all the AFS students returned home safely that night.
On Saturday we went on an adventure to go Laser Tagging. After a 45 Yuen taxi ride, (FYI- by Chinese standards this is an extremely far ride) we were dropped off at the base of some mountains that we didn’t even know existed, in any other country we would have seen them thought our day to day activity, but because of the pollution you honestly cant see them until your right at the bottom. Anyways, we arrived at the laser tagging place and it turned out that some Asian rented the guns out for the weekend. We checked out the arena though and it was actually really cool. We decided to just go another weekend, and instead go climb the mountains. We spent a good amount of time ascending the mountains ruff terrain and climbing up rocks. It was a ton of fun and was actually quite beautiful. Once we reached the top we discovered a stair case that the Chinese were using. We took the stairs down and rented a small bus to take all of us home instead of three taxies. So at the end of the day no laser tagging but no worries because we discovered a mountain range that we never even knew existed!
On Sunday we went shopping downtown and did some famous Chinese shopping. I bought a new battery for my razor cell phone, for 30 Yuen. But besides for eating at McDonalds the highlight of the day was playing with the brand new I-Pad at a Chinese Apple store. This thing was so cool! We also played some Billiards and called it a night.
So now its Monday, and I have to admit we are having a ton of fun in class because we bought a cross bow, and have discovered an endless supply of ammo… Chop sticks!! And lord knows there isn’t a lack of those here. No but really, we have been having fun here and we are looking forward to going to the Expo in 4 Days!!! Ill post again next week on our Shanghai experience so look for that. But until then Peace and Love!
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