Hello friends!
(welcome canty, to the fold.....!)
Wow is it EVER cold here. I thought I was prepared, with my wool peacoat I had made in Hoi An, and my turtleneck, jeans, and converse (yeah old school..!..) but, the truth is, theres nothing that could have prepared me for this weather. Now, those of you still accustomed to Ontario winters could probably handle this. But I've been coddled in recent years by the mild Vancouver climate...and am I ever paying for becoming so soft! I will admit I sometimes find it energizing and invigorating ~ but most times, its biting and drying and, well, not being able to feel my toes, fingers, or nose isn't really a feeling i enjoy. But anyways. It seems to have warmed up a bit in the week I've been here, which is good news.
So, China. Time for your lessons! Currency here is called the Renminbi (RMB), or "People's Money". The official breakdown of the currency is as follows....1 yuan = 10 jiao = 100 fen , with the Canadian dollar weighing in at $1=Y6.77 . Colloquially, the yuan is called kuai. This has taken some getting used to for sure. The largest bill is Y100, about $15CDN or so. I've found a hotel room for Y154/night ~ the most expensive room so far on my trip, but an absolute steal in Beijing. This is when connections pay off!.....friends of Skott's managed to hook me up. Crazy fact ~ my bathroom has a huge window looking out into my room ~ watching tv while showering is my new favourite thing.
Beijing as a city is absolutely immense. The Chinese government estimates the population to be as high as 18million people ~ put this in perspective by considering that the population of Canada hovers around 33million. The sheer number of people means the city is never at rest; taking the subway on a Sunday morning feels like a Monday afternoon rush hour. Thats another thing thats taken some getting used to ~ there doesn't seem to be much of a concept of 'forming a line' here in China. Instead, the masses just push and push...if you don't push back, you'll be at the end of the "line" forever. Nowhere is this more apparent than the subway system. Sheesh. People literally thrust a hand in front of you as you walk, and then use their arm as leverage to propel their body in front of yours. No concern for whether or not you manage to remain upright....good times.
Strange as it may seem, I really love the hustle and bustle of the city. Everywhere you look theres something interesting going on. Old men fly kites way above the city from highway overpasses ~ try to imagine that happening in Toronto!! At subway stops, vendors sell kittens, baby rabbits, turtles (all as pets, not snacks!!!), steamed yams, pineapple, corn-on-the-cob, and cigarettes. Hawkers approach every white face, waving maps of Beijing and other assorted paraphanalia ~ anyone for a golden locket with Chairman Mao's portrait inside?? Strange stuff indeed.
Outside of primary schools, both parents and all four grandparents wait for each student to finish classes....with only one child per family, the hopes and dreams of 6 adults seem to be pinned on each child!!!
As in every other capital city I've seen thus far, traffic is not to be trifled with ~ but one major difference is the absense of motorcycles. I've been told that the government is discouraging motorcycles within the city limits by charging an astronomical license fee ~ in this way, they encourage expensive cars and bicycles instead, thus elevating the 'status' of the city. The licensing fee structure is 'officially' a crackdown on air pollution. They look good, and get what they want. Smart government??
Speaking of air pollution ~ the WHO released a report this past year saying that spending a day in Beijing is the equivalent of smoking 70 (yes, SEVENTY) cigarettes. This puts Beijing at the top of the list ~ in terms of air pollution, its the dirtiest city in the world. Second up, Mumbai...although they are well behind, with a day equalling only 30 smokes. No wonder I've been waking up with a smokers cough. Its really doing a number on my lungs, I can feel it already. Skotty tells me that apparently, 5 years in Beijing will do irreparable damage to your respiratory system. Yikes.
Anyways. My first night in town, Skotty took me to dinner in this little lakeside area ~ the waterways by which Imperial families travelled from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace in ....you guessed it, the summer. We had my first official Chinese food, accompanied by some surprisingly decent red wine!! Afterwards we found a pedicab (think cyclo, but with the cycle and driver part in FRONT of the passengers.) and took an impromptu tour of the hutongs, lap blanket securely in place.
Hutongs are "narrow alleyways" that criss-cross the city, running East-West and connected by tiny alleys running North-South to create a warren of courtyards and historic, ramshackle one-story homes. The hutongs became a part of the Beijing city plan after the city was razed to the ground by Genghis Khan's army, in 1215. The re-building of the city saw the birth of the hutong! The number of passageways rose to about 2000 by the end of the Qing Dynasty (around 1911), 6000 in the 1950's, and has dwindled back down to 2000. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few 'specially designated historic areas' (mainly located around the Forbidden City at the heart of Beijing), most of the remaining hutong are slated for demolition in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics. Yay progress.
I've been really lucky to know both Skotty and Caitlin in this massive city ~ both of them, friends through Hells Kitchen. It just goes to show, you never know where life is gonna take you! I certainly never would have guessed that we'd all be hanging out in Beijing one day......
Good deeds of Skottys include bartering a Roxy hoodie down to a reasonable price for me (in Mandarin!) at a local market, drawing me an INTENSE map of the Beijing subway system, complete with stop names, to-scale drawings of the stations themselves, and step-by-step written instructions for navigating the city, taking me to an invite-only industry party at Zub, and organizing our upcoming weekend trip out to see the Great Wall ~ more on this later. All of this while nursing a broken collarbone.....what a guy.
Hanging out at Skott's home-away-from-home, a bar called Lush, is a taste of Vancouver. The feeling of the place and the menu are both great....live music, lattes, home-baked foccacia bread (amazing veggie sandwichs...go Veggie De-Lush!!) and other such goodies. I even recognize some of the cocktails on their list...imported, of course, by Skotty....anyone for a Hell's Bent or a Coco luv??? This place is very literally my comfort zone. You can forget you're in China if you want to. And of course, through Skott, I've had the pleasure of meeting his China crew ~ incredible people....Andrea, Rich, Jade....Again, I'm very lucky.
Its also been great having Caitlin and her boyfriend Alex living in the city ~ they have an apartment right downtown, and took me to the 'dirt' market on Sunday. This market, open only on weekends, sells absolutely any and everything. Kinda like a massive flea market, except cooler. I found some old maps of the city, as well as some cool propaganda posters from the Cultural Revolution ~ and had a stone stamp carved, with my name (phonetically) in Chinese characters. It passed the test ~ Skotty checked with staff at Lush, and it does indeed say "laura"!!! After shopping, Caitlin and Alex took me for dinner, and then we went back to their apartment to watch movies for a bit. Its such a treat, hanging out at someones HOME rather than someone's HOTEL room. Ah, the little things!!! We have plans to see the Chinese Acrobats tomorrow night, too....which I'm so excited about!
The best food I've had so far in Beijing, however, was hands down at a place called Pure Lotus ~ a tibetan restaurant with an exclusively vegetarian menu. There's no alcohol on the menu, only healthy tonics and herbal remedys...and the food is crazy. You would SWEAR you were eating meat ~ but the chefs work their magic with tofu, wheat gluten, and veggies. Our 'ribs' even came complete with lotus root 'bones'. Not to mention the presentation...the dishes were literally art. Cheers to Andrea for taking Skotty and I there on my second night in China!!
Yesterday, I took the subway downtown for some solo sightseeing...although, I wasn't solo for very long. Seemed like every time I stopped to take a picture, I was approached by a Chinese tourist wanting to post with me for a picture. Guess I'm gonna be the token white face in a fair number of photo albums!! I've been told that some of the paving stones in the square are actually hiding trapdoors, from which police forces poured during the 1989 pro-democracy protests. Today, the very visible police force in the square is supplemented by close-circuit cameras and plainclothes officers, ready to squelch out the merest mention of rebellion. Funny that you can't even ride a bike across the square (you must WALK it across), and yet police cars drive through randomly. Apparently, tanks are also allowed?? Dunno.
At any rate, with a capacity of one million people, it would sure take a lot more than the few hundred tourists there to make it feel crowded there. Most of them were busily snapping pictures of themselves with the huge portrait of Chairman Mao, mounted over the main doorway through the Gate of Heavenly Peace...which is directly North of the square, across a huge road. A big pedestrian underpass means no dodging of traffic is neccessary...
This is the gate from which Mao first proclaimed the People's Republic in 1949, and he also oversaw massive parades of up to a million people from this vantage point during the Cultural Revolution. You definately get a great view of the square once you climb up top!!!
The Forbidden City was next on my list...and it was pretty incredible. I know this email is getting ridiculously long, and I'm getting tired....so I'm gonna save that for the next email. Besides, the history is so fascinating that I still need to cull through all the information, and figure out what is most intriguing to share with all of you!!
Lots of love to everyone...
keep an eye out for the Forbidden City stuff tomorrow....
xoxo lolo
