Around Beijing Day 1

Aunt got up 'round 5:30 and woke us up. The jet lag and exhaustion put us into a deep sleep. Today we were to meet up w/Vivian and the gang at the Bird's Nest. So around 7 we left the house and headed for the subway. We lived by Chongwenmen station, which is behind Beijing central train station and segments of the old Great Wall. Purchasing subway tickets made us look like retards. The personel had no patience w/our stupidity. "GO TO THE KIOSK, GEEZE IT'S RIGHT THERE!" What crawled up your ass today?

The next step was even worse. It said to swipe your ticket, well where the fuck do I siwpe it? After getting screamed at by three Chinese ladies "GIRL!! 姑娘！！ (gu niang) DOWN HERE, SWIPE DOWN HERE, DOWN HERE!!! DON'T YOU SEE IT??"
Finally all of us realized that you just had to scan your damn ticket. You just let it touch the square pad and the gate opens. Now which way do we go?
We got off at one station when we realized that the transfer route #5 was west of here. Transfer to line 8 (the Olympic line) and you've arrived at the Olympic Green.

The Bird's Nest engulfed in grey fog. Simply breathtaking.

Buildings were not open to the public until 9 so went foraging for food since we skipped out on breakfast to find the subway line. Coca Cola plastered food courts offered junk food for breakfast. Twisted chocolate sweet breat and a bottle of sprite was a treat. We were going to buy more, but the cashier couldn't break 100 RMB. Seriously? You don't have change when you open? This is going to be wierd getting used to.

The Watercube: My student ID is invalid here? What?
Old people get in for free while children & students get in for half price. He glanced at my Buff card and said, "We can't accept it here."
Alright maybe because I wasn't a student at a Chinese University?
"we can't take it, but this is valid at the Bird's Nest."
The hexagonal pieces of the watercube look tempting to touch. They look squishy. Down the great hallway were souvenir shopts, food stations and shops. Vacant they looked. At the end of the great hall big stuffed Fu Wa Wa (mascots of the '08 games) were on display for the general public (to hug and to hump by little shitheads)

"Hey I think one's missing" Aunt pointed out. Hmmm she was right. We noticed the yellow Fu Wa Wa "Ying Ying" was missing. Then we looked around and discovered that Ying Ying was behind a shop counter facing the wall. Time out for Ying Ying. A photo will be posted most shortly. None of us could stop laughing. It hink people think that were fucking crazy.
We sat in the competition pool and looked around. A year ago the water cube was packed w/people screaming at Phelps for his 8th gold medal. Now it was empty with the big screen reeling an Olympic '08 montage. . Currently the cube is being used for a Swan Lake Ballet.



Double standard. Bullshit.

The people that visit the Bird's Nest are mostly Chinese tourists from all over the region. I catched bits and pieces of Cantonese, Szechuan, Shanghai dialect and people from the farm country. Every shade of crayon can be found here.
Old ladies in their faux leather sandles, nylon socks, airy blouses scrambling to fetch their spoiled looking grandson/daughter. Lower class people are easy to spot in the crowd. Fat Boys or fatties can be seen pushing down on shutter release on a nice looking sony cybershot or what have you waddling around in a lakers or Nuggets basketball attire.
the line for the bird's nest looked long but it went fast. FInally the moment we've anticipated and the result was major dissapointment. Really? It looked a lot bigger on tv. The bird's nest witnessed millions of people coming and out. The restrooms and the seats look like they took a beating. Half of the stalls in the WC are now storage spaces for the custodians oh and plus there's no toilet paper.

Meeting up w/Vivian
Not having a mobile phone in this city is turning out to be a pain in the ass. PUblic telephones only take IC cards, credit and pre paid. Coins don't exist for public phones. Luckilly some nice people let us borrow their mobiles. As we were about to call Vivian they popped up! I shrieked with joy when I saw Song Ying's kids Vivian and Lucius. Peter was elated to see his friends again. They laughed and exchanged so many anectdotes...slowed down their walking speed. We took two cabs just to take us down the street (it was about 4 km) where we settled in a restaurant called 辣婆婆 "The Spicy Grandma: Szechuan style food"
I'm not sure if this is just generic restaurant food or Beijing delicacy, but pumpkin cakes are DELICIOUS! We ordered peach juice and "hey! how about a chugging contest?" Peter said.
"Peter, this isn't college and it's not alcohol."
Lunch was really nice. the little preteens were enjoying eachother's company, playing DS and being a bit silly. Lucius smothered hoisin fish sauce like a bad lipstick job. Song Ying, Aunt and I discussed school, parents, the atmosphere in Beijing. I got some good advice from Song Ying whose been here for about a year. They're about to head back to Boulder mid August.

We parted ways and headed to Houhai to take a tour on a three wheeled rickshaw. Our taxi driver was being such a smooth talker. I don't think he was a native Beijinger but there was a slight Beijing accent.
Cabbies like to talk and for today the topic was about anti-Japanese sentiment.
Anti-Japanese sentiment is still common. "Japs are the worst kinds of people right? No morals, they're not human. Look what they did to us 60 yrs ago during the occupation." It was alarming to hear such comments about the Japanese. Maybe he had family who epxerienced tremendous suffering. I wouldn't know. I can understand that maybe he feels cheated out of a nice life due to the turn of events. Communism did happen afterwards. I tried to explain (when he was asking us for an opinion) that Japanese people are actually very cordial, but then again all people are good or bad.

The Beijing Hutong: The Old Courtyard Houses
Initially our driver by looking at us declared that we should have two carriages since cannot fit all 3 of us.
"We'll all squeeze in the back." Aunt Dora said knowing that he was trying to sponge more RMB from us. The driver sailed us through the inner pathways and winding roads of the hutong. We paid 20 RMB to step into this little house. Ripoff. We came in and out like a flash. Our driver kept saying 'take your time.' thinking we'd be browsing around listening the guided tours. We continued w/Peter sandwiched in b/t us.
Pu Yi "the Last Emperor" lived in the hutong as well as Madame Sun Yat Sen.
The guy wanted to take us to more plafces, so we agreed. When the journey ended he asked us for 260 RMB. We gave him 300 RMB and then he dared to ask us for a tip. 40 RMB isn't a good enough of a tip? Piss off! Then again he did carry 300 lbs on his bike.

前门 ： Front Gate
The taxi ride to Qian men was nuts. The left turn lane was frozen for the next 20 minutes. Commentary from cabbie # 2: Beijing'ers are yuppies and love to buy 2-3 cars. Later my Uncle Ru said "2-3 cars? You can buy 2-3 cars sure if you really want 3 cheap cars!" Qian Men is right by Tian'an Men square. At first Peter was indifferent to visitng the square, but we ventured towards it. We passed the People's monument and Mao's memorial. Secuirty was like a pandemic. Bags went through security. Every light fixture had 2 cameras facing every direction NSEW. 20 yrs ago Beijing just started out experiencing the outside world. Now it's a huge megatropolis embracing the free market with open arms and kisses.

Walking past/into Tian'an men was a population clusterfuck. People have no snese of going in one by one. It's more of a quasi moshpit. Peter didn't care about heading up into Tiananmen so we headed back and begain the long march to the souvenir district "Da Shi La" This is where you want spend little. All the shops are to attract foriegners and little bratties w/toys, knock off bags, and fake and I mean really fake merchandise.

Dinner w/the family: Everyone loves boys
We ere to meet Ru at the Da Shi La bus stop and were informed to look out for a silver Ford 4-door sedan. That helps. 30 min he'd be there and 30 minutes past. Aunt began to worry so we began SEARCHING for ANOTHER MOBILE PHONE. NO sucess from passsing pedestrians. It led me to ac upon desperate measures. I walked a few feet down the street to a little newstand and acted like a lost American who barely spoke Chinese. Oy! I got through! Turns out that today Uncle Ru was driving a '08 silver Audi A4. "Just borrowed a friend's, just for today :-D" Damn!

We headed to my Third Great Aunt's house. Everyone was going cuckoo over Peter. "AHH!! HE LOOKS LIKE DAVE!! AHHHH HE'S SO HANDSOME!!" "LOOK AT HIM!! WHAT A HANDSOME BOY!"

"Those suckups" Uncle Ru said as he began to light his cigarette.

During dinner the topic landed on the 1937 Nanking massacre. Aunt decided to dish out the greusome tortue methods/human experimentation the Japs performed. The methods she explained them in graphic detail can be found in a film called "Black Sun". DO NOT WATCH IT. Peter and I almost lost our lunch. Make matters worse she wouldn't stop.
"Xiao Duo (Dora) please stop...stop， were eating dinner."
Anyways...that led to Aunt mentioning that the Japs gave out poisonous eggplants during occupation. Though their efforts top wipe to Yellow plague were futile because the Chinese eat eggplant w/garlic and garlic wipes out the poison. Dinner was noodles w/eggplant sauce. My Aunt also remarked that she loves eating any meal with a bit of garlic. She already had a clove when Uncle Ru offered her a piece.

"Here (have some garlic）＂　

＂Oh thanks, but I have one"

“Hey　they're poisonous 有毒　哈哈哈“

His laugh is very mellow and soft. You feel safe when he talks or laughts at you. He's not very invasive nor a nagging person. "It's pointless to pressure kids, you
need to let them go."