Tuesday, July 11, 2006
at
2:21 a.m.
|
You blog.
Or at least that's what I tell myself. For those of you I emailed, this will be a bit of a repeat. There's a small internet cafe in our hostel that I'm making use of at the moment. It's 2:18pm our time, meaning it's 2:18am last night for any of you reading this.
Most of you are probably in bed. Maybe not Jamie.
Getting your first impression of China and in particular Beijing when you're exhausted isn't the best idea. The place is hot, crowded, and you get stared at. A lot. Earlier today when Catherine was off visiting Chairman Mau's grave site, a group of Chinese tourists, all in their young teens, were slowly edging towards me. I figured out that they were trying to snap a picture near me, so I just opened up my arms and a timid girl came and stood next to me. Then another girl. Then a guy came over and we crossed arms and tried to look "tough."
Getting stared at is hard to get used to at first. Just about everyone does it and more than once I've seen them take pictures. There are a lot more tourists around here than you'd think so I'm not sure why they get so excited. I suppose many of them come from small cities or villages where tourists are very rare so I suppose we're an interesting sight.
What a city. There are shantys, skyscrapers, half-torn down buildings and fast food joints. And people are EVERYWHERE.
Our little hostel in the middle of a hutong is quite interesting. A hutong is essentially a small, crowded market street and there are dozens all over the city. This didn't stop my Uncle Paul from just driving right through one in his very large van. People either get out of the way or get hit. No one seems to mind these cars driving through. It's quite a strange thing to see.
And a little bit scary. It took me at least a day or two to get over all the strangeness around us. I don't notice people staring as much and things are very cheap. Whatever you eat, though, just wait half an hour and go to the bathroom before you head out. Call it a precaution.
Also, don't make eye contact with anyone. This is just going to get you bothered to no end. Just say "no" to everyone trying to sell you something or get your attention. If they think you're on the fence, they'll do everything they can to stop you from leaving. One man was convinced I wanted a wallet and tried to burn it with his lighter to prove it was authentic. Then he pressed the heated surface against my arm. I tried to leave and he halved the price. I tried to leave again and he cut THAT price in half. Finally, he got frustrated and thrust a calculator in my hands to get me to indicate how much I wanted to pay. I wasn't even looking at the wallets in the first place.
Everything has a different texture here. The smell, the heat, the city. There are some truly impressive sights here and some truly devastating ones as well. The city is half under rubble as it gets torn down and built up as often as a kid playing with lego. Nothing stays the same here for long. You also see people who were victims of some kind of protest. They're badly burned with chunks of flesh missing as well as limbs. We steer clear of those.
After day one, people bother us a lot less. We shed the Canadian politeness as soon as possible and that seems to make things go easier.
We're about to go out for a walk now. I had a hamburger and Catherine had some sprite. You need lots of fluids to walk around in this city. Hot doesn't begin to cover it. I've already lost 10 pounds from sweat.
But it's good. It's strange. It's China.
Or at least that's what I tell myself. For those of you I emailed, this will be a bit of a repeat. There's a small internet cafe in our hostel that I'm making use of at the moment. It's 2:18pm our time, meaning it's 2:18am last night for any of you reading this.
Most of you are probably in bed. Maybe not Jamie.
Getting your first impression of China and in particular Beijing when you're exhausted isn't the best idea. The place is hot, crowded, and you get stared at. A lot. Earlier today when Catherine was off visiting Chairman Mau's grave site, a group of Chinese tourists, all in their young teens, were slowly edging towards me. I figured out that they were trying to snap a picture near me, so I just opened up my arms and a timid girl came and stood next to me. Then another girl. Then a guy came over and we crossed arms and tried to look "tough."
Getting stared at is hard to get used to at first. Just about everyone does it and more than once I've seen them take pictures. There are a lot more tourists around here than you'd think so I'm not sure why they get so excited. I suppose many of them come from small cities or villages where tourists are very rare so I suppose we're an interesting sight.
What a city. There are shantys, skyscrapers, half-torn down buildings and fast food joints. And people are EVERYWHERE.
Our little hostel in the middle of a hutong is quite interesting. A hutong is essentially a small, crowded market street and there are dozens all over the city. This didn't stop my Uncle Paul from just driving right through one in his very large van. People either get out of the way or get hit. No one seems to mind these cars driving through. It's quite a strange thing to see.
And a little bit scary. It took me at least a day or two to get over all the strangeness around us. I don't notice people staring as much and things are very cheap. Whatever you eat, though, just wait half an hour and go to the bathroom before you head out. Call it a precaution.
Also, don't make eye contact with anyone. This is just going to get you bothered to no end. Just say "no" to everyone trying to sell you something or get your attention. If they think you're on the fence, they'll do everything they can to stop you from leaving. One man was convinced I wanted a wallet and tried to burn it with his lighter to prove it was authentic. Then he pressed the heated surface against my arm. I tried to leave and he halved the price. I tried to leave again and he cut THAT price in half. Finally, he got frustrated and thrust a calculator in my hands to get me to indicate how much I wanted to pay. I wasn't even looking at the wallets in the first place.
Everything has a different texture here. The smell, the heat, the city. There are some truly impressive sights here and some truly devastating ones as well. The city is half under rubble as it gets torn down and built up as often as a kid playing with lego. Nothing stays the same here for long. You also see people who were victims of some kind of protest. They're badly burned with chunks of flesh missing as well as limbs. We steer clear of those.
After day one, people bother us a lot less. We shed the Canadian politeness as soon as possible and that seems to make things go easier.
We're about to go out for a walk now. I had a hamburger and Catherine had some sprite. You need lots of fluids to walk around in this city. Hot doesn't begin to cover it. I've already lost 10 pounds from sweat.
But it's good. It's strange. It's China.
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Parallel
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