CHCHCh..China...Part 2

We decided to take it easy on Friday and sleep in. After having our American breakfast, which I had everyday (yum), we headed to find a museum. We never found the museum that we were looking for. The taxi drove all over the city and we ended up in the slum area where he decided to tell us he didn't know where it was. He told us by saying NO. haha. So, we quickly looked for another destination in our handy little guide book, because we sure as hell weren't going to stay where we were. haha. So, went to another art museum and it was closed. haha. We spent the afternoon in the taxi and seeing the city. It was a bust, but still fun. I have learned to be very patient in Asia, because I am constantly lost and can't read or speak the language.

That evening, we went to an acrobatic show. I had no idea what it would be like, but it was pretty incredible. I didn't realize that it would be all children, which I felt guilty for watching them. I guess, their families put them in these schools where they learn how to do all their crazy tricks. The youngest child was maybe 4 years old? My friend was saying that Jackie Chan, the actor, was placed in one of those schools when he was a child and talks about it in his book. She said what these kids go through is pretty disturbing. Sad. Sad. They were so cute and really great at what they were doing.




Saturday

We went back to the museum and found it on our first try!!! Woop, woop! The museum was great! It was all young Chinese artists, mostly paintings. I couldn't believe how much the Olympics had been depicted in the artwork. There were many paintings and sculptures that had Olympic themes in them. There were children all over drawing and sketching the paintings. They were so cute.





Next, we headed the Bird's Nest Stadium where the opening/closing ceremonies of the Olympics took place. It was pretty incredible. HUGE! I feel like China, or at least Beijing, is trying to be bigger and better than the rest of the world. I am very curious to see what the city looked like before they started getting ready for the Olympics. Everything looked new. The subway stations were new. They built walls up in the city to hide the impoverished areas, although you could still see inside them through the openings. There is no way that Beijing follows the communism ideals. You could see the different classes of people- poor versus wealthy. It seemed to me that it was more capitalistic than anything. I need to do my own research or you should tell me if you know. It seemed like the majority of the people were very poor, but the government was putting all their money into the infrastructure of the city to appear something they are not. hmmm...








Next, we went to the Temple of Heaven. There were a lot of people trying to sell us more crap. I told one of the guys I would buy his crap for zero dollars and he was really confused. All of his fellow peddlers thought it was funny and they started laughing. Eventually, he caught on and started laughing as well. I'm such a brat.










Sunday

Our last day. First, we headed to Tiananmen Square (on the other side of the Forbidden City), which means 'Gate of Heaven'. This is ironic because this is the site of famous and tragic day in 1989 where 2,000- 3,000 Chinese people were killed by the military during a protest. The people were mostly students and intellectuals who wanted to mourn the death of a pro-democracy and pro-free market official. They assembled for 7 weeks and the protest reached 100,000 people before the military came in and wanted to clear the square. There is the famous photo of a man standing in front of a line of tanks, which I am sure many of you have seen. The Chinese government has not released the actual death toll and will only acknowledge a few hundred were injured/died. There were many other protests before that day, but this is the most famous one that many people have heard about. It was crazy to be there and imagine what had happened not too long ago.





Lastly, we went to Mao Zedong's tomb. I really did not want to go and support his movement, but the other Megan wanted to go. Mao was the leader of the People's Republic of China (Communist Party) from its beginning in 1949 until his death in 1976. It's very odd that people within China are so brainwashed by his legacy and actually think of him as a great revolutionary. Outside of China, he is blamed for causing severe damage to the county's economy and culture, not to mention he is responsible for killing MILLIONS of people. The security to get into his tomb was quite ridiculous. We had to pay to put all of our stuff in lockers. I'm not sure if they thought people were going to kill him, again? Personally, I was going to put him in my purse and bring him back to Korea. We couldn't bring anything in with us, but we had to have identification on us and show them. We went through metal detectors and x-ray machines. Then, we had to wait in line. People bought flowers to place next to his tomb and you could tell that the museum keeps reusing the flowers. People looked really moved and serious to see his body. I was trying not to laugh and be polite, but I was annoyed with everyone's ignorance. Blehhh. For the record, Mao is not a cute man. I know you were wondering.

One of my favorite moment was in the subway. This little girl (3 years old?) was sitting next to her dad and she must have heard us speaking english. She belted out, "Hello" and "Your welcome" to us and then looked away. I was laughing so hard. So cute!

Well, that pretty much covers my trip. It took me about 6 hours to finish, which included a few dance party breaks.I just realized I have been listening to the same cd for the past 3 hours. Oops. I was wondering why it was beginning to be annoying. My brain is mush. Time to make it better by watching a quality movie called ELF. I hope you learned something! China was great! I would love to go back and see other parts of the country. Here is a few random pics of the city and such.

ChCHCh..China...

Hello, friends! Happy New Year!!! I hope you all had a wonderful evening! :) I decided to skip the usual New Years Eve festivities and go for something more relaxing... I was getting a massage at a spa as the clock struck 12( 1.5 hr for $35-40)! It was a wonderful massage, but I was trying not to yell or cry during the event. Getting a massage outside the US is always rather interesting. This one was a very intense and this woman was massaging me like she would tenderize a slab of steak. haha. Koreans LOVE their spas. They are very cheap to get in. It is around $5 to use their saunas, pools, and relaxation rooms.They are open 24 hours and people go at all hours of the evening/morning. We left at 3 am. The only catch about using the spa is no clothing is allowed (I went to females only spa). haha. So, I was facing my fears as I entered 2009. I may have conquered my public nudity fear, but you will NOT see me streaking through the streets anytime soon...maybe next year. :)

China!!! Well, I have been avoiding this blog all week! I have so much to tell and show you. I'm not sure where to begin. I will break it up into days. I was there for 5 days and took close to 450 pictures. haha. Don't worry, I won't post them all. China was nothing like I expected. It was MASSIVE. The buildings were HUGE. The streets were clean and well kept up. I didn't notice the pollution until the 3rd day, which I am guessing it was due to the cold weather. I was pleasantly surprised to see Christmas decorations all over the city. There were lights, Santa's, snowmen, and other Christmas themed decorations. I saw a few churches and many temples. I thought that Christian churches were banned in China, but I was wrong. According to the Chinese government, citizens may choose between the 5 official religions- Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, or Taoism. Any other religions are banned and you can be arrested if you are caught. All places of worship must be registered with the government and follow their strict rules. Most churches/places of worship are underground and face persecution daily. According to newspapers here, the government was relaxed during the Olympics, but has become strict again and arrests have increased. Lame.

I felt like I had much more space in Beijing than Seoul. I'm not sure how that is possible, considering Beijing's population is around 17 million and Seoul's population is 12 million. We were twirling around on the sidewalks and waving our arms, being silly and laughing that we weren't running into people or being pushed around by the aggressive Koreans. I didn't realize how crowded Seoul really is.

Although were very busy during the days, the nights were spent hanging out and laughing in our hostel. We shared a room with 5 other strangers. It was like summer camp. So fun! We hung out with some of the guys we stayed with. There was a German (Peter) and a French (Damien) guy that we got to know pretty well. They were both studying in Shanghai and knew quite a bit of Chinese. They helped get us around in the evenings and find food. haha. They were a lifesaver and very entertaining. I was in love with Damien's French accent. There were many times I had to have him repeat what he said because I was in a trance by his voice. He thought it was quite amusing. I told him to drop the accent, so I could actually listen to what he was saying, but he just laughed and continued to be dreamy.

Day 1( Wed)

We arrived in the morning and headed to our hostel. We found out quickly that Chinese people do not speak very much English- if any at all. They are also HORRIBLE drivers. I think I almost died 100 times. I would compare them to drivers in India. They do not stop for pedestrians and red lights are just a suggestion. Geesh. I think they are need to go back to driver's ed- actually, something tells me that they never went there to begin with. The streets were very wide and had an entire lane for bikers. Lots of bikes everywhere.


We headed to the Forbidden City after we dropped our stuff off at the hostel. The Forbidden City took 14 years to build and was finished in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty and then used during the Qing Dynasty. It has 980 buildings within the palace and everything is massive. Again, I felt very small and I am a giant compared to many of the Chinese population. It was so beautiful. I love the color themes of all the temples I have visited thus far. You can tell that the Chinese had influence over the temples in Korea. They were very similar to one another.





















Day 2 (Christmas)
We signed up for a tour of the Great Wall at the Forbidden City, which we were a little hesitant about. There are so many people trying to scam you in China. People will come up to you and try to get you to buy all their little trinkets that look like crap or want to be your tour guide. There were also more beggars in China than I have seen in Korea. It is pretty sad. I haven't been around that in a while.
So, we were picked up bright and early on Christmas morning by our tour guide. We boarded a bus with the other tourists. There was quite the variety of foreigners- 3 guys from Iran, 2 girls from Sweden, A couple from Korea, a guy from Finland, and us 3 crazy American girls. We started off the tour by heading to this lame jade store. I guess all these tours have 2 stops on the way to their destinations to get foreigners to buy crazy souvenirs. Lame. Lame. Lame.

I took a picture of the crap they told me not to. They waste my time, I break their rules. :) I'm a bad ass.

Next, we went to a see the tomb of Emperor Yong Lee, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. It was pretty cool, but I was hoping to see more than one tomb. The rest of the tombs are closed off to the public, unless you want to shell out the big bucks.

This is Mr. Yong Lee's tomb. He is said to be buried behind the tomb.

These stone statues are actually sacrificial incense burners, hence the coins and fruit next to them.

The building that contains the tomb.



I think it is crazy to give the statue of Mr. Lee money. I wonder what he needs money for? Polish? We wouldn't want his statue to get dull or dusty.

Next, we had lunch with our tour group. We had to go back to the Jade crap shoot, because the restaurant was connected to the building. Lunch was pretty hilarious. Most of the people at the table did not know how to use chopsticks. I felt like a professional compared to them, which shows how awful they were. The Iranians were hilarious. They would not eat any of the meat, because they said they don't trust the meat in China. I think they may have eaten some white rice and thats about it. They kept telling everyone to just eat with their hands. It was quite comical. All of us were tourists from all over the world. We were all experiencing a new culture together and it did not matter where we were from. It was a very weird lunch filled with awkward silences and laughter.

Next, we headed to the Great Wall of China. We arrived at the wall and got in line for the tram that takes us up to the more popular portion of the wall- or at least that's what I thought we were doing. We got to the front of the line and saw our transportaion. It was little cars that were connected to one another- just like a rollercoaster. They practically pushed me into the moving car- yes, it was moving. I pulled down the seat belt and found that mine didn't lock. I thought I was going to die. Ok, I am being a little dramatic, but I was worried. What the hell were we doing? See face below.





Well, I made it to the top and they yanked me out of the car and again, decided it wasn't necessary to stop the car. So, we stated walking on the wall and I was in compete awe. The view was incredible. There were no words and the pictures do not even come close to its beauty. If you ever have the chance to see it, I highly encourage you to. There were a lot of people on the wall. There were people trying to sell stuff, which was a little annoying. We stopped and took a ton of pictures. I also had to pose with a few asian people. It's tough being a celebrity in Asia. haha. The wall was FREEZING. The winds were strong and my whole body was numb, but it was worth it. It was very difficult to climb up the wall. It was SO steep.I felt the burn in my legs all the way up! It would have sucked if it was icy.
















So, the Great Wall of China lived up to its expectations and then some. I was very happy to be there on Christmas. I was thinking of all of you and wishing you were experiencing it with me. It was breathtaking. We were on the wall for 2 hours and I could have stayed for another 2 hours. It would take someone 5 years to climb the entire wall. The Chinese people refer to the wall as the "Wall of Tombs" because beneath the wall are mass graves. The graves were of enemies and of the people who were building the wall. It is said that 2-3 million Chinese people died while building the wall. The wall was built to protect the northern Chinese border from attacks. It was built, rebuilt, and maintained from 5th century BC to the 16th century.
On the way home, we HAD to stop at a Chinese medicine place where they tried to sell us more crap. Sweet. :)

We got home, exhausted and starving. We met up with our friends Peter and Damien. They decided that we needed to have duck for dinner. Apparently, China is known for their fabulous duck cuisine. I wasn't too excited about it, because I had seen some not so appetizing duck the day before.

Yummy. blehhh.
So, we spent 3 hours lost in Beijing trying to find this restaurant. We got to see a lot of the city and froze our tushies off. That seemed to be a theme of the week. brrrr. We finally found a place- not duck- and had a great dinner, sorta. The menu contained crazy food like bullfrog, duck blood, liver, tongue, and rooster. I had the rooster and eggplant- it was alright. It was mostly bone.The eggplant was awesome and I ended up having it for every meal after that. American Chinese food is nothing like the authentic stuff. Peter had the duck blood. blehhh. It looked like red tofu. He wanted me to try it, but I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.

So, my Christmas was great. Very different, but I will never forget it. How could I?