Chinese New Year

This post was originally from January 27, 2008.

Happy new year everyone!!! It's now officially the year of the Ox, and it seems like it will be a good one! The night before last was Chinese New Year Eve and I must admit I've never seen anything like it before! I was told that Chinese families on average spend one month salary on fireworks, and I believe it. The 4th of July and Western New Year have nothing on Chinese New Year. Check out the video for proof. This was from the roof of our 6 story apartment, and it was like this all over the city all night!

Trip to Harbin

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I'm looking forward to this year; I think it'll be a good one! I wanted my first post of the 2009 to be about my recent Harbin trip, so I'm going to hold off on my post about Chinese cuisine for now. Harbin (哈尔滨) is an amazing place! If any of you are planning a trip to China, Harbin should be on your list of destinations to see. It is beautiful, especially in the winter.

We left the overnight train from Beijing to Harbin at just past 7 in the morning and quickly looked for a taxi to escape the harsh Siberian winds. Harbin is very close to Russia, so parts of the city have a very Eastern European feel to them. We stayed at the Harbin Friendship Youth Hostel on Xuefu Lu. It wasn't too bad, the staff was relatively friendly and it only cost 35 (about $5 USD) RMB per person for one night.
After checking in we headed off to Zhongyang Dajie (Center Street) to check out the commercial center of Harbin. It is a really interesting place to visit. The street is still cobblestone (cars aren't allowed to drive on it), and all of the buildings look European. There are plenty of Restaurants and Russian souvenir shops. We visited the beautiful St. Sofia chapel, located just a few blocks east of Zhongyang Dajie. We didn't mind paying the entrance fee to get into the chapel, as it gave us a chance to get a break from the freezing weather. With temperatures at around -20 Celsius and strong winds, we needed to take breaks every now and then and thaw out in a restaurant or souvenir shop. The inside of the chapel was filled with medieval style art and decorations. After leaving the chapel we headed back to Zhongyang Dajie to look at the many beautifully detailed ice sculptures that line the center and sides of the street and grab some lunch. We ate at a nice Russian restaurant, and then headed out for Sun Island Park to see the famous snow sculptures.
After lunch we asked someone on the street for directions to the park, and they told us which direction it was in and then offered to take us to a place to get a carriage ride to the park. We declined, but that didn't matter to them. They followed us all the way to the frozen lake which we needed to cross to get to the park. Quick side note: If you ever need to ask directions, make sure you ask a police officer or security guard. If you ask other people that are standing around, chances are they are trying to sell a service of some sort. They will follow you FOREVER and tell you anything they can until you finally cave in and purchase the service they are trying to offer. After they told us that the park was literally miles away and that we wouldn't be able to walk we agreed to take a carriage across the frozen lake for 50 RMB (a little over $7). We were pretty upset when the ride was over after he crossed the lake (which would have only taken maybe 5 minutes to cross on foot).
Walking around Sun Island Park was like something out of a Silent Hill game. It looks like an old abandoned Russian town. All of the buildings were vacant, covered in snow, and run-down. It was a pretty cool experience. We made our way over to the park with the snow sculptures. I can't even begin to describe how awesome this place was! All of the sculptures were incredibly detailed!! There was even this massively huge sculpture at the north eastern side of the park. Click here to see photos of Zhongyang Dajie and other snow sculptures from Sun Island Park. We also saw a television game show kind of like NBC's Wipeout being filmed there. We asked if we could participate, and they asked us to come back the following morning. We agreed.


After leaving the park, we headed west towards the Ice and Snow World. This is an annual event held every winter (and supposedly gets bigger and better every year). This was one of my favorite attractions in Harbin. Pictures just can't do this place justice. All of the buildings are made entirely of ice and sculpted to look like the famous buildings they represent. There were ice representations of the Forbidden City and Pagoda Forest, as well as many others. There were also some fun ice slides to go down. The entrance ticket was quite pricey, 150 RMB, but it is totally worth the cost. It is amazing to see what people can do with ice. To see the pictures I took at the Snow and Ice world, click here. We finished our first day with a nice dinner and a quick trip to a bath house to thaw out from our day of subzero temperatures.
We had an early start the next morning so that we could compete on that game show. It felt quite a bit colder than the previous day, which made it pretty hard to compete in the game. It was such an amazing experience! They took all 5 of us on the stage and interviewed us in Chinese and asked us to say a coupe of New Year's greetings and then one-by-one we attempted the obstacle course. It is a lot harder than it looks! 2 of us made it to the 3rd obstacle, and the rest of us failed on the first one. I got the impression that not many foreigners compete on that game show, as a lot of the staff asked to take pictures with us. It was almost as if we were celebrities!
Our next stop was the Siberian Tiger Park. This is a preservation that is seeking to build up the Siberian Tiger population in a massively huge wildlife reserve. They also have some lions, and other big cats. You can even see real Ligers. Bet you didn't think those really existed, did you? After you purchase an entrance ticket you board a small bus and head out into the reserve. This gives you an opportunity to get up close and personal with the tigers. It was another amazing experience. You also have a chance to purchase livestock which they feed to the tigers right in front of you (if you don't like watching animals eat other animals, you may want to look away when this happens). You can purchase something as small as a chicken or duck, up to larger livestock such as goats and cattle. If you would like to see more pictures from the Siberian Tiger Park, click here.

We then went back into town for some more high quality Russian food and to check out the Ice Disneyland in Zhaoli Park. The ice Disneyland is interesting, and would most likely be a huge hit with the youngsters, but the Snow and Ice World was far more impressive. After this it was time to head back to the train station to catch our train back to Beijing. It was such an awesome trip and I really wish I could have spent a few more days there!

Kungfu Show at Red Theater

This post was originally from December 17, 2008.

Tonight we went to a Kungfu show at the famous Red Theater (close to the Temple of Heaven). It was a pretty impressive show. It was much like the Chinese acrobat show I went to a while ago, but it told a story instead of just random shows. It was a really fun! The show lasted about an hour and a half. Afterward we all stopped by the souvenir shop and bought some really cool paintings from this artist. He made them using the side of his finger. I've never seen anything like it before!

Adventures in Beijing

This post was from December 14, 2008.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend! Mine was good for the most part. I didn't end up going on the ski trip. I felt like rubbish in the morning so I decided not to go. I did go on a nice little adventure around Beijing with a group called Speedism. It was a pretty nice trip for the most part. I got to see some places in Beijing that I probably would never have the chance to see otherwise.

Our first stop was the five star Chateau Laffitte Hotel. This hotel is located in the Changping District. It is modeled after Chateau Laffitte in France. It was a very nice hotel, and would at least be worth a visit. It isn't in the most convenient of places, requiring a lengthy cab ride into the city. It was interesting to see the blending of Chinese culture with Western Culture. Guest rooms had those Russian style decorative eggs with Chinese style illustrations on them. The hallways had red lantern lamp posts with Chinese characters on them. The main kitchen serves Cantonese, Hunan, and French food. If you would like to see photos that I took from inside the Castle please check out my Facebook photo album here.
Our next stop was Sculpture Garden. This was a fun place as I was able to see the construction of many beautiful sculptures. This is the place where a lot of the beautiful sculptures that decorate Beijing are made. You can even take a drawing of a sculpture you would like to have made there and they will make it for you! One of my personal favorite sculptures can be seen in the picture above. Another favorite of mine can be found on my Facebook photo album.
We then went to the largest bookstore in Beijing, Beijing International Book City. This place was massive! I've never been in a bookstore that large! We didn't get to spend an incredible amount of time in this place as we arrived just as it was closing. I did get around to buying a few children's books in Chinese (I'm going to try and teach my niece when I return to the States).
All-in-all it was a pretty fun day! I got a chance to see a few parts of Beijing I would have never known about.

Never Thought I'd Meet a Celebrity in Beijing!

Well it's been a while since I posted, so I figured I'd fix that. The weather is starting to get rather cold in Beijing (it even snowed a little bit), so it's finally time to start wearing all the winter clothing I've been buying from the local clothing markets!

So, what have I been up to recently? A couple of weeks ago I went with some of my friends to visit the Pagoda Forest and Tanzhe. It was a pretty cool experience. The temple was nestled in the hills just a little bit west of Beijing. To get there we took a taxi from the west end of town. It ended up costing us almost 100 RMB. We didn't realize it would be that far. By the time we made it down to the Pagoda Forest, it was pretty much empty. It was a real serene experience.

More recently, the "Flying Acrobats" show was amazing!!! I was planning on taking loads of pictures but I forgot to charge my battery before. Sorry about that. But for those of you that might be planning a trip to Beijing, you absolutely must plan on seeing this show! It will blow your mind! After the show some of us decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We coudn't have picked a better night to go! Bobby Kimball from Toto was performing that night, and we got to watch for free since we were dining there! I must admit, however, I didn't even know who Toto was before that night. Of course I recognized a few of their hits (Love Isn't Always on Time, Africa, etc), I am just not a huge fan of 80's music. All in all, it was a good evening!
Just recently, I had the opportunity to go with a few of my Dutch friends to Qianmen (close to Tiananmen Square) to do somesightseeing. It is a pretty cool place. There is a street that they have reconstructed with a lot of shops and restaurants. It is meant to looklike the old "Westernized" part of Beijing, which is prettycool. Most of the shops were still vacant when we went, but I'm surethey'll fill up in the coming months. There are also a lot of scenic hutongs in the vicinity, which are worth a look as well.

Great Wall Trip Part II

This post was originally from November 15, 2008.

Good day everyone! I thought I would just make a quick post about what I've been up to in Beijing recently. I'm really loving it here and I'm glad I still have several months left. Two weekends ago I had an opportunity to return to the Great Wall. This time my classmates and I went to the 金山 (Jin Shan) and 司马台 (Si Ma Tai) portions of the Great Wall in the 河北 (He Bei) province. It was a really amazing experience. The parts of the wall that we walked across were all restored for the most part, so it was nice to see what the wall might have looked like 500 years ago.

We started our trek at around noon in Jin Shan, making our way towards Si Ma Tai. It was so amazing! I took a lot of pictures which you can look at here if you want. One of my favorite parts was on top of one of the watch towers. Sitting from the edge, I was able to witness just how beautiful that part of the country is (see picture on the right). I don't feel that pictures can truly capture the beauty of the view from up there. It is something that everyone must experience for themselves.
It was the perfect day to climb, not a cloud in the sky and it wasn't too cold or too hot. We were also able to enjoy a beautiful sunset from the peak of Si Ma Tai. If anyone is planning a trip to Beijing and would like to visit this part of the Great Wall, let me know and I'll tell you how to get there. It's definitely worth the 3 hour drive!

Still Livin It Up!

This post was originally from November 10, 2008.

Well it's been a while since I've posted, so I figured I'd give everyone a quick update.

A few weeks ago I moved into my new apartment in Xizhimen. It was sad to leave Jiaodaokou but I think Xizhimen will be amazing! Our apartment is soooooo much better than our last one. We live on the 5th and 6th floors of our building (that's right, our apartment has 2 floors!). It has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There's a really nice living room, a cool chandelier over the staircase, and a pretty decent size TV. The best part of it all is we have our own private balcony on the roof that looks out over the north west part of the city. This place is awesome! We definitely have the nicest apartment out of all of the students here!

Last week I went to the Fragrant Hills and Beijing Botanical Gardens. It was a pretty nice trip! The Fragrant Hills is a very popular place this time of year as everyone wants to see the leaves turning colors. We had to travel a pretty long distance to get there. But it was worth the trip. There were a few temples, and a really nice park to visit. After that we went to the Botanical Gardens to check it out just before it closed. We didn't get to see all the really cool stuff as it had closed already. There was a lot of impressive shrubbery and flowers.

Last night we went to the famous Laoshe Teahouse. It was pretty cool. There were kungfu shows and elabrote tea ceremonies. This is apparently a pretty popular place. They had a lot of photos of famous people that have visited over the years.

Xi'an

This post was from October 20, 2008.

Just got back from Xi'an. Man, that was an amazing trip!! For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to visit this city! So much history here, it's awesome! Xi'an was the ancient capital city of China. Qinshi Huangdi made it the capital city when he first united China. This is also the home to the famous Terracotta Warriors.

We boarded a night train leaving from Beijing heading to Xi'an. We had what are called "hard sleepers." They are beds lined up 3 high on both sides of a tiny room. They are not the most comfortable beds around, but they were just fine. It was Friesht, Lex, Fabian, Federico, Anja, Julian, and myself that went.
We woke up in the morning just as our train was arriving in Xi'an. We checked in our bags at this place near the train station and then boarded a bus to go check out a palace and the terracotta warriors. Our first stop was a palace close to Qinshi's tomb. It was really nice. It is located just on the south side of Jade mountain. We walked around for a while, and stopped at a souvenir shop to buy some jade souvenirs.
After that we went to visit the Terracotta Warriors. This was an awesome site to behold! Something I always told myself I wanted to do before I die. There are 3 covered sites where they have unearthed these Terracotta Warriors. There is a huge project that has been going on since then to restore them to the condition they were in before they were buried. We were able to see people working on piecing them together. It was amazing to see how someone could mobilize people to make such a thing!
We then went back to the city to pick up our luggage and then check into our hostel. It was a really nice hostel in a very convenient location. After getting settled in we had dinner and afterward called it a night.
The next day we went to Huashan (one of the 5 famous mountains of China). This was such a beautiful trip! We hiked up to the top, which took all day! The view from up top was breathtaking! All along the way up there were very steep staircases (like what you see from the movies of those Buddhist temples located in the mountains). Every once in a while you could see someone carrying lots of stuff on their backs, to take up to the hotels and restaurants that were located at various spots up the mountain.
After returning from the mountain we went back to the hostel, ate a quick dinner in the Muslim quarter (which was cool), and went to bed. The next morning we got up and went to the south part of the city wall (still in tact from when it was the ancient capital) and rented bikes to ride all the way around it. The whole trip took about an hour and a half. We then ate lunch and walked around a bit trying to find some temple but then it started raining on us, so we just went back to the train station to head back to Beijing.

Chinese Music Lesson

This post is from October 12, 2008.

Today we got a chance to visit a special place of the Forbidden City that is normally closed off to visitors. I guess they are in the middle of doing some restorations or something. There is a music school inside where we got to learn how to play some traditional Chinese instruments like the Erhu. It was pretty cool, they taught us how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

I had to leave early to meet up with a language partner, so on the way out the lady that ran the school gave me a tour of this closed off section of the Forbidden City. It was really cool! I was the only person in the whole area. The lady told me that during the Olympics, the Chinese hosted a party for President Bush there.

Indian Kitchen and Forbidden City

This post was from October 3, 2008.

Tonight we went to this amazing Indian restaurant near Sanlitun called Indian Kitchen. I ordered the Butter Chicken Masala, which was amazing! We all had a good time. I must go back there soon :)

My friends from Nantong have been here the past few days so I've been taking them around Beijing. Yesterday I took them to the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. I cannot believe how many people there are in Beijing now (it's the National Holiday right now). It was a much different experience this time that before. It was just like a sea of people! I've never seen so many people crowded together at one time. I remember thinking how huge and spacious the Forbidden City was the first time I went. It was a lot different yesterday.This is a pic from the first time I went. Just wanted to show less crowded it was.

Summer Palace

This post was from September 27, 2008.

Today I went to the Summer Palace for the second time with Nerys. I really love this place! It is so massive. We spent about 3.5 hours there, and we still didn't get to see everything. The Summer Palace surrounds a beautiful lake, and the view of it from the main palace is absolutely amazing!

There is a beautiful park on the north side of the Summer Palace that is a great place to have picnics. There are very nice trails that you can hike around and get some pretty nice views of the city.There is a lot of culture here in Beijing, and I'm glad I finally get to experience. These are places I've wanted to come visit since I was a kid. This has been a dream come true so far!

A view from Suzhou Street near the north gate of the Summer Palace

Fabian's Farewell Dinner

This post was from September 26, 2008.

Tonight was Fabian's farewell dinner. I've had the chance to hang out with him a lot recently, and he's a really funny guy. We ate at this Mexican food restaurant in Sanlitun (famous bar and club street). It was a nice restaurant, but the food was just so-so. What can you expect from a Mexican restaurant in China? It was sad to see Fabian go, but I wish him the best of luck back in Germany!

Dinner Theater and the Infamous "Night Market"

This post was from September 25, 2008.

Last night several of us went to this dinner theater place. It was really nice. We had a great table very close to the stage. The show started at 7 and ended at around 9. It was really cool! They had various performances like Beijing Opera, a magic show, and traditional Chinese dances. The food was good as well, but we ended up ordering way too much!

Then tonight we went to the famous "Night Market" in Wangfujing. This place is famous for it's bizarre foods that can be purchased for fairly cheap prices. They have everything from more normal things like dumplings, to really strange things like sheep's penis and scorpions. After surveying what they had to offer we started trying out things. The first thing I tried were the silk worms. They were absolutely disgusting! It was the only thing that I almost thew up after eating.

The next thing I tried were some sort of locust. It wasn't too bad, much better than the silk worms were! Next I tried a centipede. This wasn't so good either.
The last thing I had, which was the best, were the scorpions. These were actually very tasty!

Beijing Zoo and Temple of Heaven

This post was from September 20, 2008.

After recovering from a late night at the Karaoke place, Nerys (England), Wieteke, Anka (Germany), and I decided to go pay a visit to the Beijing Zoo and the Temple of Heaven.

The Beijing zoo was ok. The park was really nice, but the animals didn't seem to happy to be in their cages. We did get a nice look at the pandas though, which was the highlight of the zoo. It was kind of wierd seeing raccoon's and skunks there (animals you wouldn't think to see in a zoo in the States).

After grabbing lunch, we decided to head back to the Temple of Heaven (meeting up with Federico) since we didn't get a chance to see all of it from a couple of days ago. The Temple of Heaven is amazing! One of my favorite things I've seen here so far! It has a very different feel than the Summer Palace did. There were a lot of old people playing cards, and singing various traditional Chinese songs. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. It was nice too because we went a little later in the day, and there weren't so many people around. It was a nice chance to get a more personal experience.The altar (pictured above) was one of my favorite spots. According to the ancient Chinese, the circular spot I am standing on was considered to be the center point of the earth (coinciding with the old Chinese views of China being the "Middle Kingdom," or the center of the earth).

This place is a must for anyone planning a trip to Beijing.

Karoake Night at Tango

This post was from September 19, 2008. We had Leon's farewell party at Tango (a famous karaoke place in Beijing).

Last night was pretty fun! Leon reserved a private room at this really nice Karaoke place/club called Tango for his last night in Beijing. We had the room from about 8pm till 5am the next morning. It wasn't too expensive either. We had to order 1800 RMB worth of drinks and then we got the room for free. Everyone ended up paying just over 100 RMB each. The room had 4 microphones (which led to chaos at some points) and a really nice projection screen that would play the music videos with accompanying subtitles. They had a pretty decent selection of English songs, and a few of them were even pretty current. I ended up leaving at about 2am, it's gonna be sad without Leon! I wish him the best of luck in Belgium!

Beach Trip

This post was from September 13-15, 2008. The school organized a beach trip for us during the Moon Festival.

Just got back from the Beach Trip. It was a pretty fun time. The first day we boarded a bus and drove for about 4 hours to the beach. Wasn't too bad of a drive. Once we arrived at the coast we checked into our hotel. There was no running water and we had no electricity in our room at first. I ended up sharing a room with my roommate Andrew. The beds were hard as rock (I think it was just a sheet over a piece of plywood) and the pillows felt like they were rice-filled sacks. Not too comfortable. After checking in, we all went to the beach. The water was a little chilly, but that didn't stop Romain and Federico from having a good time. We rented a sand volleyball court and tried to play a game. Not too many people really know how to play so it wasn't a very exciting game.

Later on Andrew and I explored around a bit looking for a place to eat. We ended up eating with everyone else. We had these really nice Mantou Chuan's (grilled pieces of bread with a delicious sauce on them) among other standard things (kungpao chicken, tomato and egg, etc).
Early the next morning we got back on the bus and drove to a port where we boarded a boat that took us to Crescent Moon Island where we would be spending the next night. It was a beautiful little island. We stayed in these Dutch style cottages that stood above the water. Each cottage had just a single bed.

After settling in, we went back to the beach. The water here was much warmer. Most of us went out into the water and played some sort of water volleyball. After leaving the beach we went to this nice little restaurant on the dock and had some pretty delicious steaks. Later that night we went back to the beach to chill and watch the ocean. It was a really nice view. I also had a nice chance to really get to know Wieteke (Holland). She's pretty cool.

Early the next morning, I got up and went on my own to explore the island a bit. It was a beautiful island. I had a nice walk through nature. On the way back, I passed through this beautiful flower garden and got some nice photos. After having lunch back at that restaurant with the steaks we got back on the boat to head back to the bus and then back to Beijing.

All You Can Eat Teppanyaki Madness!

This post was from September 12, 2008. Leon (Belgium) organized a dinner for all of us at this all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant called Tairyo.

Last night we went to this all-you-can-eat restaurant called Tairyo. It was pretty awesome! Leon organized it. We all met at the restaurant at about 8 and started the gorge fest. We had a whole table just to ourselves. It was a pretty fun restaurant. Think Benni Hanna's but with a bigger menu, and it's all you can eat! We ordered a ridiculous amount of food! We stayed there for a couple of hours before everyone decided to leave. Beach trip tomorrow, looking forward to that.

First trip to the Great Wall

So I finally decided to setup my own blog. Up to this point I've been blogging on the site of my last employer. I figured it be better to do it here, so I'm going back and posting some of my older posts here.

This first post is from September 06, 2008. It was when the school organized a trip to a super-awesome part of the Great Wall. It was called Qiangzi Lu, and it was breathtaking!

We had to meet at the school at 8am to head off to the Great Wall. Everyone was pretty tired but excited to go. It was about a 2.5 hour drive through the mountains from the school to the wall. It was a nice scenic drive. We passed by some cool mountain villages and then stopped at some tiny restaurant for lunch. I think they had never had so many customers before, as they looked pretty surprised when we came in. One thing I still have to get used to is the lack of cleanliness in restaurants here. They set the meat that they were gonna cook for us right on the ground!

We got back on the bus and drove for another 30 minutes or so before the driver dropped us off at the wall. Jiao yu was our guide for the day, and he explained to us that the part of the wall we were starting at was a part of the original wall built over 2000 years ago. Most of what we climbed on was from the Ming Dynasty however. It was a really cool experience because this is what the Chinese refer to as the "Wild Wall." None of it has been restored. It's just been left alone for hundreds of years.

No one was really prepared for this hike. They never told us that it would have been this wild! Nobody dressed appropriately for it. I wore my Diesel shoes and shorts, Friesht even wore high heels. The middle of the wall was covered with thick brush and lots of big spiders. At some points we had to climb off of the wall and go up a bit and climb back up. All around the wall were mountains and lots of trees. It was so beautiful! We hiked for hours and and stopped at a watch tower way high up on a mountain. The view from up there was stunning!

After resting up top for about 30 minutes we started the hike back down. There was this one part that was insanely steep! It was a staircase at some point, but all the steps had been withered away, so it was pretty much just a slope. I was asked to stay towards the back and help some of the girls get down. As I was making my way down, I lost my footing and slammed my foot into a rock. I ended up braking a toe. The rest of the hike down was pretty tough. We then hiked down into this village where the bus driver picked us up and took us back to Beijing. We ended up getting back to Beijing sometime in the evening, and we all went to this restaurant called the Vineyard to have pizza. It was a great day!