On my second full day in Beijing I went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, which is on the other side of the main entrance. The Forbidden City was the home to 24 Chinese emperors starting in the early 15th century during the Ming Dynasty. The complex is massive with more than 800 buildings and dozens of separate palaces. I came out on the wrong side of the subway and having intended first to go to Tiananmen Square instead headed right into the Forbidden City. There was so much to see that it took me nearly five hours to get from one end of this literal “city” to the other. The best part was the Imperial Gardens at the rear of the complex, though there were so many other tourists crowded into the space that it was hard to fully appreciate it.
After coming out of the gate on the far end of the Forbidden City, I went up into Jingshan Park where you can climb a hill to a series of pagodas and get a panoramic view of the city of Beijing. It’s the one angle where you’ll get a bird’s eye view of the Forbidden City and actually get to take in the entire complex all at once. It’s also where some general hung himself in protest of something at some point. I declined to go visit the site where said hanging took place.
In the late afternoon I wanted to go back to check out Tiananmen Square, but by this point I was completely on the wrong side of the neighborhood and had to walk at least a few kilometers all the way back along the side of the Forbidden City. The light coming through the trees as I was walking was really soothing and almost hypnotizing. I realized I could have taken a bus, but was enjoying myself so much that I decided to keep on going on foot.
I finally got to Tiananmen Square and had to go through a metal detector and put my bag through an x-ray machine just to go inside. The square is huge with the People’s Culture Palace on one end and Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum on the other. Along the way you walk past the phallic-shaped Monument of the People’s Heroes. The mausoleum is only open in the morning so that was something to put on my list for another day.
After leaving Tiananmen Square, I raced across town to pick up my computer at the repair shop. I got a bit lost coming out of the subway and got there later than I had intended. Thankfully my laptop was fully repaired and I even had them add a bit more memory to try to make it run a little faster. I’m not sure if it’s really made a difference, but I’m just so grateful to have my computer back that I don’t even much care.
Since I was so behind schedule, I ended up being late to meet a friend of a friend named Maggie who currently lives in Beijing. I was supposed to join her and her friend for dinner, but instead met up with her at a microbrewery deep inside one of the hutongs near the Drum and Bell Tower. A bluegrass band made up of mostly Western musicians was playing, but I was only there to catch their last song. After that, Maggie and I went to another bar called Mao Mao Chong, which is known for its inventive cocktails. I got the “maojito,” a mojito made with ginger ale. The bar was in a different hutong not too far from my hostel so I was able to walk home. It was definitely another side of Beijing that I had not expected to see.
On Saturday, I spent most of the day at the Yonghegong Lama Temple. It’s a Tibetan Buddhist temple that features a giant Buddha, which is the largest sculpture made out of one continuous piece of sandalwood. There were lots of people lighting incense and kowtowing to the various Buddha statues, but since I didn’t really know what I was doing I just basically watched them.
That night I was supposed to meet up with a friend who I worked with during my first year in Korea, but at the last minute she had to cancel. Instead I had dinner with Maggie and a few of her friends at a dim sum restaurant not too far from the Lama Temple. Of course I had already gone all the way back to my hostel before I got Maggie’s message so I had to come all the way back out to meet them. Afterward, we went to an Australian bar in a hutong nearby and then back to Mao Mao Chong at the end of the night.
On Sunday, I went to the Temple of Heaven, which is where Chinese emperors offered sacrifices and prayers for a good harvest starting in the Ming Dynasty. The central feature of the park is the three-tiered, round Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. It’s really a beautiful structure architecturally, although visitors aren’t actually allowed inside. The temple is in a huge park with really pretty grounds full of Cypress trees. As I was walking around the area, I saw a group of people gathered and went over to see a small Chinese orchestra about to start playing I listened to a few songs before walking through a nice rose garden, which unfortunately was past season.
I then went to the Circular Mound Altar, which is a three-level platform of marble stones that are organized according to the sacred number nine and multiples of nine. The altar reminded me in some strange way of a Chinese Stonehenge. Apparently if you stand right in the center your voice is supposed to really resonate when you speak, though there were so many people gathered around that I didn’t get a chance to give it a try. Throughout my wandering through the Temple of Heaven I kept bumping into an annoying tour group that would randomly give out loud yells so that somewhat diminished the whole experience.
Sunday night I finally got a chance to meet up with Portia, my friend from Korea. We actually went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, which was a nice change of pace from Chinese food. It was great to catch up with her, but we weren’t able to stay out too late because Portia had to work in the morning and I had to buy train tickets and then head out to the Great Wall. That is definitely an experience I will never forget, which I will tell you about next time.
Posted courtesy of George Merrick
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Beijing or Bust
My first priority when I got to Beijing last week was to get my computer fixed since I was afraid it might take a while after what they told me in Korea. Since I didn’t get to my hostel until mid-afternoon on Wednesday, I decided to wait to go until first thing in the morning. The hostel was located in a traditional hutong neighborhood of narrow streets and alleyways and since I got off the subway at a station that turned out to be a lot farther away then I thought, I was a hot, sweaty mess by the time I finally arrived. I spent the remaining daylight hours walking from my hostel vaguely in the direction of Tiananmen Square to see if I could get there before it got dark.
My first impression of Beijing was “wow, it’s smoggy.” It was hot and muggy and the sky just had this foggy haze to it. I was walking down a street with a little park in the middle so that was pleasant enough. However, since I once again miscalculated the distance I was trying to go, I became tired and cranky rather quickly. Then right as I was about to get to Tiananmen Square, a young Chinese man and his two female friends approached me to say hello. I tried to be friendly since I figured they probably just wanted to practice their English, but I wasn’t really in a talkative mood. They told me Tiananmen Square would already be closed by then (I didn’t know that was possible for a city plaza) and asked me if I wanted to join them for a drink. I was a bit wary because I had literally just read a warning in my hostel about a scam where people invite you to try some tea and then make you pay a lot more than you were expecting. I couldn’t find a good reason to turn them down, though, so I reluctantly agreed.
We went to a place right down the street and ordered a few sodas. My new friends mainly asked me questions about living in the US and my thoughts about life in China. I noticed the prices at the bar were a bit expensive (by Chinese standards at least), but was kind of stuck now that I was already there. When the bill came, the guy turned to me and said, “They’re students so let’s split it in half.” I felt annoyed that it seemed like I had just been scammed, but in the end I paid a bit less than half and basically only covered part of one of the girl’s drinks at just over $3.00. I vowed that I wasn’t going to get stuck going to dinner with them, though, so as we started walking again I told them I had to go back to my hostel.
The students continued to walk with me in the direction of the subway station. As we were walking, we passed a night market selling all sorts of goodies to eat such as silk worms and scorpions. The guy kept pointing everything out to me and I finally announced that I was going to try the scorpions. There were big black ones and crispy, fried small ones. He let me get the small ones and after a few minutes I finally got the courage to put one in my mouth. It actually just tasted crunchy and fried like a potato chip and wasn’t half bad unless you actually stopped to think about what you were eating. Once we got to the subway station, the Chinese students turned off to go shopping and I went back to the neighborhood of my hostel where I was able to get some real food for dinner.
On Wednesday night it rained so by the next day the smog had washed away and it was a bit cooler out. It was as if the weather knew that it was suddenly September. That morning, I took a taxi to the computer repair center and to my delight they told me it would only take a day and cost about $150 to fix my laptop. I was rather nervous leaving my computer there, but figured it couldn’t end up in any worse condition than it already was. On the way out I passed a Daoist temple that housed the Beijing Folk Custom Museum and decided to check it out. My favorite part of the temple was the crazy statues of all the different “departments” that are in charge of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior throughout peoples’ lives. I’ll post the pictures when I get the chance. There was also a really interesting exhibition about traditional Chinese festivals.
After leaving the temple, I walked through a pretty park with a pond toward the Workers’ Stadium where they play pro soccer. I then took the subway to the Olympic Park to check out the Birds’ Nest Stadium and the National Aquatics Center from the 2008 Summer Olympics. I was surprised how modern this area is in comparison to the rest of Beijing and was really impressed by all the cool architecture. When the park really shines, though, is at night, when there are colored light shows on the sides of some of the buildings.
As I was walking around before it got dark, I passed a mobile blood drive and decided to give blood since it had been a while since I had donated. The people running the booth seemed a bit shocked that I wanted to donate and tried to make sure that I understood what I was signing up for. I made it clear that we were on the same page and then spent the next 15 minutes or so working with them to figure out how I needed to fill out the form that was printed all in Chinese. It finally got sorted and in the end they seemed to appreciate my effort to help. Everything seemed to be very clean and sterile, but I guess it’s good that I got all my hepatitis shots before I left just in case! It gave me the idea that I would like to do even one small thing to give back to the local community in each country that I visit. I figure I fulfilled that promise in Korea where I helped to pick up trash around the Golgulsa Temple during my stay and worked as a “carnie” at the camp flea market to (allegedly) raise money for the Jinju Orphanage.
I’d like to close this post now with a poem that was in the in-flight magazine on my Korean Air flight from Seoul to Beijing. I know it’s super corny that it was in the cheesy airline magazine, but it just struck me as being very apropos for my journey ahead so I copied it down before landing:
After a Year
This postcard is written in a small hotel room in São Paolo.
Tomorrow morning, I will begin another long journey.
By then, a plane carrying you from the other side of the earth
Will soar into the unfamiliar afternoon.
Sorry I have departed.
Sorry we cannot be together,
To the face I’ve yet to meet,
Yet to be separated,
But still missed in joy,
Hello,
What is your name?
Han Cha-hyeon
Next time I’ll tell you all about my visits to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven. Plus, some fun times with friends!
Posted courtesy of George Merrick
My first impression of Beijing was “wow, it’s smoggy.” It was hot and muggy and the sky just had this foggy haze to it. I was walking down a street with a little park in the middle so that was pleasant enough. However, since I once again miscalculated the distance I was trying to go, I became tired and cranky rather quickly. Then right as I was about to get to Tiananmen Square, a young Chinese man and his two female friends approached me to say hello. I tried to be friendly since I figured they probably just wanted to practice their English, but I wasn’t really in a talkative mood. They told me Tiananmen Square would already be closed by then (I didn’t know that was possible for a city plaza) and asked me if I wanted to join them for a drink. I was a bit wary because I had literally just read a warning in my hostel about a scam where people invite you to try some tea and then make you pay a lot more than you were expecting. I couldn’t find a good reason to turn them down, though, so I reluctantly agreed.
We went to a place right down the street and ordered a few sodas. My new friends mainly asked me questions about living in the US and my thoughts about life in China. I noticed the prices at the bar were a bit expensive (by Chinese standards at least), but was kind of stuck now that I was already there. When the bill came, the guy turned to me and said, “They’re students so let’s split it in half.” I felt annoyed that it seemed like I had just been scammed, but in the end I paid a bit less than half and basically only covered part of one of the girl’s drinks at just over $3.00. I vowed that I wasn’t going to get stuck going to dinner with them, though, so as we started walking again I told them I had to go back to my hostel.
The students continued to walk with me in the direction of the subway station. As we were walking, we passed a night market selling all sorts of goodies to eat such as silk worms and scorpions. The guy kept pointing everything out to me and I finally announced that I was going to try the scorpions. There were big black ones and crispy, fried small ones. He let me get the small ones and after a few minutes I finally got the courage to put one in my mouth. It actually just tasted crunchy and fried like a potato chip and wasn’t half bad unless you actually stopped to think about what you were eating. Once we got to the subway station, the Chinese students turned off to go shopping and I went back to the neighborhood of my hostel where I was able to get some real food for dinner.
On Wednesday night it rained so by the next day the smog had washed away and it was a bit cooler out. It was as if the weather knew that it was suddenly September. That morning, I took a taxi to the computer repair center and to my delight they told me it would only take a day and cost about $150 to fix my laptop. I was rather nervous leaving my computer there, but figured it couldn’t end up in any worse condition than it already was. On the way out I passed a Daoist temple that housed the Beijing Folk Custom Museum and decided to check it out. My favorite part of the temple was the crazy statues of all the different “departments” that are in charge of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior throughout peoples’ lives. I’ll post the pictures when I get the chance. There was also a really interesting exhibition about traditional Chinese festivals.
After leaving the temple, I walked through a pretty park with a pond toward the Workers’ Stadium where they play pro soccer. I then took the subway to the Olympic Park to check out the Birds’ Nest Stadium and the National Aquatics Center from the 2008 Summer Olympics. I was surprised how modern this area is in comparison to the rest of Beijing and was really impressed by all the cool architecture. When the park really shines, though, is at night, when there are colored light shows on the sides of some of the buildings.
As I was walking around before it got dark, I passed a mobile blood drive and decided to give blood since it had been a while since I had donated. The people running the booth seemed a bit shocked that I wanted to donate and tried to make sure that I understood what I was signing up for. I made it clear that we were on the same page and then spent the next 15 minutes or so working with them to figure out how I needed to fill out the form that was printed all in Chinese. It finally got sorted and in the end they seemed to appreciate my effort to help. Everything seemed to be very clean and sterile, but I guess it’s good that I got all my hepatitis shots before I left just in case! It gave me the idea that I would like to do even one small thing to give back to the local community in each country that I visit. I figure I fulfilled that promise in Korea where I helped to pick up trash around the Golgulsa Temple during my stay and worked as a “carnie” at the camp flea market to (allegedly) raise money for the Jinju Orphanage.
I’d like to close this post now with a poem that was in the in-flight magazine on my Korean Air flight from Seoul to Beijing. I know it’s super corny that it was in the cheesy airline magazine, but it just struck me as being very apropos for my journey ahead so I copied it down before landing:
After a Year
This postcard is written in a small hotel room in São Paolo.
Tomorrow morning, I will begin another long journey.
By then, a plane carrying you from the other side of the earth
Will soar into the unfamiliar afternoon.
Sorry I have departed.
Sorry we cannot be together,
To the face I’ve yet to meet,
Yet to be separated,
But still missed in joy,
Hello,
What is your name?
Han Cha-hyeon
Next time I’ll tell you all about my visits to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven. Plus, some fun times with friends!
Posted courtesy of George Merrick
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
So Long Seoul, Beijing Begins
I am currently sitting in the shadow of the Great Wall under the Great Chinese Firewall. That means no Facebook, Twitter or even Blogspot for me until I make it to Hong Kong. Therefore I have asked my dad to put up a few posts for me in my absence. The next one will hopefully go up tomorrow. Photos will follow either once I send them to my dad or once I get back online.
I made it to China about a week ago after spending five days up in Seoul. The rest of my time in Korea was pretty hectic and busy. Right after camp I stayed in Jinju for a few days filming a “music video” for one of my Kiwi coworkers who raps in Korean and a casting video with another of my coworkers who just moved to Korea with his wife from
Spain. I’ve never shot a music video before so this should be interesting. Shortly afterward my computer broke so I haven’t had a chance to start editing either project yet.
As I mentioned earlier I went to Gyeonju for the temple stay on the Tuesday after camp ended and then spent another day and a half in Jinju before heading up to Seoul on Friday afternoon. That night I met up with my coworker, Taylor, to go out in Itaewon, the foreigner hub of Seoul near the US Army base. It was quite a late night so I got a bit of a late start the next morning. On Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon trying to get my computer fixed before finding out that it was going to take too long for them to get it done before I left for Beijing the following week. That night at dinner my friend, Angelo, who I worked with at the camp two years ago told me it sounded like they might have to replace the computer’s motherboard, which would mean reformatting the entire thing. That totally freaked me out so I was rather stressed for the next few days.
On Sunday, I attended a service at the sister church of the church I attended as a child south of the city in Yatap. One of the young church members, Brian, who had attended boarding school in the U.S. for about five years acted as my translator when I met with the pastor and his wife. The pastor was incredibly gracious, even arranging for me to get a ride 20 minutes away to meet a childhood friend and her husband to go to movies in the afternoon. Brian and his dad then came to pick me up afterward and brought me out to dinner at an Italian restaurant near a lake with Pastor Lee and his wife. I guess everyone thought that I wanted a break from all of the spicy Korean food.
On Monday, I basically spent the day trying to get some errands done like exchanging money and shipping a few things back to the States. Then on Tuesday I met up with Taylor again to film a tea ceremony at a traditional hanok called Yoo’s Family House near some of the former royal palaces. We had filmed at the hanok during a recent episode of “House Hunters International” and I asked if I could come back to shoot another short segment with the hopes of selling the video to the Travel Channel through the connections I made at the Travel Channel Academy last year. Whether or not I sell the video, I will eventually post it on here once I finally have the chance to edit it. The filming went well and Taylor was even game enough to put on the traditional hanbok outfit for the ceremony.
In the afternoon I was supposed to meet one of the former employees at the hanok for a tour of the Changdeok Palace down the street. She had to cancel on me so I ended up going in by myself and wandering around for a few hours. In the late afternoon it started to rain so I ducked into a restaurant and tried traditional Korean porridge soup for the first time. It was definitely a very hearty meal that totally filled me up after I had basically skipped lunch earlier. Once I was done eating, the rain had let up a bit so I walked around the neighborhood for a while and went to some of the shops in the Bukchon Hanok Village between the Changdeok Palace and the main Gyeongbok Palace. The area features many traditional artisans making items such as kites and embroidered wall hangings as well as more modern art galleries and museums.
The next day I just had time to run a few more errands before it was off to the airport for my flight to Beijing. I was quite late arriving at the airport, but it actually paid off to my advantage. Since there were no more window seats, I was given an aisle seat in business class (though theoretically was not eligible for business class service... whatever that means.) For once in my life I wish the flight had been longer than two hours. I could have used a good long nap.
Next up... Beijing!
Posted courtesy of George Merrick
I made it to China about a week ago after spending five days up in Seoul. The rest of my time in Korea was pretty hectic and busy. Right after camp I stayed in Jinju for a few days filming a “music video” for one of my Kiwi coworkers who raps in Korean and a casting video with another of my coworkers who just moved to Korea with his wife from
Spain. I’ve never shot a music video before so this should be interesting. Shortly afterward my computer broke so I haven’t had a chance to start editing either project yet.
As I mentioned earlier I went to Gyeonju for the temple stay on the Tuesday after camp ended and then spent another day and a half in Jinju before heading up to Seoul on Friday afternoon. That night I met up with my coworker, Taylor, to go out in Itaewon, the foreigner hub of Seoul near the US Army base. It was quite a late night so I got a bit of a late start the next morning. On Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon trying to get my computer fixed before finding out that it was going to take too long for them to get it done before I left for Beijing the following week. That night at dinner my friend, Angelo, who I worked with at the camp two years ago told me it sounded like they might have to replace the computer’s motherboard, which would mean reformatting the entire thing. That totally freaked me out so I was rather stressed for the next few days.
On Sunday, I attended a service at the sister church of the church I attended as a child south of the city in Yatap. One of the young church members, Brian, who had attended boarding school in the U.S. for about five years acted as my translator when I met with the pastor and his wife. The pastor was incredibly gracious, even arranging for me to get a ride 20 minutes away to meet a childhood friend and her husband to go to movies in the afternoon. Brian and his dad then came to pick me up afterward and brought me out to dinner at an Italian restaurant near a lake with Pastor Lee and his wife. I guess everyone thought that I wanted a break from all of the spicy Korean food.
On Monday, I basically spent the day trying to get some errands done like exchanging money and shipping a few things back to the States. Then on Tuesday I met up with Taylor again to film a tea ceremony at a traditional hanok called Yoo’s Family House near some of the former royal palaces. We had filmed at the hanok during a recent episode of “House Hunters International” and I asked if I could come back to shoot another short segment with the hopes of selling the video to the Travel Channel through the connections I made at the Travel Channel Academy last year. Whether or not I sell the video, I will eventually post it on here once I finally have the chance to edit it. The filming went well and Taylor was even game enough to put on the traditional hanbok outfit for the ceremony.
In the afternoon I was supposed to meet one of the former employees at the hanok for a tour of the Changdeok Palace down the street. She had to cancel on me so I ended up going in by myself and wandering around for a few hours. In the late afternoon it started to rain so I ducked into a restaurant and tried traditional Korean porridge soup for the first time. It was definitely a very hearty meal that totally filled me up after I had basically skipped lunch earlier. Once I was done eating, the rain had let up a bit so I walked around the neighborhood for a while and went to some of the shops in the Bukchon Hanok Village between the Changdeok Palace and the main Gyeongbok Palace. The area features many traditional artisans making items such as kites and embroidered wall hangings as well as more modern art galleries and museums.
The next day I just had time to run a few more errands before it was off to the airport for my flight to Beijing. I was quite late arriving at the airport, but it actually paid off to my advantage. Since there were no more window seats, I was given an aisle seat in business class (though theoretically was not eligible for business class service... whatever that means.) For once in my life I wish the flight had been longer than two hours. I could have used a good long nap.
Next up... Beijing!
Posted courtesy of George Merrick
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