The Official China Blog Post

Beijing is a super cool, busy, dirty, edgy city that smells like pee and pollution. That said, I would go back in a heartbeat. We stayed in this great hostel called Beijing Downtown Backpackers Hostel that is located in a Hutong (a traditional Chinese style neighborhood that has tiled roofs, tight alleyways and old houses with courtyards). It was great. The alleyway was full of hip curio shops, bars and restaurants. It was located close to the subway and only a couple stops away from some of the major tourist attractions such as The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.


Our first day we were so excited to be in China that we dropped off our luggage, grabbed our cameras and subway maps and headed straight for the Forbidden City. It happened to be right across the street from Tiananmen Square so we got to see both of those in one shot. We spent 4 hours cruising around and saw maybe half of what was in the Forbidden City. It was a very surreal experience for me. I had been there when I was in the 6th grade, about 17 years ago! I remembered looking at all the incredible buildings and sculptures. Before we moved to Korea, I actually found a photo of me that I unearthed for our wedding, (we were going to have a slide show of pics of us when we were little until now), that was of me posing in front of the main gate of the Forbidden City. I was wearing some crazy tie-dyed Chinese skirt I think. It was strange to be standing in the same spot so many years later. I never imagined I’d be back.


One of my most vivid memories of my first trip to China occurred at Tiananmen Square. I remembered seeing a mother unbuttoning the butt flap of her toddler’s pants and letting him pee right there on that historic place. Things in China have changed some; instead of butt flaps, little kids now have pants that haven't gotten the crotch seam sewn together so you can see their little butts hanging out and if your are unfortunate enough, their junk in the front. Poor kids! Another nasty memory that hasn’t changed since I was last there is constant sound of people hocking loogies and farmer blowing their noses. Yummy. Don’t let the nasty description I just gave turn you off to China though. We only saw Beijing and a bit of Shanghai and we are determined to go back and see more.

On Loren's birthday we hiked 8km up and down the Great Wall. The drive was 3 hours out of town but well worth it. The location wasn't tainted by random Chinese or Mongolians trying to sell us trinkets the whole way like other area of the wall. The hike was very strenuous. Some parts were almost straight up and down and crumbling to pieces. At some points Loren and I could barely make it to the top of the uneven stairs without stopping for fear of heart attack. I was just glad that I've been doing some running, swimming and stair climbing lately and Loren has been playing a lot of sports. Needless to say, that evening, Loren and I ate a large Indian dinner, had a couple Tsingtaos at our favorite communist themed bar, played some rummy and called it a night.


On a previous evening Loren and I met an older Swedish couple who were teaching at a Swedish school in Beijing. They recommended that we go and check out a park in the morning then go to the Silk Street Market for some shopping. The suggestion sounded so good that we did just that the next day.
We woke up at 7ish and wandered down the already busy streets making our way through tons of bicycles, mopeds, buses and cars already starting their commute to work and found BeiHai park. There were lots of older Chinese people flashing their park passes to the guard that was stationed at one of the few gates in the large solid grey wall surrounding the park. Having no park passes ourselves, we had to buy tickets. We found it was well worth the negligable cost. As we entered, we first saw some old men painting Chinese characters on the stone walkway with water and huge foam brushes. Loren was impressed by this and imagined they were writing poems. With the crowd of other park goers watching engrossed, it was entirely possible. We were intrigued already with the energy of the park at so early an hour and moved deeper into the park. We saw a large group of older people practicing Tai Chi all in unison, and then heard some loud clapping and chanting further in. We followed the sound and on our way towards it saw more wizened Chinese making ribbons dance and fly through the air. Others were ballroom dancing while still others were practicing flowing forms with swords high over their heads, playing hacky sack, badminton and many other indescribable sports. When we neared the clapping and chanting at last, we were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people participating in the activity.
To explain the immensity of the crowd of clapping, chanting people, let me briefly describe the layout of the park. The park had a large walkway going through it. On one side was a lake with paddleboats and docks. The other side of the pathway was flanked by small hills covered tastefully with Pines and grass that were cut by meandering paths that lead to as of yet undiscovered parts of the park. On either side of the main path and up into the hills were 100+ people all clapping in unison to a steady beat and chanting in reply to one main caller. People walking through the mass of people either joined in on their way through or stopped behind or next to another entranced clapper and joined in. Loren and I stopped for a long time to let ourselves take in the experience. Beihai Park was an experience that will not leave our memories quickly. It made us forget the pollution, grime and smell and almost rethink our decision to move to Korea instead of China! It was truly inspiring to see so many people all moving in unison, chanting in unison, exercising, playing, and interacting because they know it is good for them. I had to drag Loren from the park so we could continue our day.

check out the video:


After the park, we went back to our awesome hostel and had our free breakfast, (watermelon, banana, toast, orange juice, sausage and eggs, of course I ate Loren’s fruit and he ate my meaty stuff) and got prepared for our shopping trip. A description from the Lonely Planet told us to be prepared for pushy sales people. We figured we were as prepared as we would ever be for pushy sales people so we hopped on the subway, changed lines once, got off and were ready to walk outside in the polluted air to find the Silk Street Market. However, the subway stop exited directly into the large 4 story Silk “Street” market. We walked into the basement level and were bombarded by sales people trying to get us to come into their stalls to buy their knockoff shoes, puma, DC, Adidas, Dolche and Cabana, Coach, UGG, Nike, bags, clothes, trinkets, electronics, toys, silk and jewelry. If you so much a looked at an item longer than a second, the sales person pushed it in your hands and asked you how much you wanted to pay. If you didn’t look in their stall, they grabbed your arms or shoved items in your line of view! After we got our bearings and put our game faces on, the same exchange took place for each item we bought. Here’s an example of a typical exchange.
Sales Person: “ Come in and look lady. We have puma, adidas, DC, UGG. You like Puma? How much you give me? How much? I give you good price.”
Me: “ I’m just looking thanks.”
Them: “ I give you good price, really how much?”
Me: “ok- let me try the red pumas. Size 9.”
Them: “ Ok- sit down I get it for you.”
At this point, she yells for her friend to run somewhere mysterious and get the size 9. In the mean time she asks me: “Where you from? I like America. Your husband? He’s a good man. You buy more than one pair I give you a good price. How much you want to give me for those?”
I try them on, inspect them for signs of leather, and am satisfied that they are truly knock offs but are comfortable and well made and decide that I only want to pay $15 max for them.
While this has been going on, Loren has been inspecting some Dolce Cabana black leather shoes- not authentic of course, but the leather is. We start to bargain. Loren decides his max price for the shoes is $30. They were very comfortable, and well made and Loren really needed them. So, the games begin.
Us: “If we buy these pairs together, how much do you want?”
Them: “I give you friend price, I like you. I give you good price. Normally I get, $100 for those shoes and $60 for those so $160 for both, but for you, I give you good price. $110 for both.”
Us: we laugh; shake our heads then, “ No way, that’s not a friend price, that’s too much. We’ll give you $30 for both.”
Them: “You joking! You joking! I make no money. Really, I can’t give them to you for this price. I make no money. $110 is good price.
Us: “ Ok, thanks we’ll go somewhere else.” We start to walk away.
Them: “ Ok Ok Ok Ok, come back. I have good price. Come here, really let’s talk. I give you $75 but that is best price.”
Us: “no way, we can’t pay that! You have to do something better. You have to give us a better price.”
Them: “Ok, I give you this price to begin, $160, then I say $110 now I say $75. You have to give me better price because really I can’t give you for your price. What you give me? Best price.”
Us: “ ok, maximum, our highest price and we can’t give you anymore for these shoes is $40.”
Them: “Come on! You kill me. Your price too low! I make no money!”
Us: “ thank you.” We begin to walk away and then they grab our arms, thrust the shoes in them and begin pleading some more.
Them: “I get you special size. I talk price with you and now you leave? Ok, give me your best price but you have to give me more. I give you for $55. That is friend price. Good price. That’s it.” They begin to look really dejected and sad and tired.
Us: “ That’s still too high.”
Them: “ come on, what you give me. But really, I make no money on this. What you give me? $50. Ok $50. That’s it. Take them. $50.”
Us: We get out the $45 and say, “this is it. We can’t give you anymore.”
Them: “ $50 come on. Just extra $5 for me. Just $5.”
Us: Walking away, “ thank you”
Them: with dejected frowns on their faces and shoes hanging at their sides, “ Ok, $45. You mean. I give you these shoes. I make no money. I give them to you.” At this point when the money is being exchanged, a small smile appears and they begin to relax. “Ok, thank you. Bye, come back again. You want another pair, only $30 extra? Ok, bye, have a good day.”

Yup, and that is pretty much how we managed to buy two pairs of shoes each, some new sheets for our bed, a mask, a happy Buddha, a tea mug and various other things. By the end of the day, our heads were swirling with frowning faces, smiling faces, pleading voices and our bodies feeling abused from all the pushing and pulling and heavy bags in our hands. We felt tired but victorious as we left with our bags but still wondered who came away better, them or us. A few times, the sales people were too quick to take our last offer and we knew we could have beaten them down a bit more, but just like in sports and life in general; you win some and you loose some.
When we returned to the hotel, we stared at our small carry-ons and at all the new items we bought and we couldn’t imagine how we’d make it work. Eventually on our last day in Beijing, we did make it work and vowed to not go into another market for the rest of our trip.
That turned out to be quite easy because the next evening we took a sleeper train to Shanghai for our conference. The conference kept us so busy that we didn’t have time to explore the area. From what we saw, Shanghai is a very big, polluted city with some major growing pains. During a short break in our conference on the first day, we went exploring for some dinner. We got directions from some locals and went in search of a Mediterranean restaurant. On our way, the left side of the street was shaded by large modern and clean apartment buildings complete with landscaping and guards. The other side of the street was not as fortunate. There were old crumbly buildings that housed car part shops or little stores. In between the decrepit buildings were alleyways that created enough space for the less fortunate to erect some lean-tos. We were not too impressed with what we saw in Shanghai but we realize that we didn’t give it much chance. We were told there is excellent shopping there. Thank God we were unable to go explore.
All in all what we saw of China was intriguing. We forgot at times that China is a country that is infamous for it’s human rights violations, and it’s bullying of Tibet among other terrible things. It is industrial and polluted and it is changing more quickly that its people and land can accommodate. It just hosted the 2008 Olympics and it is going to be hosting the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. I am very excited to see what change is going to continue to do to China. It is already a fascinating country steeped in history; what’s going to determine its future? We’ll have the check it out on our next trip!