Qingdao
I was greeted in Qingdao by a smiling, familiar face. What a new luxury! I immediately asked to take a shower, travel from Kathmandu to China does not make you feel clean, which I did after quickly dropping my stuff in Rui Rui’s room. I was then whisked off to a “hot pot” place. I had never heard of this phenomena, but it turned out to be fun and delicious. A pot of boiling broth is brought to your table and put on the built in electric burner. Then all the delicious ingredients you ordered (for me, fish, tofu, mushrooms, greens, potatoes, and then finally some noodles) are brought to you and you can plop them in the boiling broth, watch them cook and then fish them out and stick them directly in your face. It’s great. We all ate way too much.
We spent the afternoon at the police station, registering me–I wasn’t staying in a hotel but with a family, so the process is a little more complicated. There were many documents involved, and a trip back to the house to pick up something that was missing.
We then explored a night market, a fascinating and overwhelming place lit up with fluorescent and neon lights where it truly looked like you could buy anything. It was chaotic and bewildering and I clutched the lemonade-like drink I had been given tightly and followed Rui Rui’s family as we explored one of the many crowded alleys created by the stands.
We finished up the day at a seafood restaurant, actually in the mall, which seems to be the center of Chinese life, but we were all still too full to really eat much and went home with a baggie of clams.
The next day we explored the lovely mountainous area around Qingdao, notably Laoshan Mountain. We started out at a very cool mountain ski lift-like experience. Just 15 minutes of floating through the pretty mountains, hanging out with an old friend, in the cool air. It was lovely. We then spent some time at a tea house with an amazing view of a mountain-side village, shrouded in mysterious mist. We sat enjoying the view while a tiny Chinese lady performed an intricate tea ceremony, with much tossing of tea back and forth between little glass cups and drenching of the little wooden platform. The tea was accompanied by a little platter of various dried seafoods which I was not-so-gently encouraged to try. There were miniature shrimp and dried cuttlefish and chunks of what looked like herring and other unidentifiable bits-and-bobs. Tasty!
The highlight of the day was the visit to the GIANT, Taoist, Temple of Supreme Purity, supposedly the place where a Taoist leader put his hand through a wall. It is a lovely place, with a giant bronze figure, reaching high into the sky, elegant buildings with intricate and colorful decorations, and thousand-year old trees. The place was beautiful, but there were so. Many. Stairs. I was still not over the stairs from Nepal, and my knee was in a lot of pain. It was worth it though!
We finished up the day by going to a Chinese movie, the theater was in the mall, of course, because everything, including the grocery store, is in the mall. It was an interesting movie, full of insights into Chinese values and surprisingly good american accents.
Beijing
We arrived in Beijing tired but excited to start on our new adventure! We caught the airport shuttle to the neighborhood we would be staying in and promptly realized we didn’t know how to get from the shuttle stop to our hotel. This prompted a march to a nearby bank where my friend had a conversation with the lady I didn’t understand but was informed the result of which was that we should go “That way.” So off we went, and we found the hotel without too much difficulty. That afternoon we headed directly to The Forbidden City, which was spectacular, but I became overheated and a little grumpy very quickly. We still had fun, especially when we took a break to crack jokes about comedic dragons and malfunctioning audio guides.
Day 2 was all about the zoo and the aquarium, again a mixed experience, as the exhibits didn’t seem particularly kind to the animals, especially the small mammals. Nevertheless we had a nice encounter with the elephants and a relaxing duck-viewing session. The real highlight was the aquarium, with its giant shark-filled tanks and screeching belugas. I love aquariums, and Beijing’s was no exception. I was unfamiliar with many of the fantastical fishies, some of which seemed more like children’s drawings than logical creatures.
The next day we headed to The National Museum, which was a China-sized behemoth. We focused in on our interests, going through the Ancient China, Calligraphy, Ink Painting, and Porcelain galleries. It was a long morning filled with informational exhibits and indignant puffs hiding suppressed laughter from my friend at my inappropriate jokes.
We met up with a mutual friend from the U.S. for a very late lunch, which was nice, as I haven’t really seen anyone from home. We all ended up going to the mall together afterwards because we needed some supplies for the trip. After dropping our friend off at his hotel we headed back to ours, totally wiped out.
This picture is a quick glimpse into an odd Chinese ritual. There are several couples all taking their wedding pictures at this lake (in Hangzhou) but these picture taking sessions happened all over the country in some truly baffling locations. The really odd part is that these couples aren’t even married yet, these are pre-marriage photos, and that the dresses, suits, and accessories all rented out just for the photo taking event. The shear number of these posed couples scattered throughout the country at the acceptable “photogenic” spots is incredible. The phenomenon led to one of my most fun, but least proud moments in Hangzhou. We were on a little boat for hire on the lake and I decided the most productive way to spend our time was to drive over to the place where all the couples were taking photos and try to ruin them with a tourist boat right behind the couples. This idea tickled me so much that I incapacitated my self with laughter. Tears were streaming out of my eyes and I could not breath. It was amazing.