Happy Dragonboat!

It was another Chinese holiday last weekend - the Dragonboat Festival. The history surrounding this event is colorful too. In the 3rd century, Qu Yuan protested a corrupt government and threw himself into a river. Apparently fishermen threw food into the water in support. The tradition continues, with triangular rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves being the favorite food associated with the event. The bamboo keeps the rice dry for Qu Yuan:

Seeing as how I've already been in a dragonboat (see my Beijing post) AND I eat enough rice on a weekly basis to probably be considered Asian, I got outta town to celebrate! You have to take advantage of the time, you know? I headed to Thailand. My co-worker Rick in the US had told me I had to get to Phuket, Thailand while I was here. I have to admit - I'm a dumb American. I didn't know someplace called the Andaman Sea existed. Well, now I've been in it:

There are absolutely gorgeous beaches, and the Thai food is draw enough. Holly and I took an overnight flight to Phuket - when we woke up in our resort, we were in the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life:

The only downside of the experience was the extreme heat and humidity. But with views like that, no biggie.

We took a speedboat tour to the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced pee-pee, ha!). Unreal. I didn't know places like this existed. This is also where they filmed the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach:

 

On the tour, we stopped by a part of the islands called Monkey Beach. It lived up to it's name. There were monkeys everywhere! They don't let you get out of the boat because the monkeys are unfortunately pretty mean. But, our boat crew threw bananas and other fruits up to the monkeys. Not only can they amazingly catch the fruit that is thrown, but they're greedy ... plowing through the food we gave them. The one on the left is a mom with her baby hanging on to her while she's eating:

Phuket was awesome. I loved the delicious food - flavored with coconut, lime and spices. I also loved the Singha. Don't tell Sean - I got him a Singha shirt for his birthday!

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to be able to travel like this. I never thought I'd be able to go to Thailand, let alone on an extended weekend trip. If you ever get the opportunity to go there, do it!

Home stretch

I will be home in nine days. Single digits! When I booked my home leave flight, it seemed oh-so-far away. But now it's close enough I can nearly taste it! I'm actually quite entertained by the way I've been feeling lately. I'm not sure if it's because I know I'm headed home (though only temporarily) and so I'm being more appreciative, or if it's because everything is just actually going better. Regardless, I have had a great couple of weeks here. The weather has been unfortunate - very humid, quite hot, a lot of rain. Walking to work in the morning isn't the most pleasant experience. But other than that, I really can't complain. And that feels great!

So in my excitement about coming home for a bit, I've prepared my top 10 list of things I'm looking forward to:
   1. Seeing my family, friends, boyfriend and co-workers. It will be a crammed couple of weeks in Ohio trying to fit it all in, but I am looking forward to it and to seeing so many people!
   2. Chipotle. Is that sad? I have had Mexican here, but it still doesn't quite compare. I told Sean he needs to have a burrito in hand when I land in Columbus. He seems to think that's a joke. But this is absolutely not a laughing matter.
   3. Friendliness. I love Ohio. People are genuinely nice. I miss the random "hello", "how are you doing?", "have a good one" comments. A lot. I hope I don't come back a bit more hardened.
   4. Personal space. Yep, definitely a premium here.
   5. Red, White and Boom. I'm very jazzed about being home for the festivities and toasting to America.
   6. My bed. So beds in China are interesting. They are pretty hard. It took me a few nights to adjust when I first got here, but now it doesn't bother me as much. But the thought of being in my own bed is amazing.
   7. Television. I'm not even that big of a TV person, but I'm tapped out of watching CNN, BBC, Discovery and National Geographic. Can I getta little HGTV, TLC or some awful VH1 reality shows in my life please?
   8. Being in German Village. I really do love my 'hood. It's so quaint and I love being able to walk to restaurants and Schiller Park. It's probably also the feeling of "home" that I get once I see Livingston and Third. It will be great to be back in the thick of it.
   9. My iPhone. Ok, I do use it a bit here when I can get wireless, but largely it sits turned off in my apartment. And my junkie Nokia that's all in Chinese just isn't cutting it.
   10. Breathing fresh air. If anyone is following the news story about the US Embassy here, enough said ...

I thought about adding Graeter's to the list and decided that made me sound like a "fat kid" since I already had Chipotle on there. But if you are curious what #11 would be ... Any takers on some Raspberry Chip?

So things are going well here. We have a few big meetings coming up at work that I'm looking forward to, including meeting with a major pharmacy customer next week. The whole day will be in Chinese, so that will be interesting! Hopefully I can pick up a few words from my ongoing tutoring. We're presenting in English, then it will be translated into Chinese for the group. That will also be quite an experience!

I'm just finishing up another great weekend in Shanghai. I went to a great place to eat last night called Lost Heaven. They served Yunnan food - delicious (henchi - using my newly-learned Chinese word!). There was a great rooftop patio that we enjoyed afterwards too. I've been finding a lot of really tasty Chinese food lately. I think the key was to avoid all servings of animals-with-heads-on and to ask for recommendations from other expats on where to try.

I'm sad to be missing another round of great things going on in the US - Happy Birthday to my Aunt Suzi, Aunt Jayne, cousin Grace and to Sean! Today is also Father's Day - I wish I was there to give you a hug, Dad! I am blessed to have a truly amazing Dad. He is probably the most level-headed and wise person I know, which is always appreciated when you need to go somewhere for good advice. Speaking of good advice, my Dad has left a lasting impression on me with a few of his sayings for me. One of my favorites, which used to include me rolling my eyes, is "Jessica, be street smart". I don't know if by street he had Beijing Xi Lu in mind, but I'm certainly putting his wisdom to good use here in all that I do. To my OSU football game partner, Westerville walking buddy and the person who unfortunately gave me a total obsession with chocolate and coconut, Happy Father's Day!

The countdown is officially on until I'm back in the USofA!

And afterall, you're my wonderwall

So I did it. I climbed part of the Great Wall of China. I feel like this is the most China-like thing you can do while in China. When I told people I was moving here, that was always one of the first questions I was asked - "Are you gonna see the wall?". Let me tell you, it was spectacular. I don't know if it's the history, the iconic status it holds, or the fact that it was a gorgeous day in a beautiful part of China, but I loved this wonder of the world.

We got into Beijing from Xi'an on Thursday night late. Our first struggle was the taxi driver. It's never a good sign when the taxi driver has no idea where the Forbidden City or Tiananmen Square are (our hotel was next to both) ... made us a bit concerned. Miraculously, we made it there. I noticed right away that the language was different. Yes, I have been taking Mandarin lessons for a few months now, but I am definitely not qualified to say I much understand it. I was surprised that I could instantly recognize the difference in speech, which actually made me quite proud. Until he asked me to pay the taxi fare, and I had no idea what numbers he was blurting out.

Friday started off early with a morning run to take in the city. I was so excited to see Beijing and all that it had to offer. What I didn't fully anticipate was how different the cultural climate is - Beijing is much more a political center for China, whereas Shanghai is much more trendy. The packs of Chinese military out on their morning runs made me, for just a bit, feel uneasy. I realized I was definitely a foreigner. But what made me most concerned was that somehow on my run I ended up inside of the Forbidden City area. I don't think I did anything wrong - just followed the sidewalk and paths. But all of the sudden I realized I was in an area I'm not sure I was to be in. Yikes. I got out of there quick and kept running along the perimeter. Then, all at once, I realized I wasn't sure where I was. This whole thing was pretty dumb. Thankfully, I could read the directions on the street signs and navigated my way home. Maybe running wasn't the greatest idea.

Anyway, we got ready and headed out for an exciting day with our tour guide, Stephen:

What most intrigued me about Stephen was when he told us he has had multiple English names. Most Chinese people in the working or tourism world do take on English names, but I was amused that Stephen had previously been a few other names. He said he changed them when he got bored. Too funny.

The first stop: the Great Wall. We went to Mutianyu to see it, which is a restored area about an hour outside of Beijing. To get up to it, you have to take a ski lift. Once we were dropped off, we started climbing. It was stunning scenery. The hike was STEEP. I was shocked at how much effort it took - literally, we were climbing the wall. Here are a few pics of us attempting to reach the summit guard post:

Interestingly, on our way down we saw a guy with an Ohio State hat on. His daughter was studying in Beijing, but he was a Buckeye through and through. O-H!

One of the best parts of the wall is the way down - by toboggan! I had heard people talking about this before and how it was a can't-miss experience. Sara and I had a blast. We were both scared and so didn't go too fast, but it was a cool way to take in the countryside on the way down. Seeing the wall is quite honestly one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life.

After the wall, we headed to the Summer Palace. This is where Chinese royalty vacationed. It was a beautiful area on a lake. In reality, it's a series of little buildings, walkways and bridges - not one big palace. Here we are on one of the enclosed long-corridor hallways, in front of a marble boat (symbolic for the emperor - a marble boat may be on uneasy water at times but can never sink) and on a dragonboat on the lake:

Our next stop was to see all the Olympic stadiums built in 2008. They were so cool! Here we are in front of the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, icons of the Beijing games:

Wow, what a day it had been. We had seen so much. We headed back to our awesome little boutique hotel to shower, rest and get ready for dinner. Before eating, we decided to check out the Night Market at Wangfujing Lu. I'd read up on this - a spot for all the foodies out there who love the weird and the taboo. It was definitely strange. Here are a few shots of what we were lucky enough to see. Fried enema or squid head, anyone?

After being sufficiently grossed out, we had to walk around in the regular shopping district before we could possibly hold down food. Here is Sara in front of a cool shopping area, and here we both are posing with some cute statues (including one of a bao, or steamed bun!):

Our last morning in Beijing was spent going to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. One of the oddest experiences I've ever encountered was what we did in Tiananmen ... we saw Mao's body. My aunt and uncle had told me that this is a must-see for the experience alone. And that it was. Stephen thought it was odd we wanted to go to Mao's mausoleum, but I really did want to. Maybe that makes me cryptic in some way, but when in China ... right? We had to leave everything we owned with Stephen - you can't bring anything inside. We had to have our passports. We also were told we needed to put sweaters on to cover our bare shoulders. That was fun - about 90 degree heat, wearing black sweaters. People bought flowers while we waited in line to take in to show respect. The first room you walk into has a large Mao statue. The second room, which we filed into in two continuously-moving lines, contained a crystal coffin with Mao's body. His actual body was draped in a Chinese flag, but his head was exposed. It was surreal. In the end, I'm very glad we did it. Stephen asked if we noticed that we were the ONLY non-Chinese people who went in, and to be honest I didn't.

Here we are in Tiananmen Square in front of the mausoleum and in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, which is just before the Forbidden City:

The Forbidden City was a bit of a let-down. I thought it would be super impressive. The history is very interesting - the place for the emperor, his wife, his concubines, and his officials to live for hundreds of years. It was built in the 1400s and was used until the fall of the last emperor in 1912. No commoners were able to go inside the City, and the emperors never really left it's gates either. Unfortunately for us, it was crowded, the buildings were only ok, and the property was just a bit too huge. It's weird because once you're inside the gates, there's very little greenery. We tried to move though fairly quickly. A very interesting thing we found out here was that apparently there used to be a Starbucks inside! How crazy! They did great business, but finally the decision was made that this American business didn't fit the cultural significance of the place.

Our next stop was the Temple of Heaven. This was a religious site for centuries for the emperor. He would come here a few times a year to pray for good harvest, etc. There is a famous picture of President Nixon with Mao in front of this Temple from the 1970s (and Mao with lots of other dignitaries over the years). This was a major milestone in modern times - when China and the US formalized a relationship. Here are Sara and I in front of the main temple:

There was also a cool echo wall where religious ceremonies were carried out. We patiently waited our turns to try it out and get our pictures taken. Apparently when Stephen asked me to say something, instead I waved. Oh well. Still a really cool experience!



Beijing was awesome. I am so, so glad we went. The perfect way to end the experience was our bullet train ride back to Shanghai that evening - over 800mi in less than 5 hours! I was so at-ease being able to relax and read my Kindle on the journey home:



Thanks Sara for a wonderful visit! I hope you've been able to "de-China-fy" everything by now (code for clean and wash everything you brought)! I'm sorry you had the experience of seeing children with split pants using the restroom on the street (if you haven't heard much about this, it is absolutely true!!!). But I also hope I could give you a little taste of my life here in China. What a week!