Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your eyes (unless someone is reading this to you, then you can lend me your ears),
I have decided that blog number three shall encompass days 3, 4, and 5. Not only will this behoove Med students (G), PHD seekers (Dee), law students who should be reading (Lee), people getting married (Rach, and people who need to go to the doctor to check out weird bumps (Ben…).
We woke up on Day number three and went to the Shanghai Museum. It is a world famous museum about Chinese history. They had some cool exhibits, unfortunately it did reveal a fun fact about yours truly; I still don’t like museums. You see, after I enjoyed the Hiroshima museum so much I thought that the disorder that sent me to Arizona instead of France ten years back was finally cured, but then I realized: Hiroshima was simply the exception that proves the rule. Honestly, I did enjoy it, but I was glad I was just with Tahlor who also wanted to move through it quickly. We then went to a local Starbucks to get internet, only to realize that Facebook was being blocked by the Chinese government. Google worked perfectly. You explain that one…
From there I went back to the ship, ate lunch, packed and headed out and about. Tahlor had an SAS trip, so it was just me, Pierce and a group of women (girls). We were taking the overnight train to Beijing. Little did I know that Pierce and I would have to share a cabin with a random Asian couple. Luckily I was so exhausted I passed out quickly (fully clothed fearing the worst/ eurotrip style) and woke up at 6:30am in Beijing.
Yes, I smelt awful (though according to my mother that’s nothing new), but nothing could dampen my day because I was about to go see the Great Wall. The tour company (that I hired for $30) picked us up at the train station. First we went to the Jade factory. It was awesome. They made these gorgeous sculptures out of a single piece of rock. Fun fact, they even made the 2008 Olympic medals out of these, to make it more specific to Beijing.
Next we went to the Ming Tombs. This was a great complex built underground to bury the higher-ups of the Ming dynasty. Not only was the actual sight amazing, it was also the impetus for a great revelation; Chinese bathrooms do not provide toilet paper. Luckily, I am not a girl—and I will leave it at that…
From there we drove the hour to the Great Wall. Along the way we stopped for a vegetarian Chinese lunch (kind of an oxymoron, but I wasn’t going to complain). Next we went up to Mutianyu. This is a restored section of the wall, where they show you what is original, but also rebuild parts that have been destroyed (think the black line at Masada). You take a ski lift up during which time you get great views of the wall and its surroundings. Once you are up the experience is amazing. You feel the history as you hike all around. You can climb areas, trail blaze a little, and stop for a second to recognize the awesomeness of your surroundings. All you can see is this ancient wall and gorgeous scenery surrounding it. We took the toboggan down and at the bottom encountered my first scam artist. Two men stood there and took a picture with me, on my camera, and then asked for 10 dollars. I gave them five Yuan (less than a dollar) and they were thrilled. At the bottom there was another bargain based market, where I realized that sometimes I buy things I don’t need because I can bargain. I ended up with a t-shirt simply because I got it for $2 (don’t worry; it’s for me, not a gift).
We continued on to the silk museum. The whole Silk Road was spoken about and it made me miss Mr. Newman—he’d be so proud. This museum, was a bit of a scam however, as it ended with a huge gift shop (literally the size of Marshall’s) and they rushed us through the museum part and left us in the gift shop for 45 minutes. It was fine, though, because the area around was nice and I did some exploring.
From there we went back to the St. Regis, a five star hotel that we snuck 6 people into on an employee discount ($20 a person). We got ready quickly and headed to the Acrobats show. Think Meir Berkman after he chugs a gallon of coffee, and is given free reign. It was awesome. There were little dudes running all over the place. I was happy that they didn’t say don’t try this at home, so I tried it. I failed.
That night we went to some club, not my scene, and the coat check wouldn’t give me my coat back. Eventually I just grabbed it and ran, and later found out they were just trying to ask me in Chinese to sign a sheet saying it’s mine.
We went to bed; I had to sleep on the floor, but in the morning we got to see Tiananmen Square. I was looking for Tank Lady but I couldn’t find her. Apparently she’s dead…who would have thunk it. We then continued onto the Forbidden City, not so forbidden anymore. It is a great set of buildings, seriously an entire city that used to be dedicated to the emperor.
From there we went to the Beijing airport. Shockingly, it looked like an airport. Free WiFi was a plus, no computer was a minus. We boarded the flight and immediately fell asleep, and woke up at the sound of the flight landing. Or so we thought. The plane had been sitting on the runway for 2 ½ hours. Throughout the rest of the flight I read, journaled, and had dinner. In the words of Tahlor “say what you want about communism, but at least they serve food on their planes.” Touch sir, well played!
This delay had an unexpected result, making us miss the last flight, and forcing us to spend the night in Shenzhen (fourth biggest city in China). We got to the hotel by 11, ate some more at their restaurant (I had peanut butter French toast that rivaled strawberry place), but Pierce got some pasta dish. After watching 4 episodes of HIMYM Pierce got sick. He was up all night puking. Let’s just say I was kind of nervous for tomorrow’s two hour bathroomless bus ride.
Stay tuned brethren, this cliff hanger will soon be filled in…
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