After two weeks in the dark, I am finally able to bypass the "Great Firewall of China" and update you on what I've been up to. China has been amazing. It's been a busy two weeks and I have much to report. My dad and I landed in Beijing and spent our first couple of days with a tour guide and then ventured out on our own. Beijing was definitely a cultural experience. Not the prettiest city I've ever been too, in fact it was very gray and dirty, but it was definitely one of the more interesting ones. Let's start with the driving. I honestly don't know if I've ever feared more for my life than the first time we tried to cross a street in Beijing. It's an absolute free for all. They have definitely never heard of the phrase, "right of way." The cars, bikes, buses, and motorcycles change lanes whenever they feel like it -- I did not see one blinker used in all of China -- and they do not slow down for anyone. It's like one giant game of chicken with the other cars and pedestrians. How anyone could ever get arrested for drunk driving is beyond me, because everyone is driving like they just played dizzy bat for the last hour and then got behind the wheel.
The second notable thing about Beijing was the silk market. Hilarious. Aisles and aisles of knock off goods and "authentic Chinese" souvenirs. Everyone had a "special best friend price just for you." I also received discounts because I was "handsome American man." The girls would literally grab you by the arm and pull you into their little stand so you could, "just take look. No have to buy. Just take look." It was fun to haggle with them, but exhausting. After a while, you realize that you are haggling over what equates to $1 or $2. My dad, was actually really good at it and they loved him because he would mess with them the whole time. They would usually quote you 10 to 12 times what you would actually pay for whatever you were buying. Then when you walked away they would give you "serious price." It was definitely one of my highlights in Beijing.
While in China we wanted to make sure that we sampled plenty of Chinese food so we headed to the Dong Hua Men night food market. The basic rule of the market was, if it moves you can eat it. We ate king spider snake, snake skin, roasted silk worm cocoons, duck feet, centipede, and scorpion. They all tasted about as good as you think they would. If you had a more refined pallet, they did have things on the menu like sheep's penis, whole starfish, and sea slug, but we decided to pass.
After Beijing, we headed about two and a half hours out of town to climb The Great Wall. I can only describe it as the coldest and most amazing 48 hours of my life. We hired a tour guide named James, who used to be a computer programer but decided to do this, to take us up the wall and camp for a night. As soon as we got out of the van, he asked us if we had any more warm clothes and we immediately knew we were in trouble. We hiked for about an hour through the woods until we got to the wall. The place we went was called Jiankou and was one of the only unrestored parts of the wall. It was amazing to see and the pictures don't do it justice. How they managed to build it is incredible, especially considering the terrain changes. Parts of the wall seem like they are build on an 80 degree incline. We hiked for probably 3 more hours and then made camp and settled in for what was without a doubt the coldest night of our lives. We were at about a 3,000 foot elevation and it probably dropped down to about 12 to 15 degrees. It was cold enough that when I woke up my back was covered in ice.
From Beijing, we moved on to Xi'an and saw the terra cotta warriors. They were cool, but the highlight definitely had to be the Chinese nightclub we visited. To make a long story short, we went to a bunch of bars that were only Chinese people, met someone who spoke English and played in a band, went to go see them play and at the end of the night they pulled me up on stage and I played a 20 minute rendition of "Down by the River" by Neil Young with them. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.
After Xi'an, our last stop was Shanghai. It was definitely a major departure from the rest of China. Shanghai was much more modern and had a beautiful skyline, even if some of their buildings looked like giant bottle openers and Christmas ornaments.
Side note: Apparently the Chinese celebrate Christmas, though I'm pretty sure they have no idea what it is or why they're celebrating it. Without fail, we saw Christmast trees, signs that say things like "Seasons Greetings,"and Christmas lights everywhere. It was definitely a Chinese favorite for decorating restaurants and bars. Even in the more modern Shanghai, we were at a bar and heard both "Joy to the World" and "Driving Home for Christmas." I'm not sure if they saw a "Christmas Story" where they go to the Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner, but that scene gives you a pretty good idea of what we were dealing with.
We did have some great food in Shanghai as well, but the old Chinese standbys were still there: duck feet, chicken feet, chicken head, heart, liver, gizzard, and pretty much any other part of the animal that we throw away. I'm an adventurous eater, but I'm pretty sure there's a reason the rest of the world decided to stop eating those parts.
All in all, we had an amazing time in China. Sorry it took so long to update, it won't happen again. Right now I'm in Hong Kong and will be here for the next week then it's off to Bali, Indonesia. I'll talk to you soon!
-Ben
