China Pictures!
I'm back, jetlagged, dehydrated, and craving Mexican food. Below are pics. Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15jgt915.5pmk6b15&x=0&y=-y9d759
I'm back, jetlagged, dehydrated, and craving Mexican food. Below are pics. Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15jgt915.5pmk6b15&x=0&y=-y9d759
It's the night before my flight back. Though I'm sad that my vacation is ending, I am looking forward to breathing some relatively fresh Manhattan air. A few last words before I endure my 20-hour journey home...
The Great Wall. To call it "great" is an understatement. We hired a taxi to drive us 2 hours to the Muitanyu section of the Great Wall (less touristy). The minute we got to the top of the mountain, I was in awe. Because it's low season, there were literally 15 tourists total on this 3-km stretch. Justin and I just sat down on one part of the wall and listened to the deafening silence. It was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle from other parts of China we visited.
Don't Cha! The Beijing gay club/bar scene is surprisingly more progressive than Shanghai's. We dined at a new trendy Taiwanese restaurant that was across the street from their hottest club, called Destination. The scene was hoppin', the space was medium-sized (think half the size of Splash, but with the same dance floor and chill out rooms.) The music was also more recent (albeit last summer's Pussycat Dolls was played), but when we walked in, "Hung Up" was blaring from the dance floor. Kudos to the DJ. And apparently, the Chinese have also never witnessed booty-shakin' like I was last night. Some random guy, who had some good moves, tried to dance with me last night, and I think after about 5-minutes of my ass-shaking, he smiled, thanked me, and escaped quickly in embarassment. Justin and I were also gettin our freak on the dance floor, much to the entertainment of the natives, and the chagrin of the "money-boys" in attendance, who usually command the attention. Well, at least I know where my next job is if I end up getting laid off.
Asian guilt, my ass! I have finally figured out how to bargain with these store owners. Pretty much, don't be their friend. I might get in trouble when I'm back in the states... these same practices I'm employing will probably get me decked and/or bitched out by a few retail queens. I can't wait to show off what I bought here. :-D
Off to the other hoppin' gay joint in a few hours... but first, some Hakka cuisine and a massage ($12 for an hour!!). BTW, I just had Yunnan cuisine for lunch, where they served us bark and branches. Surprisingly good, though I passed on the worms and bee pupae. Ta!!
Hey guys, I wrote this a couple of days ago, but I think the Chinese filters wouldn't let me post it. Hooray for censorship! ;-)
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Hey guys, some more observations. Flying home Sunday. I'm having a blast!
Hello Lorex! Poor Justin has been the victim of streetside haggling the whole time we've been here in Shanghai. The Hello *fill in the blank* statements have ranged from "Hello watch... bag, plada, monbran pen (Mont Blanc), poro (Polo), massage, and even sex massage." Talk about your variety of service. I've managed to find some cool fashionable finds at decent prices, but I will say it helps to speak the language. The shopkeepers have all admitted to me that they give me the Chinese-native price and they give Justin the "lao-wai" (foreigner) price, but they give him the native price cuz I'm able to translate for him.
Food, glorious food! Everyone knows I'm a foodie, and I haven't been disappointed yet. The food here in Shanghai has been expectedly tasty. The street food is pretty benign as far as bacteria, and I've been lucky to not catch any traveller's diarrhea... yet! (famous last words) It's funny that Justin got annoyed at the last restaurant we went to... Justin's been so used to eating at places where he has been the only non-Chinese there. This last place was filled with Caucasians and he didn't feel special. I guess this is what happens when your restaurant is Zagat rated. The food was still amazing, and still $20 total for food and beer.
It's a gay world after all. Justin and I went to a few gay bars and clubs this past weekend. Pretty fun, mostly because of all the people watching we've been doing. And I've said this before about the international gay scene... It's the same everywhere. Same music (actually here, it's 4 years behind. They love Amber and 90's Whitney, pre-crack), same attitude (stand and pose), and same drinks (albeit weaker... they measure shots like in Singapore). The beer is thankfully cheap though... you can easily get drunk on $5 which can buy you the equivalent of 5 pitchers in the right places.
Jaywalking? Ha! In the last 7 days I've been here, I've probably almost been killed or maimed by a random car, bike, motorcyle or overeager rickshaw at least twice a day. People drive and walk so aggressively here. Then again, I know this from my 7-train subway days from high school when I'd have the random 80-year old Chinese grandma literally push me out of the way to get a seat on the subway, so I shouldn't be surprised. I have to admit, the running stereotype in New York is that Asian people are terrible drivers. But after this past week of riding in Chinese cabs, I've come to realize that it's Americans who can't drive like the Chinese. There's a controlled chaos, a ebb and flow if you will, to the traffic. Think of Manhattan afternoon rush hour in Times Square, but 4x as worse, with twice as many people, and the bus lanes were full of people. Still, the pedestrians and drivers are not intimidated, even if they miss each other by mere inches.
Outhouses. I now know why Chinese people take off their shoes before they enter their houses. If you saw the decrepit conditions of the public bathrooms in these cities, you'd do the exact same thing. Today I witnessed varying degrees of cleanliness, varying from poo-filled backed-up squat toilets, to open stalls with people squat-pooing in plain view. Keep in mind there's no toilet paper anywhere. And the smell... it's too disgusting for words. I'm trashing my sneakers here for this very reason.
I'm off to Beijing tomorrow night on an overnight train. I'm praying I don't see a squat toilet or smell something heinous. I should buy a face mask tomorrow.
So I'm here on my third day in Beijing, and I'm about to go meet Justin at the airport to fly to Xi'an and see some terracotta warriors. According to my Lonely Planet book, the city is notorious for pickpocketing. Lucky me!
Here are some first impressions of China:
1) Spitting: The Chinese LOVE to spit. I was walking around today, and literally once every five minutes I heard a "kkkkkkkkk" hacking sound and a subsequent "ptooey!" made behind me, next to me, in front of me... Very appetizing. And it's not just the men. The women here are just as liberal with their saliva disposal as their male counterparts. Very ladylike.
2) Black lung: The air quality here is atrocious. I liken it to Bangkok... It reeks of burning metal. Everyone here drives, there's always construction going on, and it's incredibly dry. I wash my hands and face every so often, and I'm appalled at how much I wash off. I think I've gotten used to the air now, which worries me. I'll probably end up with emphysema in a few years. And to watch people smoke as well, jeez, just you might as well just suck on an exhaust pipe.
3) Food: The food here in Beijing is surprisingly uninspired. I don't understand how people can tolerate consistently bland food all the time. I never thought it was possible to make a dish spicy and tasteless at the same time. We'll see what happens when I get back next week.
4) Security: There are a LOT of security officers around. And unlike in NYC, they take their job SERIOUSLY. The supermarket I was in literally had 5 young guys checking to make sure nothing was shoplifted. I guess this is the job you're relegated to when you're surrounded by 1 billion other people.
5) Whatchu lookin' at? Like the French, the Chinese LOVE to stare. My friend Asha, who's Indian and who I've been staying with these last couple of days, always seems to garner a lot of attention when we're walking down the street together. They look at her, then they look at me, then at her again... I bet they think I found myself an Indian wife when I was abroad, and I'm rejecting the idea of marrying my own kind. And I think I know where I get my "talking about people in front of their face" quality. I caught a few construction workers saying something about me in a fast food restaurant earlier today.
6) Ni hao! My Mandarin is actually better than I thought. And this only furthers my belief that language immersion works. I can feel myself absorbing more around me, and being a lot more aware of my surroundings. My parents would be so proud. ;-)
More to come in a few days!