Internet Fail, Beijing Triumph

Currently I am experienced dramatic technical issues with my VPN program. This will not keep me away from my precious blog, however.

I just returned from a week-long trip in Beijing with my study-abroad program, China in a Global Context. There were about 30 students and 4 teachers in our group. The trip was fun and we overcame the various glitches in scheduling, weather, and other issues.

We took an overnight hard sleeper from Shanghai to Beijing. I love the train. It is so comfortable to fall asleep to the rocking motion and there is hot water available all the time! I slept fantastically! We arrived in Beijing, groggy but shocked into awareness by the biting cold. Our Chinese guide (no English) led our bus to a famous Peking Duck restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with duck meat. Duck meat is alright, but too fatty for my taste. In addition, at the end of the trip they informed us that the duck is force-fed which really grosses me out. No more duck for me!

We were put up in a ridiculously nice hotel where we spent the rest of the day relaxing. When it came time to feed ourselves, I missed my old back-gate, where everything I want or need is a 5-minute walk within my dorm.

The next few days we spent visiting a hutong, or old alleyway, in the bar district of Beijing. We had a bizarre social experiment of a lunch, where 9 of us were shut in a separate small room and fed nibbles of cold, tasteless food while the rest of the group laughed and dined on a feast of endless dishes. We could see them through our window and it was horribly depressing. I'm not sure what happened, but I think I'm okay now. We also saw Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Olympics stadium. Unfortunately, it was very cold and windy. It made us all quite ill and being outside was needlessly unpleasant. When I was bundled up, I could barely handle the weather. I ended up with a nasty cough and fever, just in time for our trip to the Great Wall!

We drove a bus to Chengde, the site of a Qing Dynasty Summer Palace. That place was enormous! We took small electric cars from pond to pond to look at pagodas, reindeer, and bridges. We then took our large bus to see the mini replica of the Potala Palace (the real one which I saw in Tibet) but it was closed for the day. I can't say I was too bummed. I like to maintain my well-traveled superiority over others.

Our hotel in Chengde was also very nice, but I just slept super-early to stave off my sickness because we were headed to the Wall the next day.

Instead of hiking from one point to another, we just drove to our end destination to dink around on the Simatai portion of the Great Wall. We were too sick and weak to do anything hard-core. I was one of the advocates for all-out hiking, but it's a good thing we didn't because I was one of the first ones to bail out from a fainting spell. Good one, Ellen. It's fine though because I made it the 2 miles or so to our lunch destination in a village off the beaten path. When I arrived, exhausted and near tears, I found a large heated bed awaiting me. Our small party snuggled in blankets and played with kittens while the rest of CGC frolicked out on the Wall. We ate lunch with our host village family and celebrated my friend Travis's birthday with cake and fireworks. It turned out very positively from a rather tragic beginning. I say tragic because the Great Wall is definitely one of my favorite places. I'll be back.

Our bus ride back to Beijing was a symphony of coughing and snorting. Charming! We made it back okay and I slept well. I went to the new Summer Palace the next day and also visited a very Westernized hutong lined with small boutiques. We had to hurry back for the Chinese opera show that evening, otherwise I think I would have bought way too much stuff!

Ah, Chinese opera. It is shrieking and spectacle. We had a libretto translated on the side, but along with many other Chinese-to-English translations, was lacking in depth and accuracy. This made for a very amusing time. About halfway through, the opera turned into an acrobatics show. No more shrieking noises. Except for one last "Wooooooooosh" at the end. I enjoyed the show, but appreciated its short length (1 hr).

Beijing is an enormous city with thousands of things to see. I know I will return some time and it will hopefully not be in the cold. If you want to join, give me a call.

Fun fact: Chinese dogs say "Wang wang!" instead of "Woof woof!"

looooove,
ellen

P.S. To Kate: You did not tell me that I would be returning to Eugene to hear several Beethoven Piano Concertos that the Eugene Symphony is performing. I am peeved. Yet I am very happy I get to hear my favorites. We will go together. That's all.