Based on how crazy these past two days have been, as well as how packed my itinerary is for the rest of the week, I doubt that I will have much time to sit down and seriously write about my experiences here. That being said, I will make an effort to write as much as I can and definitely to upload pictures from everything that I do. Below is a brief play by play of the past 48 or so hours of my life.
Friday:
4pm: (still in Shanghai) I got my first chinese haircut. I was terrified to do this as almost every person in China has a bad haircut (thats 2 billion bad haircuts!). The fact that I would be unable to comunicate what I wanted to the barber made me even more nervous about the experience. In the end- hour and half experience including a wash, massage and I got a half decent hair cut- 20 quai.
7:30pm:
Board what would become the "party car" of the night train to Beijing. There are no Pg 13 stories to tell from this ride.
Saturday
6:00am: Arrive in Beijing. Immediately head to the hotel to check in and have breakfast. From there, go to a local coffee house, The Book Worm, to hear a lecture on the changing face of architecture in Beijing (try to hold back sleep). After lecture, have lunch and then head to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden city. These were both incredible sights, I wish I had more time to write about the architecture and history, but I'm trying to keep brief so I've uploaded pictures (maybe next week when I get home from Beijing I'll write a reflective post where i'll include more historical information).
10:00pm: Still no sleep. Go clubbing Beijing style.
Sunday
1:00pm: Head to Beijing's art district called 798, this was an incredible area where we spent the day touring gallerys and drinking too much wine at out-door cafes. I was so suprised by this district, I felt more like I was in a funky New York neighborhood than in China; the artwork was also much more racy than I expected (this expectation being based solely on the small ammount of knowledge I have of Chinese culture and art).
This is all I really have time to write about for now.... Enjoy the pictures, more to come.
Train station in Beijing
Tianamen Square
Red Flags in Tianmen Square
Though Tianamen square and the forbidden city are some of the biggest tourist attractions in China, there are actually very few foreigners visiting these sites. Majority of the tourists are actually Chinese, many of whom are from interior China and have have never seen a foreigner in person. This group of guys followed us for about 20 minutes, taking candid pictures, and openly staring at us......very creepy.
Gotta love the littlest party members
Portrait of Mao Zedong
Mao and A guard
One more of Mao for good measure
About to enter the Forbidden City
Inside the Foribidden City
The Forbidden City
The President of Uraguay at the forbidden city, he must have heard I was going.....
More forbidden City
Pagodas in the North side of the forbidden city, near the emperor's garden
Dragon Sculpture in the garden
Another pagoda
I absolutely love Chinglish translations. This one warns of the perilous danger of climbing these 5 foot rocks......
Climbing a small hill, towards a pagoda.
Looking down on the forbidden city from the Pagoda. Notice the smog.
798 - a factory district in Beijing that has been taken over by art gallerys, museums and cafes.
In an interesting artistic taxidermy shop: some great preserved hampsters- (I actually bought this, thought we could put it up in the living room at home, what do you think mom???)
Very cool picture from a gallery in 798
Gallery in 798
Dragons
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