Hello everyone! Sorry
for the belated update; I have had quite the adventurous week with lots of
happenings to inform you about!
Let me begin with last Friday (6/15). My group and I departed from Tianjin on the
8AM train to Beijing. We wasted no time
and hopped on the metro to head to the Olympic sites that we wanted to tour:
the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube! It
was when we arrived at the Olympic Park area that I discovered some
disappointing news: My camera seems to
have died on me. At this point I was
unsure if the battery had just died, but I was pretty sure that wasn't it
because I had charged it the night before.
It has suffered no exposure to water of any kind, nor had I dropped
it. Needless to say, I was at a loss for
an explanation, but resolved to pack my camera away for the rest of the
weekend. So, I am sorry to share with
all of you that the remainder of my weekend went undocumented on my end; the
good news is that I have plenty of friends who took some super awesome
pictures!
The Bird's Nest and the Water Cube was, to be frank, not
exactly everything that I thought it would be.
Yes, it was awesome to be in the same stadium that houses the memorable
opening ceremonies, and yes, it was crazy to stand in the same building that
Michael Phelps broke countless world records.
But on the other hand: After being
transformed into a park during the winter, and then a Segway obstacle course,
the Bird's Nest is now undergoing construction to become a shopping
center. ... Yeah. So while Atlanta managed to put the Georgia
Dome to great use, it seems that Beijing has not been quite as successful. Meanwhile, the Water Cube housed a pool that
was completely drained and undergoing construction-- what exactly was happening
I could not gather. The other half of
the Water Cube has been transformed into a recreational indoor water park,
which actually looked pretty cool from the glimpses that I got. Regardless, at the end of the day, I am happy
that I went just to say that I did it and saw inside some of the historic
Olympic sites in Beijing!!
The remainder of our Friday was devoted to wandering through
and buying up the Silk Market. If you
recall from my previous post, the Silk Market is the number one shopping
destination for foreigners in Beijing. I
would recommend the experience to anyone who happens to find themselves in
Beijing, as walking the aisle of the Silk Market is unlike anything I have ever
done before! The day that we went was
particularly interesting; the police inspector stopped by. Turns out this is a pretty big deal. It all started when I was having a
back-and-forth bargaining session with an employee. She, out of no where, grabs my wrist and
yanks me into her booth and instructs me not to speak until she tells me
so. When I asked her what was going on,
she told me that "A big bad man is coming." Needless to say, I was utterly confused. The woman would not answer any more of my
inquiries. After we finished the rest of
our transaction in hushed whispers, she quickly ushered me out of her booth and
into the masses of the market. The rest
of my afternoon was devoted towards getting to the truth of the situation, and
I managed to gather insight bit by bit from employees. It was no news to me that a huge chunk of the
merchandise at the Silk Market is fake brands (Nike, North Face, Patagonia, and
Polo are the brands that I recall being most prominent), but I did learn that
this selling of fraudulent goods is illegal and actually enforced in
China. Every so often, the police send
inspectors through the Silk Market, and any fake merchandise that is found on
display is confiscated. So, when an
employee gets tipped off that the police is on the way, the news spreads like
wildfire amongst the vendors. Throughout
the entire building, employees were ripping merchandise off of the walls and
stuffing it into huge bags. Every
elevator was congested with flustered workers hauling these huge bags down to
their cars in the employee parking. It
was quite a scene! So for the rest of
the day, many of the employees were more focused on getting their fraudulent
goods out of the building than selling what they had to us shoppers. By the time we left the market, the booths
were void of any name brands. I still
managed to get a healthy amount of shopping in-- any more and I probably
wouldn't have had room in my luggage this week as we traveled!
On Friday night, we caught an overnight train from Beijing
to Xi'an. The train slept four people to
a room, and the arrangements were quite cozy.
Still, it was fun to travel in such a fashion, and I actually slept
quite well. We arrived in Xi'an early
Friday morning and headed straight to the site of the Terracotta Army! This sight has been on my to-see list ever
since I learned I would be traveling to China, and it was an amazing experience
to finally see what I had only read about!!
The sights consist of three huge pits which are enclosed in
warehouses. Much of the area is still
being actively excavated, but there was still the magnificent scene I imagined
of hundreds of meticulously-crafted warriors standing side by side. After exploring the pits and excavation
sites, my friends and I rented bicycles and bikes along the world’s largest
city wall! It was a spectacular view and
an awesome afternoon for bike riding! I
really had a blast in spending the day Xi’an; it was all definitely worth the
overnight train rides two nights in a row!
When I returned to Tianjin on Sunday morning, I made the
unfortunate discovery that the problem with my camera was indeed, not a dead
battery, but something much more. On
Tuesday, a TJU student and I went to a camera shop and tried replacing the
battery with a new one, but to no avail.
Consequently, my Nikon is officially dead for the time being! While I am disappointed that this happened, I
am happy to have made my purchase from Costco; getting it fixed should be no
problem once I return to the States. In
the meanwhile, plans are in the works for me getting another camera so that I
can continue documenting my once-in-a-lifetime experiences over here!!
On Wednesday, the entire China Summer Program packed up from
Tianjin (MUCH easier said than done) and headed to Shanghai via the
Beijing-Shanghai Express “Bullet” Train!
The trip took almost exactly five hours; if I recall correctly, our
speed was topping out at around 320 km/hr.
Having spent a little over two days here, I can tell that I
am going to LOVE Shanghai! The city is
so modernly urban and westernized that in some areas that if I didn’t see all
of the Chinese characters, I might think I was walking the streets of New York
City. While I thoroughly enjoyed the
traditionally-Chinese aspects of Tianjin, seeing this other half of China is
going to be quite a treat. This morning
I went out and created a perfect running loop that takes me on such a varied
tour of the neighborhoods of Shanghai.
If I can say so myself, I feel quite cool running through the streets of
the largest city in the world! :D
Here are some pictures that I took with my iPhone during my first night in Shanghai (forgive the poor quality):
Lastly, it seems that our hotel might be wise in investing in a better English translator for their fire instructions! :D
Tomorrow I have the opportunity to travel to the home of a
SJTU student and celebrate the Duan Wu, or Dragon, Festival in a traditional
Chinese family fashion! I could not be
more excited for this experience; I already know that sharing in such a celebration
in a real Chinese house will be so informative and enlightening. I look forward to coming back and sharing it
with you guys! I will do my best to snap
some pics on my iPhone, so long as you all forgive the poor quality!
Thanks for reading everyone!! Have a great day!
