May 27, 2007
Beijing (CHINA)
Singapore --> Bangkok --> Beijing, and Dinner with a Great Friend
Less than 12 hours after landing in Singapore and I was riding in the back seat of Hui Shi's Audi A6 heading for Singapore's Changgi airport. Funnily enough, I never got to see the sun on this return to Singapore - I landed at 7pm yesterday and reached the airport at 6:30am this morning. I felt bad for Hui Shi and her parents because all they got out of my stay was a bottle of wine and a free breakfast at the airport.
Yesterday, Hui Shi's parents were kind enough to pick me up from the airport and take me out for dinner. Hui Shi was working at a large fish tank convention (sounds silly, but it was an international event), so she didn't get home until after 10pm. We had a lot of catching up to do as she recently graduated from the prestigious National University of Singapore (NUS) with a degree in Mathematics, and it is time for her to sort out her career. We stayed awake until after 2am while I tried to talk her into a career in banking, but from the sound of it she will take another few years to realize my advice is perfect...
As for my flights today, I had a quick layover in Bangkok, Thailand, but I was too tired to do anything than walk directly to my terminal. The one thing I did notice en route were all the advertisements of the Thai King. For any who may not know, this is the same king who outlawed youTube.com because of video disrespecting him, and a Swiss man was recently imprisoned for 20 years after spray-painting graffiti over one of the king's pictures.
I landed in Beijing in the late afternoon and hopped in a taxi to a small hotel. The lodging wasn't as cheap as the dormitories I am accustomed to, but I have too much luggage to risk staying with other people. Besides, tomorrow afternoon the other 14 REU students will arrive from the United States and my summer REU session will begin.
After
dropping off my bags and taking a quick shower, I called
a friend who studies at Tsinghua University (China's MIT
equivalent) and we agreed to meet for dinner. I
opted to take public transport to reach Tsinghua's
campus, so I was forced to ask for directions the entire
way. I had to switching trains several times and do a
great deal of walking as Beijing is a sprawled out city.
The one bit of good news is the Beijing public transport
system has improved dramatically since last summer (from
2 metro lines to 5) as part of Beijing's remarkable push
to be ready for the 2008 Olympics. And trust me, when
the Chinese set their minds on accomplishing something
it is a good bet they will succeed!
After an hour and a half I finally met Chen Xu (English name, Max) outside the train station. He treated me to dinner at a fancy Yunnan restaurant, and as is Chinese custom we ordered enough food for an entire army. I tried a new dish with dinner which was basically rice, meat, and herbs masterfully cooked inside a bamboo shoot.
It
was great seeing Max again, and we had a lot of catching
up to do. He is literally one of Tsinghua's top
students, which basically means he is the best China has
to offer! Not only that, but the majority of China's
elite CCP members are former Tsinghua students -
including current present President Hu Jintao who
studied Civil Engineering at Tsinghua. I would not be
surprised if Max follows in similar footsteps because he
has the work ethic, brains, and motivation to accomplish
great things.
Unfortunately, Chinese universities do not end for another month, and Max will be doing an internship in Mongolia for the summer. We agreed to meet tomorrow for lunch so he could show me around Tsinghua campus, and he will also visit Dalian after his internship ends at the end of the summer.
I caught the last train back into downtown Beijing, and after another hour and half of traveling I finally settled into bed for the night.
I could really use a vacation.