August 12, 2008

Beijing CHINA

A Taste of Chinese Spring Water, Departing for Beijing, a Sichuan Dinner with Friends, Visiting Tian'anmen by Night, and Drinks in Houhai

As always, time started ticking away from the moment I woke up this morning. Anshuo and I had tickets for a 10:20 a.m. train to Beijing, but beforehand he wanted to show me one last thing in the city: the natural springs along the city old moat. We were met by the girl from last night, whose name escapes me, and we walked together for 20 minutes along the moat until we came across a series of natural springs.

There were men and women filling jugs with the fresh water while others were simply out for a morning walk. I was obviously apprehensive about trying "natural" water from China, especially considering the air of Jinan is constantly gray from pollution, but I did not want to offend Anshuo. He brought an empty water bottle with him, which he proceeded to dunk into the open water reservoir until it was full. Then, we each took a swig, me with my fingers crossed and hoping I do not regret this later. The name of the spring was Black Tiger Spring, which did seem a bit foreboding, but the water tasted innocuous enough.

At the train station I bought a large bottle of Yantai Beer for the 3 hour train ride. The train was another "D" class, with an average speed of 200+ km/hr. Although we were originally planning on staying with friends in Beijing, we decided against it because it would pose too much of a hassle. Instead, Anshuo's grandfather's assistant booked us a room at the Shandong Binguan, which is recently opened and gave us a good price. This would simply make our lives easier in terms of comfort and accessibility because we would not have to worry about keys or coordinating schedules with our host.

At the recently completed Beijing South Train Station we hopped in a taxi in the underground access area, which is by-far the most efficient I have ever seen China. There were men directing the taxis and bars preventing the ubiquitous queue-cutting that goes on in China. Needless to say, I was very impressed, and things would only get better.

In the taxi, the driver did not speak as much English as I was anticipating, but he was friendly and answered all of my questions - with Anshuo doing most of the translating because I can never understand the heavy Beijing dialect. What stuck with me the most though was the air quality. For the first time in five visits to Beijing I was actually able to see blue in the sky! This is absolutely unparalleled and even now I struggle to believe that it was actually possible. Granted, all factories shut down over one month ago, only half the cars can drive on any given day, artificial rain has been created (releasing chemicals into the sky to force rain, thereby reducing pollution in the sky), all construction is at a stand-still, and numerous other measures I have not heard about... Nevertheless, it was a welcome surprise, and for the first time I began liking the look of Beijing - it isn't actually as hideous a city as I once thought.

Despite this being an even-car day, there was still a lot of traffic on the streets and it took us over one hour to reach the hotel. By the time we checked in and dropped off our stuff it was 3:00 p.m., so we called up a few friends and arranged to meet later in the evening. In the mean time, we walked around until we found a barber shop where I was treated to massages, shampooing, and cutting for only 20 rmb (under $3USD.) Getting a haircut in China is one of my favorite pastimes, even though the language barrier always makes it slightly more troublesome.

One of Anshuo's friends from Germany, an Iranian born man named Abu, met us at the hotel at 5:00 p.m. He was interesting to talk to and is currently doing a one-semester exchange in Beijing as part of his MBA program. Otherwise, I called XinLei, a Singaporean friend of mine, and arranged to meet at 6:00 p.m. However, she ended up being slightly late, so in the mean time I coordinated a slight change of plans so that we could eat dinner at what the taxi driver assured me was the best Sichuan restaurant in Beijing - naturally, I wanted to know where he thought the best GONG BAO JI DING can be found. The restaurant did not disappoint, although I was let down by my friends who appreciated the taste as much as I did, and showed this with their generous helpings.

Afterward, we were joined by a friend named Pan (who is a Beijing native) and we walked along Zhang'an Jie (literally: Long Peace Street) until we reached Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. I spent much of the walk chatting with Pan, who recently graduated from Princeton and will begin working for BCG (Boston Consulting Group) at the Hong Kong office later this month. This is a similar path I am planning on taking, so we had much in common. Anyway, Tian'anmen was naturally packed with people, and there were intense security checks before we could enter. However, it was also a great deal of fun as everything was well lit and it was possible to see people from all over the world taking photos side by side.

Later, we hopped in taxis and met more friends in the Houhai area, which is also referred to as the Back Lakes. We joined a group of four GE employees from the London office, and one woman (Celine) from the Beijing office who I met during my time in Shanghai. The Corona beer was slightly overpriced at 30 rmb/bottle, but such was to be expected in such a foreign-dominated area. Nevertheless, it was a good night of fun, and a great start to the adventure at the Beijing Olympics.