It's not all good...

As you know, our posts are of our experiences here in Beijing and majority of them are good. But we feel like we need to let you know, it's not all good in the hood. :) Here is a small compilation of the silly, gross, and/or disturbing things we've seen so far:


1. The first, we do not have a photo...as we feel it would be inappropriate to take or post one. Here in China, at some point babies no longer wear diapers and they are not potty trained yet....my guess is to save money on not having to buy diapers. As such, many of the baby/toddler clothes have giant slits in the crotch of their pants. And yes, thereby exposing the child's private area. This is so when the baby start to "go" the parent just holds the child out over a grassy area, or dirt, or water, or the street, or where ever they can. We haven't had the pleasure of seeing it happen, and hopefully we never will. But we were told this is what happens and we believe it.


2. On my way to work I walk by 2 construction sites and safety is NOT a priority. Aside from seeing 1 guy on 1 day wearing a hard hat (backwards), I have not seen any work boots, gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, safety vests, nor any PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) worn by any of the workers. In the pics below you can see the blatant disregard for safety here. In the first pic they are jackhammering the concrete while a man stands there with his back to the work and his shirt pulled up...it was a hot day. If any piece flew up and hit him, he would have been injured as he was not wearing anything for protection.

In this pic a man is standing in a pit trying to place a tube under the "claw" of the excavator to cut it. I stood and watched for a few minutes and the guy almost got hit by the claw.

This one below I just saw the other day out of our 4th floor window. I don't think this guy is actually harnessed to anything. If you can't see the photo, there is a guy sitting on top of an A/C unit that is on the side of the 4th story window, fixing an adjacent unit.

3. One afternoon at work I start feeling the hunger pangs, so I head upstairs to the vending machine. Most of the machine is filled with Chinese snacks but I spot a recognizable item..a Snickers!

Thank goodness! Once I obtain the Snickers from the drop slot, I realize it's broken. Bummed! It's ok, it will taste the same. Then, I open it. Two??!! Two Snicker pieces that are smaller than ONE piece at home? UGH!

4. So, I take the bus to work...and the long block I walk down to get to my office building this is what the sidewalk looks like:

Barely enough room for one person to walk on each side. It's weird. Why not put the tree to the side? Why put it in the semi-middle of the sidewalk so people have to go to one side or the other and it's barely enough room for single-file.?

5. One nice Saturday afternoon we look out our 22nd floor window to see the window washers! How nice. oh, wait...look! They aren't really tied to anything! There were several guys who repelled down, using the rope around the foot as a brake to repel down as they washed the windows. I just can't believe how unsafely these guys work....

6. I don't know why this is, but it seems like NOBODY matches their fit in China. I have only seen a handful of outfits that were cute...and then they were messed up by un-matching shoes. I don't mean unmatching as in two different shoes, I mean they don't match the outfit. Come on ladies! There are a million shoe places and you're telling me none of you can find shoes to match he fit?? It hurts my eyes. As you can see in this lil photo, this lady has a cute lil pink top with white lacy cover and some khaki pants...and then messes it up with1. the black sparkly heels and 2. the almost red purse!

Oh and this other fashion "craze" I see women wearing ALL the time, is the short nylons you wear when you have close toed heels, and long pants...BUT they wear them like socks and don't make sure the top of the nylon is hidden. wth? You aren't supposed to SEE the top of the nylon!

Really Dorothy??

7.  If any of you at home think traffic is bad...check out my morning commute! We sat in the middle of this intersection for several minutes. Not moving. As you can see it's more or less a free for all. A very "get in where you fit in" mentality.

8. I know this should be in the food posts...but I just couldn't wait. Below on the left is "Hot and Sour Fish Soup Flavor" and on the right is "Fried Prawn Flavor". We haven't tried these yet...so will let you know if they are as awesome as they sound!

These next two are, of course, "French Chicken Flavor" and "Cheese Lobster Flavor", I tried the chicken one and it was pretty good. Not sure how I feel about the other....but will def give it a try!

9. And finally: Don't call it a

when it's just a 

Yes...this was one of the clean ones

The Great Wall at Mutianyu!

Today we got up at 5:30am, got dressed, ate breakfast and headed across the street to the Bus Station to catch the 936 to Mutianyu. We got there around 6:20am for the 7am bus. Everywhere we read online and in books said to arrive early. We did and were first in line!

Once 7am hit, up rolls the 867 and the 936 buses...people gather at both and an attendant comes yelling something in Chinese....I say to her, "Mutianyu?" and she points to the 867. Sooo we run over, along with the group of other tourists waiting at the 936 stop, and get right in at the front of the line. When in China, do as the Chinese do...which means, there's no such things as lines or first come first served. We get on the bus, use our bus passes (and thus only pay just over $1USD, cash would've been almost $3USD), and sit down in our comfy seats for the 2 hr ride. The trip is 1/2 as long if you get a "driver" but would also be at least 60x as expensive and def not as fun!

As we arrive to Mutianyu, our bus attendant found the one Chinese-American on the bus to translate some facts to the English-speakers. She said the walk from the bus stop up to the wall was 1.5hrs long (much longer than we had read online). Then she goes on to tell us the prices for the 2 cable cars available to go up to the wall (60RMB one-way or 80 RMB round-trip) but you must buy them before you enter. She also tells us about the Toboggan ride and slide you can take down from the top. We had read all of this online and thus had decided we would attempt the walk up.

After we get off the bus we have to pass several vendors who try to show us their wonderful souvenirs. We keep walking to the ticket counter to get our entrance tix (45RMB per person to enter the wall...roughly $9USD). We turn around all happy that we have our tix...now where do we go? There's signs for both cable cars and for the toboggan, but where is the regular walking path? We come to a split in the road...North entrance and South entrance...let's try North. We head up to the North entrance and find ourselves the walking path. Yay! Then we turn the corner and see the stairs....

...now we know why it will take 1.5hrs. That's ok, we are here for the experience! So we climb...and turn some corners...and climb...and then 20 min later...what's that?! It's THE WALL!!!!! I can see it!

We've made it...and it definitely does NOT take 1.5hrs. We arrive to Tower #8. At this location there are 20 towers you can walk to. We walk over to Tower #7 and climb to the top to check out the view:

We spent 1/2 our time at this Tower just enjoying the 360deg view. We then decided to walk back towards Tower #8 but on the way sat down to eat our lunch and just look at the wall:

This is looking from Tower 7 to 8 all the way up to 20. The wall extends to the mountain in the back just left of the center of the pic. On the side of the mountain back there is something written in Chinese. We were too far to see the details of the characters but can only assume it says "Great Wall".

Since we got to the wall early and it was a Friday morning, there weren't too many people up there...making it all the more amazing and enjoyable.

Once we were done we headed back down the walking path (our legs a lil wobbly from all the climbing up). The steps aren't exactly even or standardized. We get back down to where all the vendors are who are now 10x more pushy and literally "in your face". I can ignore the yelling and the "hey pretty lady" calls, but it was quite frustrating when they started to stand right in front of you to block you from walking. Fortunately I have no problem pushing my way through the craziness.

We sit down a while to rest and then head back to the bus stop to wait for the return bus at 2pm. Only 2 buses of the 867 return to Beijing one at 2pm and one at 4pm...if you miss them, there are plenty of taxis and "mini-buses" to charge you a ton of money to take you back. By 2pm there were a lot of people gathered around...looks like we will be pushing our way onto the bus again. We do, and we get our seats. Phew!

Just over 2 hrs later we arrive at Dongzhimen Station. Home. Visiting the wall was a wonderful experience and was even better since it wasn't crowded like we had expected. We enjoyed walking up to the wall and imagining what it would have been like to climb up there with no pathways, no stairs, and carrying stone. The building of this wall is an amazing feat and we are thankful we had the opportunity to see a part of it and take in all the amazing-ness of it.

Meal Hunting Part 1

We have found a good variety of food in our area. Here are a few spots, some with links!

Khatoon - Persian Food: http://khatoonrestaurant.org/ This place was authentic. Good hummus, a variety of kebobs with rice and veggies, etc The chef and owners were Persian. Servers were Chinese...and a variety of clientele. have already been 2x.

Niajo - Traditional Spanish spot - http://www.niajo.com/. Met the owner, Alex, who is from Valencia, Espana. The paella was awesome, the gambas al aljillo (depicted below) was incredible, and the tortilla con patatas y cebolla was delicious. We will be frequenting this spot for sure! For friends who visit they have a full bar and an extensive wine list categorized for easy pairing.

Geba Geba - Freshest. Sushi. Ever. I am almost 100% sure they have tanks in the back where they kill the fish right there and cut and serve. This place is definitely expensive but if you want fresh sushi this is the spot.

Xiangmanlou - or as we like to call it: Denny's...b/c this place is always packed...like Denny's. Food was good, got a plate of duck with a sweet glaze, kung pao chicken that had a great hot spice to it....

 

...and my new favorite dish that I def want to try making: Garlic sauteed pumpkin leaves over a bed of those clear noodle thingys.

 Jia Japanese - some decent sushi...not as good as Geba Geba sushi...but also not as expensive.

Saddle Cantina - Mexican spot. Steak fajitas...not grilled but spiced well that they were tasty! The salsa and guac could use some work, but seeing as how the ingredients are expensive they cut down on some ingredients that we take for granted in California.

Noodle Japanese - a great cheap local spot that has sushi, and a good variety of Chinese food in a cozy setting. Below is the hot and sour soup...just like home but with spam in it. :) mmm...mmm...good!

As we try more spots we will update with the places and food...if there's a website, we will also link. Most places here do not have a website, b/c they just don't need it. The Chinese are not as reliant on the internet as US folks are.

Cinco de Mayo

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo we headed down to a local Mexican spot we had yet to try. As we walked in we could see the place was already packed. We spotted an open table in the bar area and headed over. As we looked around we noticed the place was packed with Americans...just like Rosarito and Puerto Vallarta!

I flagged down the waitress and ordered "fajitas with carne asada and a quesadilla with carne asada". The waitress replied, "What?". I repeat "carne asada" and point at the fajitas on the menu. Again, the waitress replies, "What?". From across the table Jesse says "steak". The waitress replies, "ohhh, beef". Sure, beef. I forgot I was in China with all the white Americans in the Mexican spot. :)

As we wait for our food I see the manager walking with an already tipsy American (white guy with a polo shirt and khaki shorts) with a tray of limes and shot glasses and two bottles of Cuervo (one silver, one gold). It's about to get real Rosarito up in here!

After some time we finally get our carne asada fajitas...and a plate of carnitas quesadilla (not quite what we ordered but tasty...much more meat than cheese). The food isn't quite the Mexican food we are used to but it's tasty nonetheless. Halfway through our dinner the tequila party moved out to the table on the deck...phew! This no-longer-18 couple was finding them a bit obnoxious...

By the end of our dinner we were pretty satisfied, we ended up running into my coworkers who were also celebrating Cinco de Mayo. All in all it was a good night.

Saturday with Keanu

This afternoon I went into the bedroom and opened the shades a bit more to let the wonderful sun in....I happened to look down and what do I see? A bunch of folks standing in the street, umbrellas, and tents, and vans, and trailers. What's going on? Oh yea! Keanu Reeves is filming his movie "Man of Tai Chi" in Beijing and he and his whole crew are staying in our same building. What better place to film than right outside where you are staying!


Jesse and I sat a while trying to find Mr. Reeves... and there he is! The one with the tan hat on and gray shirt.  We watched for a while...the locals either don't know who he is or they just don't care. There's no guards, the area is not taped off in any manner...it's as if I'm being called to run out and hug him!

Moving Day!

Today, we moved. We had been offered by the apartment manager to move up in the world. Jesse checked out the new digs and decided we must move. So we packed up our things today headed up from the 6th to the 22nd floor. There are 37 floors, so we can still go higher! :)  Below are pics of both places...on the right is the 6th floor kitchen and living room. On the left is the 22nd floor kitchen and living room. The darker color scheme is much warmer and sophisticated. Also, the view is better. I will try to get some daytime photos of it posted soon.

Ok, we finally started a blog of our adventures in Beijing. We have been here just over a month and we already feel at home.  We found several large grocery stores where we can get almost everything we need. There's an american-style deli nearby where we can get lunch meat for sandwiches and they have all sorts of American products available in case we miss home.


The Chinese food is great here and much different from Chinese places in the US. We can find some places where the food is super cheap (lunch for US $2.50) or places that are expensive (over $50 per person).  We are near many embassies and as a result a variety of restaurants! We plan to visit as many as we can.


Here's a pic from the Lotte Mart down the street from my office and it's selection of fresh teas.