Cindy's Blog

I recently got back from a trip to Beijing, the capital of China. This is my account of the trip. 

First Impressions

My first thought of Beijing, from the plane as it descended, was "it looks like a wasteland," followed closely by "is that fog?" Because Bejing, from the air, in the winter, looks startlingly like a dead city. There was no greenery, no plants, or trees, or parks. Just grey, grey buildings and bare, dusty earth for as far as the eye can see. ("Much like that city from the movie, Wall-E, except without the trash," I later remarked to my mother.) It didn't help that the entire scene was covered in a layer of fog-like smoke, despite the fact that the sun had long since risen. It took a moment for me to recognize that that was indeed the famous, polluted Beijing air I had heard about. I had thought that the news of people actually selling canned air, of all things, in Beijing had just been some stupid trend or some business looking to scam people, but, looking at the air of Beijing from the plane, I suddenly realized why exactly they had been selling canned air. And why exactly people had bought it.

The Subway

China's subways are...well, to put it simply, really really crowded. We entered the subway almost as soon as we retrieved our luggage so we could get to our hotel as soon as possible. We had to transfer trains a few times, which did not help my mood at all. The air down there is hot and dry, and, seeing as we just got off the plane, my hair did not take kindly to that sort of atmosphere at all. My hair began poofing up and sticking to my face, and every time someone was unfortunate (or idiotic) enough to touch it, they would be shocked by the static. (I later realized that China's air was dry all around, and that, no, my hair would not stop poofing, even if I didn't go in the subway, which irritated me to no end.) Water didn't keep it down for long either. Needless to say, I felt that our trip was off to a bad start.

The (First) Hotel

The first hotel we lived in was a rather small and stifling hotel. The walls in China are very much unlike the walls in Taiwan. For one, they retain heat very well. They also do not let in wind or the cold and are extremely solid. It was a very startling and abrupt change -- one moment, we were in the freezing cold of Beijing's polluted air, feeling as if the wind was attempting to bite our cheeks and noses off, and the next, almost as soon as we stepped into the lobby, it was swelteringly hot and dry, and we couldn't get our numerous jackets off fast enough.

We had booked two rooms -- one three-person room and one two-person room, as my aunt had also come with us on our trip. But to our surprise, both rooms we received had only two single beds each. And both rooms were exactly the same -- small, with no real space to even fit our luggage without needing to step over it on the way to the bathroom or bed, let alone another cot. Our room pairings had already been decided beforehand: my parents and my brother in one room, and my aunt and I in the other. So, luckily, I did not have to deal with the hassle of sharing a single bed with someone. (I heard, later, that they had just pushed the two single beds together and my brother had slept in the middle and stole their blankets in his sleep.)

Despite the initial troubles, I rather liked this hotel. The internet was good (for me -- for some strange reason, the internet wouldn't work for any of the others' electronics, despite the fact that my brother had the exact same tablet as I did and I didn't enter a password or anything of that sort), the bathroom was surprisingly large compared to the actual room, the shower was hot (pity there wasn't a bathtub though), the TV worked, and there was even a fridge and a phone that we could use to call the other rooms. I just wished they wouldn't put chocolate (and other snacks like Coke) in the fridge and place a small notice on top that eating any of it would cost extra money. (Apparently, hotels in China do that -- they place yummy snacks and such in the rooms, and if you eat or drink them, you have to pay extra fees.)

China's Night Market

Since it was almost night by the time our plane landed and we got to the hotel, we decided to get dinner. But we didn't exactly know what was considered good or traditional in China. What better place to find out than a night market? So, as our hotel was rather close to one, we went there for dinner. 

The first thing we saw when we entered the market was a row of something small and a light golden brown (like it had been fried), stuck on sticks. We went closer to investigate. Imagine our shock -- and horror -- when they moved!

"Scorpions" The sign proclaimed proudly. The scorpions seemed to have been covered with some sort of powdery substance -- peanut dust, perhaps? Chinese seem fond of peanuts -- and they were quite lively, wriggling their legs for all to see. I shuddered and got as far away from them as physically possible without leaving the group behind. Luckily, nobody in the group seemed all that eager to try them (except my dad, who seemed to want to buy them to scare us, if nothing else).

As we moved on, we saw a variety of strange foods -- octopus legs, octopus balls, fried shrimp, fish, and sour milk (this was quite popular; many stalls were selling it, so we tried some and found it was pretty good, and, as a bonus, it was warm and helped stave off the chilling bite of the wind) are some of the things I remember most vividly. We also tried some fried noodles (pretty good) and egg biscuit-things (dan bing; though China dan-bings also had carrots, amongst other things in it; it wasn't bad either). 

Some other noteable things about China's night market, is the fact that it is quite dirty. In fact, when I first realized that my shoes were sticking slightly to the ground, as if I had gotten glue on them, I thought that I had gotten something on my shoes. As it turned out, I didn't; China's night market is just paved with some sort of sticky-ish rubber or something.

They also sell clothes there -- lots and lots of clothes and other trinkets. Hats, scarves, gloves, and other types of warm clothing are the most common. They also have this thing that you can keep your hands in: it's a cylinder with holes on either end for your hands to go in and there is a string attached to the outside so you can hang it around your neck. The inside is lined with fur and it's wonderfully warm; I myself got one (a beautiful, dark blue one with white flower designs splashed across) on the third day, when I gave my gloves to my brother (who had stupidly forgotten his).

Convenience Stores

By the time we finished wandering the night market, it was almost nine. We had to hurry back to the hotel because we wanted to book seats on the hotel bus heading to the Great Wall the next day (sign up for seats ended at nine). However, as we had no breakfast the the next day, we decided to split up. Group A -- my parents and brother -- would head back first to book the seats, and Group B -- me and my aunt -- would wander around and try to find instant noodles for breakfast.

My aunt and I ended up wandering for around half an hour because we had no clue where anything was, or even where to find the instant noodles. China differs majorly from Taiwan in this way -- whereas Taiwan has a 7-Eleven or a Hi-Life in almost every corner, China had barely any of them at all. (In fact, I don't remember spotting a single familiar convenience store in my entire time in Beijing.)

Eventually though, we got lucky. We had given up and decided to wander back down the night market and find something else. We entered a store selling moon cakes and candy and, voila! found a stack of instant noodles sitting in the corner and promptly bought five of them, along with an assortment of moon cakes and strange, twisted bread-ish things covered in peanut powder. (I couldn't eat them because of the peanut powder but my aunt later confided to me that they were as nasty as hell.)

And when we got back from our mission, we found my parents and brother lounging around in their room, eating instant noodles that they had found on their way back to the hotel.

And apparently, they had gotten back too late to call too.