Beijing 2007-2008

From Dongzhimen where we live, take the line 2 subway, after 2 stops and get off at Gulou station, it is not far from Beijing's back sea-- Houhai. To the north of Gulou, Houhai is where the city started to expand at the first place and is where the oldest and most original Beijing lays. It has tons of Hutongs, which is the traditional architecture you can only find in Beijing, and in the last decade, it has been developed as the second bar area in Beijing after Sanlitun. Compared to Sanlitun, Houhai is less chaotic, more classy and more expensive as well.

I like Houhai because it is a good combination of what Chinese like and what expats like. Chinese now go there for the frozen lakes and ice skating, hang out in groups and be loud. Expats go there for the China atmosphere, the Hutongs, for being able to sit in a bar seat by the lake side and probably look at the Chinese, get overwhelmed and think it is nice to get a quiet spot while still can feel China. Last time I went there was with my 2 friends from the states, almost 2 years ago, this time, I wanna check how much has been changed since I left.

From Gulou station, we took what non-Chinese consider a crazy vehicle "Bengbeng", a 2 seater metal cube on a 3 wheel motobike. Passengers sit facing the back, through the half broken back glass, you can have a good peak at what Beijing traffic is and stare back at those bikers and pedestrians who used to stare at you. hmm..7 kuai, it was quite the experience if you are the open minded kind. Beijing traffic is too slow to have any accident anyway as long as the vehicle doesnt fall into pieces.

It was -7 today in Beijing. The lake is quite frozen and it is divided into 3 parts, getting rent out by 3 different vendors. 15kuai all you can skate. Except ice skate, they have some weird ice equipment for rent that you have never seen elsewhere before.

I didnt skate nor did Ryan, what we did was going to a pizza place called Hutong Pizza. We ordered a large size Antrovies pizza with extra mushroom topping. Ryan was dissapointed cuz the pizza doesnt give him enough olive satisfaction. It is mediocre in terms of size and toppings, too thin for two hungry people but the environment is good, servies is good too. It used to be beijing's best pizza place in 2005 and 2006 thatsbj contest, but I guess there are now tons of better pizza places just like Guiness is everywhere now in Beijing. Draft!

After pizza, we had a walk around the back sea, then wandered around the front sea as well. Bars are mostly the same style, some special but I guess it takes longer time and some money to really tell the difference. There are many tricycles by the side of hutongs, waiting for business to carry you around hutongs. I would say it worth trying, if you are interested, you can leave me a msg cuz I know someone who can drive you around and arrange you to eat at a local's family and visit the bell/drum tower for only 80 kuai(12 usd).

Houhai is not far from a hutong called Nanluoguxiang. Also a probably 1 km long narrow alley with stores by the side. It is considered as low key and more original than Houhai with its unique cafe places and clothes shops. There is a t-shirt place I have read from vogue or some big fashion magazine that does personal designed t-shirt, called "Chuangketie8". The owner is an expat now living in Beijing, using some very Chinese logos or concepts to print them on t-shirts, such as Pingpong, gong bao ji ding, and one even has the Beijing subway map in front. Besides the originality, 90 kuai/each, I would say...No..I have a similar printing store next door will probably print out whatever I want for 50 kuai. And I dont think I am less creative.Hehe

On the way home. I saw a few street kids doing skate board, jumping over an obstacle, some were pretty good.

Today is a good day.

First 18 years of my life:

- I was born in Hangzhou, a wonderful city located at Zhejiang Province, southeast of China. I am the only child of the family and I always feel blessed to have such loving parents. Hangzhou is only one hour and half drive from Shanghai, unlike the people in Shanghai, Hangzhou locals are less snobbish and more hospitable. The city has its famous westlake and mountains around it, great food and pretty girls(wink wink). I spent the first 18 years of my life in Hangzhou, went through 6 years of primary school at Wensan primary school and 6 years at Xue Jun highschool. I wasnt a nerd even tho all the schools I attended back home are the top ones in my province. I recall the time back then, inevitablely, I was part of the Chinese education system's students pipelining, trying hard to meet the "good student AAA" standard, but I knew that was just temporary. It will come to an end.

2002-2006:

-Finally I graduated from highschool and went throught the nightmareish Chinese uni entrance exam, the only chance Chinese students have to be able to go to an ideal university regardless of your average performance in the past 18 years in school. The exam was held on June 7,8 and 9. Those black labelled dates. urgggg..Most of my highschool classmates did well enough to go to any school in China, but most of them decided to stay in Hangzhou. I was one of the 8 or 9 went to another city and the Beijing is the second furthest to Hangzhou among those cities.

-Haha, four years in Beijing, what a long story. I was a good student, not in a traditional sense. I didnt miss some courses once but some I only attended the first and the last, those courses dont really worth attending anyway, such as boring "Three representatives" course teaches you the annual updated party chapters. It is all about note and memorization. In junior year, I was "corrupted" by a bunch of foreign exchange students in my uni and got to know bar/party culture. In senior year, I worked as a freelance tourguide and got to know some travelling families. It was wonderful experiences getting to know people from another country and I became fancinated about travelling.

-I decided to go to grad school in another country. University of British Columbia jounalism school accepted me. I chose journalism partly because of the wide travel journalists are able to do, also because I like writing, talking to people and the sense of justice I think I can bring to my world.

-Before I went to Canada, I did my first travel abroad, a 5 week long back packing west europe trip. It was a surprise for my parents, even for my self. As a Chinese citizen, single girl with no job and little money. People like me wouldnt even bother to apply the visa to Europe because it is doomed to fail, sadly. I went to Shanghai embassy 5 times, handed in all the documents that the check list asked me to prepare, bank account balance, friend invitation, parents' infomation, my degree certification, insurance, flight tickets..ect..Then they informed me there were still some doc I needed to prepare that was not on the check list. I mean what the f%#..then why did you call that a check list?..anyway..after 5 times, they accepted my application, and all I needed to do was waiting.

-and...I got the visa, the visa to Canada really helped, I mean, C'mon, if Canada accepted me, why would Spain refuse? So I booked the flight ticket at the last minute, bought the europass, got my student card.

-I got to know couchsurfing at the first time. I thought it was a new sports when I first heard it. I was looking for a travel buddy on lonely planet forum and someone replied and asked if I new this CS thing. Our plans didnt match but I really thank..hmm..Steve for this great information. I signed up immediately and got replies from 10 cities that I planned to go. All together 14 hosts, guys and girls, they are who made my trip amazing. (Italy, Germany, Spain and France)

2006-2007:
-Vancouver, school was ok, it sucked in fall and winter in van anyway, on winter vacation, I went to east Canada with one of my Chinese classmates Annie, someone became my best friend in Van, we couchsurfed again, I totally converted her to be a crazy fan for cs as well. We watched hockey in a bar with some white dudes, we ate salmon and drank wine at some French Canadian's house, we hitchhiked on transcanada highway while it was snowing like crazy and got some pity rides pretty fast, we had real poutine, we went to Christmas eve mass in a big church..good times..

2007 summer:
-Rockies mountain trip, I went to the rockies with Greg, a friend of mine who I first met on couchsurfing and became friends. He visited me again in vancouver and we went on this trip together, Tofino first, then rent a car to Banff, Jasper and Yoho. We did back country hiking and camping, met deers and mooses, saw the columbia glacier. Being in nature purified me.

2007-2008:
-I decided to take a year off UBC j school and came back to China. I got an internship at the UNDP China office as a communcation assistant. It has been almost three months since I first started. My supervisor Miss Zhang is a wonderful woman, met a few nice people to hang out all the time, like Seb. We had a big plan for 2008 in the undp office and I am learning everyday about campaign and practice my basic news writing skills. I went to Chengdu with Ryan during christmas and climbed the Mt.Emei which is over 3800 meters.

It is only 3 weeks before Chinese new year, I will go back home for the first time in the past two years, it kinda feels like a trip for me but I know something wont change along the time, and I will keep it posted and share it every one.