Traveling

What a great weekend!! (Non tourist blog)

Non touristy- I love it.

Went to Tian Tan Saturday morning with Chantal, Phil and Jessye. Another gorgeous temple in the middle of the city. Such a contrast to the loud, polluted rest of the place. I think my favorite part of the parks is the excercise 'room'. Ok, it's not a room, but they have tons of excercise equipment for people to play with- it's very cool- and what's better is that people actually use it! Mainly it seems to be older people but that's even better!

We lounged around for abit- then went ot get lunch at the most stressful restaurant in the universe. People shout constantly, it's huge, and packed. You tell them how many you are, he yells to the back of the restaurant , then someone there yells back, you have to yell to order, oy. I have never felt so stressed eating as that day. But it's all about the experiences huh? Chantal said when she was in China years ago, they used to have you stand behind ppl that were eating and when they finished you had to fight with everyone else to get the seat. Now that is stress.

Saturday nite I went to a concert; the " Beijing Pop Festival". Chantal introduced me to a couple of Canadians working at the embassy and they invited me to tag along. I had already heard about the concert (i do love Common) but would never have attempted attending alone. So the line up included Common, the Stone Roses' Ian Brown, Derrick May (DJ) and Lex (US hip hop), along with some Chinese and Taiwanese bands. (we missed all- except for one, but I couldn't tell you their name for the life of me)
First off, walking through the gates with 10 beer cans was a little sketch. Melanie carried the bag and the police told her she wasn't allowed, so she looked at the other police(man/boy) and said " ok?ok?ok?" and they let her bring it in. Probably figured it was easier than trying to take beer away from the white girls.

We found a fantastic place to relax on the grass and listened. We were 5 in all; Melanie (Vancouver), Stefanie (Toronto), and their friends Catherine (Germany) and Charles (England). Great to chat with them, as they have all traveled quite abit and had some good suggestions.

The concert was great- at one point Charles and I lost everyone else and realized they had probably snuck to the vip- which is really just in front of the stage- so he grabbed my hand and just pulled me thru the police and we were right at the stage- I am such a wimp sometimes. So had agreat time dancing to Common and when it was over we went out to the ex pat district type of place.

It may sound strange but I found it very similar to Costa Rica. Everyone was standing on the street drinking their beer.. there were very few Chinese around. (Sidebar: you know how bars' bathrooms get very disgusting by the middle of the night- well think of the damage that can be done in a squat toilet- I don't wish that on anyone!!!)

Afterwards, we went to a little restaurant and had meat on sticks. (I had bread on sticks).
The best part was being out with people who got on without the language- they just kept trying and eventually someone would understand what they were trying to say. It made me realise I don't have to master the language before trying to order rice, I just have to get out there and try it. I feel much better now ;)

Sunday was also very interesting- in a completely different (sober) way.
Chantal went to buy some reading glasses (they only cost about 15$ here- send me your prescriptions in Chinese and I'll get them filled- I'm thinking about getting a couple funky ones before coming home they're so cheap!! Then we went to this place called the Dirt Market, where you can buy ANYTHING you want. We were there a little late so apparently it wasn't as crazy as usual, but wow, there was so much stuff!!

Then Sunday nite, Phil (and his family) was invited to this reception at Soong Ching-Ling's http://www.maoming.homestead.com/SoonChingLing.html) ) It is said of the 3 Soong sisters, one loved money, one loved power and the last loved China. (Theres a movie about them, too.) The eldest sister, Ai ling married a very rich man who helped to fund many political movements in his time. Ching ling married Sun Yat sen and carried on his dream of uniting for a Communist China. Mai ling married Chian Kai shek who headed the movement against Ching ling's communist China and eventually took over Taiwan (oh boy my history is a disaster- please read the links above- they offer so much more interesting and correct info).
Anyways, this dinner was at Ching ling's home (which is now a museum). There were a bunch of little acts (mainly children) but there were also 2 acts by Tibetans (an attempt to say everything is great between China and Tibet). One of them was this trio of Tibetan sisters, and when they were done the Vietnamese Ambassador walked up to the stage bc he wanted them to sing a certain song- they didn't know it, so he got up on stage and sang it with them doing the backup- too funny!!

All this to say, just read about the Soong sisters. They were all amazing in their own right and contributed so much to the country. It helped me put a little more of the history into perspective.

posted by jjoollee @ 7:42 PM