Jason in China: July 2008

Monday, July 28, 2008

Tiananman Square

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/environment/2008-07-28-china_N.htm?csp=34
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/sports/olympics/29china.html

We are 10 days away from the the Games!! I have switched to 12 hour shifts out of necessity to cover for the lack of help that I have at work.

I took the day off to eat with my translator's parent's whom were visiting Beijing. We ate at a restaurant that served food from their hometown in the southern part of China. It had many chili peppers, making me sweat at a high rate, and also making my stomach complete a floor gymnastics routine later in the day! It was good, and I am not sure I will be able to to ever eat fake Chinese food again in the States (Broccoli and Beef, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Orange Chicken, etc.).
Today's weather was again foul, which followed 3 unfavorable days. Things will really need to clear up fast here.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/tianan.htm

I took the time to walk my lunch off at Tiananman Square. The viewing of Chairman Mao was over, but I will see him before I leave. The Square is getting decked out in tens of thousands of flowers.

These official clocks are all around the city counting down until the time of the Opening Ceremonies. This one is located in from of the Chinese National Museum to the East of the Square.

Looking to the North at the Forbidden City entrance.

Preparations continue with nice flowers being placed all over the city!

National Congress building to the West of the Square.

Chairman Mao's body lays at rest in his Memorial Hall to the South of the Square. I plan to visit him during the hours of 8 am-12 pm one of these days!

http://www.beijing-visitor.com/index.php?cID=416&pID=1110

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Centre_for_the_Performing_Arts_(China) (not the Shoe in Columbus, but the Egg in Beijing!)

The beautiful National Grand Theater comprises actually three performance theaters on the inside.

You have to walk under this water to get into the building. They had to be creative when this was built because it could not be taller than the Congress building, so they had to go down!

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080728-151222/Olympics-Curious-Beijing-folk-given-dont-ask-list
This is a very interesting article. I think my students have asked me all the questions already, so I guess they didn't get the handout. They also want to know about the NBA!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Special for Ron!

Located only a short 5 minute cab ride from my hotel!!!!
It's the one venue that will be packed with sell outs the entire Olympics!!!

Drum roll.........

That's right! It's Ping Pong, I mean Table Tennis at the Peking University Gymnasium!!

http://en.beijing2008.cn/cptvenues/venues/pkg/n214073913.shtml

http://en.beijing2008.cn/cptvenues/venues/pkg/headlines/n214208251.shtml

http://en.beijing2008.cn/cptvenues/venues/pkg/headlines/pkg0712/index.shtml

Ron- Thanks for taking interest in Ping Pong... I mean Table Tennis! The section in the stores that are usually for footballs, and baseball equipment is taken up by ping pong and badminton!

Street Vendors at Wangfuging

www.thebeijingguide.com/wangfujing/wangfujing_night.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_qlGBmk8hw- I don't know what this will show because it is blocked here in China. It is supposed to be of the street vendors.

If unidentifiable aromas, and mystery meat is not your thing, you should probably avoid the street vendors at Wangfuging!
Here is a short list of items to choose from:

Baby sharks, iguana tails, dung beetles, cicadas, snake, sea urchins, starfish, scorpions, silkworms, grasshoppers, seahorses, squid-- all on a stick!

Dog liver with vegetables

Goat lungs with red peppers

Mixed cow and horse stew

Lizard legs

Dog brain soup

This is the actual shopping mall street. It is a very street where people come to hang out night and day. It sort of reminded me of Las Vegas a little bit with all its lights and people strolling about.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Old Summer Palace

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/yuanmingyuan.htm

http://www.kinabaloo.com/yuanmingyuan.html

http://www.thebeijingguide.com/old_summer_palace/index.html

The onslaught of the umbrella's never ends here!!! It was around 90 degrees today with the sun!! It is surprising to note that some of the governments steps to cut pollution (albeit temporary) seem to be working. It only took shutting down 200 factories in and around the city, ban over 1.5 million cars from driving everyday, and shut down all construction sites. I finally battled through the umbrellas to get a ticket to get into the Old Summer Palace grounds.

This is home to an enormous amount of Lotus. The Lotus is very important to the Chinese. Lotus covered all the lakes/ponds on the grounds.

You can actually see the mountains to the West. This week was the first week I realized that mountains actually exist! I guess when you are constantly shrouded in smog you can't see the mountains!

I didn't have time for a boat ride through the lotus, but this sure looks like fun!

This was a 1:150 scale model of what the whole place used to look like before it was destroyed in 1860 by the French and Brits. My buddy Moose would've spent all day in here trying to figure out where to set up his train set to service all the buildings!

These are the only remains from the destruction in 1860. All other buildings were made of wood, so they were burned down. The marble still stands, but I was shocked by the amount of climbing on all these pieces by the public. We could never imagine climbing on relics that are 250 years old in the US. We would be kept 20 feet away!!

Here is the foundation of an amazing building. Too bad we can only imagine what it had been like.

To end the day I couldn't tried this maze around the gazebo, unfortunately the burrito from the night before was calling my name, so I had to high tail it back to the Somerset!