Beijing 2008
Its been a few days, since internet is hard for me to find out here. Thus, this post is a little lionger than others.
Greetings from Beijing, home of the 2008 Olympics! Its kind of hard to forget it, as reminders are everywhere in the form of the five olympic mascots "chi chi, hey hey, foo foo... and some other stuff like that. Also, massive parts of town are being torn down to be rebuilt before the games. Its pretty much mayhem.
A quick rundown of what Ive done here:
Christina's friend Sarwar picked me up from the airport. Thank goodness because I never woyuld have made it here on my own. Nobody speaks english and mainly are rude to foreigners. Taxid out to the city, met Christina and caught up the first night.
Went to the great wall the next day. It was great. We met up with three brits who were going out there to, and so made a group and negotiated a taxi out there and back. After about an hour up there though, you get over it. I snapped enough pictures so we headed back, but not before riding the luge down from the wall. It was one of the highlights of the trip, a total rush. Not nearly as scary as the ski lift we took to get up there though. I tyhought I would puke.
T^hursday, I hit Tianenmen and the Forbidden City. The FC was cool, but repetetive. I did manage to get way into a corner of the city where nobody was, and it was quiet and really bizarre to get away from the massive crowds here for five or ten minutes. Chinese people stare at you blatantly and call you Low Wai(basically means cracker) right to your face. Even if you look directly at them, they will continue to stare. Its totally weird because after a while you realize everyone is looking at you...really. Hiked up to the top of the biggest hill in Beijing, which aint much, but you can see the whole city (at least what can be seen through the brown haze) from there.
Ive spent the last two night partying with Christinas and her friends here. That is one of the best parts. The expat community here is cool, and there are tons of great restaurants and bars. Most of these guys teach english too, and are in the same situation as Christina, so they have a lot in common. Its pretty fun.
Beijing is a stinky cesspool, people spit and stare and push push push. Traffic is CRAZY like in the way that nobody cares about anybody but themselves. Its hard to understand how it all doesnt just break down. Despite this and much more bad things about the city, there is something that keeps these expats here month after month that I dont think Ill get. Maybe another two months here and Id have a better idea, but that aint happening. I dont think I could breathe this air for another two days. Its like swallowing a handful of dirt every 10 minutes....
OK I think thats enough for today. I miss everyone and Im off to Thailand toimmorrow, for relaxation in the Thai jungle
Bye bye for now
Greetings from Beijing, home of the 2008 Olympics! Its kind of hard to forget it, as reminders are everywhere in the form of the five olympic mascots "chi chi, hey hey, foo foo... and some other stuff like that. Also, massive parts of town are being torn down to be rebuilt before the games. Its pretty much mayhem.
A quick rundown of what Ive done here:
Christina's friend Sarwar picked me up from the airport. Thank goodness because I never woyuld have made it here on my own. Nobody speaks english and mainly are rude to foreigners. Taxid out to the city, met Christina and caught up the first night.
Went to the great wall the next day. It was great. We met up with three brits who were going out there to, and so made a group and negotiated a taxi out there and back. After about an hour up there though, you get over it. I snapped enough pictures so we headed back, but not before riding the luge down from the wall. It was one of the highlights of the trip, a total rush. Not nearly as scary as the ski lift we took to get up there though. I tyhought I would puke.
T^hursday, I hit Tianenmen and the Forbidden City. The FC was cool, but repetetive. I did manage to get way into a corner of the city where nobody was, and it was quiet and really bizarre to get away from the massive crowds here for five or ten minutes. Chinese people stare at you blatantly and call you Low Wai(basically means cracker) right to your face. Even if you look directly at them, they will continue to stare. Its totally weird because after a while you realize everyone is looking at you...really. Hiked up to the top of the biggest hill in Beijing, which aint much, but you can see the whole city (at least what can be seen through the brown haze) from there.
Ive spent the last two night partying with Christinas and her friends here. That is one of the best parts. The expat community here is cool, and there are tons of great restaurants and bars. Most of these guys teach english too, and are in the same situation as Christina, so they have a lot in common. Its pretty fun.
Beijing is a stinky cesspool, people spit and stare and push push push. Traffic is CRAZY like in the way that nobody cares about anybody but themselves. Its hard to understand how it all doesnt just break down. Despite this and much more bad things about the city, there is something that keeps these expats here month after month that I dont think Ill get. Maybe another two months here and Id have a better idea, but that aint happening. I dont think I could breathe this air for another two days. Its like swallowing a handful of dirt every 10 minutes....
OK I think thats enough for today. I miss everyone and Im off to Thailand toimmorrow, for relaxation in the Thai jungle
Bye bye for now
posted by Neil at 11:13 PM
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