Well I planned on posting once a week. Somehow that didn't happen. I don't really know where the time's gone. All of a sudden we had six days left here and so many things left to do see and eat that Damien made a nice list.
Sitting here now, it's pretty much mission accomplished I think we checked off the last thing, 'great wall' yesterday. So for the next few days, it's taking it easy and cruising Beijing.
It's been a great month, and far too short of a time to really experience China. I'm finally feeling like I got the hang of Beijiing and ready to head elsewhere and now I'm out of time. Ah well, I'm giving serious consideration to doing some projects out here so I'm sure I'll be back soon.
Now then...what have I been doing the last few weeks? Hmm....a lot of eating, a lot of partying, some rock climbing and temple visiting to balance it all out.
On my weird food list we got some serious items accomplished. One of the big items on the list was added by Damien. He wanted to go do Hot Pot on Go Street. Which is the famous hot pot district. So one of his co-workers tagged along and the three of us had a bomb meal. Three different types of broth to boil the food in. One insanely spicy mix, a thai lemon grass flavor that was awesome and original.
Because of the seating arrangement I only had access to the spicy and lemongrass so it was a hotter meal for me. Made worse by the fact that this little 90 pound girl across from me has rated the spice mix a 2 or 3 out of a possible 7. So I had to cover up the fact that I thought some of the sauce was trying to burrow through the roof of my mouth into my brain, that my eyes were crossing and my feet were numb. (I think she was lying though, as I caught her sweating with chattering teeth later in the meal.)
Mmm....good stuff. So as we finish the girl asks if I've tried Bull Penis. And I'm like, well I mean, I had it with lunch and breakfast so I'm good...no, obviously I haven't. With that a half-order of bull is brought to the table.
If you haven't eaten bull penis, I envy you. It is not pleasant. It's chewy it's tough and well, I'm over describing it. So let's just say I had a few bites, and having no need to increase my vitality further I called it quits.
On a different note, it's been pretty funny being compared to different actors/famous people out here. All the locals think I look like a different actor. The girl from dinner said I looked like a bank robber (obviously had to kill her for blowing my cover). Which was funny, but not as good as "Sexy Mr. Bean" which I suppose was a compliment but seriously is there a sexy Mr Bean? That was said to me at a different party and the girl tried to make up for it seeing the look on my face. She said, "it's good. If you were Mr. Bean all the girls would forget about the other one. They'd love you instead."
Ok, now that sounds nice and all, but really are there women across the globe swooning for Mr. Bean? I just can't see a crowd of little girls staring googly eyed at the Bean poster on their walls.
Anyway, I've also been called Sylvester Stallone and sexy, macho man/sexy superman, but these were by guys so yeah...I guess all the locals get a kick out of me.
Back to the food list. Yesterday I had a donkey sandwich. This was a goofy idea that came into my head and wouldn't leave, so yup ate a donkey. I now have power over them which is nice. The taste was somewhere between horse, mule and dirt. I guess donkey is peasant food here and pretty commonly eaten. Chased it down with some warm beer and egg flower soup, hearty meal for two, 2.15$. Not too shabby.
Then the night before last I had some duck neck coated in peppercorn juice. Bizarre texture for sure, plus the peppercorn kept numbing my mouth. It was ridiculous but the plate was in front of me, I had a few drinks and kept forgetting about the damn numbing. Made my glass like one of those novelty dribble glasses a couple of times.
We were at a bar, and the girl Damien was meeting had been nice enough to have a whole spread waiting for our arrival. Two bottles of Chivas Whisky and ten bottles of sweet green tea to mix it with (surprisingly tasty) and a great fruit/munchie spread. She was a very gracious host, too much in fact. We tried to at least pay for her cab home at the end of the night, somehow she ended up buying hers AND ours.
Really nice girl, I felt bad for the friends she brought that had to entertain me. There's a lot of drink pouring customs here, don't pour your own, there's a system of who should be pouring for who, then there's different ways to say thank you. In America, I clink glasses with someone. Here that means, 'hey dude, let's down this thing!'
So yeah, after the fifth or sixth time these guys are looking at me pretty cross eyed because they keep filling my glass, I keep thanking them by cheersing, and we down the damn things. Damien finally interjects and shows me how to say thank you Chinese style. This made everyone happy and kept me from getting wasted into oblivian. Though we did spend a few hours playing the dice game, which led to a lot of drinking, and the girl hosting kept adding more Chivas to my drink...sweet kid. I'm just glad I wasn't Damien, she poured him pure booze.
Well, there's plenty of night out stories, but I should mention some other culture I suppose.
I've seen the lama temple and the drum and bell towers, taken a rickshaw tour of the old area and done some awesome 'antiqueing'. Seriously I have no clue if some of the gifts I bought are actually antique, but hey, I'm just going to pass on the stories told to me.
The drum tower was awesome. It was used to tell time and send messages. After a hike up the steepest stairs in China I got there just in time to witness a performance. Four drummers hammering away on the biggest damn drums you've ever seen. I could feel it in my chest, and vibrating through every hair on my body. It was the last show of the day and I'm so happy I caught it. The view from the tower was great as well, I got some good pictures of sprawling Beijing, the mix of new and old buildings. Really interesting stuff.
Lama temple was a temple. Peaceful, a break from the rush but nothing that really resonated. I just went to bless some stuff really and because I felt the need to. I think cathedrals/mosques/temples aren't really my thing so I see less and less of them with each country I visit.
I get a lot more interested now in just absorbing the way of life. I feel like I'm getting it here now. This place is so big, so competitive it's a tough city to be a part of. Everyone scrambling for a piece of newly established free enterprise. There is far more advertising here than you'll see in the US. Far more opportunities to make a buck, but so much more competition so it's a very intense experience. I think the severe cold intensified this trip a lot for me. It's made an extreme place even harsher and I'm glad I got to see that. I'd also like to come back in April which everyone says is a very good time for Beijing. So hopefully in the next few years that'll happen.
Well, I could go on, but just ask me in person, because these blogs get long and I have to go enjoy the last few days, plus I always wonder who reads to the end.
I get back into California on December 22nd. I'll be in the bay through Christmas, I don't know about New Years. Or anything after that.
Haven't exactly decided what's next: got an invite to climb in New Zealand, sweet! Might go to Argentina as it's nice this time of year. Apparently they're giving out tickets to Costa Rica with the purchase of two boxes of cheerios (SO CHEAP) So those are all on the potential list.
I'm contemplating holding a vote, having a party where people throw darts at a globe or challenging someone to a race around the world.
I'm accepting ideas, talk to you all soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment