EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Qsdzq8c.jpg?1)
I thought this, what I assume is a PSA, bore a fantastic likeness to Hitler. My reading in Chinese is too poor to translate what it actually says.
On this trip I broke a cardinal travel rule of mine twice, once I regretted it (Beijing), the other I was pretty satisfied with it (Seoul). On the most general of curves, I deplore capital cities; mainly national, though I am willing to allow for the possibility that it extends to state, or provincial capitals as well, it could just be a big city (*Cough* New York *Cough*). I've found that as a tourist, you are more preyed upon, the people tend to have a bit of a stick up their ass about being from capital X, and things are just generally more expensive. Roll the three together, I don't think it is difficult to see my perspective.
Anyway, Beijing pretty much tapped on all three of those, not to mention I made, what in retrospect I consider a mistake in staying in Wangfujing, or Tiananmen; ground zero for tourists, upselling tickets to the Great Wall, and a lot of misc shows (Opera, acrobatics what have you). I loved the proximity to the history, though quickly resorted to headphones as a means to comfortably ignore the very persistent solicitation.
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Getting off an airplane on the tarmac always makes me feel a bit strange
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Did you know Uber in Beijing's most basic fare is called People's Uber?
To give you an idea of where I was staying, the phone screen cap is my hostel's location. Yet another upshot, it was dirt cheap considering the location. If you are ok with more.... Chinese style facilities, not squat toilet, but say a bathroom where there is no division between the toilet and the shower, kind of a distinctly Chinese smell of clean, check out the FEEL Inn next time you're in Beijing. Otherwise the facilities were passable in my particular opinion.
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En route to Mao's Mausoleum
I spent the first few days wandering about as I believe I have shown I like to do, checking out the national museum, Tiananmen, the Forbidden City the vast majority of which you need your passport to get into, at least at present.
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Touristy markets where you can get all that scorpion on a stick mess.
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Everything for 10,000 years, (the bits tot he left and right of Mao say something to the effect of May the PRC last 10,000 years)
If you didn't know, the Tiananmen Square incident happened 26 year prior on June 4th. SO I get an uptick in security, but it is properly inconvenient to have to show your passport to walk across a big square, or get into a museum ffs. This is after my having my bag x rayed, being patted down, waved by a metal detector, throwing out open liquid containers, and throwing away a lighter.
I thought American airports were bad, but in retrospect, I'm almost surprised a Chinese proctologist wasn't on staff at the Museum security post.
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My favorite piece in the National Museum, the first flag Mao raised over the Forbidden City
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Lama Temple
I get to feeling a bit more adult, when I realized that this was the first hostel, hostel, I stayed at rather than a hotel. Up into this point, my friend and I had been splitting the bill for western convenience and hoarding shower caps/tiny shampoo, but having examined the possibilities in other parts of Beijing I opted to take the more economic route with mixed results.
I did meet some lovely people, with whom I went out with a number of times to different bars, and touristy areas, namely Houhai (my only photo turned out properly blurry, : /) but yet another difference, or perhaps more aptly put, a position I was put in for the first time was being the least thrifty in a given group of travelers.
The people that I had met had very particular budgets, for a very specific time frame, and how much they could spend, Yadda yadda yadda. Seeing as I was the only one not on the road for 7 months, 6 months, I think the shortest was three months. I found myself in a position to be a bit generous which felt good.
We'd take a cab, and the fare would be 18.00 RMB, ($3.00 ish), some Aussies we had met (18 and 19 respectively) would bust out the calculator or start doing the math on simple stuff like this, and I'd just pick it up.
Mentally, I treated it a bit like buying a round at an Irish pub, most people will have the opportunity to reciprocate, even if that means a 3 RMB can of shitty Chinese beer. It was an interesting feeling even if the favor wasn't returned. It was $3 I would have spent to go there anyway, and I had a paycheck clear hours before. I gotta get some good karma for Americans out there. :p
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Apt description at either end.
By the end, I killed my morning looking for a decent breakfast, picked up my things and trained back to Beijing international. I was greeted with more security fun when I was made to unpack my entire checked bag to find a lighter. Post customs, after my carry on was scanned, they pulled me back twice as I was eating to scan my shit again. Me and Chinese security got along great in Beijing can you tell?
I got on the flight, got my own row, but as I couldn't sleep burned through the Jinx, a full season of Parks and Recreation, finished the novel The Martian, started three movies I'll never finish, and arrived hours later in Seatac. A hop and a jump later I was back in Minnesota, picked up by the GF and the dog, and in bed; I'd only been up for some 26 hours.
All in all, I want to go back, maybe pack Japan into the next trip, but I am sticking to my guns as best I can about staying too long in capital cities. I want to go back to Zhuhai again, and I want to take the lady with me this time around, maybe en route to Thailand for my next trip to Asia. Now I am just clearing up the litany of issues that came up in my absence, and keeping my fingers crossed that I come out employed at the end of it as well. Thanks for the read TL.
Album for Pandemona as promised.
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