Summer in Winter

   Kamala and I spent Christmas Eve at the Summer Palace in Beijing.  She had been before, but it was my first time there.  It's called the Summer Palace, but it is really more a walled in park.  There is a lake in the center, that was almost completely frozen over and had locals skating on it.  Even though it was very cold, the sun was breaking through the clouds, and we got some great pictures.

Puck wanted to go out as well that morning.  He had been staring outside for about ten minutes when I took this picture.

  Just outside our apartment there is a small park where we walked the dogs.  The river (drainage) had frozen over and had locals ice fishing.

Us standing on the frozen river with the dogs.

 

At the Summer Palace.  This was also our Christmas card this year.

-JASON

Man who catches fly with chopstick, can accomplish anything

That's right.  Back in HangZhou I caught a fly with my chopsticks.  It's like Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio and me.  Here's how it happened... there was a fly flying around our dinner table.  It landed on my Coke can, and I grabbed it with my chopstick.  That simple.  When your a kungfu master though, everything is that easy.

At first it was alive... then it twitched to death under the might of my chopsticks

-JASON

Elevator

    This morning I went to walk the dogs.  We live on the 8th floor, so this includes going down and back up the elevator.  When the doors opened, there was only one guy in the elevator so the dogs and I went in.  If there is a crowd or small children we will usually wait since the dogs like to jump up and lick small kids.  When the elevator door shut, the elevator suddenly fell from the 8th floor to the 7th floor and then the door opened slightly.  Me and the guy in the elevator just looked at each other with wide eyes.  Then we both jumped off the elevator and decided to take the stairs.  When we got to the first floor, I tried to explain to the guard, (in Chinese) that the elevator on the left was broken and that he needed to have it fixed.  He looked at me kind of puzzled and said "ok ok ok".  Then, I proceeded to walk the dogs. When I got back up to the apartment (took the other elevator), there was a note on the door.  It was in Chinese so I needed the guard to translate it for me, which meant another trip down.  Well, the elevator that came was the one that had the problem the first time.  Since the guard did not turn it off, I figured maybe they had reset it and everything was okay.  It wasn't, as soon as the door shut, it fell again from 8 to 7.  I immediately jumped of fthe elevator and took the stairs down to the guard.  This time, I'm yelling at him and trying to explain in my broken Chinese that the elevator needs to be repaired.  He is what he would have heard:

"I told you that machine" (pointing to the elevator because I don't know the word for elevator) "is broken".  "It should be fixed".  "From the 8th floor to the 7th floor" (make the motion of a hand falling because I don't know the word for falling".  "Can you please call to get it fixed". 

Then he called someone and I heard him say "The elevator (I recognized the word when I heard it) in building 3 is broken".  Then he pulled out a "slippery when wet" yellow triangle and set it in front of the elevator.  I then asked him "Can you turn it off?"  He rolled his eyes at me like he didn't believe what I was telling him, then he got in the elevator himself, as to prove to me it's not broken.  I told him "From 8 to 7" as the doors were shutting.  I figured he could figure it out on his own.  That was it, I took the other elevator and decided it was blog worthy...

-JASON

Puck and The Great Wall of China

     Earlier this year I got to go on a men's retreat with our church.  The group decided to go and hike an unrestored part of the great wall, and then spend the night camping on the wall.  I've only been camping a few times, and nothing too spectacular.  This however, was the ultimate experience.  Because Puck spends 95% of his time in the apartment, I decided to bring him along with us.  He loves the outdoors and going to parks back in the US, so I figured this would be a good escape for him as well.  Ellie on the other hand is perfectly content sleeping on the couch, so she stayed home with Kamala. 
   We all met at the church, and took a couple of vans to the wall.  The wall is a little under two hours away, so the trip is not too bad.  When we first arrived, we stopped at the foot of the mountain and had lunch at a local resevoir.  You could just see the start of the wall.

The resivoir was kind of hard to get to.  I had to carry Puck down.  Once we got down though, it was a very cool place to enjoy lunch.  We ended up eating PB&J and Snickers bars, lunch of champions.
     Then we headed up the rest of the way to the start of our hike.  At the foot of the trail is a small farming family.  They make their living by hosting people like us interested in hiking the unrestored part of the wall.  We set out on about an hour and a half hike through the woods until we finally reached a guard tower of the wall.  On the Southern side of the wall there are doors and stairways to get to the top.  On the Northern side of the all there is only a steep ledge.  The wall was originally built to keep the Mongolians out.  The Mongolians are a horse people, and the wall was very effective at keeping horses out.  People, in theory, could still scale the wall, but it would be difficult.  And, the towers are placed two arrow shots lengths apart so that from any part of the wall, archers could shoot at intruders.  We climbed into one of the towers and took a break to enjoy the view.



About half way up the trail to the wall, you could see the wall wrapping on the ridge line.



Once we got into the tower, Puck was on his own to explore all he wanted.  I'm pretty sure he marked the tower, so now he owns it.



The view from on top of the tower.  This is also what we hiked next.  If you notice all the trees and shrubbery on top of the wall.  We had to hike and climb our way through.



Good shot of the tower and wall wrapping up behind it.  We climbed up that portion of the wall.  Puck made it without assistance... I was impressed.

     Next we started up the wall to our camping site.  It was about another hour and a half to two hours of hiking.  Once we got there, we started to set up camp.  We were basically inside of and on top of one of the towers.  The only way to get to the top of the tower was to climb up a hole in the middle.  I had to help Puck up, but once we were up, there was no where to go.  We had an amazing view from on top.  You could even see the City on the horizon in the background.  We spent the next few hours cleaning off the shrubbery from the top of the tower and making our sleeping arrangements.  I had brought a sleeping bag that I had just bought.  It was awesome.  It got cold that night so we started a fire and chilled (literaly and figuratively) for the majority of the night.  Puck slept inside the sleeping bag with me (it was like 30 degrees outside).  The next morning we got up, did some Bible reading, and headed back down the wall.  At the foot of the trail, we were met by the farming family who had prepared a Beijing fish lunch for us.  It was unbelievably good.  The whole experience was amazing, and I will be definitly be going again. 

To give you a good feel for how steep some parts of the wall were.

One of the views while hiking.

This was the view from the tower where we camped.  The immediate wall is the Northern (left) side piece of the wall as it leaves the tower.  This is also the best spot I have ever taken a leak from.  The wall here gives a good perspective of how high each wall was.  The walls are usually 30 to 50 feet tall on either side.  So when you are hiking the wall, sometimes there isa  50 foot drop on each side.

This is my plug photo for anyone out there that is contemplating coming to see us in Beijing, but can't get off the fence.  At this point, my dog has been to the great wall, and you haven't...

This is the fire pit on top of the tower.  You can see at the bottom that Puck wasn't alone.  The other dog is Noodles.  Noodles was a Beijing stray that was taken in by a few expatriates here in Beijing.  Noodles is now living the dream in Colorado. 

The guy on the left has set up his sleeping spot with this view on top of the tower.  This is what he woke up to.

This is the hole.  The only way on and off of the tower.  You had to climb down this to back onto the wall.

Not a bad sleeping arrangement inside the tower.

You can see the city skyline in the background.  This was one of the most clear days I have seen while living in Beijing.

The return hike the next morning Puck led most of the way.  The guy in the photo was our hike leader.  He does this for a living.

Ninja Turtles

I had to go to the bank the other day.  In the taxi, the driver was playing a traffic update (in Chinese keep in mind).  There was a theme song playing lightly in the background.  At first, I was like, I know that song... what is that song...  Then, I heard the words... "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"...The whole time in the background of this traffic update, the theme song from the 1980's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was playing.  I have to be the only person in Beijing who would have recognized the song.  I'm still not sure how Ninja Turtles ties into traffic reports, but I guarantee there weren't any royalties paid to Mikey, Ralph, Donny, and Leo.  Plus, their Ninjas...Ninjas are Japanese!

-JASON

Welcome to Xing Jiang

     We had the chance to join our friend here in Beijing for his birthday party.  He has lived here for quite a while, so knows his way around Beijing.  We ended up eating at a Xing Jiang style restaurant.  I had no idea what Xing Jiang food was, all I knew was that it was a predominantly Muslim food out of one of China's provinces.  It was AWESOME.  The meal was traditional style setting* and everything on the table was perfect.  The best dish was a leg of lamb that was slow cooked and seasoned with a pepper rub.  Afterwards, we went to drinks at a small bar down a nearby hutong.**  All of this got me thinking though.  It was pretty unfair of me to judge the Chinese hotel in my first post for not knowing what Mexican food tasted like when I don't know what Xing Jiang food tastes like or what Xing Jiang people look like.  Or for that matter, could I identify the difference in North and South Korean food (except for the fact that you can judge for yourself that South Korean food tastes better, but propaganda will tell you what to think about North Korean food...BAM North Korea jab).  So that being said, I officially apologize for my lack of perspective in the "Welcome to Mexico post".  But, I take it as my personal duty to make sure all Chinese come to love and know tacos the way I do.

*  Family style in China is where everyone sits around a circular table for dinner.  There is almost always a gigantic lazy susan in the middle that the food rotates around on.  The dish set in front of you, is very small, and is not made to hold your food, but more your disregards (bones and such).  The idea is that you pick at the different entrées as they come around to you.  At first, it took me a little getting used to this, because everyone is sticking their used chopsticks in the same food.  But now, I am well accustomed to the practice, and have come to enjoy it.  Usually one or two people order for the whole table, so you never really know what you are going to get.  This is how I have got to try most of my most unique foods (snails, octopus, squid (not fried, a whole squid), duck's tongue, chicken's feet...).  

**  A hutong is a small back alley in Beijing.  They are almost always found in the older parts (more inner) of the city, near the forbidden city.  These are rich with Chinese culture.  Usually they are arranged in a laborith type manner.  Finding a small bar in the middle worth going to is a great find.  This is also where you can find some of the best street vendors, or some real traditional Chinese noodles or Kung Pao Chicken (Gung Bao Ji Ding).     

     -JASON

Getting past the Great Fire Wall of China

So, as our faithful 6 followers have probably noticed, it has been a long time since we posted anything new on our blog.  Well, in case you were not aware, China sensors a good portion of its internet.  Websites like Facebook and Twitter are not accessable while within China.  Blogspot.com also falls under this sensorship.  They have their own versions of these sites that they can monitor post by post what people are saying.  But, websites from the US or other countries would require constant seaching of "explicit" material, and is just too much for them to look through, so they just block the site entirely.  Everyone's initial reaction to this is always shock and disgust, but honestly, I think the US could use a little sensorship sometimes as well.  How many times have you watched an interview on the news and been like "I wish someone would just shut this guy up"... well, not a problem here.   In any case, we have found a way around the Great Fire wall and are beginning our posts again.  My ambitious goal is to post something daily.  Maybe just something short and sweet, but something.  It's easy for us to forget how amazing this place is on a daily basis, so I think writing on one topic every day will help me to capture the little moments that make living in Beijing an adventure.  There is also a good possibility that I will "re-capping" some of the missed adventures while behind the wall...

-JASON

The Beijing Zoo and Aquarium

So as part of our holiday weekend, Kamala and I got up early this morning to go to the zoo.  The zoo is on the other side of town, so we left at about 6:30am via moped.  We arrived as the zoo was just opening and were able to beat most of the crowds to the panda exhibit.  Below are some pictures of us near the pandas.   The zoo also had two baby pandas, and we got to see one of the adult pandas sneeze while lounging on its back... A few years ago someone was mauled by one of these pandas because he climbed into the exhibit.  He said the panda looked like it wanted to cuddle.  At the time, I thought the guy was crazy.  Now, I get it, they do look like they want to cuddle.

That's right, that's a panda in the background...

Two baby pandas eating bamboo...the lower one is on the ground because earlier he had rolled backwards out of his hammock

Kamala and Giant Panda

The zoo also had red pandas.  Kamala wants one...

This bear was literally like 6 feet from us.  He/she was very "comfortable" with themselves.





Later in the zoo we came across the big cat exhibits and other bears.  These exhibits were very sad.  They were barely more than prison cells for the animials.  The grizzly bears were the worse, begging for food while people tried to get them to do tricks.  They were bombarded with popcorn and seeds, it was very sad.  We went into the big cats exhibit, saw the status of the cages, and literaly turned back around.  We didn't want to be a part of their situation.  Overall, the zoo was very good at the animal's treatment.  The monkeys had one of the coolest habitats I have ever seen, and they seemed very happy to be in it.  There were also tons of animals I have never seen before.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm kind of an animal buff.  I was definitely a "shark week" kid when it came on discovery channel.  One of the animals I had never seen was a tall fox.  The fox was bigger than the wolves in the exhibit next to it.  It was from South America.  I want one.  I want to take it to the dog park, and when people are like "what is that", I'll reply with "it's a fox...obviously...

Awesome big cat statue. 

Kamala and a Camel

My fox... I will name him "Wolf"

Temple of Heaven

This past weekend was the autumn festival in China.  Kamala and I decided to celebrate by doing some of things that we haven't yet had a chance to do.  On Saturday, even though it was cold and rainy, we decided to go to the Temple of Heaven.  The Temple of Heaven is about 40 minutes from our house.  So we took the bus to the subway to the temple.  The temple was built in 1420 and served as a place of fitual for the Ming and Qing emperors.  They were usually used to pray for good harvest in the upcoming seasons.  There are two parts, a northern and southern.  the norther part of the park is rounded to represent heaven, and the souther part is squared to represent the earth (as the earth was perceived flat at that time).  The rain had driven away any large crowds, but there were still many people there.  Kamala and I did find a place in the park where we could walk and enjoy the outdoors with very little crowds.  It was the first time since we came to Beijing we were outside without seeing other people around us.

More rainy day fun

So my daily trip to work starts off with a mile or so walk to the bus stop where I take the company bus into the factory.  I leave the house at 7am, and usually get to work around 8:15.  The walk is very interesting, every day I see tai chi, people carrying their pet birds, walking their dogs, or just other people on their way to work.  It is on this walk that I get to see some of my most interesting things.  It is here I saw the three pigs on a motor bike, and I see entire families riding on one moped.  Well, last week, I get to our building door and realize it is POURING rain.  This means my plans have to change.  So I get out my umbrella and walk to the nearest public bus stop.  This bus will take me relatively close to my company bus stop.  I still have to walk about 200 yards in the rain, but it is better than the full mile.  So I make the trip, the whole way getting absolutely soaked (it rained so much that my umbrella was saturated and started dripping through).  But, I did make it safely.  My bus stop is under a bridge, and is at the intersection of two major Beijing roads.  The road I walk along, and the one our apartment is on, is the East 4th ring road (dong si huan), this is a very busy road, especially in the morning when everyone is trying to get to work.  It is three lanes accross and usually has one lane filled with moped and electric bikes.  Today however, with the rain, all of the moped and bikes decided to stop under the bridge.  In doing so, they had completely blocked two lanes, leaving only one lane for traffic.  There were probably 150 mopeds/bikes.  Most of the owners had stopped to wait out the rain and have a smoke break.  This was good for them, but left about a 10 mile wake of traffic behind them.  I couldn't believe it.  Every car and bus that passed was honking and yelling, but the moped drivers didn't even seem to care, they were just chilling under the bridge.  Even a cop went by with his lights on and no one even noticed.  Finally, my bus came and I made my way through the crowd and headed to work.  I can't wait to see what winter and snow brings me!

Chaoyang Park

Everyday for months we would look out our window and see the beautiful park accross the street. We were busy getting settled, and visiting big attractions... so we never visited the park. Finally we did, and it's pretty cool. Here are some pictures.

I love those spinny balloons!

Bumper Boats

Double bike

They have kid rides and carnival games too!

-KAMALA