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