May 21, 2009
Thursday
Authored by John
The day before the Final Exam began in sluggish fashion, as both JM and I were very tired from the crazy Ratatat concert from the night before. A guest speaker from the Wall Street Journal - who covered the US auto industry and now follows the Chinese auto industry - came in and spoke with our class. He basically gave a presentation on how China plans to "leapfrog" US, Europe, and Japan auto companies by focusing on electric and hybrid cars. Slightly unplausable and unrelated to the Wall Street Journal but it was pretty interesting. After he spoke for about 2 hours, they brought in McDonalds. The chicken nuggets and Big Mac were very good, and we asked Brad questions about the Final Exam afterward. It was pretty ridiculous at some points. People were freaking out about the exam which was open book and open note. Needless to say, he ended many of his answers with "Don't worry about it, you will be fine" and I had to remind him that this is our first open note test HA!
I took a nap when we got back to the hotel, and JM finished his book of readings on China. When I woke up, we went to Pyro pizza with a few people. Their subs and pizzas were very good ... tasted comparable to American places. Then, since I was super behind on the readings (maybe read 2/10 up to this point), I started trudging away. JM was finished already, so he read more of his "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" book by Thomas Freidman. I (basically) finished and we listened to some music. I looked over at one point, and he was closing his eyes and stiff as a board on his bed. Like, super erect. I thought, that's super weird, and asked him what he was doing. He said, "What colors do you see when you listen to this song? I see lots of yellow. ...and some green." I was literally speechless. What a freak. Haha but we talked out some of the concepts after his brief encounter in another world.
LSD? No thanks, my friend and I are high on life. We fell asleep at about 12, ready and PUMPED for the final the following morning.......
Posted by jfavorit at 06:33 AM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2009
Tuesday
Authored by JM
We started out the day with class from 9:00 till 12. The class was on the legal environment in China. We weren’t going to be tested on the material, but the class was actually was pretty interesting. We talked about how the laws are made and how they are dealing with the economic reforms. It is funny because the communist party is truly in charge of everything. They have a legislature that comes up with “laws”, but the laws that come out of the legislature are very vague and are interpreted by the executive branch. The executive branch decides how they want the law to govern and whether or not it is in line with the communist’s beliefs. There are no checks and balances in the government, it is all decided by the party leaders. The other funny thing was that there actually are multiple parties within the government for some disagreement, but they can never challenge the communist party. These parties have no power; it is just a show for the western world.
After the legal lecture, we had lunch at Yan again. This is the same restaurant that we ate at for basically the entire trip and we ended up leaving for some Subway. During lunch, we had the opportunity to plan our trip to Shanghai. We were looking at hotels and ended up deciding to just go all out and get a really nice hotel. It turned out to be a Radisson with a 5 star ranking, free Internet, and most importantly a swimming pool. It felt good to get a room and have the trip planned a little considering we are leaving on Saturday.
We got back to the classroom around 1:30 and had a lecture with Brad. He went through the purchasing power parity and how the exchange rates work. China’s currency the Yuan is pegged to the dollar, which means that the government spends a lot of time buying American dollars to insure that the currency doesn’t float. The problem with buying up all these US dollars is that now the Chinese government has a 2 trillion dollar stockpile of dollars that they are stuck with. They have basically been buying US treasuries and financing our debt. It is a unique situation not only for China to be in, but also for the United States. The Chinese dollar trap is one that we will watch unfold into the future.
Following class, we all went back to the hotel. John was pretty tired today and ended up falling asleep, but I finally had the chance to make it back to the gym. We got off our gym schedule a little and it felt really good to have the chance to work out again. After the gym I ended up going with part of the group to the martial arts show, while John stayed back to relax. The martial arts show was a little boring….actually very boring. It was also close to 90 degrees inside the theater. During the performance, I had a very difficult time staying awake, but what I got from the performance was that martial arts began with monks. They practiced it not for violence, but to maintain peace. The other thing I got from the performance was that Kung Fu Panda was actually pretty accurate.
Following the performance, a group of 4 of us went to get some dumplings. The dumpling place was a short drive from the theater and ended up being one of the top ten restaurants in the world according to the New York Times. The place didn’t have the atmosphere of a top ten restaurant, but it did have really amazing food. We ended up getting close to 50 dumplings, fried rice, noodles, and some chicken. The dumplings were really good. They were smaller then normal dumplings and when you bit into them, they had some juice inside that would explode out. It was a very satisfying meal and ended up only costing 15 dollars….China is just so cheap!
The group of us went back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the group, but it turned out everyone already went out to the bar to celebrate Shreyance’s (a guy on our trips) birthday. I called up to the room and John was still sleeping, so I ended up heading over to the bar with Danny, Alex, and Nick (the same guys I got dumplings with). The rest of the group was at the bar already and Shreyance showed up close to 11. Shreyance was drunk by the time he got to the bar and kept saying that he couldn’t take pictures because he didn’t want them on facebook for fear that he wouldn’t get a job. I ended up leaving around 12 when the group was heading to a new place….Shreyance was falling over the couches at the bar by that time anyways, so I figured he always already satisfied with his birthday. It has always been really fun celebrating birthdays on this trip and it was fun being with everyone, but it was nice to be back a little earlier. John was up when I got back, but that ended up being the end of the night.
Posted by jfavorit at 03:13 AM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2009
Monday
Authored by John
Our group of 8 students met at 8:15am to go over the logistics of our presentation. Though it was almost complete, we had to finalize who was saying what throughout the PowerPoint presentation. Our question we were assigned to present was "Who's prices are cheaper: Carrefour (a French supercenter) or Wal-Mart in China." This answer could have probably took us just a minute or two, but we had to make it at least 10 minutes for the presentation's sake. So, we decided to play a little game - The Price is Right! So we called down "random" people from the class to guess the price of different items we found in each store. It ended up pretty funny, as we tried to give them better and better prices as they got questions right (and people were eliminated). Then, for the final showdown, we had a bundle of items which were guessed on. The winner got a bag of chicken feet! Which they actually sell in the supermarkets here....
Anyway, we had a short lecture from that and had KFC delivered to the classroom. It was good, and allowed us time to go back to the hotel and blog until we went to the "Alumni Panel" at 3:30. We boarded the bus and it took us about an hour to get us to, as Brad claimed, the largest Shopping Mall in all of Asia. It was right next to the Grand Hyatt (which is super nice) and across the street from our Alumni Panel destination. We walked around the mall for a while, JM bought some Jordans, and things didn't get weird until everyone sat down at a coffee shop and I left by myself to get money out of an ATM.
Right when I re-entered the mall, a girl approached me (which is fairly common in China, they seem to love Americans). She was with her friend and asked if I was American. I said yes and she said "welcome to China!" .. she was wondering what I was doing here and I told her I was studying and I didn't know where an ATM machine was, so I asked them, thinking they could point it out for me. They got the wrong idea from my question, for they started leading me to the nearest ATM machine, asking questions the entire way about what I was studying and how old I was... Anyway, I finally reached the ATM and took out money (I had 1 yuan left and we still had to eat dinner). As I was leaving, they started following me and asking where I was going. It was about 5, and our panel didn't start til about 6:30. They wanted to know where it was, when it was over, how long I would be there, etc. Then, they asked what I was doing afterward and if I wanted to go get drinks with them! I was just like, umm, sorry, but I have to go with my group... and they were like well let's just get drinks now then! and I reply, I'm sorry but I really have to go and basically ran off. On the way back into the hotel (it was only a football field or 2 away), TWO more girls came up to my saying "Excuse me?, Excuse me??" It was TOO WEIRD! I told my professor and he said that prostitutes often come to this high end mall to try to pick up foreigners who look like they are alone. I felt unsafe haha. The weirdest part to me was that they just looked like normal people.. it was bizarre.
Anyway, after that we went to this Alumni Panel. There were 4 Michigan graduates that moved back to Beijing to work. They had all worked in the states previously, and they were from Amazon, a PE firm in Beijing, an investment bank in Beijing, and Intel. They were really good at answering our questions, but we got very hungry and tired fairly fast. It was very informal, just us asking questions about the transition from US to China, and the current situation in this crazy country.
We were very tired, so we went to a pizza place close to our hotel and came back at about 11:00 or so. I thought I was gonna pass out right when I got back, but Amanda got online so I stayed up for a few extra hours :)
Posted by jfavorit at 04:57 AM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2009
Sunday
Authored by JM
After an interesting night at a strange hotel, we were all thankful to be awake and leaving to go on the adventure for the day. We had breakfast at the hotel, which required us to ride down the elevator to the first floor before heading back up the stairs to the second floor. As we have already established, this hotel was poor and the food was a reflection of the hotel (the milk was literally boiling hot, maybe it was freshly pasteurized). After grabbing a little something to eat, we took the bus out to the wall that surrounded the inner part of the city.
The wall stretches 9 miles and encloses what used to be the center part of the city. This is one of the few cities in China that still has the wall in tact and it was cool to climb to the top of it. At the top, the best part was that we had the opportunity to rent bicycles. The bicycles cost 20 yuan to rent, but we ran into difficulties because everyone in our group wanted to rent bicycles. The shop only had about 5 single bikes and couldn’t accommodate all of our single bike requests. However, they did have plenty of double bikes, which John and I volunteered to ride. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the bike to work. Each time we went to start pedaling, the bike would start to lean to the left and we kept ending up in the wall. The rest of the group started to go on without us, so we decided to cut our loss and just skip on the double bike experience and pick up single bikes. It didn’t take us long to catch up the group and we were enjoying riding with everyone. Along the wall there were spots where we would have to pedal up a ramp and then ride back down a small ramp. The up ramp was easy, but on either side of the down ramp were small stairs. About half way through the way, we hit this down spot where there was a ramp, stairs going down, and then two golf carts in the middle. The three of us that pedaled through first were fine, but the fourth bike (a double with two guys on it, Danny and Alex) couldn’t make the decision about which path to take and decided instead to hit the golf carts. They completely wrecked the front axel on the bike, pushed the golf cart forward about 5 feet, but both were ok. They were lucky to be ok and also lucky to have crashed in front of another bike rental location. The guys who were in charge of the shop called to the other side of the wall and talked to our tour guide about the situation. Danny and Alex ended up having to pay for a new bike (50 Yuan…for a new bike vs. 20 Yuan to rent, which shows the quality of the bikes), but they were given a new one, which they were able to ride back.
After that slight mishap, the trip around the rest of the wall was pretty smooth outside of all the bumps that were in the wall. We made it back in a little bit under an hour and had a chance to explore this gift shop that was perched on top of the wall. The gift shop had some cool things inside, but it was really cool because it had a walk out on the 2nd floor that allowed us a see a great view of the wall and the surrounding area.
We were waiting on two more people, who also ran into a problem with their bikes. They ended up popping a tire some place along the wall, which caused them to be behind us by about 30 mins. By the time the group was rounded up it was close to 11:15 and we were a little behind schedule. However, the next stop was only about 10 minutes away. The next stop was a 6,000 year old village (or as our tour guide kept saying willage). The museum was literally just a patch of dirt with a roof over the top of it. They said it was one of the best-preserved old building walls and I suppose it did look like a village at one point, but it really wasn’t very impressive. What we ended up liking the most was the videos that were playing around the site. They were computer-generated images of the way the village was setup, so we could get a sense of how the huts actually looked at one point. We also watched a movie that talked about the village and displayed similar sets of virtual renderings of the village. We probably spent a little over 30 minutes at this site, which was in a really weird part of town (the road leading to the museum was dirt and the area all around was either destroyed or dilapidated buildings, with power lines literally just lying every where). After finishing at this museum, our next stop was lunch before heading to the terra cotta warriors.
The lunch was just a giant banquet room, which makes sense just because of the amount of tourists that proceed to the terra cotta warriors after. The food was pretty good and they had fresh noodles that they made in front of us, which I bought for 15 Yuan (It was definitely a rip off because the bowl was very small). After lunch though, we were all excited to head over to see the terra cotta warriors.
The museum for the terra cotta warriors was only about 10 minutes from where we ate lunch. The tomb is a national museum and it was obvious by the sheer size of the place. There was an entire village before we even entered the grounds for the museum, complete with shopping areas, a bank, and KFC. Once we were inside, we had to walk through gardens that they built specifically for tourists to walk through before we came to the main museum grounds. The museum is divided into different excavation pits. However, before we went into the different sites, we watched a video on the Emperor who built the tomb. The Emperor was the first to unify China in 221 B.C. and thus spent lavishly on his tomb that he believed would provided him all the things he would need in the after life. The tomb is the biggest in the world and it was started when he was 13 years old. It took 730,000 people 38 years to complete and the Emperor actually died while inspecting the tomb. After watching the video, we proceeded to Pit 1.
Pit 1 is definitely the most impressive site. They had excavated 6,000 warriors, which were all erected in battle formation. The sheer size of the place and the fact that they had only excavated ¼ of the soldiers from this location was hard to grasp. It was really cool to see them all, but unfortunately my camera died at that point, so we are going to have to steal pictures from other people that show the site. After Pit 1, we walked out the back door to Pit 2 and Pit 3. Both 2 and 3 were very similar. They had erected less of the statues and there was more rubble around the sites. Also, Pit 3 was an ongoing excavation so there were places where it was covered with plastic wrap. It was interesting seeing this tomb and trying to understand how/why they would have built it. We were asking about the actual tomb of the Emperor and why it hadn’t been excavated yet. There were a couple reasons that it was still underground, these reasons included the fact that it was surrounded by underground moats, contained a considerable amount of mercury, and was also 56 meters underground. She did say however, that the tomb contained a considerable amount of treasurer and also included the remains of the 3,000 concubines the Emperor had in his palace. The tour guide explained that the Emperor slept with a different woman every night, which resulted in him having a considerable amount of children. However, he only thought the first son was important and in his will he told the rest of the children to commit suicide, which they did and were then buried within the tomb. Seeing the terra cotta warriors was definitely an awe inspiring experience and one that made the trip to Xian worth it.
Having seen the terra cotta warriors, we all headed back to the airport to get ready for our flight back to Beijing. We had dinner at a restaurant that was in the airport and the food tasted very similar to the food we had at lunch (most of the food we have tastes very similar). Once we finished dinner, we passed through the security line relatively easily before heading to our gate. While we were waiting to board, we picked up an interesting stalker. Every time one of the guys went to the bathroom, this stalker would follow them into the bathroom. What was happening was that he would follow us in and literally stand in the urinal next to ours and peek over the divider. The first time it happened, we didn’t really notice, but by the second time we started to worry and conducted an experiment. Two guys from the trip went into the bathroom together and the stalker immediately followed them into the bathroom. While they were in the bathroom this time however, someone on our trip confronted him about the whole situation and he quickly disappeared.
The experience made the pre-boarding interesting and it wasn’t long after this that we actually got on the flight back to Beijing. The airline was the same as before, but the flight was much smoother. We got back around 10:30 and were back in the hotel around 11:30. It was a long weekend and we were all thankful to be back in a clean hotel and for a comfortable bed.
Posted by jfavorit at 02:37 AM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2009
Saturday
Authored by John
Saturday was one of the most ridiculous days of our trip. We woke up at 5:00 am to take the flight to Xi'an. JM and I were the last ones on the bus, arriving to find 22 other attendees ready to go to China's old capital. We took the bus to the airport, where we all handed over our passports. All except for one. Anup forgot his passport! He is usually in his own world and is unaware of his surroundings, but time it was a pretty big deal. He ended up going back to the hotel, getting the passport, and taking a later flight.
Our flight departed around 7:30 and we flew China Eastern. First of all, it was a very large airplane for a 1 hour, 45 minute flight. The seating went 2 4 2, and when we got on the flight, we were all excited and they had headphones for us. We flipped through channels and heard some songs that got us super pumped up and eager for the plane ride. 50-cent and Lil Wayne songs blasted through our ears as we were jammin hardcore on the plane. However, the PA system came on every 5 seconds to speak in like 4 different languages taking forever, and the songs were pretty lame for the rest of the flight. About halfway through, we experienced heavy turbulence. Along with most of the people in our group, I was pretty scared. It was more intense than I have ever felt on a plane and continued for about 15 minutes. well it seemed like forever... Also, we received "breakfast" on the plane. It consisted of a very bland rice-like porridge soup, some random vegetables and possibly a dark egg? (which I guess you put inside the concoction?) and some odd tasting yogurt. Despite its appearance and taste, I ate it. Overall, the service was great and the airline was acceptable.
We met with our tour leader, Gao, at the airport. She was very nice, but often had some troubles with the English language (ha, ironic as she is an English tour guide). As we took the first bus to the tomb site of the 4th Han emperor, she told us about Xi'an and how they used traditions to find the best locations for tomb sites, airports, and cities (on one side, a mountain.. on the other side, a river). She repeated herself over and over again. "Location is a-good-ah" or "We will now go to the willage" were two of her most memorable quotes. We get to this guy's tomb, and it is very big. We had to wear funny foot booties to keep the dust out of the burial site. Basically, he buried tons of things and people underground (small clay soldiers/horses/chariots and concubines/actual soldiers). They did this because in the afterlife, they believed they needed protection to maintain power and control. The women were also needed as well... haha
Then we went to downtown Xi'an. Anyone who doesn't know anything about Xi'an would not know about the fact that it has hundreds of skyscrapers (mostly residential in appearance) being constructed right now. There are cranes everywhere, but there is also poverty everywhere. The city is absolutely enormous – with almost 10 million people, it is roughly the size of New York. However, people don’t make as much money as they do in New York, the buildings are not as well kept, and there are many beggars and people trying to sell you kites. Also, there has been a lot of demolition around the city, but no excavation efforts are being made. Thus, you have all these piles of bricks and people sifting through the bricks as well. Our bus took us to the heart of the city, right up to our “Three Star” hotel.
Perhaps in China, 3 stars means 3/100. We are unsure. All we know is that though the lobby looked semi-decent, our rooms were a disaster. Two small beds, which were both hard as rocks, were the focal point of each room, and the bathrooms were disgusting. I took a shower and felt more dirty when I got out! It was funny, in school we learned about the “Aibeline Paradox” – where a group of friends goes across a desert to get to a restaurant, when in fact no one really wanted to go there in the first place. At this point, we felt like those people. One side of the hotel was decent, with a plaza and a Starbucks and McDonalds, while the other side was a shady alleyway. I don’t even want to talk about it anymore.
Our second destination of the day was the Buddhist Temple. It was very peaceful and tranquil. JM and I really enjoyed it, for it truly gave us a chance to relax. JM was super tired from the plane ride and the whole day, and I needed a break as well. The Buddha statues were huge and we saw several monks praying as well. We then took the bus to a stone calligraphy museum. It was more of a large tour. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that pretty much this entire time, Gao was talking. We literally tuned out after about 5 seconds (as did most of the group) because of her heavy accent and habit of repeating everything many times. Anyway, there were many stone tablets from hundreds of years ago with writing all over them. We walked around for a while at the end before we got back together for dinner.
Dinner was at, what we liked to call, the poor man’s hot pot. The hot-pot place next to our hotel is very good, with great sauces and broth and beef. This place was a little different. First, the sauces were a little weird. Barbeque tasted like something I have never had before, the beef was super fatty, and we don’t really know what kind of broth was in our hot pots. Anyway, we ate up and were done by about 8:00. JM went back to the hotel and passed out with the other lame-o’s () but I felt like, with one night in this foreign city, I had to check it out.
I will try to start off at the beginning. We started walking to the bar street, located just a few blocks from our hotel. But there is no open container law in China (people just don’t drink as much) and we went to a small convenience store and purchased bottles of about 24 oz of beer for 2.5 yuan. AKA I got 3 huge beers for about $1 USD. I was ecstatic. Then, we made it to the bar street, where there were about 20 or so bars – super touristy – which reminded some people of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. There were many different colored lights, and it was a comfortable atmosphere.
We ended up going from place to place to see where they had the cheapest beer. The cheapest we could find was 10 yuan, so a lot of the people in our group sat at this one bar. But about 5 of us walked back a few blocks and picked up several more beers from the locals for 2.5 yuan again. It was just too good of a deal to turn down. Anyway, we got back and everyone was having a good time, we had about 2 big tables and one of the Indian guys in our group got pretty drunk (he usually doesn’t drink much). The funniest part of the night was when he came to our table from the other table and we realized how funny he was acting. He sat down and said “I am unable to converse normally” in his Indian accent and we all lost it. I think I was laughing on the ground. Eventually we headed back, went shopping for a little while, and hilarity ensued.
I left with about 3 other people, and we were all hanging out at McDonalds after a small shopping stint. All of a sudden, a guy from our group came in and his shirt was torn and his arm was bleeding. We missed out on the first bar fight in China. But it wasn’t between two customers, it was between about 10 employees and this kid from our group. Supposedly, a guy stole a bottle of Jack Daniels (as I mentioned in Thursday’s blog). They caught him and he gave it back, but then he tried to run off. They grabbed his shirt, but he ripped it off, snatched it from them, and ran off. This would have been okay, but the guy who got in the fight was still in the bar. He said they surrounded him and were kicking him and yelling stuff. He also said he was lucky to have had his hands around his head. Basically, he got in a fight because someone else did something stupid. The cops came and I guess he somehow got out of going to jail. He didn’t do anything, but the language barrier is so hard to deal with in a foreign country. We are just lucky he didn’t have to go to jail or the hospital. To his credit, he said he hit some guy in the face when they were trying to kick his ass. I am almost glad I left with almost all the other guys in our group because the situation might have escalated even further.
The night ended with a few of us finding a great street for shopping. We stayed out an extra hour or 2 until they started closing down their shops, looking at all the things they were selling and buying a few things. Their starting prices were generally very good, meaning we had to do little to no bargaining, which was such a nice change. We got back at about 1, where poor JM had not fallen asleep yet. The bed was very hard, as I said, and the “air conditioner” was not working. Oh, and one last disgusting thing about the room, they had all these vibrating condoms and lube and other condoms between the two beds. Therefore, thinking about the implications of these items with the beds was truly disturbing. Needless to say, I slept with some clothes on and used no covers.
Posted by jfavorit at 01:14 AM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2009
Friday
Authored by JM
Last night was a short night for everyone and getting up for breakfast was an especially slow process. Breakfast was the same as always and class began around 9:30. Today we had two back-to-back 3-hour lectures, but both were about different subjects.
The first lecture was about the Chinese cultural values. Professor Fan provided a introduction into the culture of China, but went a little too far in the generalizations. It was a tough lecture because she kept contradicting herself with important points. She kept explaining how humble the Chinese people were, but they would explain that they like to buy fancy things and talk to each other about the price of these fancy things. It was hard to grasp how these concepts go together. Also, she explained to us that children no longer go to the bathroom in the street and the fact that we saw that was a rarity. However, even the day before at the Olympic village, we saw a child go to the bathroom right in the middle of the street. Learning about the Chinese culture was interesting, but the execution was poor. We gave her some leeway because of the fact that she had to summarize all of the Chinese culture in 3 hours, but it still could have been more focused.
Lunch was at Yan, the Chinese restaurant that is down the street from the University, and today the food was enjoyable. They served some traditional dumplings that were very good, but the sauce was very different from the dumpling sauce was have in the states. We had time to kill after lunch, but John and I ended up talking to Brad Farnsworth (the professor on the trip) about the cultural exercise in the morning and about different parts of the trip.
After lunch, we proceeded back to class for the 2nd half of our lecture for the day. This lecture was about the Chinese economy and was taught by Professor Li. Professor Li was an energetic and knowledge person, with an incredible memory bank of information. He is a writer for the Economist magazine, where he writes in the Asia section. He spent his lecture discussing the economies trends and where he sees China going in the future. Also, he provided insight into the workings of the government and how many politicians were once graduates of Tsinghua University. I had a chance to talk with him after the presentation and came away with the impression that he has an grasp of not only the Chinese economy, but also the world economy.
We were all back to the hotel around 4:30 and John and I ended up relaxing because we had a group meeting around 6:30. During the time, I did some of my laundry in the sink (I am not too sure how that worked out, but it smells clean) and watched some TV. The group meeting lasted about 2 hours and we put together a presentation comparing the prices between Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The presentation turned into the Price is Right and it is going to be interesting to see how the final product turns out.
By the time we were done with our presentation, John and I were both pretty hungry and walked over to a local Subway. It was an interesting experience because the flavors were a little different, but overall the food was very similar to that in the states (the turkey definitely didn’t look the same though). Following Subway, we went over to the grocery store to pick up snacks and prizes for our presentation. We settled on Chinese candy as a runner up prize and chicken feet as the grand prize. The chicken feet were served in a sealed bag, which looked incredibly disgusting, but should make for an entertaining prize. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was closing in on 10 and John and I both felt exhausted. We also decided it was time to go to bed partially because we were tired, but mainly because the next day our flight to Xian was at 7:45 am and we all had to be up around 5 to go to the airport.
Posted by jfavorit at 02:36 AM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2009
Thursday
Authored by John
Thursday, we woke up nice and early to take our trip to the Great Wall of China!! We met at 8 to take a bus to one of the great wonders of the world. It took about an hour to reach our destination, and it was one of our first opportunities to see the rural landscape in China. After about 20 minutes of driving, all you see is open land and TONS of power lines. We went past a few poor villages and ended up at the bottom of a mountain where the Great Wall was situated. We started walking up and heard the many hagglers at the stores bartering for shirts, chop-sticks, and many of the other random items which are typically the same, but sold by different vendors. After finally getting past them, we started our ascent of the mountain up many flights of stairs.
Professor Brad told us that it would take 25-30 minutes to reach the wall. JM and I took that as a challenge, telling him that we could make it in under 15 minutes. I am unsure why we do these things to ourselves, but we started running up literally huge stone steps. That lasted for a minute or two. The steps seemed to get steeper and steeper as we climbed. There were a few places of relative flatness, but overall it was an uphill battle. Well, we made it to the wall in 10 minutes, and it took another 10 minutes to make it to the nearest peak. We met the people who took the chair lift to the top (ha.ha.) and they described us as the two who just got inside after a downpour. We were soaked. But we made it. The view was unbelievable, the magnitude of the wall was unthinkable, and the history behind the wall made us speechless as we stood at the top. However, the precious moments of serenity and peace were quickly put aside as we trekked to find out where the luge to go down the Great Wall was located.
It took about an hour or so to reach the luge. Now let me try to explain the luge in a few adjectives: Long, unsafe, fast, unique, and FUN AS SHIT! haha basically you sit on a toboggan and ride down on a metal track, but you have no safety net. You control your speed using a lever situated inbetween your legs, and when you turn, the side walls are higher (similar to a water slide). Basically, we flew down the mountain, and took the chairlift up to do it again. The second time, our group had caught up with us, so we all went right after one another, which was really funny. We would bump into one another (sometimes on purpose) and Tiffany, a girl on the trip, got knocked off the track because Andrew hit her from behind! It was really funny - slightly dangerous - but it was mostly her fault for going too slow.... :)
Anyway, we left the Great Wall at about 12-1:00 after making a few purchases on the street. JM and I got these shirts that we wanted earlier for 15 yuan! (about $2 US) We - well mostly he - had been trying every place possible for this price. So we got back to the bus, and saw all the other things people got. One girl, Ariel, bought a shirt for 15 yuan as well. Thought it was a great deal.. until she realized that it looked like it had been faded from the sun and smeared with dirt. When she tried to return it, the vendor said "15 dirty, 20 clean!" Needless to say, the quality of goods sold by these vendors is a slight concern.
We then went to the Olympic Village! It was a little rainy, but we got to see the Birds Nest and Water Cube up close and personal. They are unbelievable works of art and the entire Olympic Village was very cool. We opted out of paying 50 yuan for entrance into the Birds Nest (to see a field and bleachers?) and would have gone inside the Water Cube for 40 yuan but we got detached from the group when trying to take a picture and ended up not being able to go. Instead, we looked over to see a kid pooping next to a tree in front of everyone. The children literally don't wear diapers, take shits in front of everyone through the slit in their pants, and no one seems to mind. We were a little grossed out but managed to run back in the rain. We also stopped to jump through the fountains (similar to Disney World), and ended up being the only two to run through them... all the Chinese just sat on the outside and watched. We got a few picture requests though so it was kinda funny.
Our next destination was called the Tea House, but judging the appearance of our three tables at the end of the performance, you could have mistaken it for the beer house. Basically, we had a performance of a Chinese Opera (which is very weird - two men play a man and a woman, and let's just say we didn't figure that out until the end of the performance). They also had a magic show where Anoop went onstage and participated in the fun. It was really funny because we were yelling for him the whole time.. we were pretty obnoxious throughout the performance. They also had some Kung Fu masters who did a show as well. Anyway, we ended up ordering a few rounds of beers and had a good head start on the night when we went out to a recommended bar - Coco Banana.
Before I talk about the club, I must talk about our bus rides. JM has a plethora of jokes at his disposal for some reason. He attributes this hidden talent to long nights at certain camps throughout the years - possibly a band camp, I am unsure. Anyway, there are several funny, but often dirty, jokes which he told to the back of the bus on the way to and from the Great Wall and Olympic Village. They were more like stories, and he absolutely loves telling them. Anyway, Brad was not with us when we went to the Tea House, only June (our tour guide). Therefore, I grabbed the microphone and said, yo lets have story time on the bus. So we are both at the front of the bus, and he starts telling these jokes. I add in occasional supporting details I have picked up throughout the day and other suggestions to make the joke more ridiculous than it already is. It was hilarious and everyone loved it until June dropped us off close enough to get a cheap taxi to Coco Banana.
Though we thought we went to Coco Banana, we actually went to the bar attached to it, Babyface Banana. We don't really understand their attraction to the name Banana, but they seem to like it (we went to GT Banana last weekend). We bought a few bottles and the night turned into a funny mess when we met some Miami of Ohio students. Let's just say I had a dance contest with a few of them and it was just ridiculous. The venue was a lot smaller than some of the other clubs we have gone to, but it was a lot of fun since the majority of our group went there. We left at about 1:00 or so and took a taxi home. One note worth mentioning was that one student got in the habit of taking alcohol bottles from tables without paying for them, a habit which caused some trouble in Xi'an on Saturday...
Posted by jfavorit at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2009
Wednesday
Authored by JM
We woke up around 8, but put our business casual clothes on for our visit to Aigo. Aigo is a native Chinese company that produces a variety of electronics. The building was only about 10 or 15 mins from our hotel and we all loaded up the bus around 9:30. The first thing we did was look at their product showcase. They had MP3 players, video playing device, and a cool map technology. The map technology worked with a special pen that when pressed to certain locations on the map would provide specific information about that site. After the product showcase, they provided us a presentation about the company, which went into more detail about their operation. However, the presentation was a little weak. Not only did their PowerPoint not work, but also the girl giving it seemed really nervous and rushed through things at the end. We returned to the product showcase and ended up getting kicked out because we started to play music a little too loud over their speaker system…. We don’t think everyone likes Single Ladies as much as us.
When we left Aigo, we walked out through the lobby where there was a BMW dealership. What was interesting about the dealership was that we could really see the price premium on the cars. The largest price difference was on the BMW X6. It is probably priced around 60,000 in the states and was 270,000 in China. Really crazy!
As a group, we walked down the street to a local pizza place. The pizza was surprisingly good and was a nice change from all of the Chinese food we usually have. Also, during lunch we talked to a few of the students that were there to escort our group. The main topic was really about Aigo and if they thought Aigo was a good company. Aigo occupies a middle ground between the internationals and the cheap locally produced electronics and we wanted to see if the students actually purchased their electronics. The explanation we got was that yes some students do purchase Aigo merchandise, but if they were going to buy anything it would either be a iPod or a Sony PSP, not anything made by Aigo.
We got back to the hotel around 1 and spent the afternoon working on the blog and relaxing. We intended on doing more, but I ended up not being able to make it through the afternoon. However, as a continuation of our group project, we all went over to Wal-Mart around 5. Wal-Mart China was a very unique experience. It was definitely a more western style store then most that we have been in, but had a lot of Chinese influence. They had the raw fish in the basement and the different meats as well, but they had more prepackaged food then we saw as Carrefour. Additionally, when we were walking through the electronics aisle, we spotted a lot of knock off iPods, including an iPod shuffle knock-off made by Aigo. Seeing the Aigo shuffle confirmed to us that Wal-Mart might not truly limit its vendors in China and Aigo does do some sketchy things. The Wal-Mart experience turned out to be very interesting, but the adaption of Wal-Mart to the Chinese culture was nothing compared to Carrefour.
We finished our Wal-Mart adventure around 7:30 and all went to dinner at the Bridge Café, which is in the basement of our hotel. The Bridge Café, as we may have mentioned before, serves western style food and it was the last night it was in operation. We all specially went to the Bridge for a little western food and to enjoy its last night. We also spent some time working on our project, which is a comparison between Wal-Mart and Aigo. We had to wake up early for our Great Wall trip, so Wednesday night ended up being an early night.
Posted by jfavorit at 02:35 AM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2009
Tuesday
Authored by John
Most of the day was spent in the classroom, but it was very interesting. Brad led both lectures (our head professor/coordinator/adviser) and we learned a TON about the history of China. He was able to answer all of our questions - we seem to have so many - and explain why the Chinese act the way they do and their sentiments towards other countries. Let's do some fun facts about the interesting relationship between China and Taiwan.
- Taiwan is part of China, but has its own political system (democracy), currency, and functions as a separate country
- China has over 400 missiles on their coast pointed at Taiwan ... just in case they want to declare independence
- It is unknown what the US would do if this situation were to arise
- People from China get really offended when foreigners question why they care so much about Taiwan
- No one in our class understands why China can't let Taiwan go
Then, halfway through the morning session, our good friend Brian (the Bridge owner that some of us met the night before) gave a little presentation on his journey from the US to China. Everyone seems to be really interested in how people acclimate to the culture and environment in Beijing. It is very different - relationship dynamics, hierarchical significance, the importance of respect, etc. To come here, however, substantial knowledge of the Chinese language is absolutely essential. There is a lot of opportunity here, but it needs to be harnessed with care and precisely mapped out. Working with the government, focusing on relationships, partnering with mutually beneficial terms is essential. Our guest speaker spoke of the importance of knowing all lease agreement terms, because reneging on deals is sometimes common in China. Overall it was very informative, and he was from Grand Rapids, so that was cool as well.
Lunch was at a cafe... It seems like every restaurant we go to is ready for us to come (with plates or cups out), but is not ready to serve us once we are there. Orders are commonly mixed up, waitresses do a poor job, and the food takes a long time to come out, and when it does, it happens sporadically. One person might get their dish, and another might wait another half our to get theirs. It is just different, but gets very annoying. I got some Tsinghua University T-shirts on the way back to class, where we learned more about China's history and current economical, political, military, and social considerations from Brad. We also got our first fieldwork assignment!
Due in a week, we split into groups of 8 to work on this assignment. Basically, we have to visit Carrefour (a French low-cost supermarket) and Wal-Mart, which has a supercenter in Beijing. We need to look at consumer demographics, product mix, price differentiation, and overall compare which one is doing better in China and why? We present our findings in a 10 min. presentation. So after class, we started! The bus took us close to our destination, where we walked around for about half our or so until we found it. Good thing we had Leanne in our group who is fluent in Chinese to help out!
Carrefour in China is unbelievable. First of all, you go down an escalator and end up in small mall. Each hallway has stores lining each side and you have to walk for a few minutes to get to the actual supermarket. Finally, we made it to Carefour. Just to note, Chinese supermarkets have a TON of things packed in a small space. One thing Chinese love is options. The full isle containing only toothpaste was a clear indicator of how many different choices people have. Carrefour was the largest supermarket I have ever been to. There were huge electronics, home appliances, clothing, and recreation departments downstairs, and you take a flat escalator (which allows grocery carts) to get upstairs to the grocery and personal product sections. The grocery section also had an unbelievable amount of fish (some were alive), tons of fatty beef, shrimp, and many other deli items. Also, there is an employee in every isle. This, as well, seems to be typical of China. Though they might see it as good customer service, or maybe even to prevent theft, we think it is a little annoying and unnerving.
China Carrefour
We collected data on Carrefour and went back home in the crowded bus. Rush hour is ridiculous in China. We were jam packed on the way home, but finally made it safe and sound.
Our nightly destination was San Li Tun, an outdoor mall featuring all multinational companies and also a bar strip catered towards tourists. First, we ate at a sushi restaurant, which was unbelievable. Even JM liked it! Then, we went down the bar strip. We were hassled by every single person who was waiting outside the bar. Every person sang the same tune: "Hey! Happy hour inside!" or "Come in, great American music!" Typical. Anyway, we took the advise of our Hong Kong resident and went to a place called China Doll, which supposedly was a great local place. Not so much. We were pretty much the only people in there and literally hung out for an hour or two. Every time we would get up and sit down, there would be a drink menu in our faces. It's like, when I'm thirsty, I can ask you for a drink buddy. Anyway, we took a cab home and got a pretty good night of rest before our company visit at Aigo - a Chinese electronic and home appliance company.
Posted by jfavorit at 02:30 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2009
Monday
Monday morning we woke up around 8 and just went to breakfast. Today was a day full of classes about the financial industry and economy in China. The lecturer was very knowledgeable about the issue because he actually writes for the Economist magazine sometimes. He knew the subject matter very well and was able to field questions about a diverse set of issues.
One thing that was very interesting was that at hospitals you are expected to tip the nurse and doctor for performing the service. As the professor explained, the doctors and nurses receive a certain amount of money and in order to get better service it is necessary to bribe the people. Also, he really went into detail about the financial sector of the economy and how it is very difficult for companies and people to take out a loan or raise money. The example he used for this was the fact that when people buy cars, they actually buy them with straight cash. There are no loans or car leasing programs because the financial structure is not in place.
We broke up the talk by going to lunch at the close Chinese restaurant and were finished with the class around 3. During our lunch break, we had time to put our gym clothes on and after class was over, about 12 of us ended up going over to the courts to play basketball. We ended up playing basketball for over 3 hours before the pollution/exhaustion overtook us.
We ended up showering quickly and heading out to one of the local bars to celebrate Adam's (a guy on our trips) birthday. The entire group was there and all had a very good time. John and I were able to cross another thing off our list, which was a little karaoke action. Adam had an especially good time and ended up drinking a little bit past his limit. While he was in the bathroom, the owner of the Bridge Cafe (which is a local western style restaurant located in the hotel) actually came into the bathroom and met all of us. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but he was actually our guest lecturer for the next day. The night ended on this high note and set the stage for tomorrow.
Posted by jfavorit at 02:34 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2009
Sunday
Authored by John
Sunday morning we woke up and were a bit exhausted from the weekend. I first emailed my little bro to tell him Happy Birthday, it was his 20th birthday, then we both emailed our mothers for Mothers Day. We missed breakfast(it ends around 10am) and went to eat at the Bridge Cafe below our hotel. They had an American breakfast - eggs, home fries, bacon/sausage, pancakes, and OJ; all for about 5$ and it was excellent. It actually tasted like American food! Well, the owner gave a guest speech on Tuesday (from Grand Rapids, MI) and is the reason that the food is made for the western palate. Afterward, we got together with a few people on the trip and went to Wang Fu Jin - an enormous mall surrounded by a square mile or 2 of outdoor shopping and other interesting attractions - more on that later.
We started by going into the Nike outlet, which there were about 10 of along the strip. They have tons of stores which are popular in the US, and the focal point is the mall, which is 6 stories tall and contains tons of stores, department stores, domestic and imported goods, and even a grocery store in the basement. Plus, it had four places that China absolutely loves: McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks. There were tons of these restaurants lining the streets, and we decided to give it a try... a quazi cultural experience in itself. The popcorn chicken was actually very good. It was a little spicier and had more breading (yes, that is possible) than in the US, but otherwise it was pretty similar. GREAT SUCCESS!
Then, we all ventured into the lions den. Though not as bad as the Silk Market, the outdoor food market at Wang Fu Jin was extraordinarily shocking and odd. From the moment we walked in, obviously there were people haggling us, trying to make us buy things from their stands (which offered pretty much the same thing as the guy next to them).
One of the first things we saw were different pieces of meat on a stick. "Skewers," we thought, "those look tasty!" WRONG. WRONG. We walked up to them and realized that some of the meat on the skewers were scorpions. And the worst part about it... they were STILL ALIVE!!! They were wiggling on the sticks and it was fairly disturbing. Needless to say, none of us tried the delicacy.
After Wang Fu Jin, we ended up separating. JM and I went to the Silk Market (I had to pick up my last 2 custom shirts) and it looked like it was pretty close on the map. WRONG. WRONG. haha it ended up being an hour hike from the mall center and there were a few women who stopped us on the street claiming to be English teachers.. which might have been true, but we took the more cynical approach (they were probably prostitutes). Also, a feral child who was super dirty ran after us and followed us for a while, trying to reach into our pockets to take money. We ended up throwing him over a fence. Finally we got to the Silk Market, I picked up my shirts, and we started our next adventure, the Beijing Subway.
We were worried because of the stories we heard from others describing the Subway experience in China. With around 15 million people in Beijing, we knew it would be a bit crowded. But after we made our way to the station and paid our 2 yuan (about 30 cents), it ended up being very easy. It was a fairly new subway, and when we were riding, there was a screen to tell us where we were on the route. We had to change subways twice, but each time, they pointed us in the right direction and had English writing as well. It took about 45 minutes to get home, comparable to how long it took to take a Taxi, and cost us a total of 4 yuan compared to about 70-80 yuan. :)
Sunday night, we ate at hot pot for the second time. There were 5 of us, and it was relaxing and fun. For those who don't know, each person gets their own broth in a pot which is heated by a fire. Then, we ordered raw beef, chicken, and vegetables to put in the broth so that they cook, and then they have many sauces to dip the meat into. We went back to the hotel after and both fell asleep at about 10pm.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Fryback3688/Beijing2009?feat=directlink
Posted by jfavorit at 01:29 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2009
Saturday
Authored by JM
We woke up around 9 on Saturday morning for a big hike up the Fragrant Hills mountain park. Before we left, we went to breakfast and met up with a part of the group that was interested in hiking along with us. Originally, we thought we would be able to leave at 10, but we made stops at both the ATM and the coffee shop and ended up getting to the bus stop at about 10:30.
The bus was the most efficient way to get to Fragrant Hills, but was initially very confusing. The first bus we got on was actually headed in the wrong direction and the lady who collects money for the bus just kept screaming at us to get off... She even went as far as slapping a few of us on the arm to get us to understand. Once we got on the correct bus it was a very simple trip. The stop for Fragrant Hills was the last stop, the ride was only about 40 minutes, and it cost 2 yuan, or about 30 cents.
The area around Fragrant Hills was really cool. It was a really scenic mountain village. There were shops open along the way that sold everything from Buddha dolls to food. What I really enjoyed was that the little town was tucked away from the rest of Beijing. It wasn't as touristy as the Forbidden City, which made it more enjoyable. The entrance fee for the park was only 10 yuan and we got unlimited access to all of the different buildings while we were inside.
Once we entered we all proceeded to beginning hiking to the mountain top. There were paths that weaved along the mountain, but we decided to cut across the slope and use the dirt paths. The dirt paths made the hike challenging, but more interesting. We covered a lot of ground by cutting through and were able to reach the upper part of the mountain within 40 mins. The paths merged together and for the rest of the way to the summit there were actual steps going up. Overall, there was over 500 steps before we even got to the summit.
The summit was really cool. From the top of the summit, you could see down towards the city and then around the hills that were near us. It was a nice change being outside the city and the summit definitely made the hike worth it. We also claimed the top of the summit for Michigan.
After enjoying the summit, we basically ran back down the mountain. We were able to move really quickly down and ended up being down the mountain in under an hour. We strolled through the town on the way back toward the bus and some of us bought some small things to bring back. The bus station was a hub for all the buses and we only waited for about 5 minutes before we got back on the bus toward the city. The bus was a little more crowded this time, but it worked out well for us because we were the first ones on, so we were able to secure seats. We got off at the hotel and then decided to head down to the art district.
We took another bus to the art district, which worked out really well. The problem ended up being that we had no idea how to find the art district. We ended up walking the opposite direction first without realizing it. However, we did find a decent place to eat and the neighborhood we were in was really clean and nice. Also, more importantly, the weather got cooler and we all ended up buying matching sweaters. There were about 6 of us all wearing knock-off polo sweaters, which must have looked pretty weird to the Chinese, but was very funny for us. We wandered back the direction we came from and ended up seeing part of the wall from the art district, but never actually got a chance to explore the area.
We took the bus back to the hotel, but the day wasn't over yet. We all showered and changed and headed to this club called GT Banana with the rest of the group. The club was a lot of fun because the floor bounced along with the beat and the atmosphere was really cool. However, we did run into problems because of some of the local guys that were in the club. One of the locals got a little too touchy with one of the girls on the trip and wouldn't leave her alone. This escalated into a shouting match with some pushing and ended with all of us getting bounced out of the club. Both John and I were upset by the whole situation and the way some guys choose to act that ruins it for everyone. The scuffle at the club ended the night and put a close to a long day for all of us.
Posted by jfavorit at 01:28 AM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2009
Friday
Authored by John
Today is Friday, our second day of classes. We met after breakfast at our classroom - we were on our own for the first time to get there on time. We concluded the social change lectures about the rising elderly population in China and the problems which may arise because of it. We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant. We had rice, a weird salad, and breaded chicken with an amazing sauce for some extreme dippage. The restaurant was located in a basement, but when we got down there were several Japanese style rooms where people had to take off their shoes before they entered. JM and I wanted to go in one of those rooms, but we all ate at a table in the middle of the place ... :(
We went to Lenovo for a company visit in the afternoon, and unlike the Microsoft presentation (which was more of an informal lecture), this was more of a guided tour. It showcased the history of the Chinese company and its future plans for global domination... of the PC market. It bought IBM's PC division back in 2004 and they showed us all the different models of desktops and notebooks. They are all extremely different - some notebooks look like Macs, others look like Dells, others look like older IBM models. It is almost like they want to cater to every person's individual tastes, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The building was very cool looking and the tour was very interactive. We had fun playing with all the gadgets and learning about the company.
Later in the afternoon, 9 of us ventured into the Tsinghua campus to play basketball. A few of the guys from the trip purchased a ball and we took that with us to the basketball courts. One thing we have found out about the Chinese is that they LOVE basketball, but are kinda confused about how to play it. All the people playing are either in full uniform (Houston Rockets, LA Lakers, Denver Nuggets, etc) or in jeans and shirts, or just normal clothes. Plus, they all have really weird looking shots. Regardless, there are probably about 100 courts on their campus and they were PACKED late in the day. We played a full court game (none of us are extraordinarily good) and were exhausted afterwards. Plus, the thick smoggy air made it hard to breathe for a few hours after we got back. It felt like we smoked a pack of cigarettes - even though we dont smoke - and our lungs felt so heavy. But it was really fun and I think we are going to play several times on the trip.
Friday night, we got dinner at the Bridge cafe which is located on the first floor of our hotel and is cheap and a safe bet for good western food. Then, we all gathered in our room for a little pregame party. It was nice, but it is hard to fit everyone in one place. Everyone sits on the beds or our two chairs but its hard to include everyone in a central conversation. Not to mention, some people just come over and drink our alcohol! Haha, its not a big deal, but we are kinda the party room (I brought the iHome, an essential vacation item) and dont want to have to do it every time. Some of the guys went to Shanghi this weekend, so there is a few less of us going out. But getting cabs to take us all to the same place at the same time is difficult (plus, none of the Taxi drivers speak English!!).
We went to Mix and Vics, which are two dance clubs with a parking lot inbetween. Plus, they have an Outback Steakhouse right next to the Vics club. We eventually all found each other in Vics, which had a bunch of different rooms and dance floors with DJs for each room. Oh, and they play music which is ALL from the United States! We haven't heard one Chinese song in the club that we remember. Though it was no ones birthday, we partied like it was! haha we all jumped up on the stage and owned the dance floor. It's funny because our friend is from Hong Kong (Bryan) and he is sick at dancing. But everyone in Beijing is terrible! haha they are just awkward and don't move much, and a lot of the guys just stand around. JM and I are like jumping up and down the entire time and throwing people in the air like we just dont care :) But I went to Mix with a few other people in the night (yeah, had to pay cover twice) and had our first (but not last) encounter with shady guys. Basically we were all dancing, and some girl was like I think some guy just grabbed my ass. I blew it off, thinking that she just got bumped into.. it was packed inside and the dance floor was kinda dark. But then I watched a guy just like creepily try to grope her and another girl in front of me and I pushed him over and almost broke his hand with my elbow. We got out of that pit and went to a different place in the club where we met some funny Chinese guy who tried to imitate all of my dance moves... which is pretty much impossible. haha but he was trying to "Crip Walk" and it was super funny. We left around 2 oclock - obviously the last ones to leave in our group - and had no troubles driving home in the Taxi.
Posted by jfavorit at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2009
Thursday
Authored by JM
After a long night on the yesterday, it was a little rough waking up for class today. We all met in the lobby around 8:30 and walked over to the school for our first day of orientation. We met with the lead coordinator named Jodie and then took a group picture. The Chinese really are professionals about taking pictures and it was a whole ordeal for us to assemble the group for a excellent picture.
After taking the picture, we went back into the classroom for our first lecture. It was about Social Trends in China, which was a little dry, but the Professor did a very good job. For lunch, we went to a restaurant named Yan, it was not very good. There wasn't enough of decent food and it ended up being a white rice type of meal. The second part of the day we spent in the classroom learning basic Chinese. The Chinese have to laugh at us because we are really bad with mastering their whole tone structure which is the basis for their language. We tried very hard, but it was a little much. We learned some basic words, but the scope of the class was wrong. The professor tried to pack in a little too much for the lecture and it just became overwhelming. We decided it would have been better if we just had more time to practice.
We ended class at about 3:30 and got back to the hotel around 4. Some of us were going to try and play basketball, but we ended up running out of time because we had a Welcome Dinner at 6 that night. The Welcome Dinner was at the hotel and the food was pretty good. It was nice eating with some of the students and we enjoyed the whole day. Both John and I were pretty exhausted after all the activity for the past couple nights. Some of the group went to the movie, while we ended up just going to someone's room where we just ended up just socializing. John and I ended up falling asleep at 10:30 and it ended a very busy couple of days for us.
No new pictures to add from this day! But as always, check the main picasa page.
Posted by jfavorit at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2009
Wednesday
Authored by JM
The morning was spent working out at the gym and then we ate breakfast before the Microsoft presentation. The Microsoft building is located right down the street in the core of the research center in Beijing. We ventured up to the 21st floor and a man gave a presentation on the R&D aspects in China. He was from the US, but moved here 6 years ago with his family. He also showed us this amazing video about the future of computing technology or something called Natural User Interface. He explained that they are currently working on this new technology right in the Microsoft office in China and he expects the technology to be used within 10 years. Overall, we found the presentation to be very interesting and the presenter to be knowledgeable about the Microsoft products even though he mainly used Macs at home.
The Microsoft presentation ended around 12 and we walked back to the hotel to change out of our business casual clothes. We ended up going to a noodle place that was right around the corner from the hotel, where we got a full bowl of noodles for about 4 dollars. As a side note, everything is always so cheap, but the fact that it is so cheap never gets old, we love spending money. When we were at the noodle shop, we ran into a majority of the group and we all ended up going to the Beijing Zoo.
We took a taxi out to the Beijing Zoo. It cost about 10 dollars to get into the Zoo and then about a dollar to get into the panda exhibit. The panda exhibit was the most unique part of the zoo. The pandas were all just hanging out, most were just sleeping, but there was one that was being fed. It was funny because he was just lounging on his back and people were throwing food at him, which he was snacking on. After the pandas, we walked around the outside of the zoo and went to the bear section. The first two bears that we saw were wrestling with each other, which was pretty fun to watch. The bears next to them however were being fed by some of the local people. Instead of throwing food though, the people were pouring their drinks into the bears mouths. The bears were standing on their back legs and positioning themselves to get the directly under the drinks that were being poured over the railing. The Beijing Zoo was just a massive place and it took a couple of hours for us to just walk around to get back to the exit. We ended up running in to a part of the group that was headed to the silk market.
John had a shirt tailor made for himself, so we ended up linking up with that part of the group and heading to the silk market. As we said in one of the other entries, the silk market is just too much to handle. They are all very ridiculous and very aggressive. John got his shirt and wanted to pick up a pair of Jordans before we left. The shoes are all downstairs and we spent a while haggling for the shoes. At the silk market, they like to show that the material is real leather by doing a fire test. So while we were down looking at the Jordans, they kept telling us that it was real leather and we had them prove it with the fire test. The lady was very funny about it and after she burned it, she was like smell it....do you see it is real leather. She then proceeded to bring over a pair of fake pumas with a type of cloths material on the outside. She was trying to pitch those shoes to us and I told her to do the fire test on the other shoes also, not thinking she would really do it. Well she did it and ended up burning a hole right through the shoe. John and I were just both laughing so hard and she ended up thinking it was pretty funny as well.
We couldn't get a good price from that stand, but John was able to negotiate for 2 pairs of shoes for 15 dollars each. After we got the shoes, we left the silk market and got back to the hotel in time for dinner. We all went around the corner to a hot pot restaurant. The entire group was there because it was Lindsay's (a girl on our groups) birthday. The restaurant was really cool because we all had just boiling pots of seasoned water to cook the food. We ended up getting a meat platter, some noodles, shrimp balls, and a vegetable plate. The food was amazing and it was a nice change for us to just have some meat that was prepared without some of the seasoning that we typically get at the other restaurants. Once we finished dinner, everyone went back to the hotel to meet up again before we went out to the club.
We ended up going to a club called Suzie Wong for Lindsay's birthday. We showed up with a group of about 30 of us and dominated the club. John and I realized that in China, Americans really don't have to follow any rules. We not only were going crazy on the dance floor, but we also ended up throwing Lindsay up in the air so she could crowd-surf. The owners and employees of the restaurant instead of telling us to put her down were taking pictures of us. The night was a lot of fun and the entire group gets along really well.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Fryback3688/Beijing2009?feat=directlink
Posted by jfavorit at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2009
Tuesday
Authored by John
Well, we both woke up at like 7:00 am with no alarm ... the time difference still hasn't caught up with us. Breakfast still ceases to amaze us. But it was only the first of several amazing meals throughout the day. We departed on the bus at 8:30 am to go to the Forbidden City. We posted some pictures of this amazing place - but here are a few fun facts about it. First, it was built in only about 14 years, using over 1 million people in the early 1400's. If you sleep in a different room each day of your life, you will be 27 (TWENTY-SEVEN!) years old when you finally sleep in every room. There were 24 Emperors who lived there over about 500 years or so, through 2 dynasties. Each Emperor had about 3000 concubines, who ranged in ages from 11 to 15 years old - and it was considered a huge honor to serve the Emperor (for most of them never had the privilege to see him again after their "term" per say. It is 73 square hectors (and our tour guide, June, said there are about 2.5 acres in a hector. It is HUGE!
With 32 people in our tour group, it was hard to go fast, and we stopped several times for extended periods. But overall it was fun and took about 2 hours to get from one side to the other. We posted pictures of the day on Picasa. We then went to Tian Anmen Square, where there have been many protests and demonstrations throughout the years, and it is extremely big as well. It is just a lot more open space. But we ate at a place called Peking Duck, and it was unbelievable. They cut the duck in front of us, but that was after about 20 appetizers which we shared at a table of about 10. They start with cold dishes, and put them on a rotating circular table which sits at the center of a larger table. Then, each person spins the smaller table with all the dishes on it, which is how every place in China operates. Anyway, we had pig ears, some pork, chicken, and many different preparations of duck. We then took the bus (as we digested) to go to the Silk Market - one of the craziest things I have ever experienced.
So, the Silk Market in Beijing is basically a legalized China Town in New York. It offers 6 floors of haggling, arguing, bartering, yelling, persuading, misleading, reading the opponent, WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT. Either way, they give you a price which is about 10 times as much as they would settle for, and expect to end up somewhere in the middle. At least JM is from New York - I was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. There are just hundreds of little shops clumped together and they literally grab on to you and try to get you to buy their clothes. Here are some of their catch phrases:
"You handsome man you want jean?"
"You need underwear? How bout for girlfriend?"
"I give you good price, I give you special price!"
"This is real cashmere! 100%!" (feels like wool)
Anyway, it was a little exhausting, but we went around and figured out that they all DO have a bottom price. I bought a custom fitted button-up shirt for 100 RMB (about 14 dollars) and we went around to find the best price for a Che shirt, which ended up at 20 RMB (less than 3 dollars). They start off the bargaining at about 200 for every t-shirt. It is basically all fake stuff and the quality varies from store to store. We left on the bus to go to an acrobatic show, but ended up at a random local restaurant, which June Bug picked out for us. It ended up being so delicious, and we tried a shot of the local liquor, which was absolutely terrible... An acquired taste perhaps? But the food was great, and JM and I shared Kung Pao Chicken, beef, rice, and steamed broccoli (which we decided we will get for every meal). So far, we have not experienced any stomach indigestion, so that is good.
Finally, the acrobatic show was insane. It is similar to Cirque de Soleil, where there are basically teenagers doing things that don't even make sense. Girls have no spine bone in the show, and guys jump up and stand 3 people high, doing backflips off each other, and just many other crazy stunts. I was literally in awe the whole time. The last act they did involved 12 girls getting on one bike. It had pegs, but it was just ridiculous. Anyway, the bus took us back to the hotel after the show and we passed out right after a shower. The day was long, but it felt good to continue our experience in China with a culturally packed tour.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Fryback3688/Beijing2009#
Posted by jfavorit at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)
Monday Night
Authored by John
I wanted to split up the night of May 4th and yesterday's excursion to the Forbidden City. So on Monday, JM and I were planning to go to a nice dinner and just relax after our long day. Other people were planning different things, so we thought we would take a back seat and just go with the flow... UNTIL we found out that at midnight, it would be Katie's birthday (a girl in our group). Well, I'm a sucker for birthdays and want everyone to have the best time on their birthday because it only comes once a year! So that sets the stage for the rest of the night.
First, reservations were made at the downstairs cafe for about 20 people. Not many people were eating there, but it was extremely nice. Food is eaten in a very different way in China. There is one Menu, and one person is expected to order for the whole table. Plus, tea is served as the drink in the beginning of the meal and so ordering drinks early seems odd to them. And because of all the customs, people get their food at different times, drinks come sporadically, and people often get confused. But the food was excellent, we had all different chicken, ribs, vegetables, crab, rice, fruit, and shared it as a table (of 8). Then we went up to our room and started to get ready to go to the bar.
No one wanted to have the pregame in their room (including JM), but I volunteered our humble abode. So in about 15 minutes, our room was pretty packed. But we had the great idea of getting the birthday girl a cake. They have an amazing cake display in the lobby of the hotel, and me, JM, and 2 other guys from the trip split the cake 4 ways. Needless to say, she was very happy and so surprised by the gesture and continued her happy streak all through the night.
Katie and her B-day Cake (says Happy Birthday in Chinese)
Continue reading "Monday Night"
Posted by jfavorit at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2009
Monday
Authored by JM
Just finished our first day in Beijing...Did a lot today, but before going into just a recap of what we have done so far.
The flight from NY was about 12 hours. We slept for the first 5 or 6 hours and then were awake for the remaining part of the trip. The flight was really nice, they had over 300 movies on demand, tons of CDs, and just TV shows. We also had time to go over the guide book and plan out some of the trip. When we were almost at Beijing, the pilot came over the PA asking if anyone was Mexican Nationals because the Chinese government wanted to be aware of their entry. We saw today on the TV that 70 were held at the airports and people were upset about it.
We arrived in Beijing at about 1 pm, China time. We proceeded to customs, which was basically just a mosh pit because the Chinese seem to have no sense of lines. We slipped to the side line and got through in about 15 minutes. After passing through customs, we went to baggage claim and got our bags and met up with the rest of the group. Our leader is named Brad Fansworth and he was accompanied by a Tsinghua student named James. They are both really nice and were really helpful in getting us all organized. Once the group was assembled, we loaded up onto the bus to go to our hotel.
The trip took about 45 minutes to our hotel, the Wenjing. The hotel is very nice, luxury accommodations for our little trip to Beijing. After checking in, John and I went across the street to a small grocery store to buy some water. We got 4 1.5 liter water bottles, a 2 liter coke, and Fanta for $3.50. The grocery store was an interesting experience because everything was in Chinese. At least there is a standard for numbers! - All the groceries were fairly cheap. After, we all got together for a tour around the area lead by Brad. There are vendors all over the streets and at one point there was just a vendor selling small rabbits and puppies and kittens, very strange. Once we got through the maze, Brad pointed us to a Western restaurant, where we had our first meal in Beijing (Pasta). There was some talk about all of us going to a bar, but we all ended up falling asleep around 9 pm. It was definitely a long day.
After going to sleep so early and due to the jet lag, we were up at 6:45 am. John and I went right to the gym and were able to get in an hour work-out before we had to get ready for the day. The hotel has a full international breakfast and everything was very good. The group met at 9 and we were greeted by three students, James, April, and Andrew. They lead us around the entire Tsinghua Campus, which covers 3 million square meters. We saw where we take classes and explained what it was like to be a student in China. They pay only $1,000 for the year for the best university in the country!
The tour ended at one of the dorms, where we got lunch. The lunch was really interesting....We went back to the hotel right after lunch. The group got split up and people went different directions. John and I ended up going to the Summer Palace, which was only a short cab ride from the hotel.
Summer Palace
Posted by jfavorit at 06:14 AM | Comments (1)
