{"id":1393,"date":"2011-06-05T19:55:59","date_gmt":"2011-06-05T19:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.m3ntalcontraband.com\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2020-11-04T02:08:44","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T02:08:44","slug":"beijingshanghai_2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/?p=1393","title":{"rendered":"beijing\/shanghai 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-flickr wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/m3ntalcontraband\/albums\/72157626596252125\" title=\"china 2011 by halley.tsai, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3186\/5720265598_df9c155d38_z.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" alt=\"cn | gugong.five\"><\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i didn\u2019t actually know what to expect from my trip to beijing. for one, china\u2019s been on the ascendant for the last decade, and this was also my first solo trip (though i did have friends there). but i\u2019ll be honest, there weren\u2019t terribly high expectations. my opinion and the opinions offered by my family were, to say the least, colored by our nationality (taiwanese) and the fact that china was (and still is) looked down upon as, well\u2026hicks. yea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">first, the family history lesson. unlike a number of modern taiwanese who came in the 50\u2019s to flee the civil war, my family has resided on the island since by my estimation, the early 1900\u2019s (at the latest). we are fifth generation taiwanese, possibly older since my parents readily admit that anything before that is unknown since their ancestors then were pretty much illiterate. both sides of my family are thoroughly taiwanese, and have no familial ties to china whatsoever. it\u2019s easy to see and feel the vast difference, socially and culturally, between someone from taiwan and someone from china. but nevermind all that\u2026it sounds way too serious for the purposes of this post. the point was to establish that china was just like any other country i wanted to visit, and that i wanted to visit and see for myself what all the fuss was about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>BEIJING<\/b><br><b>THURSDAY<\/b> | i landed at beijing airport mid-afternoon. i\u2019m still deaf in one ear for half the day as they still hadn\u2019t popped from the\u00a0flight\u2026ow. beijing airport is massive. like\u2026stupidly huge. there isn\u2019t nearly as many people as where i came from (newark liberty), but the terminal is twice the size\u2026wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i drop my things off at my hotel in dongzhimen and head out to wander around. people can\u2019t seem to drive for dick\u2026i spent the day dodging traffic. not just cars\u2026pedicabs, bikers, even other pedestrians. seriously,\u00a0fuck you. when cars have the right of way, it sucks donkey dick being a pedestrian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">what\u2019s up with all the hairballs floating in the air?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i met my friends dora and erick later in the day at their architecture studio (dora\u2019s a college friend and erick\u2019s her bf who together run their own studio), but headed back out to let them finish up their work. i roamed the central business district, scoping out the cctv building and the burned out shell of the adjacent hotel (which a friend\u2019s roommate had worked on\u2026then cried about when it went up in flames).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">the skies are perpetually gray\u2026weird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">we hit up yunnan\u00a0food for dinner (yum yum) with their friend, then went to a live concert at the austrian culture thingy (?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>FRIDAY<\/b> | you know how to spot foreigners in the city? when it\u2019s mid 70\u2019s and they\u2019re wearing shorts. seriously\u2026beijingers dont seem to fancy wearing shorts the minute it hits the 70\u2019s. i wait anxiously all year to break out my shorts. i first headed to the train station to grab tickets to shanghai. beijing main station\u2026what the fuck is that place? it took me 15 minutes after wandering aimlessly to figure out that the ticket hall was a separate building. the main station itself feels like a halfway house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i walked towards the forbidden city down the fancy-pants avenue leading towards tianamen. now i know where all their civic improvement money goes. i head into the forbidden city, and it\u2019s immediately apparent that they don\u2019t take care of it as well as i wish they did. it\u2019s a fucking shame. i get the impression they\u2019re not much for cultural preservation yet\u2026everything just seems like a potential commodity. seriously\u2026the forbidden city! hundreds of years of heritage? hello?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i headed out the north entrance of the forbidden city towards the hill to the north to get some pretty landscape photos of beijing and the forbidden city. after coming back down the hill, i walked\u00a0thru some of the local hutongs, then up wangfujie (a main shopping avenue), then along whatever that road is called adjacent to it. my feet are destroyed\u2026oochies. i meet up with my friends again at their studio and we headed to dinner at 1488? 1467? some year-sounding number. whatever\u2026beef noodle soup place near sanlitun in a modern renovated hutong-ish area\u2026that was yum. we then hit up sanlitun for drinkies at <i>miga<\/i>, then <i>kokomo<\/i> til god knows when. both were rooftop bars, and if you ignore the buildings beyond, the english being spoken and the nyc drink prices could\u2019ve led you to believe you were back in manhattan. kek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>SATURDAY<\/b> | i slept in late, because i don\u2019t even know what time i got back to my hotel. we met for brunch at <i>vineyard<\/i> in\u2026some new-ish hutong area. i wandered around afterwards on my own, then met up with alice who\u2019d just gotten in from tianjin\u2026woot! den mother\u2019s here to lead the way! we drove to the 798 art district and roamed for a good while, checking out the art galleries and still-derelict factory spaces. even if they say it\u2019s undergoing gentrification, i still think it\u2019s a cool area to wander about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">we headed back into beijing proper to the area just south of tianamen (as you\u2019re noticing, i don\u2019t have the slightest clue what any of the areas are called). alice dragged me through the alleyways to a small shop that serves the best donkey sandwich. donkey! yea i was a bit apprehensive about eating a donkey\u2026but it tasted pretty good! we didn\u2019t nosh too much as alice had another place in mind\u2026beijing pot stickers! (all counted as \u2018appetizers\u2019 before dinner proper). yea those were yum also. we headed out of the hutong back to the newly demo\u2019d and rebuilt area that looked like a chinkified disney main street. there was even a \u2018taiwanland\u2019 nearby that i\u2019m told is not associated with taiwan at all (in a cultural-exchange thingy way that is). so weird. we took in some fancy drinkies at the <i>capital m<\/i> with sweet views northward toward the <i>qian men<\/i> gates. swanky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">we met up with dora and erick later for dinner\u2026chuan\u2019r? i think that\u2019s what they\u2019re called. lotsa yum skewers and a big spicy fish that wasn\u2019t meant to be big and spicy, so they had to take it back, scrape off all the hot shit, and reapply with normal non-spicy shit. still delicious though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>SUNDAY<\/b> | dora, erick, and the third partner effi had meetings on sunday, so i strolled thru sanlitun a bit on my own before having to duck out of the pouring rain. i headed back to the hotel when the rain didn\u2019t let up and just spent the rest of the afternoon vegging in front of the television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">worth mentioning\u2026hearing\u00a0english names \u2018translated\u2019 into mandarin\u2026funny. hearing danny devito \u2018translated\u2019 to beijing mandarin\u2026disturbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i headed to the southern train station in the evening to catch my night train to shanghai. shanghai\u2026woot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>SHANGHAI<\/b><br><b>MONDAY<\/b> | so it\u2019s not just beijing people\u2026it seems like a significant portion of the population are seriously deficient when it comes to social etiquette. cripes. i walked from the french concession to the bund looking for some place to cool off, because my ability to determine scale on a map seems to be deficient. that was a long fucking walk. i hit up everything i could inbetween though\u2026the parks, taikang lu, and whatever else my little guide book could offer up. pretty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">hmm, this place is humid as balls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i gave terence a call once i hit the bund, who actually offered up lunch\u2026woot! i taxi\u2019d over to meet terence for lunch at <i>jing tai fung<\/i>. shao long bao\u2026yum yum, that place rocks. afterwards i dropped my things off at his apartment and took a bit of a nap as terence headed back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">after composing myself, i headed back out to check out <i>xintiandi<\/i>. when that place lost my interest, i subwayed over to pudong, since i didn\u2019t really care for the alternative\u2026the super duper sightseeing tunnel pink floyd laser light show. pudong\u2026wow, what is this place? it\u2019s just full of lights, gleaming new skyscrapers, and wide avenues. having a plethora of towers to scale, i chose the <i>jin mao tower<\/i> since it had the clearest view out towards shanghai proper, with the oriental pearl dildo tower in view also. the newer bottle opener tower was right behind the <i>jin mao<\/i>. up on the observation deck, you could look out to the humidity hovering over the city like a yellow blanket\u2026frightening. you could also peer down to the lobby of the grand hyatt 25 floors below. fucking scary\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i spent the rest of the evening strolling about the waterside, watching the lit boats make their way up and down the huangpu river like a parade. later at night, terence took me out for yunnan food at <i>lost heaven<\/i>, then drinks at a bar where you had to find the secret switch to open the door. cheeky fucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">ps: chatting briefly with our waitress at dinner, i learned the following: if you look chinese, but you tell them (in chinese) that your chinese isn\u2019t so super, they probably think you\u2019re mildly retarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>TUESDAY<\/b> | i spend the majority of my train ride back to beijing reading the engrish on the broadcast screen. i\u2019m having a \u201c<i>delighted voyage<\/i>\u201c, making sure to \u201c<i>watch my belongs<\/i>\u201c. lulz. the station announcements are also all preceded by kung-fu music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">of note too\u2026those annoying people you usually encounter on trains talking obnoxiously loud on their cells? that\u2019s everybody on this train. fuck you all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">i got back to beijing in time for dinner, and proceeded to get a call from dora asking if i could swing by their studio to help a bit on their competition (due the next day). suffice to say\u2026i spent the rest of the night cranking out a rendering. i can\u2019t seem to escape renders\u2026lulz! i didn\u2019t mind though. it\u2019s the least i could do for them showing me around beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>WEDNESDAY<\/b> | we met up for lunch near chaowei soho, then i wandered south past the second ring towards fancy-pants department stores. a dust storm kicked up that day though\u2026i hate eating sand. not cool. hmm, my journal entries ended here. ah right\u2026we had peking duck later for dinner, then headed out for drinks at\u2026some hidden pub at the workers stadium. dora and erick retired early since they were pooped, so effi, mitsu (effi\u2019s friend) and i continued on to go clubbing til some ungodly hour. it sounded like a good idea until i found myself crawling home at 4am. it\u2019s worth mentioning i had to catch my flight home thursday. derp!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\"><b>CONCLUSION<\/b><br>beijing is a weird city. it took me a week to process all of this, and i came to the conclusion that it\u2019s not a fun city if you\u2019re on your own and if you like to wander around aimlessly. because a car will hit you. all my fun derived from my friends taking me around (this is expected of course). but various cities are wandering aimless-friendly. london, tokyo, barcelona, etc are all fun to stroll thru and take in the sights. beijing\u2026not so much. shanghai was though, if not for the face-melting heat and humidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-paragraph\">would i go back to beijing? meh, maybe in another 10 years. shanghai though may need it\u2019s own proper vacation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>i didn\u2019t actually know what to expect from my trip to beijing. for one, china\u2019s been on the ascendant for the last decade, and this was also my first solo trip (though i did have friends there). but i\u2019ll be honest, there weren\u2019t terribly high expectations. my opinion and the opinions offered by my family [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12,15,19],"tags":[28,32,83,96],"class_list":["post-1393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive-favorites","category-journal","category-photo-journal","category-travelogue","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-shanghai","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5795,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions\/5795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/m3ntal.halleytsai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}