BEIJING, CHINA
After suffering through an all-night hard-seater train ride (the less said about that, the better), I arrived once again in the nation's capital at 6:00 this morning.
Walking around the city, it became immediately evident that Beijing is a city in transformation. Business is obviously booming, and the city appears to be growing by leaps and bounds, as everywhere you look there are dozens of half-completed skyscrapers and huge cranes looming overhead. It's massive sprawl reminds me a bit of Atlanta, and I'll confess I was surprised at how modern and cosmopolitan a city it seems to be--not exactly the dull grey communist model I was expecting. It's kind of cool to see all the growth, but at the same time it's a little depressing to notice how big cities everywhere are starting to look the same. Still, I have to admit that after the long train ride, I was glad to be able to procure that Starbucks' Espresso Frappucino....
From the train station, I made my way to the Sanlitun district, where I met up with my old friend Christian Clay at the Embassy of Mexico, where he's Head of Trade Promotion. We chatted for a bit in his office while he fielded calls from the Mexican Ambassador and emails from Liv Tyler (his sister's best friend), while people kept coming in and saying hello to me in Spanish and Chinese. I had to laugh to myself at the strangeness of it all. At any rate, it was great to see Chris again and catch up on things, as the last time we saw each other was about ten years ago in Washington, D.C. (Man, time flies....)
As (bad) luck would have it, Chris' mother and aunt are visiting him this week from Mexico, so I can't stay at his place while I'm in town. But Chris' boyfriend Jin has graciously offered his couch, which will really help me out a lot. Jin actually has a guest staying with him too: his friend Karine from France. I felt a little bad about being in the way, but it actually turned out to be convenient for us all, as Karine and I decided we can go sightseeing together while Jin works (he's already seen all the area's sights, anyway).
So that's what we did this afternoon, when we took a taxi to Beijing's most impressive slab of real estate, the Forbidden City. This is the gigantic complex that housed the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, along with all their officials, attendants, concubines, and various hangers-on. There are supposedly 999 1/2 rooms in the complex, but I'll confess I wasn't really counting. It was certainly impressive, though, from the huge symmetrically-laid-out ceremonial halls to the maze of smaller buildings once used as royal living quarters. Some of the largest halls are undergoing major renovation right now (no doubt to be ready by 2008, when the Olympics comes to Beijing), so they're covered in scaffolding, which made the view a little less dramatic, but all in all it was still pretty impressive--the scale of the place is just massive.
We exited the Forbidden City through the south gate, also known as the Gate of Heavenly Peace (this is the one with the huge portrait of Mao Zedong over it). This brought us into another famous icon of Beijing, Tiananmen Square. Today it was full of tourists, kite-flying youngsters, souvenir-sellers, and larger-than-life displays of the pride of China: Models depicting the new train to Lhasa, Tibet; the Three Gorges Dam, complete with running water; and the "Five Friendlies," the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. It's hard to believe this was ever the site of civil unrest, although as I walked past all the happy people I couldn't help picturing the crowds of angry protesters and tanks that rolled through the square during the ill-fated 1989 pro-democracy movement.
After a few laps around the square, Karine and I then made our way to a nearby shopping mall, where Jin met us in the food court, and we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant there. Jin ordered a whole range of Chinese delicacies that I would never be brave enough to try otherwise, which was kind of cool. The lotus and gingko weren't bad, and even the barbecued whole fish was okay. The fatty pork, though, was a little too...uh, fatty.
After dinner I left Karine and Jin to meet up with Christian, who was just leaving work. We caught up on things and had a few beers at a local pub run by an American expat named Frank, then went across the street to a Muslim restaurant for more beer and some awesome spicy lamb kebabs.
After suffering through an all-night hard-seater train ride (the less said about that, the better), I arrived once again in the nation's capital at 6:00 this morning.
Walking around the city, it became immediately evident that Beijing is a city in transformation. Business is obviously booming, and the city appears to be growing by leaps and bounds, as everywhere you look there are dozens of half-completed skyscrapers and huge cranes looming overhead. It's massive sprawl reminds me a bit of Atlanta, and I'll confess I was surprised at how modern and cosmopolitan a city it seems to be--not exactly the dull grey communist model I was expecting. It's kind of cool to see all the growth, but at the same time it's a little depressing to notice how big cities everywhere are starting to look the same. Still, I have to admit that after the long train ride, I was glad to be able to procure that Starbucks' Espresso Frappucino....
From the train station, I made my way to the Sanlitun district, where I met up with my old friend Christian Clay at the Embassy of Mexico, where he's Head of Trade Promotion. We chatted for a bit in his office while he fielded calls from the Mexican Ambassador and emails from Liv Tyler (his sister's best friend), while people kept coming in and saying hello to me in Spanish and Chinese. I had to laugh to myself at the strangeness of it all. At any rate, it was great to see Chris again and catch up on things, as the last time we saw each other was about ten years ago in Washington, D.C. (Man, time flies....)
As (bad) luck would have it, Chris' mother and aunt are visiting him this week from Mexico, so I can't stay at his place while I'm in town. But Chris' boyfriend Jin has graciously offered his couch, which will really help me out a lot. Jin actually has a guest staying with him too: his friend Karine from France. I felt a little bad about being in the way, but it actually turned out to be convenient for us all, as Karine and I decided we can go sightseeing together while Jin works (he's already seen all the area's sights, anyway).
So that's what we did this afternoon, when we took a taxi to Beijing's most impressive slab of real estate, the Forbidden City. This is the gigantic complex that housed the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, along with all their officials, attendants, concubines, and various hangers-on. There are supposedly 999 1/2 rooms in the complex, but I'll confess I wasn't really counting. It was certainly impressive, though, from the huge symmetrically-laid-out ceremonial halls to the maze of smaller buildings once used as royal living quarters. Some of the largest halls are undergoing major renovation right now (no doubt to be ready by 2008, when the Olympics comes to Beijing), so they're covered in scaffolding, which made the view a little less dramatic, but all in all it was still pretty impressive--the scale of the place is just massive.
We exited the Forbidden City through the south gate, also known as the Gate of Heavenly Peace (this is the one with the huge portrait of Mao Zedong over it). This brought us into another famous icon of Beijing, Tiananmen Square. Today it was full of tourists, kite-flying youngsters, souvenir-sellers, and larger-than-life displays of the pride of China: Models depicting the new train to Lhasa, Tibet; the Three Gorges Dam, complete with running water; and the "Five Friendlies," the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. It's hard to believe this was ever the site of civil unrest, although as I walked past all the happy people I couldn't help picturing the crowds of angry protesters and tanks that rolled through the square during the ill-fated 1989 pro-democracy movement.
After a few laps around the square, Karine and I then made our way to a nearby shopping mall, where Jin met us in the food court, and we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant there. Jin ordered a whole range of Chinese delicacies that I would never be brave enough to try otherwise, which was kind of cool. The lotus and gingko weren't bad, and even the barbecued whole fish was okay. The fatty pork, though, was a little too...uh, fatty.
After dinner I left Karine and Jin to meet up with Christian, who was just leaving work. We caught up on things and had a few beers at a local pub run by an American expat named Frank, then went across the street to a Muslim restaurant for more beer and some awesome spicy lamb kebabs.
posted by John Kuge at 11:42 PM
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