Bye bye Shenzhen, Hello Beijing!

After another productive week at work and a little drama involving flights, I made it to Beijing on Friday afternoon. I noticed how exciting life in the city was when I first entered one of Beijing’s crowded metro stations. As I walked around the crammed streets of on my way to Tiananmen Square, I sampled some delicious Baozis (stuffed buns) and Danta (Chinese egg tarts). The square comprised of the Monument to the People’s Heroes and the National Museum of China located next to the Forbidden City. The Zijin Cheng (Forbidden city) is a rectangular division of outer and inner courts used for ceremonial and daily affairs by the emperors in the Ming- Qing dynasties. It took me over 3 hours to explore the palace’s three tiers, great halls, ancient architecture and museum. To end the day, I treated myself to a local delicacy, Peking Duck. It consisted of crisp skin and sliced meat served with cucumber, scallion, pancakes and sweet bean sauce.

The next day, I put on my hiking boots, suntan lotion and grabbed my bag of supplies for the journey to Jinshanling, a section of the Great Wall of China. After an hour of climbing to the top, I was met with magnificent views of barrier walls, watchtowers and breath-taking landscapes. Each watchtower had a fascinating inscription describing the historic significance of that part of the wall. During the evening, I strolled along streets full of vendors selling souvenirs and sweets like Tanghulu (candied tomato on the stick).

The next day I headed to the Summer Palace. I saw landscapes covered in Chinese horticulture, lakes, gardens, rocks, pavilions and long corridors. I spent an afternoon sitting by a lake watching black swans and lily pods. Shopping in the HongQiao Pearl market was a delight with all the inexpensive jewellery, pearls, electronics, silk products and traditional Chinese art. I went to the Beijing national stadium (the bird’s nest) and the aquatics centre (the water cube) to get both a day and night view. At night I was invited by beta alumni to dine at the Red Bowl, one of the finest hotpot restaurants in Beijing. Afterwards we went on a ride to experience the bar street and high end night life of central Beijing!

On the final day I headed to the lively Panjiayuan, an antique market with stalls selling arts, crafts, antiques, stones and jewellery. The market had lots of precious antiques and rare items that could be bagged for cheap prices with some hard bargaining. I decided to end my trip on a spiritual note by visiting the Temple of Heaven. The grand architectural style was a good representation of the profound history, culture and philosophy of China. It was comprised of many breath taking areas such as the Imperial Vault of Heaven, a rose garden, the Palace of Worship and the Danbi bridge.

These are some of the highlights of my trip to the Peking city. Bye-Bye Beijing.

 

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Successful second week…

After a long weekend visiting Guangzhou, climbing Wutong Mountain and celebrating Dragon Boat Festival, I returned to my placement at the Chiropractic clinic to learn about alternative medicinal techniques! The First Chiropractic Spinal Wellness Centre is located in the Nanshan district and is an American style chiropractic centre, practicing various services like soft tissue therapy, rehabilitation therapy, sport injury therapy, exercise therapy and lifestyle counselling. After a week of working here I have already explored these practices in-depth and shadowed staff to enhance my knowledge about techniques and interaction methods. Working at an international clinic I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with patients from all the over the world. From the information and knowledge I have acquired I have already created a monthly newsletter to be distributed to the patients and interested public through WeChat and other sources.

After a long week at work from 9:00-18:00 everyday, the weekend finally arrived and we hired a private car to visit the Xichong Beach located within Dapeng National Park. To its north is Mount Qiniangshan, the second largest mountain in the city which contributed to the beautiful seaside scenic views. Xichong on the east coastline of Shenzhen, was one of the most beautiful beaches I have visited with clear sky, greenery around the blue sea and white sand with breath-taking views of the mountain. After a day of sunbathing, swimming, sand castles and lots of fun, I had my first experience of Chinese KTV with co-workers. KTVs are karaoke bars with private rooms for about 6-10 people with a big screen, speakers, microphones, food and drinks. The price was very decent when shared amongst everyone and it runs past midnight. I strongly recommend it to everyone because I had a great experience singing my heart out to both English and Chinese songs. The rooms were decorated in a very royal Chinese style and the atmosphere gets heated up very quickly with everyone enjoying the drinks and the variety of song choice provided.

One of the advantages of doing the program through CRCC Asia is the different cultural programs they offer each week. Last Sunday we had a community outreach event with the kids of Springfield Studio on an outdoor art project held in Lianhua Mountain. It was very exciting to work with the kids and talk to their parents and teachers about the education in China and extracurricular activities they undertake. We introduced each other, played games, created paintings on wood and had lots of fun. To end my eventful week, I visited the Dafen oil painting village which offers a wide range of affordable replicas of traditional Chinese and modern paintings. Strolling along the streets I had the chance to see artists at work, shopped for art materials and got paintings framed.

So that’s the wrap up of my successful second week in Shenzhen. I have a very exiting trip planned for next weekend. Stay tuned for more details about my experiences!

Komal Vadday, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.

 

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Sight-seeing in Beijing

This past weekend was filled with sightseeing since there isn’t much time to travel except during the weekends, so I try to utilize the free time we have. On Friday night after work, I met up with a fellow intern at Wangfujing to explore the snack street packed with skewers of scorpions, spiders, starfish, etc. that fill up tourists’ blogs when you search up the keywords ‘Wanfujing’. We stayed in the safe lane and tried out corn on the cob, Beijing style crepes/Chinese pancakes 煎饼, Taiwanese strawberry bubble tea 台湾泡泡茶 (not the milk tea with tapioca pearls kind but literal bubbles flowing from the bottom up), mango smoothie 芒果雪冰, and baozi 包子(or Chinese buns with varying fillings). Apparently the Wangfujing snack street starts at higher prices than other night markets and also targets foreigners since there were plenty of tourists walking around. After eating our fill, we walked around Wangfujing with both older, traditional shops that have been around for a century, and newer, foreign brands like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21. After ending our night with some green tea ice cream, we headed back and had an early night in preparation of more exploring on Saturday.

 

I almost regretted visiting Tiananmen on Saturday because of the scorching hot sun and resulting weather that almost hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but the emptiness of the square and view made up for the sweat. Since we needed somewhere to cool down and find a place to eat, the Indigo Shopping Mall at exit C of Jiangtai station turned out to be a perfect getaway. Our diverse dinner of McDonald’s and Chinese black bean sauce noodles, or 炸酱面, turned out to be perfect as the salty and sweet balanced each other out.

Lastly, Sunday was the big day for our group who went to the Great Wall (Jinshanling section, not the typical Badaling section where tour groups go). The two hour bus ride each way paid off because the wall was empty and the view was great. By the way, make sure to eat before you go and to stock up on water and snacks for the trip because there aren’t any restaurants, and the little shops only sell overpriced water, chips, and hats. I believe we hiked a total of 2,200 meters of the actual wall, which took less than 3 hours, and rested until 3pm when the bus took us back to Wanjing West Station in Beijing. The Great Wall is an amazing feat of architecture, and I definitely recommend going to the Jinshangling section if you want to avoid the crowds and don’t mind the two hour bus trip there and back. This past weekend was jam-packed with sightseeing and now it’s time to get back into the weekday routine at the office.

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Dragon Boat Festival Weekend

After 2 weeks of arriving in Beijing, it’s been vital to me to establish a routine in this new environment. It’s pretty exhausting getting up around 7am and arriving back home around 7pm during the weekdays, but I try to exercise at nights or on the weekends to relieve stress. Work has been getting more busy, and I’ve joined a team of two other lawyers in my firm that handles litigations. So far, I’ve attended meetings to other law firms with my team in order to make a game plan about our next step. My work mainly consists of translating the English documents to Chinese, helping research Chinese environmental laws and regulations, and proofreading the firm’s monthly newsletters. Aside from work, I’ve been trying to squeeze everything I can see into these 2 months.

It was nice that last weekend we got 3 days off for the Dragon Boat Festival, and my friends and I took advantage by making day trips to the Temple of Heaven, Pearl Market, and Olympic Park. The Temple of Heaven was a lot larger than what I expected, and on the day we went, there were clear blue skies which surprised us all. I loved how there was nature and a campground in the Temple of Heaven park; it was so nice to be able to find a getaway in the bustling city of Beijing.

Next, we went to the Pearl Market, and I wasn’t particularly looking to buy anything, but the experience was quite eye-opening. Since my purse strap had broken off the previous day, I went to the second floor (each floor is divided up into different categories) just to browse through the purses. My friend and I were looking at the purses at the first shop, when the shopkeeper asked me to quote a price, and she started punching numbers into her calculator. I wasn’t expecting to make a purchase at the first shop, but the shopkeeper blocked the exit with her body, and I ended up buying a small crossbody for 120rmb. Although I paid less than 10% of her initial cost, I don’t think it was an extremely good bargain since the shopkeeper wouldn’t sell it to you unless they were making a profit. It was an interesting experience as most shopkeepers speak English, and all the shoppers are foreigners. I probably wouldn’t make another trip to the Pearl Market, but it’s definitely worth trying out bargaining if you’ve never done so before.

Thanks for tuning into my second blog post, time sure is flying here in Beijing.

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Holidays in China

This week was the Dragon Boat Festival in China, which is a major holiday here. My coworker told me the story, but all I remember is that this poet in a smaller country wrote something about freeing his people and then ran to China to hide where assassins from the smaller country found him and he drowned in a river. However, he was so loved that people threw sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat that instead of his body. Today, people eat sticky rice and have dragon boat races for the holiday. I may have gotten some of that wrong, but either way we had a long weekend on our first week of interning.

Though I am really enjoying my internship so far, it was nice to have an
extra day off and enjoy some sticky rice (Which is actually very good.) We did not see any dragon boat races, but some other interns and I explored some sights in the city. At the Temple of Heaven there is a place where you see nine layers of this giant concrete hill symbolizing the nine layers of heaven and the middle is rumored to be the center of the universe. All the tourists pushed their way to forward, saying that they were the center of the universe.

After my internship I like to walk around the Hutong in Beijing, which is where my internship is and see the different streets. People are very friendly there and it is nice to see this side of Beijing. There is also a river nearby where people fish and play games. It is very relaxing to sit and people watch It was nice to get a taste of Chinese culture during the holiday and to start getting settled into my internship.

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First Impressions of Beijing

After a seven-hour flight delay and an entire day of hanging out in airport I have arrived in Beijing, with my first week being a whirlwind to say the least. After being immersed into Chinese culture I finally feel that I am getting used to it here. The energy and fast paced environment of Beijing make it an exciting place to be. It mixes together both a modern urban city with China’s cultural heritage creating a thriving mixture of different ways of life. It feels like there is everything in Beijing.

 

My favorite area in Beijing so far is the area right behind where we are staying in the 798 district, the art district. It is full of (usually)free Chinese art galleries and hipster type shops that make it fun to walk around and explore. I find myself wandering around at the art when I have nothing else to do or am too tired to explore the rest of Beijing. What I also like about China is how willing the locals are to help foreigners. Whenever my fellow interns and I are struggle to find where to go or to order at a restaurant or to ask a question people are generally patient and usually someone is willing to translate if they know English.

My internship will be in the hutongs of Beijing or the more traditional area. I am excited that I get to see this part of Beijing almost every day because it feels more of what I expected Beijing to be like because the area is not as influenced by Western culture. I love to people-watch during lunch and see the locals working and going about their day. My overall first impression of the city of Beijing is that it beautifully shows the rich culture and heritage of China while also showing modernization. As I acclimate to Chinese culture and lifestyle I am excited to learn more about the city the country and the people.

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Quest of Burgers

This month is the Beijing Burger Cup and I’ve been on the hunt for the best burger in town. I’ve made it my personal mission and have put my waistline on the line to provide the people with what they need: information. I could realistically never try every burger in Beijing (seriously, there’s too many to get to) but I’ve visited many places that have been recommended to me. All around town, restaurants have had good deals to lure in people to try their burgers. As a proud red-blooded American, I can say what is and isn’t a good burger. Some burgers I’ve had here are not good, but some are actually better than some burgers I’ve had in America (not all of them, of course.)

My awards are as follows: First place is a tie between Slowboat Brewery and Plan B. I couldn’t make a solid decision either way, but trust me both have very good burgers. There is no second place, because if you’re not first, you’re last.

At Slowboat I had their Fryburger. It’s a juicy burger on a soft bun with cheese and a fry. Very good meat, which is not easy to come by in Beijing burgers. At Plan B I had the Sumo Burger, a burger with sliced cucumbers, wasabi, and spicy mayo. It’s a burger flavor I’ve never had before, but I can tell you that I happily inhaled it. I do have to say that Slowboat’s fries are far better, although neither had the soggy, floppy fries that I found at places like Ahava.

I suggest when you get here to try a lot of different food, because Beijing is a real melting pot of cuisines. You can find everything from American, French, Israeli, Iranian, Pub Style food, Street food, etc. I believe that food is one of the simplest but most revealing way to travel the world.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures this week. Sorry. I tried to make space on my phone and had a lapse in judgement and just deleted everything!

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