Ever Heard of Popeye's?!?!

Since being in China, everyone frequently asks me how the food is. So today's blog is all about food, mainly about the "Friendship Market" just outside my residence.

When I first arrived to my new apartment in China, was a little nervous about the market, unregulated, cheap food that comes from who knows what out of who knows where. However, after a few gambles on meal choices, the market has to be one of my favorite aspects about my life China.

Wearing PJs out in public. No big deal. 

The Friendship Market consists of an inexpensive eclectic array of meat, fruit, and vegetables. There are also vendors who sell clothes, alcohol, and various household goods. The best part about the market is that the food for the most part is ridiculously cheap. As stated in a previous blog entry, an average lunch for me costs about 5-15 RMB ($1-3 US). 

unrefrigerated slabs of meat just laying out in the open....

Chinese 'pizza' bread

Lately, my favorite lunch has been donkey. For about a week I had been eating these tasting sandwiches and dumplings, having no idea what I was eating until one day my roommate and I noticed the big donkey picture above the vendor stand! I was totally freaked out at first, but shortly I got over it and indulged myself in a couple donkey sandwiches! I guess am a fan of ass when it comes to women and food!!

Eating 'ass'

The other night, my roommate and I decided to try or first Chinese duck. We were able to get a whole duck with sauce, pancakes, veggies for 40 RMB ($6 US).

Not everything at the market is cheap however. Fruit at the market can range from a reasonable price to more than I would ever pay back home. For example, I can get plenty of random Chinese fruits for cheap, but try and buy 4 red apples, it will cost me 90 RMB ($14 US!). Also, 1 lemon at the market is 30 RMB ($5 US). Pineapples and watermelons are also on the expensive side.

Everyone is very friendly at the market. Every day I get the curiosity stares and "hello!" from vendors and patrons alike. After a few weeks, I have made relationships with some of the vendors I frequent.  However, our conversations are very minimal since my Chinese is still very limited.

Like Chris Tucker from Rush Hour 2, this is my daily experience at the market...

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Since returning from Beijing, my roommate Craig and I have had a string of good luck when it has come to restaurants around town.

One day we attempted to have a nice fancy fish at a restaurant that Craig had tried when he first arrived, but we arrived too late at to eat at the restaurant. Hungry and on a quest for something different, we stumbled into an interesting looking place called "Kabob Cafe". The restaurant was closed, and not officially opened for business yet, but the owner of the restaurant recognized me from around town and asked if we would like to join their taste test. We were hesitant at first, but it was one of the best decisions we have made since being in China. The group that invited us to sit told us the restaurant was going to be opening up in a week and would have an upscale western cuisine that would be unmatched in Tangshan. I was skeptical at first since the 'western' style food I had tried in China before that night was a mediocre attempt on the real thing, complete with an expensive bill. However, they quickly brought out a FREE complete meal for us to taste, fish, steak, pumpkin soup, appetizers, desserts, imported wine, and beer. The food was so good; if not better than 'western' dishes I have tasted back home. I was completely blown away. They showed us around the restaurant and made us feel really welcome. I cannot wait to go back!!

Pumpkin soup!

Tasty spinach and fish!

New friends sharing steak

While going to Wanda Plaza (blog entry about Wanda Plaza to come in the future) to see Looper, we investigated the 3rd floor restaurant portion of the mall. Now in the US, the food court is made up of cheap, fast, and chain restaurants for the shopper on the go. However, in China, the restaurants at the mall are a complete dining experience. We were able to finally find some sushi in China! The special rolls were similar, but not quite the same as back in the US. However, they were still quite tasty.

Can't go too long without sushi in your life!

There is also a Starbucks at Wanda, but their selection is completely limited! There are a few items you would get from a normal Starbucks coffee, mocha, cappuccinos, etc., but there are few specialty drinks. Also, most importantly, NO HOLIDAY DRINKS AKA NO PUMPKIN SPICE.

No pumpkin.....FAIL

Next weekend I am off to a large city in the Hebei province called Tianjin. I will blog about my adventures there. Until next time!! 

How Chinese fish for dinner at Wal-Mart

Beijing Pt. 4: Midnight Train from Hell

Waking up from our final night in Beijing, we were all very tired and worn out from the last two days of big tourist traveling. On our last day we decided to take it easy, get brunch, and find a nice little flea market to haggle for interesting items.

After finishing lunch we took a subway and a bus to a nearby flea market that was a popular site for tourists and locals. They were selling everything there from jewelry to random knick knacks. Everything can be haggled down to a reasonable price, and is expected. I am a terrible haggler, so I needed my roommate Craig’s assistance on buying the commie memorabilia I thought was interesting. Hopefully, I will get better as the year progresses.

Market Vendors

Market Entrance

Market Flags

Weird Lennon like glasses

More Market

I swear I am still a capitalist, but sometimes I like to buy communist things. 

After a few hours of haggling and dinner, we decided it was time to leave the vibrant city of Beijing, and go back to our sleepy town of 2 million people. Of course, not learning from our train ticket mistakes of getting to Beijing, we show up to the train station expecting to buy a reasonable ticket at a reasonable time. WRONG. The soonest train to Tangshan was another 2.5hr long "standing" train at 11pm. Not wanting to take another expensive cab ride back to Tangshan, we decided to weigh all our options. We booked a ticket for a sitting train at midnight that would get us to Tangshan within the hour. Perfect! We thought, nothing can go wrong now.... Little did we know, we wouldn't be resting in our beds that night until the sun came up 12 hours later.

Midnight finally arrived and we were ready to board the train. The queue for the train was crowded, but for the most part people were civilized once the gates opened. We boarded the train, which to my surprise was very nice. All the stories I heard from Craig was that Chinese trains were grungy, dirty, and old. This train had anything you would expect a train in the states would have. Somehow the comforts of the train let our guard down when the stop came. The train announced we were arriving at Tangshan.

The western way of thinking: Train stops, collect your bags, and get off the train.

Chinese way of thinking: Announcing train is stopping, get to the door now, and train stops for 1min and leaves.

Long story short, we missed our stop. Frustration and fatigue begin to show themselves in all of us as the train attendant explains to us in broken English that we must wait until the next stop (A hour and a half later) to get off, buy another train ticket and back track all the way to Tangshan. 

We finally arrive at the next train station, which is actually quite nice. The next train available to Tangshan was a "standing" train at 3:30am and arriving in Tangshan at 5:30am. After a 15 minute arrival delay, the "lovely" train arrives to take us to Tangshan. As soon as I step on the train, I feel like I am in an already never ending nightmare that I will never wake up from. Besides the entire train car of Chinese eyes staring at us, the train looked like it has hadn’t been used since the Cold War. The furnishings were old, ragged seats, but this didn't matter because everyone was sprawled out sleeping in all the rows. I finally arrived at my "assigned seat". Across from me was a haggard looking Chinese man and his wife. Next to me was a crouched up old woman. Luckily, she was nice enough to let me sit down. The table in the middle had old, smelly bits of dinner they had eaten from earlier before, and all I could do was lay my head in my lap hoping I would wake up in my bed. Finally, what seemed like the never ending train ride came to an end. We made sure this time to get off the train in a timely manner. We hopped in the first taxi we saw and headed back to our lovely apartment. Waiting for us was our lovely Chinese pancake lady and her husband with a big smile on her face ready to make us breakfast. We devoured our meals and crashed in our beds just as the sun came up.

Our forced 3:30am smiles just before getting on the last train to Tangshan

Waking up later that afternoon, I laughed and looked back at the entire experience I had in Beijing. From the fun to the frustrating, I was so happy to experience everything that had happened and the people that I shared it with. I look forward to my next adventure here in China and letting everyone be a part of that journey through my blog. 

Beijing pt. 3: The Wall & Ming Dynasty Tombs

After staying up until 2:30am to watch my beloved 49ers stomp the Jets, I had to be up quite early to start our Great Wall day tour. At 6:30a our bus picked up Craig and myself and we were off to the wall. I was very excited to see the wall,  but I was quite anxious because we did not get a chance to have coffee or breakfast before leaving the hostel. I already am not the best of hikers (As my friends can tell you from our Julian hike!), so climbing the great wall without breakfast and about 4hrs of sleep had me a little nervous

One piece of history about the Great Wall of China that I didn't know that kind of about is that the touristy parts of the wall near Beijing have been reconstructed previously in the 1980s. Meaning most of the wall people see and walk on is not as old as you might think. However, the structure itself is amazing and well worth the trip. As they say in China, "You haven't seen China until you visit the wall."

After about an hour and a half ride, we arrived at the wall. We rode a rickety Chinese chair lift to the top, which had a great view of the mountains in the surrounding area. Once you reach the top, you can go to either the right or the left just about as long as you would like to walk it. We decided to go to the right for our journey. It was not the easiest climb to make on an empty stomach, but we had a great time taking pictures and taking in all the scenery. As we reached the limits of the tourist side of the wall, there was a sign that said "No tourists past this point." Naturally, my adventurous roommate took that as an opportunity to explore further. I cautiously followed my friend and the singing Chinese voice we could hear in the distance. This part of the wall was overgrown and definitely not part of the most recent reconstruction  After almost getting killed by a spider that looked like must have had a role in the newest Spider Man film, we finally made it to the decaying watch tower where we met singing Chinese stranger and his family. The family surprisingly spoke very good English and proceeded to tell us about their lives and offered me a wild flower bouquet his wife had just picked. In the end, was happy Craig dragged me past the tourist limit because we were able to see some cool views of the wall and meet some great people. We also found some original parts of the wall that we were able to take home.

Starting to remember my Julian hike here

Trying to give my cool Castro pose

Thanks flower lady!!

Beers for breakfast!!

The best part about the wall would have to be the way down. You have 2 choices. Either the boring, slow, old people chair lift OR the too fast, too furious, toboggan sled ride!! It is like a mini roller coaster/ go cart device on a track that you get to control the speed making for a great adrenaline rush down. I would by another ticket up just to go back down on it.

MaoBama. Hilarious ironic t-shirt at the wall I had to buy. "Says service to the people"

After a tasty Chinese lunch and a jade museum stop, our second half of the bus tour took us to the Ming Dynasty Tombs. Being the closed off American that I am, before coming here I had no idea this burial site even existed in China. The Ming Dynasty Tombs are 13 tombs spread with the principles of Feng Shui throughout the southern slope of Tianshou Mountain. There is only one available to go inside and see. For the most part, the inside of this tomb was kind of boring. There is nothing grand about it except that the marble is over 500 years old, but the inside is very plain. Also there were a few artifacts to see with money thrown at them (for good luck), but most of the burial pieces were destroyed or poorly maintained during the "cultural revolution" in the 1960s and 1970s under Moa Tse Tung. The outside was pretty cool, with some old marble staircases and monuments. You could also see some of the other tombs on higher points of the mountain off in the distance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty_Tombs

Treasure Boxes/ All the treasures are gone due to poor maintenance and excavation back in the day.

Burial Throne with money on it. Chinese throw money on for good luck

500 year old marble pillar.

Our long day of climbing mountains and walking down into tombs, the tour finished with a free foot massage! Somehow I ended up with some dude masseuse while Craig lucked out with the cute Chinese girl, but either way my feet felt like I was walking on clouds by the end of it. Definitely a nice treat to end the tour!

We finished the day with another adventurous evening in Sanlitun!

Beijing pt. 1: Beijing!

After being in China for 18 days, the holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival had finally arrived! The festival is a popular festival an eight day event that is celebrated throughout China every end of September and early October  The celebration focuses a lot on Chinese traditions and reunion of families. Every year, when the festival comes people go home from every corner of the country and the world to meet their family and have dinner with them. I was very excited because I was finally going to have a substantial amount of time to explore the China I wanted to see. The first stop on my list....Beijing.

So because Chinese have this weird tradition of when a holiday week or three day weekend is approaching  they count Saturday as a working day. Instead of working a Mon Fri, I had to work 6 days in a row before having 8 days off. So after a long day of playing with stickers and dancing like a goofball , my work Saturday was finally finished. My roommate Craig and I were ready to set our sights on Beijing! Of course, both of us our terrible planners and thought to ourselves, "No problem getting a train ticket the night before 2nd biggest holiday in China." We arrive to the crowded train station in Tangshan that looked like an outdoor market in India or something. When we try to by our tickets, the only available time was 2am on the standing train. Keep in mind, standing trains in China are the most uncomfortable experiences one will ever face (I wouldn't know that until a few days later. . .  ) Rather than attempting that experience, we took a nearby taxi that was offering rides to Beijing for 150RMB ($23) each. The taxi ride was painless and quick and finally we had arrived in Beijing!!

Candy Inn Hostel Alley

After settling into our quaint Chinese hostel "The Candy Inn", we were ready to party. We found out about this small area in Beijing called Sanlitun. The place is foreign central and one of the top places to be to drink and have a good time. The bars and clubs have no cover, no ID check, no last call, and real alcohol! Something I had been missing since arriving to China. I saw more foreigners in Sanlitun (and Beijing) more than I had ever seen since I had arrived in China. It was a weird, but refreshing feeling at the same time to blend back into society for a moment and not stand out because of your face. We all partied late into the night, finally getting to hear western music and drink proper drinks (Old Fashions!!).

 Heading to bed that night, I was incredibly happy (and drunk). I was about to experience the China I had expected when I first arrived two weeks ago. The China that I saw on TV, the China that was incredibly modern and that same time just as enriched in tradition. The China that never slept, The China that would give me the honeymoon phase that so quickly passed living in Tangshan. I was going to experience Beijing, China.

Sanlitun street food

Sanlitun! China's version of Pacific Beach

Drunk Huka!

Real Alcohol!

Old Fashions!!

Beijing pt. 2: Tiananmen Square and The forbidden City

After our wild night in Sanlitun, Craig and I decided to experience some tourist sites that afternoon in Beijing. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city was on the first days agenda.

Chicken Hangover Cures

We decided to brave the Chinese subway to get to Tiananmen Square and the forbidden City because we were tired of paying Beijing taxi prices. The taxis in Beijing love to bump up prices for foreigners or just flat out refuse to pick you up because you are foreign. We were glad we did take the subway because we found it incredibly easy and convenient. The Beijing subway is translated in both Chinese and English making it simple to decide what train and stop you need to be at. The Subway is also very clean and modern making it almost impossible to miss your stop unless you just were not paying attention. It is also incredibly cheap! Only 2 RMB (30 cents US) to travel anywhere you want in the city. The subway ended up being the best way to get around Beijing the rest of our trip.

Upon exiting the subway station, my excitement began to grow. There it was, the famous Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City!! It was such surreal feeling when we arrived. We kind of just stopped and stared for a few moments.

For those of you who do not know about Tiananmen Square here is a quick wiki excerpt:

"Tianamnen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world (440,000 m² - 880m by 500m or 109 acres - 960 by 550 yd). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history."

Tiananmen Square is also infamously known for the Tianamnen square massacre. A pro-democracy rally in 1989 that led to martial law in Beijing and the massacre of several hundred civilians. However, with the Mid-Autumn Festival. A spirit of patriotism, not blood, was in the air here. Families with Chinese flags, communist  hats, and bags were all walking around the square. The Square was also decorated quite impressively for the festival with extra flowers and scenic wonders. It was an awesome feeling to be a part of such a grand event and celebration. Of course, my roommate and I had our "when in Rome" moment and also bought China flags and wore our communist hats with pride as we took numerous "pro-communist" photos.

The second stop on our tourist journey was across the street the Forbidden City. The famous imperial palace with Mao's portrait plastered on the front gate. Until the establishment of The People's Republic of China in 1949, the Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households during the dynasty eras. It was almost destroyed after the establishment on the PRC, but was decided to be protected and is now still used today as as a ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. 

From what I was able to see of the Forbidden City it was also quite impressive. We went up to the top of the front gate. The place where infamous communist party leaders and god-like emperors once overlooked the Chinese people. From the front gate you can see all of Tiananmen square. Inside the top of the gate, there is a small museum dedicated to the PRC government. It was really fascinating to see this because coming from the US you only get to here one side of the history. Here, I was able to see and view first hand how the Chinese people view the PRC and Moa Tse Tung. 

We walked around the outer part of the Forbidden City for a while, but we were not able to go into the inner section because it closed at 4:30p :( I will have to go another day to see the rest of it. 

After a long, but amazing afternoon, we finally headed home to meet up with our other friends for dinner. My first day of Chinese history and culture was spectacular. I was so excited to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and it did not disappoint.  I was also glad I was able to see it during the festival. Being able to experience their history, with so much patriotism for their country, was a once in a life-time experience.

The always Intimidating Chinese Military

Flags & Flowers

Be good communists! ;p