beijing...

We're leaving Beijing for Shanghai tomorrow. I know I haven't been too descriptive with my impression of the city, so here are some random thoughts:

1. The Chinese cities we've been visiting have been getting increasingly large in population. With this, there is a commensurate increase in rudeness. From the kind of backwards Guilin people being mega friendly to the aggressive salesman snot-rocket firing residents of Beijing, this has held true.

2. Chinese people, when they get frustrated, start yelling. Basically anything can trigger this. I have no idea why. Being surprisingly conservative myself, I often find myself immediately wincing and looking the other way.

3. Beijing is totally losing its mind over the upcoming Olympics. The city is essentially ripping its own guts out and rebuilding a brand new city so that in 2008 when a bunch of people come they'll marvel at how new and modern it is. For example, when Cynthia and I were crossing the street in a major mall area to buy Simon a card for his phone, it felt like we were in Afghanistan:



Also, construction is going on 24/7. Here's a video we shot at like 11:30 PM and people are still diligently laying down brick after brick of "New Beijing"... I get the feeling that the population of Beijing is working around the clock shifts to create a new gleaming city:



4. We spent a night with Simon's uncle showing us around, and he took us to Hou Hai (basically Expat central) and all the bars are totally corny. However, 2 things stuck out in this sea of America-aping bars/nightlife. 1, this band fronted by a punky chick sang a rock version of "Muo Li Hua," a traditional Chinese song. It sort of blew my mind, they were like the best parts of Jefferson Airplane with none of the bad. 2, there was some suspect talent show being held in one of the bars and they had this kid reciting some scripture and playing this traditional percussive thing:



At one point you can hear me say "if I had done this as a kid it would be like my dad's wet dream."

5. Great Wall, motherlovers! We were like Mongolians climbing that junk! Of course, I guess you could argue that the dozens of old white women in fannypacks could also be considered Mongolians by that logic, but whatever, we did it without collapsing in a heap!



6. Buying bootleg DVDs is a total crapshoot. They cost roughly $1.13 per DVD, and you never know if it's going to be a good copy or total crappo. Also, when you're rooting through a suitcase full of completely random DVDs there is kind of a thrill of the unknown of what you're going to find. "Party Girl" with Parker Posey? Sure I'd pay $1.13 for that! "Grindhouse"? Didn't even know that was available yet! Also, the Chinese do a pretty good job replicating the DVD covers. Why they don't just scan and print them I'll never know:



Tomorrow is Shanghai, playas!

One night only in Shanghai!

Saturday, May 26... 9-2AM

I'm DJing at a roller rink spinning mostly disco, with DJs 'Sweetmeats' Stokes and 'Nasty Boy' Elnomo. Dress code is vintage, roller skates are limited to size 43-45 skates, so come early!

Tickets 100RMB, including skates and OPEN BAR all night.

Rink is at the intersection of Yichuan Lu and Ganquan Lu.

high school high

shout out to my "littlest" brother. He's graduating high school on Friday!

Class of 2007. Ouch. I'm not even going to tell you when I graduated high school. Go get 'em Paul. I love you, man. :)

peking duck

Beijing has been an interesting experience for me. Personally, I was expecting more from the capital and all. My overall feeling towards this city is that it is one big di tan (street market). Everywhere I go, someone is trying to sell me something. AND, it is ironic that I feel that Beijing is a big di tan because they have all but banned those types of markets here. Instead they have big fancy kiosks of useless stuff (that Woody buys a lot of) that they try to push on you. We have gotten to the point where we have to fake not being able to understand these people so they will get off our backs.

Example, they'll ask us if we want to buy, say, a silk pashmina (first off, does it look like I would ever need a pashmina?) and after we say no, they'll follow us.

We have learned to say, "Teen Boot Dome." No, that's not my sucky ping ying rearing its ugly head again. It's us pretending that we don't understand them and that the only three words of Chinese that we DO know, are spoken with a horrible American accent. They back off pretty quick, but not before calling us "stupid foreigners" (I think one old lady might of even called me an "alien.)

There is also so much construction going on here. Right next to this
is this (it's literally the next street over)
It feels like the entire city is "building" up to some sort of singular ginormous event...oh wait

that's right, the 2008 Olympic Games are coming! Don't even get me started on the number of Olympic hats, t-shirts, undies, condoms, and other trinkets that I've been attacked with, and yes, i said condoms. They come in packs of 5 and in different colors.
I made that last part up, but now i feel weird for posting it because both my mom and my aunt read this blog. Awkward!

Anyway....here we are on the outside of the Forbidden City. We were "forbidden" to go in due to it being 4:10 and ticket sales closing at 4. Sorry mom!

It's a shame that a city with such great culture has become such a tourist attraction. I would have loved to climb the great wall in peace and enjoyed the sights rather than it have been a "Teen Boot Dome" recital every 10 seconds.

On a brighter note, we have figured out the secrets to bargaining. Every negotiation starts with $10. You don't look the other person in the eye, you don't ask if they will go down in price. You just say, "10 dollars!" Before she can even get her next sentence out, you have to NOT SHOW FEAR OR WEAKNESS and scream even louder, "10 dollars!!!!" Of course if the item is less than $10, this technique doesn't work so well.

Anyway, I'll let Woods and Ctown give you their spiel (is that how you even spell it?) on Beijing. They are currently out shopping, and if I listen really carefully, I can hear Woody and Cynthia yelling in unison, "10 dollars!!!!"

Next up? I guess we are taking requests for blog topics now. So thanks to DZ, you guys will get a Team Vachina "TOP TEN THINGS that are MANDATORY when traveling to China." Also, you will be getting the last installment of our MV series shot in multiple secret locations. And then, tomorrow morning we are off to Shanghai. Wan an.

the "key" to peace and tranquility

yes, it's true that nature kicked our little butts at Le Shan Mountain. But there were some cool parts, too.

a word of advice though, tread lightly, or the buddha is gonna get you.

Let's Get Physical

The Chinese love to get their exercise on in public parks! I haven't noticed any gyms around, except in Westernized hotels. These scenes are from all the cities we've been to so far.

Laundry Day

It has been hard for us to find laundry places. One Beijing local told us to do it in the sink. We finally found a nice family in a small shop. The clothes came back looking literally like new. It cost as much as NY laundry -- around $12. And this price is still 3 times cheaper than when our hotel in Guilin did it.