Hello Wervelwind readers, instead off Nick writing this blog you get me, Cedric, as a guest writer.
I?ll give it my best to relate the epic story of our time together in China.
My time in China started 7th of July in China?s capital city, Beijing. My friend Thomas who lived and studied for the last 8 months in Beijing picked me up at the airport. From the airport we went to his guest family where I spent 2 nights. The family was amazing! They took care of me as if I was there son. Thomas showed me around in the city, explained the subway and public transport system and thought me a lot about Chinese culture and habits. This was also the time I had my first dinner, Chinese style. Going out with Chinese is a bit different then we are used to. Dinner can take a few hours cause it consists of drinking, eating talking. (doesn?t have to be in that order) Not that different as we do you say? In China they don?t have starter, main course, desert,? The food that is first ready comes first. Next to that Chinese people are LOUD and impolite (to our standards). For instance, it is no problem to smoke or spit during dinner. As you can guess, eating with Chinese is an adventure! Next to the food part is the drinking part. There are tons of toasts, to good health, friendship, the Belgian guy,? Drinking in china is, as everything, a competition. Being able to drink and/or eat a lot in China is a sign of strength. Coming back on that competition part, EVERYTHING in china is a competition, even getting on/off a bus.
Next day Thomas and me went to pick up Nick from the airport. Thomas was there mainly cause the cab picking Nick and me up couldn?t speak English. The driver was someone from the great wall courtyard hostel in Badaling, a small town 60k outside Beijing. After arriving at the hostel I made Nick the happiest guy in the country with 4 bottles of Triple Karmeliet and some packs of Half zware Van Nelle (tobbaco).Nick and me spend the rest of the evening sharing story?s and updating each other on the latest events.
After a night on a hard Chinese bed we explored the Badaling great wall site. This was kind of a let down. The Badaling great wall site is a touristic place, this means a restored and fake wall. The entire site was rebuild and made ?more accessible?. Cause of this ?scenic? area there were loads of Chinese tourists.?These tourists where not used to seeing foreigners, we got to get the feeling of being famous for half a day.
Later that night Devin, Alicia and Bill arrived, the people whom Nick has been traveling with for the last month.
First impressions: Devin is huge, Bill funny and Alicia nice.?The rest of the evening/night we got to know each other, heard the epic story of how those three got from UB to Badaling (including trains, buses, taxi?s and a fight) and met with Thia.Thia is a girl from Baltimore, who arrived at night from a heck tick train ride from Beijing to Badaling. The rest of the night we spend drinking and sharing stories of our travels.
A short sleep later we arranged a cab to see the authentic wall. This means driving out to a village, where we had to pick up a local guide. This guy was around 80 years old couldn?t speak a word English and was in better shape then most of us! The guy took us to this small mountain path. The hike up the mountain was pretty tough cause of the hot and moist weather. Once up there all that falls into nothing cause of the view you get. If you every go to china, you must do this hike!
After the hike we took the train back to Beijing and had Hot Pot with Thomas and his guest Family. Imagine loads of food, drinks and loud Chinese and American company! An epic meal!
The next day Nick and me went out to do the typical sights of Beijing: Tienanmen, Forbidden palace, Hutongs,?
Later that day we caught up with Devin, Bill and Alicia to get some dinner. After dinner we went to the Crazy Food street to have a taste of local specialties. We had scorpion, caterpiller, sea horse, snake and roach. The faces everyone made while eating this food was priceless! Once we had our fill in the crazy food street we went out to a park to have some drinks and say our goodbye?s to Devin and Bill. They would stay a few more day?s in Beijing while Nick, Alicia and me had a bus to catch to Datong.
Travel tips:
*Have dinner with Chinese people
*street food is good
*Do the Badaling great wall hike (not the touristy part!)
Source: http://wervelwind.be/2012/08/climbingthefreatwal/
walt what time is it current time a thousand words my sisters keeper kirby sarah palin
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.