Todd, Max, and I left Changsha for Beijing Monday night. The ride was filled with excited anticipation. We sat around thinking of theme songs and unlikely scenarios that might befall us on our trip. Todd tells us he has some family friends in Beijing. This girl (who Todd doesn't even like) stayed at Todd's parents' place when she couldn't return home during the SARS epidemic. Her parents were very grateful (as you shall see). So Todd says he should give them a call, they'll probably treat us to a nice dinner or something.
Instead, Mrs. Wang takes us in to her fabulous downtown 4 bedroom apartment. Not only that, she gives us the key and says we can have the run of the place. It turns out this is only her 'day' apartment, for while she's in the city and wants to relax. Her main apartment in in the suburbs. The maid goes out and stocks the fridge, and we are in fat city. The next day she hires a car to take us to the Great Wall, and the day before we leave she takes us out to lunch.
Beijing was incredible. The city was a less glamorous, more historic version of Shanghai. We tried to hit all the corners. We saw the hisitoric sites (Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall), hit up the weekly goods market, checked out the ex-pat scene, and of course ate lots of Western food. My favorite site was the Wall. I think we picked a good time of year to go. It was very cold so there were very few tourists. I bought a fur hat which is quite warm (it's been put to the test here in Harbin). The ex-pat club was fun. Max, as usual, tore up the dance floor.
Then it was on to Harbin. When we stepped out of the train station it was exactly as I pictured it, dark and cold with snow everywhere. The average temperature is around zero degrees F. However, you wouldn't know it by the dress of the average Chinese tourists. It's very easy to separate the locals from the tourists. The locals intelligently wear things like hats and gloves, and big, thick coats. Tourists do not. Its really quite baffling. The explaination I've come up with is this (and I've lived here for almost 6 months so this isn't *entirely* out of my ass)- The Chinese seem to have a very stuborn mindset about how to go about things. They think "This is how I've dressed for winter my whole life, therefore this is how I should dress for winter now."
We three, on the other hand, are bundled up tighter than that kid from 'A Christmas Story'. Three pair of socks, long underwear, five layers on the torso, and a Siberian fur hat with the flaps down. And I still get cold in the toes and fingers. The first day we went wandering, taking the the sights, and found ourselves surrounded by factories. So we hopped a wall and suddenly we were on a ski slope. The next day we went to the actual 'Ice Festival', which included sledding, ice skating, horse drawn sleigh rides, and lots and lots of ice sculptures. We had a bet going that each time one of us slipped and fell on the ice he had to buy the other two a round of drinks. Man did that spiral out of control fast! No, actually Max is the only one to have spilled, once on the street and once on the river. So we got to sample the local brews, including one called Ha Pi (happy).
All in all this reminds me of Minnesota- those snow packed streets, that lovely feeling of breathing in the morning air and having your nose hairs freeze, packing three people on one sled. All really wonderful. The festival itself I'm not so crazy about, you need a ticket for everything. Tomorrow we're goign skiiing, which I haven't done since like 9th grade (which still beats out Max or Todd).
After this we go our seperate ways. Todd to Yunan, Max to Shaolin, and I'm going further north to Inner Mongolia, a little city right on the border with Russia. If Harbin is St. Paul, this place is Fargo. I don't quite know why I'm doing it. I've had enough of the cold, but I think I wanted to reach somewhere a little more desolate than this. Then it's either to Xi'an or to Suzhou. I haven't decided yet.
Wanderlust is very strange. I go far away and it just makes me want to go farther out. At the same time I have this compulsion to cut my trip short and just go home and read.
-The Wandering Norseman-
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