Channeling My Inner Mulan

With another week down, I only have 6 more weeks left in Beijing…WHICH IS CRAZY. I can’t believe time is flying by so fast! 

This week’s classes were normal — fun, but uneventful. I think by now all of us have more or less settled into a routine. 

Well, a routine that will soon be broken. We’re nearing the middle of the program, which means that soon (and by soon I mean this Friday) we leave Beijing (again — I’ll elaborate further down). This is what differentiates HBA from other programs, because for the 5th week, everyone takes a week off from attending classes and does a “Social Study Project” in 5 different areas of China. You can choose from going to Shanghai, Huizhou, the Shaolin Temple, Xi’an, or staying in Beijing. 

Some of you who know me well from Yale already know my decision on this, but for the others it might come as a surprise as to what I chose, so I’ll provide some backstory: freshman year at Yale I joined the Wushu (Chinese martial arts) team, which by far was the best decision I made. I learned so many cool moves, and had the greatest and most memorable experiences at Yale with people from my team — I can even comfortably say that some of my closest friends are because of wushu. Even apart from college, I had always been intrigued by kung fu as a child -- mainly from its philosophy. So, when I heard that HBA offered a chance to go learn kung fu at the Shaolin Temple as part of its program, I just knew that I had to go. As a bonus, you also get the chance to study Buddhism, and that basically sealed the deal for me. 

But of course, when it came to the time when I had to actually decide and sign my name, I fell into the pit of indecision because all five places just seemed so cool. Why choose Shaolin when I could climb the beautiful Yellow Mountains in Huizhou or experience the buzzing city life of Shanghai?! But in the end, I stuck to my gut feeling and confidently wrote my name down to learn some kung fu. 

I leave in 5 days. 

I’M EXCITED. And nervous. And scared. 

The whiner in me is throwing a small tantrum: I had just gotten used to being comfortable in Beijing, and now for the an entire week, I’ll be in a new location with *relatively* new friends, and will have to readjust again. The adventurer in me definitely shuts the other part up though, because I know that this experience will push me out of my comfort zone (which is what I need) and I know that I'll have lots of fun. I also definitely know that I’ll be pushing my body like never before (we’re looking at running for 2 hours at 5:30 am pretty much everyday) then eating breakfast then training some more….I’m not sure if I have the strength and endurance for this, but I’m definitely going to put my all into it. 

I’ll be creating a video documenting my experience (in lieu of writing a 2500 character essay hehe) so I’ll find a way to share that on this blog so you guys can be a part of my struggle experience. 

Now, on to my recent travels this week: where do you guys think I went? (No scrolling down and peeking!) The title for this blog should give you a pretty good hint — just think about the opening scene of the movie Mulan…

That’s right: The Great Wall of China! (or as it’s known here, 长城). I think the Wall has usurped the Summer Palace as my favorite spot in China thus far, because it’s just breathtaking. (Literally. I had to catch my breath for like five minutes once I reached the top…) All jokes aside, standing there just taking in the hazy mountains and the never-ending stretch of The Great Wall was definitely an experience everyone should have in their lives. Exploring the wall was also made better by everyone singing (or rather humming — no English allowed!) “I'll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan. It’s a shame we didn’t learn the Chinese version by Jackie Chan beforehand. 

We visited the section of the Wall named "Jinshanling 金山岭." It wasn't flooded with tourists, so that was really nice. 

LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS. TO DEFEAT. THE HUNS. 

After that adventure, we all passed out on the one hour bus trip to Chengde 承德, a getaway summer resort for the Emperor that’s also home to around 200 Buddhist temples. 

The view of the city from the hotel window

We deposited our luggage at the hotel, ate dinner, and attended a show called “The Kangxi Ceremony: 鼎盛王朝”. It was a really cool show, and good Chinese comprehension practice (aka the English translations didn't really make much sense, so I had to rely on reading/hearing the Chinese to get the gist of the story. Conclusion: I...kinda understood what was happening, but let's be honest, it was more of "Oooh, there's fireworks now. Oooh there are horses galloping on stage. Oooh that was pretty"). The show was about the history of the Kangxi Emperor that included his relationship with Buddhism, the Chinese dictionary, and banquets (I know that sounds weird, so bear with me, but I don’t know how else to explain it). 

The next morning we ate breakfast at....McDonalds. Don't judge - it was good! They put mayonnaise and ketchup on my McMuffin but it somehow worked so I'm not complaining. 

Of course you guys should know I took a picture of the menu. On the left are the more normal breakfast items, but on the right are more traditional Chinese breakfast items, like Soy Milk 豆浆 and Fried Dough Sticks 油条.

After breakfast, we explored the Emperor’s summer getaway in Chengde. It's basically like a very toned-down version of the Forbidden City in Beijing. 

The emperor's summer palace in Chengde 

The buildings are all constructed out of a very fragrant tree  (I forgot the name of it..), so it smelled very pleasant.

There's a garden in the palace -- a recurring theme I've noticed with Chinese palaces, there always has to be a garden -- and here's a shot of the lotus pads. These are Mongolian lotuses, so they bloom later (in Autumn) but apparently they stay in bloom longer. 

Fun fact: this little river was kind of known as the "fountain of youth" / "lucky river." People would come to dip their mahjong pieces in the water here before a game for good luck, and the emperor's wife would come here everyday to cleanse because apparently the water made her look 2 years younger. (And yes, I touched the water because some good luck/youth?? is always needed!) 

Afterwards, we visited the small Potala Palace. It's basically an imitation of the one in Tibet, but still very cool. I definitely felt relaxed being surrounded by Buddhism artifacts. 

Ancient scriptures at the (small) Potala Palace.

We came back to Beijing Saturday evening and I enjoyed some authentic hot pot with some friends in Wudaokou. 

There were about 4/5 plates of meat, 2 plates of vegetables, 2 plates of noodles, and 2 plates of fishballs. The total came to about $10 per person. 

Needless to say, this weekend was LOTS OF FUN, but also incredibly exhausting. After dinner Saturday I opted to stay in instead of going out dancing and am so glad i did because for the first time since I’ve been here, last night was the night where I’ve been able to get more than 5 hours of sleep. Yaaaay! 

Now with all that excitement behind me, I need to get back to studying…  

See you guys in a week! 

Like a Fairytale

If I could describe one word to describe the past week, it would be… fairytale. Now, being totally honest, I didn’t think of this word entirely on my own. The Forbidden City and The Summer Palace were the biggest contributors that brought this word to my mind today as I was writing this blog (It also didn’t hurt that I had learned how to sing a Chinese song called ‘Fairytale’ 童话 too, so that basically sealed the deal). But why a “fairytale”, you ask? Because besides attending school (which is still as intense as ever), I did a lot of traveling this week, and had the most memorable experience since I’ve been in China thus far. 

Let’s rewind:

Last Saturday (6/13/15) we visited Tiananmen Square 天安门 and the Forbidden City 故宫. To say that it was a cool experience is an understatement. In short: they’re incredible. 

Tiananmen gave off a very intimidating aura, which is fitting if you consider the history of the place. 

It's not very intimidating once you add my silly self, though...

 

Beyond its deep crimson walls is the Forbidden City, which I loved. If you can manage the ignore the squabble of the thousands of tourists and just lose yourself in the splendor, magnificence, and sheer size of the Forbidden City, it’s a transformative experience. You forget that right outside the gates is the 21st century. The city envelops you within its golden tiled roofs and transports you back to dynasty after dynasty. Looking upwards at the blue skies (which we were very lucky to have) and surveying the vastness of the Forbidden City felt unreal. It boggles my mind the amount of rich history and culture that lie between each tile, each crack, and each fold on the palace grounds. 

There was even a garden in the middle of the Forbidden City!

After Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, we went to Wangfujing 王府井 and Silk Street 秀水街. Wangfujing is basically like Chinese Times Square, with malls, shops, restaurants, and an awesome food street that has anything from the tame (like really good candied fruit sticks) to the frightening (scorpions, snakes, and silkworms on a stick). Silk Street is the hub of fake (but really authentic looking) merchandise, from Apple electronics to Gucci handbags. It's pretty amusing to shop around there, and bargaining is a must. Always ask for half the price they give.

The famous "food street" in Wangfujing where you can buy anything and everything to eat.

Scorpions on a stick. They also had maggots, silk worms, snakes, and cockroaches. (I felt too sick to my stomach to take a pictures of those, sorry....)

After being traumatized by scorpions on a stick, I saw these cute baozi 包子 (buns) and felt less nauseated. 

There's a famous baozi 包子 (buns) restaurant called Goubuli Baozi 狗不理包子, and we went to try some! They were really good. There were vegetable/vegetarian ones, shrimp, pork, and combination ones!

Candied Fruit Sticks! THEY'RE SO GOOD.

The next day we visited the Olympic Park 北京奥林匹克公园 where the 2008 Olympic Games were held. 

Water Cube

Bird's Nest

The week started off with a tea ceremony Monday that introduced how tea was properly served as well as the various types of teas that Chinese people usually drink. There are so many steps to serving tea that it is kind of ridiculous. From what I can remember, there are at least 8 steps (it’s not just “pour tea and done”).

Learning Chinese pop songs

Performing a tea ceremony

Introduction to tea

Thursday night my friend told me the Yale Club of Beijing (can you believe this actually exists?) was hosting a rooftop cocktail party, so we both decided to go. It was a wonderful experience — I met lots of cool Yale alumni and the food (I didn’t drink, I’m a good student!) was delicious. It was held at Migas in Sanlitun 三里屯, a hub for bars, clubs, and Western businesses, shops, etc. It’s a great place for foreigners. I've been there twice already.

Rooftop Cocktail Party at Migas! Can you spot the Yale flag? :) 

Just in case you couldn't... ;) reppin' that yale pride!

The cutest egg chair

Beautiful view from the roof

cute glass light things!

On Friday we went to the 798 Arts District. A long time ago, this district was an amazing center for all the arts — it was basically a haven for the arts in Beijing, but as of late there have been many controversies surrounding the area because of the influx of business not related to arts, such as coffee shops, restaurants, bars, etc. A lot of people feel that this intrudes on the authenticity of the art district, while others approve of the change, saying it adds more to the area. Arguments aside, the area is pretty fantastic — you can see any type of art, from traditional Chinese watercolor to Western abstract art. There are tons of museums as well.

Friday night we celebrated my friend Sanam’s 21st birthday. We all went to the Aman Hotel at The Summer Palace 颐和园, where she had stayed with her parents when she was in Beijing earlier this month. The hotel was actually part of the original Summer Palace but is now refurnished as a gorgeous hotel. At around 6 PM, the Summer Palace closes its gates to the general public, but through the hotel we were able to go in after dark and basically have the park to ourselves. This was insanely cool. There are no words to describe how beautiful the park was, absent from the chaotic waves of tourists. We arrived around dusk, walked around, and watched the sun set from one of the islands, surrounded by the chirping songs of swallows and nightingales. Everything was picture perfect, and just like at the Forbidden City, it was easy to forget the modern world and instead be lulled into ancient China. We joked saying Sanam was the empress (since it was her birthday) and we (the 7 guests) were but her royal court and entourage. It was so easy to lose yourself in the landscape, to follow the curves of the hills to the arches of the bridges that signaled entrances into grand temples and buildings. All one had to do was just close their eyes and they’d feel the pulse of ancient China right underneath their fingertips. With the park practically empty, it was so serene and peaceful. Afterwards we had dinner at the hotel’s fancy restaurant and went to Sanlitun to dance at one of the rooftop nightclubs once the clock struck 12. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANAM! 

We all love youuu! <3 

Aman Hotel at Summer Palace 

One side of the hotel courtyard

Other side of the hotel courtyard

The Summer Palace

Beautiful intricate detail painted on all the structures 

Made it just in time for a gorgeous sunset :) 

Amazing street calligraphy

Out of all of my experiences thus far in Beijing, that night was by far my favorite. From walking transfixed by the silent beauty of the Summer Palace to dancing under the city lights of Beijing, I definitely forced myself out of my shell to get to know 7 incredible people and share an amazing experience together. I’ve never been able to feel such a camaraderie with so many people so quickly, and it definitely warms my heart and makes me smile every time I think of that night. 

This entire week was magical, and although I’m thoroughly exhausted, I’ve never had so much fun in my entire life. Beijing is treating me incredibly well, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store.