Beijing Day Five

Click below to see the most recent pics from day 4 and 5. People who know me know I don’t really bother editing, so I apologize for the duplicates and blurry pics. 

2011-11-17

Day 5 started out with SUN!!! In fact, the sun was actually YELLOW!!! The rain had cleared away all the pollution and bright clear skies met me as I exited the hotel. I started with some street food (it’s so freaking good, why doesn’t LA have street food this good - oh right, health regulations - bummer). Then it was off for a long overdue visit to The Forbidden City. 

WOW. I took way to many pictures because everything was so beautiful, and I’m sure not one of them does any justice to this opulent palace. The Forbidden City is China’s version of Versailles, and I’m not quite sure which one I wanna live in more. I spent 5 hours there walking around and exploring the treasures, and didn’t even get to 1/3 of the grounds. Some of the highlights (that I took all those pics of) include, a carved 600 ton single marble block, thrones that I desperately wanted to sit on (but they wouldn’t let me), animal guardians carved into the tops of the pagodas, relics of the imperial clockworks, concubines quarters (I need to get me some of those) and gate after gate leading the way from north to south across the grounds. I actually got to walk on the same pathway leading through the palace that was once reserved only for the emperor himself. There’s something spectacular about physically touching history like this in a personal way. 

After The Forbidden City it was time to climb the winding steps up to the home of the Golden Buddha (no photos allowed) overlooking the entire Forbidden City for the quintessential photo. Sorry for all the duplicates, the position of the sun and the returning haze of pollution by the early afternoon made it a bit tricky. From there I got lost in the Hutongs (old windy streets of the original city) on my way to Ho Hai (the lake I walked around on Day 3). This time it was a hub of activity. I did a loop around the entire lake (a couple miles) and stopped for a beer and some more street food while enjoying my book overlooking the lake shimmering in the later afternoon sun. By this time the pollution had returned and the ubiquitous orange glow was spreading across the sky and touching the city. After stopping for a coffee, finishing my book and chatting with a few cool people on the lake, the sun had set and it was time to find my way home. I thought about catching a cab, but decided that it was a bad idea at rush hour and made my way across the city to the nearest (yet about 40 minutes away) subway station. 

Truly a perfect day in Beijing. T-shirt weather, pollution free air, stunning palaces, great conversation, a good book, and it’s not over yet. I’m meeting Max back at Sanlitun Village at 11pm for my second to last night out on the town. Maybe we’ll try that gay dance club again….. hopefully this time it’s open. :P

Stay tuned!! Tomorrow morning is The Antique market!! “Smart shoppers get there at 4am” - good thing I have no more money left to spend. I think 8am will do just fine.

Beijing Day Five Part Two

More Beijing

Around 11pm I met up with Max and hung out as we gathered up our group. Then it was off to The Workers Stadium for some clubbing! We started at a hot dog stand… just walk down the steps and push the button and the wall in the back opens to reveal a fantastic little bar hidden underground (See our video to watch us pretend we’re entering the club again). 

We started with a few drinks and lots of rambunctious conversation. Then we noticed that the bartender was a very sexy young man from The Abercrombie and Fitch Chinese Training video that Max and Sarwa (one of his coworkers who was with us) had to watch before coming to the country. I observed that he was being hit on by two attractive male patrons. We made a few body language based hypotheses, and then a few drinks later, it was time to test them out. I saw an in and took it. Game. Set. Match. 

30 minutes later we left with the hotter one in tow to a gay bar down the block. Unfortunately, at 3am it was pretty dead. One drink and it was time to get back over to Latte (the place I left my phone at a few days earlier). There, Max and I got out the dice, and the drinking games began! We danced the night away till 6am, and I mean DANCED. I think I lost 5lbs on the dance floor. Max’s friends Sarwa and Sarah can really cut a rug. Our gay-boy-in-tow got bored and headed home around 5. Oh well!! :P I wasn’t gonna leave when the dancing was that good! After some street food I managed to get in bed just as the sun was coming up across the west. Another amazing night in Beijing! 

Mainland China Day One // Hong Kong Day Five

So today I got up early, made sure I had my passport and headed on the train for Lo Wo, the checkpoint to Mainland China's city of Shinzen. The train was really quick and easy of course, and since I had gotten an Chinese visa in advance, getting across the border only took about 30 minutes.

When I arrived I was swarmed by locals trying to get me to their shops to buy fake watches, and shadow factory goods (shadow factories make clothing or other items from the original templates and are usually owned by the same companies resulting in perfect counterfeits). Once inside the 7 story monstrosity it really was quite overwhelming.

THOUSANDS of shops selling everything from jeans to shirts, suits, jewelry, shoes, watches, literally EVERYTHING you could ever want, stolen or fake. I bought some D&G stuff, and some gifts (took me 4 hours). By the end of the 4 hours I was really starting to get cranky, everything ewas overwhelming SOOO many things to look at and most importaintly, I had yet to eat anything at all that day. I needed to find a bank (I had Hong Kong Dollars but I needed Won here in China), something that seemed to be on every corner of HK and no where to be found in China. After 30 minutes of walking around I could feel the frustration level rising. My kingdom for a fucking bank!!! Finally I went back to the train station and used an money exchange booth (getting ripped off but i soo didn't care at that point). I walked back out and straight to the nearest noodle house. Had some lunch and headed home. I definatelly messed up by not knowing what I wanted, I plan on going back for sure, so if you're reading my blog email your sizes to producer17@gmail.com with some favorite brands and I'll pick you up some stuff!!! Be sure to do it soon though!! :)

When I got back to Hong Kong, I promptly headed back to Happy Foot for another $20 hour long massage. Then I spent about an hour hunting around The Central District for an open gay bar for a drink. Upon finding that two suggesting in the guidebook no longer existed and the other two were closed I called it a day and headed back to my hotel to drop off my shopping and wash up for dinner.

I had a few beers and ate some Thai curry at a nearby establishment and at midnight decided to call it a night.. tomorrow cooking classes at 9:45am at the world famous Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong!!

Posted by Josh Gray-Emmer on Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Posted 12th March 2008 by Josh Gray-Emmer