Beijing I, 2012 - prrrrl

Hungry AND cold!

prrrrl — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I thought I read 24 hour access for the hostel I'm currently residing in. Either I read wrong or they have an interesting idea of what that means. After my long wait for half a meal I arrived at the hostel door to see the handles cabled, bike lock style, shut. It was 1:30 am and cold. No! I need shelter!! I banged on the door. The workers sleep on the sofas in the lounge area. One woke up and let me in. I felt guilty. So did the only logical thing: I got on line and blogged about my restaurant wait. But with 10 minutes two more groups of lodgers came banging on the locked door. Poor guy had to get up three times to let us late people in. Mind you, this was a Saturday night, not like staying out late is a Surprise. And Beijing has restaurants 24/7 - it's part of their native lifestyle, not us imposing on them.

Anyway, I felt less guilty awful quick. :-D

[Please leave comments on FB or my email. Thanks!]

Feeling smug!

prrrrl — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I am packed for two weeks in a very small back pack & a medium size book bag. That includes toiletries, pharmacuticals, two changes of clothes, a camera with small accessories, sandals, two disassembled hiking sticks, two shawls and LOTS of socks. The two fleeces & rain shell I wear to the airport. But I'm sure I could stuff those into my two bags. too. I am carrying a plastic bag of fruit & snacks. That doesn't count, right?!

Miscalculation multiplied by Tu

prrrrl — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I packed an old pair of boots on purpose. I thought I could use them for a hike then leave them behind in China giving me more more luggage space for my return trip. WRONG! They are LL Bean boots meaning I can return them at ANY TIME, in any condition for a refund. But I can't return them if I leave them behind in China. That was miscalculation #1.

Miscalculation #2? [Tu?] They are crumbling under foot and I haven't even started the hike. I took them to a local shoe repair man and he did a great job getting the tread under the toe to re-adhere but the right boot is loosing chunks of the sole from the side & under the heal, not the bottom sole, the cushion between the sole and foot part. Not fixable, he said.

There are actually not that many Miles on these boots. I used them to tramp in Australia & New Zealand [down under 'hiking,' if I remember correctly, is thumbing for a ride and 'tramping' is a walk in nature], hike in Chile and not much more. I think my longest hike/tramp was 80 kilometers in 6 days. Sneakers work fine for most of my woods walking.

Any hoo...

Now I need to run out and buy new hikers before I fly to Yunnan tomorrow AND decide if I want to lug the faulty boots back to the US for the money-back guarantee. :-/

I feel gritty!

prrrrl — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Everybody sing:

"I feel gritty! Oh so gritty! I feel gritty and pity and fright!"

That's life in a very polluted city with very dry air and very little precipitation. Leaving it all behind tomorrow!!!

Busy day packing, shopping & cleaning up. Tailor needs to be visited now so clothes will be ready when I return from my time in the south.

If you're not in Beijing: enjoy the clean!!

Out numbered

prrrrl — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I have four roommates. I am the lone non-Chinese - very good for practicing my limited language skills. They set the bar very low for Big Noses, everyone marveling at my Mandarin. Very friendly and helpful roommates but... they give me reason to use earplugs at night! I feel like I'm in a college dorm.

Endangered words

prrrrl — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In Mandarin there is greater variety of titles for family members. In stead of 'brother,' 'sister' or 'sibling' there's big sister [jie Jje], little sister [mei mei], big brother [ge ge] and little brother [di di]. They are cute designations of relativity to relatives. When my dorm mate said her mei mei was coming I thought nothing of it except, 'how sweet.' But later I realized that those words are rarely used here as a nation of singletons does not have a ge ge or jie jie; there's been a one child policy in place since the '70's. My roomie doesn't look old enough to predate that rule. Is she a twin? Does she belong to a minority ethnic group that allows acceptations to the rule? Were the parents natal outlaws? None of the above. In reality she was a cousin. Mei mei still sounds better to me.

2/1500000

prrrrl — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

One of my five room mates is a girl from Latvia. Now I know 2 of only 1.5 million Latvians on the planet. I took her through the maze-like alleys not realizing it was her first daylight look at the country as she had arrived just after midnight. Might as well jump in to the culture!

Maintaining my image, part 3

prrrrl — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Another way to keep the locals staring at me is to do solo videos. I turn the camera on, hold it at arms length pointing back and me and talk away. I often rotate in a Circle so the video will pick up people, actions and objects behind me. This method worked extremely well last night at a crowded restaurant. Crazy big nose...

Maintaining my image, part 2

prrrrl — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So, this getting stared at thing - I'm pretty good at it. Another way I make sure the stares continue is conducting my training for a two day hike by walking up the stairs when exiting subway* stations. Most if not all stations have escalators up but not down. I find this to be hard on the knees and lax on the heart - seemingly easiest way but in the long run harmful to humans. But enough of my editorial! I hope to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge next week and ignoring the escalators is my training regimen. There I am, slowly slogging up 3 to 6 flights of stairs with this handy conveyance right beside me. Do they think I don't recognize escalators? Do they think I'm technologically illiterate? I don't know. But they still stare. Mission accomplished!

On printed signs here in Beijing, 'subway' means a tunnel walkway that goes under the street to offer safe passage across broad avenues. I'm not sure how they translate the underground trains.

FYI comments to my Blogabond posts are disappearing. I am not ignoring you! But it's best you comment to my regular email address. Sorry! I just tried to find a new blog site but apparently Blogabond is acceptable to the Powers that be here but the others are not.

Rewriting history or PREwriting history???

prrrrl — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Many of the subway stations walls are covered in revenue producing ads (at one time the station by Tian An Men Square had huge posters featuring my daughter's then boyfriend) but a few of the original stations (the subway system has about quadrupled since preparations for the '08 Olympics began in 2000) have real artwork on there walls, each of the artful stations having their own theme. Line 2 at Jiang Guo Men? They had a beautiful mythical ancient 'sports' in tile behind trains heading North opposite modern [real] sports in tile behind trains heading south. I haven't headed south yet so I have not studied it's changes, if any, but the North bound? What was once ancient Tang Dynasty, floating through air spirit - like supernatural practitioners of kong fu with a backdrop of celestial bodies now has Chinese landers on the moon, rocket launch towers with ascending space vehicles and man-made satellites among the real celestial bodies. I do not Admire the art as much now. I will have to study the opposite wall even if I don't need to travel south. I miss the pure whimsey of their ancient 'sports.'

Got an image to maintain

prrrrl — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I'm a white ghost, a big nose. I have scary looking round blue eyes. I get stared at. But Beijingers are getting used to my strange 'condition' so I need something to keep the stares coming. I have my ski gloves dangling from strings threaded through the sleeves of my huge periwinkle down coat. Funny thing is even other white ghost, big noses are staring at me, too! ;-)

Got an image to maintain

prrrrl — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Arrived! (Econo-luxury flight a reality)

prrrrl — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Dream became reality! Apparently, few people want to enjoy a bitter cold Beijing winter. It's not that cold right now but the wind is strong. I had several naps across the mostly flat bed of three seats. Thank you, Air Canada! I'm mostly settled into my super cheap but pleasant enough dorm. Now to find head scratch and dinner.

Over enthusiastic... toilet

prrrrl — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Usually TMI toilet stories are about the primitive or surprising facilities in developing areas. Not mine, today. The Toronto Pearson Airport restroom toilets are self flushing via motion sensor. In this case any motion gets the swirling waters. Hey! Let me finish my business, please! Your First World TMI of the day. You're welcome.

Here we go again

prrrrl — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The mostly empty airport lounge is most encouraging. Three seats to myself would be the cat's meow, the apex, the cream of the crop, the to die for of economy tickets. I haven't enjoyed that in years. But my optimism might be too soon. I hope there's not a plane load of Beijing bound from Quebec connecting soon. Sigh.