i mainly just went on an epic trek marathon, watched 'forgetting sarah marshall' (for the 4th time...) and read a bit. but before getting too sidetracked, i must reiterate again that Beijing is freaking awesome, and we had such an amazing stay there. i'm not sure what it is about that city...but i absolutely love it.
*Dan's note* It may be the overwhelming abundance of Yak, which is just delish. Do not, however, ever consume Tibetan butter tea. Sorry, Tibet, no dice!
currently blogging from a internet cafe in huangshan!
Some quick shoutouts to some peeps who made our visit to Beijing just that much better:
Anthony - Thanks for an amazing time, cuz! You were the best host evar and we had just a ridiculous amount of fun. Am going to miss you man. Come back soon so we can ktv it up and watch some more laker games! Dan says "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra and sorry I ate half of your almonds in two days..."
Chi-chi - I guess it was alright meeting you...I guess, you know it takes a lot to impress me, you know, so...I guess it was fine... =P (BTW ...I still CANNOT believe you didn't think that that igloo thing we saw at 798 was the coolest thing EVER. It totally changed my life! And I now really want one. What the HECK is wrong with you?)
Ruby - Okay so we honestly would have been absolutely lost without any of your help. Thanks for pretty much knowing everything about Beijing ...oh and being able to speak Chinese! (that definitely saved our butts) Now study hard and learn how to order some tacos and burritos. See you next year??
P.S. I want a copy of your book once you compile all of your scandals. -Dan
Calvin - You are the man. And you are also my hero. Thanks for lunch, and keep up the amazing NGO work, bro. Please visit me next time when you're around town so I can have an excuse to go to you know wheres ;)
Okay so...some memorable moments so far...
As we were walking to Bellagio (a dessert place near worker's stadium) two nights ago, we came across some street venders. As usual, we kind of strayed away and ignored them...until one guy started shouting out english in a bad accent: "drinks? cigarettes? magazines? ... do you want gay sex?" ....and then we ran away. quite possibly the most hilarious thing i have ever heard!!!
the man, the legend, the potato chip model
So today, we hired a private driver to take us around some epic huangshan waterfalls (which were incredibly beautiful...with the classic huangshan fog and light flurries of snow...pictures to come!). But yeah, near the end of our trip, our driver took us to this place where "we could drink some tea for free". Of course this sounded cool and all...but as soon as I walked into the door, I knew exactly what was going to happen. For those who don't know, literally everytime you travel in china with a tour, they're going to shove you into some kind of store (tea, silk, jade...you name it) where they'll give you free samples and ask you to buy something. so as soon as we entered this tea shop, this lady takes us into a private room and starts pouring us some tea. She then goes into this huuuuuge sales pitch, and even though i told her many times that i didn't really understand what she was saying, she kept going on and on about how these teas were so amazing and how they could cure practically anything. Of course I don't want to be rude, so i just listen to her and nod my head and smile (even though absolutely everything she's saying is going way over my head). After 5 minutes of nonstop pitching, she finally stops and says to me "maybe you should translate to your friend". At this point i'm thinking "uhhhhh........" So i look over at Dan and i have absolutely no idea what to say, so i start blabbering "Oh hey dude, the Lakers won today. It was pretty sweet, they beat San Antonio in the final minutes...which is like the 2nd best team in the west". Dan smiles and nods. I look over to our tea lady, she smiles and nods, and then continues to keep talking about her teas. This continues for like an hour...and Dan and I literally have this lengthy conversation about sports, girls, and other random things throughout this whole time, while the poor tea lady is thinking that we're meticulously discussing the quality of her teas.
Finally near the end of her pitch, she starts talking about the prices of the teas and how we should buy some. The conversation literally goes like this
Tea Lady: "So you should really think about buying this tea...its really good for you and it'll help you deal with stress and hardships"
Me: "I'm really sorry, but we don't have room for this"
Tea Lady: "Oh how about this one then, its in a smaller container and its really good for ladies. You should get one for your girlfriend"
Me: "I'm really sorry, we really don't want any"
Tea Lady: "Please, you should get this one, get it as a souvenir for your girlfriend"
Me: "I don't have a girlfriend"
Tea Lady: "That's no problem, get one for your mother then!"
Me: "We seriously don't want any, I'm so sorry"
Tea Lady: "Please just buy some...help me out. You're my only customer today..."
Me: "I'm so so sorry, but we really don't want some"
Tea Lady: "Please help me out..."
Me: "Okay...uh...can we go now?"
and then we slowly inched our way out the room.....VERY AWKWARD.
An epic 10 hour climb up and down huangshan awaits us tomorrow, so we gotta rest up tonight. Will post some pictures as soon as we can get internet access in a hostel!
near nine dragons waterfall
I am so pround of myself that I can speak Chinese!
ReplyDeleteR.