In the midst of changing jobs…again…there still stands some time to explore and have fun.
Yesterday was “Mid-Autumn Festival” in China and what that means is three days off! Although I’ve had quite a bit of free time the way it is, the past two days have been pretty great!
Let me explain something about holidays in China. They don’t actually take a break. Holiday time is for resting and enjoying oneself away from the stresses of work. Well, here in China, we don’t roll that way. For example: say a holiday falls on a Wednesday (like this one). Instead of taking the holiday by itself and enjoying the one day off, let’s have three days off! Woo hoo! 🙂 But…wait…we can’t possibly take that much time off work so let’s rearrange the week. Let’s move Thursday to Saturday and Friday to Sunday. That way, we still get our work time in but have three days off in a row. (What they don’t understand is that now they will work seven days in a row.) WHAT?!? I will never understand this. This, my friends, is country-wide. There are not many exceptions. It’s this way for EVERY holiday that doesn’t fall on a weekend. Somethings aren’t meant to be understood.
With that being said, I’ll tell you what I did on the first two days of my three days off.
Day 1
Remember last year’s journey around the 4th Ring Road? Well, a friend of mine wanted to bike around the 3rd Ring Road on Wednesday. This journey is a bit shorter (30 miles instead of 42ish). I was excited to go for a long bike ride again. So, two other foreign teachers, one Chinese friend, and I set out to conquer the 3rd Ring. We all decided that this shouldn’t take long at all. Boy, were we wrong! We began around 10:30 am when we finally arrived at the 3rd Ring. (It’s not too far from my home, but keep in mind that we are north of the 4th Ring.) We barely got started on the journey when one of us wanted to stop for something to drink and a snack because he hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast. Well, we couldn’t possibly let him bike 30+ miles on an empty stomach. While we were waiting outside the 7-11 (yes, they have those in China) we witnessed a fist-fight. Someone had gotten into an accident (we think) with another person and the one person wanted to drive away. So the other guy stood in front of the car to keep him from moving….etc, etc. It was mildly humorous and highly entertaining. (yes, I know I shouldn’t be entertained by this) After we were finished taking some pictures we were finally on our way…for real this time. A little while later (like 5 minutes) we stopped again. This time at a bike guy’s cart to get oil on a couple of chains, a seat raised, and a tension rod tightened. After this is what I like to refer to as our REAL starting time. We did pretty well until we got to the eastern side of the city and the traffic stopped. I’ll admit, it is WAY better to be on a bike than in a car at times like this, but this particular traffic jam was ridiculous. We couldn’t even bike between some of the cars.
This was taken after traffic had let up quite a bit. We weren't sure why the traffic was so bad since no one had to work that day. Maybe everyone decided to go to the same place! See how there are four solid lanes of traffic (and up ahead 5)? I'm pretty sure there are only 3 actual lanes on this road. They identify the bad drivers in the city with blue license plates!
After the massive traffic back up, we found ourselves in the CBD: Central Business District. This part of ‘town’ is in Chaoyang District and is where the rich foreigners live and is also the location of the US Embassy. A beautiful part of town with lots of green space and bad drivers.
This is the CCTV building in the Business district. It's very cool looking. I would not want to be a window washer for this building. What you don't see in this picture (actually, you can a little) is the building right next to it that still bears the fire damage from Chinese New Years fireworks gone awry. That was a year and a half ago. 🙂
When we got about half way around the ring, my Chinese friend, Jun Ning, asked if she and I could switch bikes. I had borrowed another friend’s bike so that she could use my bike for the trip. This other bike was a bit high for both of us but had sweet gears and made the biking really easy. So, we switched bikes for the rest of the trip. Below is what she looked like when we switched. 🙂
Jun Ning. Afraid. 🙂 She really was a vision. She had on purple pants, a blue t-shirt with a bike on it, a yellow sweatshirt over it and bright bluish-turquoise shoes! Jun Ning just graduated from medical school and is waiting to hear the results of her certification test. She is also a believer!
Other sights on the journey included:
Make sure you aren't using your exploding car
The bike I was riding. This was an accident. Notice the ground is in focus and the bike is not.
McDonald's delivery guy. This is actually a very common scene. They are some of very few people who wear helmets.
Three bikers after surviving the traffic jam.
Team 3rd Ring at the beginning of the journey!
The Fearsome Foursome at the end of the journey!
Day 2
On Thursday, I visited the beautiful city of Tianjin. If you remember, I went there last year during my spring festival break to visit my friend Gretl and to meet her family. See that guy in the picture above? Last year, he made it his goal to get his Chinese driver’s license. He did this and now wants to drive at every opportunity. 🙂 He decided to rent a van to do a road trip for the National Holiday coming up in about a week. However, it’s cheaper per day if you rent the van for the whole month. So, he asked if anyone wanted to go to Tianjin to visit Gretl. I was in. We left at about 7:30 am and after a few missed exits, a couple turn-arounds, and two re-routes (thankfully we had GPS on an iPhone) we arrived at the correct neighborhood. Now, a little about Chinese apartment complexes. There is no rhyme or reason to how they number the buildings. If there is, it is not obvious to the average person. We were searching and searching for building 18. We had 20. We had 15, 14, 17, 19. Where was 18? Eventually, after much asking, (I no longer need to practice that phrase) we found the right building and the correct door. 🙂 We were greeted by warm smiles and hugs! Gretl’s parents, aunt, uncle and cousin, and her grandma were all there to have lunch with us. Before lunch we played Ma Jiang. The tile game that I mentioned the last time I visited. We were treated to a delicious lunch and then we got into the van to explore the city. Now, this van is unlike any vehicle you’ve ridden in. Okay, maybe not. I must say, our driver (see again the picture above) did a great job. To be a successful driver in China you have to drive agressively and just Go! You are better off if you don’t pay attention to what is going on behind you. If someone hits you from behind it’s their fault. 🙂
We had a good day exploring the city with friends and an exciting (albeit bumpy and nerve-racking) ride back to Beijing. Below are a couple of pictures from Tianjin.
A dessert that these three made after lunch. This was an American-style dessert!
The beautiful Tianjin sunset
