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Great Wall at Jiankou in westerly direction
One of the large courtyards
eating and smoking
Spring feeling..Beijing Tip
I had a great time visiting China (Beijing, Xian, Yangshuo, Guilin, Guangzhou train ride to Hong Kong).
For those of you high-maintenance people, be prepared to 'rough it.' Nothing was difficult, just different. My friend was startled while in the restroom she kept being interrupted by one of the employees at the Great Wall yelling at her to get out of the toilet stall, and even trying to knock the door open. We later came to realize that my friend was in the wrong toilet stall--she was in the 'urine only' stall, when she needed to be in the other one. Like I said, Montezuma's Revenge. I also recall my friends and me being ejected out of a cab on the way back to the dormitory. The cab driver had agreed to drive us back to the dorm, however towards the end, he said for us to get out of the car and hitch a ride with another taxi driver. We got out and would not pay--that started a heated exchange between one friend who can speak Mandarin, and the rest of us who can't--but were able to tell him how we felt by the tone of our frustration and physical motions. He said that if we didn't pay up, that he'd take us to the police station and that the police would confiscate our passports. I don't know why he said what he did, but after an hour of arguing, he finally caved in and drove us to the dormitory.
Another memory, unrelated to any bodily function, was a conversation I had with a taxi driver on the way from central Beijing back to the dormitory. Although I don't know any Mandarin, other than simple greetings, we were able to have a conversation. Through motions and the similarity of very few words between Mandarin and Korean, we exchanged information about our families and perspective on China and the U.S. I asked him what he thought about the return of Hong Kong (as it was days away)--and he had a favorable opinion. He asked me if I preferred the U.S. or China and was geniunely interested in the U.S. You never know what you may encounter...
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