China Part I: the touristy bit
I was fortunate to to attend the 8th International Winds Workshop in Beijing, China at the end of April. Both professionally, and personally it was really a fabulous trip. I was there for 9 days, but because the meeting only lasted 4 and a half, I had some time to explore a bit.
I arrived there exhausted from jet lag and a bit shaky from a bumpy landing into Beijing. For future travelers, don't eat that last meal an hour and a half before landing. You'll thank me once you're on the ground.
We were picked up by a Chinese colleague who is working for my office at Wisconsin. He was kind enough to help us get checked into the hotel and then take us out to dinner.
The meals in China generally involved having entirely too much food arrive at the table at a steady rate. Just as you thought you'd tried everything, three more dishes would arrive. As we almost always ate in large groups, we were fortunate to have a lazy-Susan in the center so the dishes would rotate around while you were trying to grab that slippery mushroom with your chopsticks. Most of the dishes were not too exotic, but I definitely tried spices and flavors that I wasn't too familiar with. I'd say that was the primary difference between food in China and Chinese food in the US: the food in China was much more varied. The fish was often served whole. The meat was generally in separate dishes from the vegetables. The Peking duck we had was exquisite.
The service in general was also exceptional, although I think it was mostly because we were kinda pricey places. The hotel had someone greeting you at the lobby elevator pointing you to the lobby. Our conference room had two people running microphones to audience members if they had questions. When we went to a hot pot restaurant, where you cooked your meat and vegetables in a hot broth, servers stood above us and put food from the hot pot onto our plates (although I think that was mostly because we were foreigners).
The entire city is under construction for the Olympics in 2008, so many sites were covered in scaffolding and cranes were everywhere, including the tourist sides. The Forbidden City had several buildings that we couldn't see because of the repairs. The same was true for the Summer Palace. However, we could walk around the beautiful lake and gardens of the Summer Palace and see most of the enormous Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was the giant complex of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Some 10,000 people lived there, and the size and scope of the place reflected it. The Summer Palace was where the Emperor escaped from the summer heat of Beijing. Given the dust and haze of Beijing in April, I can appreciate needing to escape in the heat of the summer.
No trip to China could be complete without a trip to the Great Wall. We saw it at Badaling, a city about 70 kilometers from the center of Beijing. The Great Wall has only been restored at parts, and this particular region is one of the best maintained and restored. The crowds reflected it: the wall was crawling with people. I think that was the only time I felt really overwhelmed in China: at Badaling. It was strange to be in a sea of people and not understand a single word of what was being said.
Beijing is definitely a city undergoing change. Western influence is obvious with the increasing number of English signs and western businesses. It's also obvious with the huge number of cars. As you could imagine, in a city built around the bicycle, the infrastructure is just not set up for automobiles. The roads were crawling, even on a Saturday afternoon. It is something that would take getting used to.
American culture still creeps into China in strange ways. We went into a bar one night, covered in Corona signs, where a band was playing western-style rock music in Chinese. Before the act started, however, the waiters led a lively version of "If you're happy and you know it" including claps, arm waves, and feet stamping. Surreal.
In the next post, I'll talk a bit about the meeting itself. If you're interested in pictures, send me your email and I'll send you a link.
I arrived there exhausted from jet lag and a bit shaky from a bumpy landing into Beijing. For future travelers, don't eat that last meal an hour and a half before landing. You'll thank me once you're on the ground.
We were picked up by a Chinese colleague who is working for my office at Wisconsin. He was kind enough to help us get checked into the hotel and then take us out to dinner.
The meals in China generally involved having entirely too much food arrive at the table at a steady rate. Just as you thought you'd tried everything, three more dishes would arrive. As we almost always ate in large groups, we were fortunate to have a lazy-Susan in the center so the dishes would rotate around while you were trying to grab that slippery mushroom with your chopsticks. Most of the dishes were not too exotic, but I definitely tried spices and flavors that I wasn't too familiar with. I'd say that was the primary difference between food in China and Chinese food in the US: the food in China was much more varied. The fish was often served whole. The meat was generally in separate dishes from the vegetables. The Peking duck we had was exquisite.
The service in general was also exceptional, although I think it was mostly because we were kinda pricey places. The hotel had someone greeting you at the lobby elevator pointing you to the lobby. Our conference room had two people running microphones to audience members if they had questions. When we went to a hot pot restaurant, where you cooked your meat and vegetables in a hot broth, servers stood above us and put food from the hot pot onto our plates (although I think that was mostly because we were foreigners).
The entire city is under construction for the Olympics in 2008, so many sites were covered in scaffolding and cranes were everywhere, including the tourist sides. The Forbidden City had several buildings that we couldn't see because of the repairs. The same was true for the Summer Palace. However, we could walk around the beautiful lake and gardens of the Summer Palace and see most of the enormous Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was the giant complex of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Some 10,000 people lived there, and the size and scope of the place reflected it. The Summer Palace was where the Emperor escaped from the summer heat of Beijing. Given the dust and haze of Beijing in April, I can appreciate needing to escape in the heat of the summer.
No trip to China could be complete without a trip to the Great Wall. We saw it at Badaling, a city about 70 kilometers from the center of Beijing. The Great Wall has only been restored at parts, and this particular region is one of the best maintained and restored. The crowds reflected it: the wall was crawling with people. I think that was the only time I felt really overwhelmed in China: at Badaling. It was strange to be in a sea of people and not understand a single word of what was being said.
Beijing is definitely a city undergoing change. Western influence is obvious with the increasing number of English signs and western businesses. It's also obvious with the huge number of cars. As you could imagine, in a city built around the bicycle, the infrastructure is just not set up for automobiles. The roads were crawling, even on a Saturday afternoon. It is something that would take getting used to.
American culture still creeps into China in strange ways. We went into a bar one night, covered in Corona signs, where a band was playing western-style rock music in Chinese. Before the act started, however, the waiters led a lively version of "If you're happy and you know it" including claps, arm waves, and feet stamping. Surreal.
In the next post, I'll talk a bit about the meeting itself. If you're interested in pictures, send me your email and I'll send you a link.
posted by Gatsby @ 8:37 PM
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