Evil Beijing 2008 Friendlies Dictatorship China - Part 31 - Day 23 Continued yet again.....
Ant was starting to freeze - I mean Jack Nickolson freeze at the end of "The Shining" sort of freezing... But... this was our last day in Beijing (and China on this holiday for that matter) - and we needed to keep doing tourist sites until Ant really did look like Leonardo Dicaprio at the end of Titanic - so we headed to the Tibetian Lama Temple (why of course). 
The journey there was all via the underground - so it was fairly warmish and Ant was happy for the time being. As soon as we stepped out onto the street at the Lama Temple - there was a huge wind chill and it was hella cold. That said - we were still determined to get to the Temple.
Walking past the 1000s of incense shops (well - there might have been at least 20!) we made it to the entrance of the Temple. These Tibtian Monks have obiviously been in coohoots with the Great Wall Gondola people - as they too had a "VCD Ticket" thingy happening. Ohhh VCD - it is just so good quality...!
The Lama Temple complex was fairly impressive - as you would walk thru one temple - then another - progressively getting bigger. Getting bigger also were the Buddha sizes. In the last temple - there must have been a Buddha that was the Mashmellow Man-size from Ghostbusters - he was that huge. We dubbed him Mashmallow Man Buddah. On our way out of the temple complex - I caught Ant warming up on a Incense Stick Lighting Bin thingy.
Instead of going on the subway back to Kip and Dan's apartment (which would have cost us 10 yuan for the two of us) - we instead decided to take a taxi (12 yuan). Ant was very cold - and desperate to get into the warmth of Kip and Dan's apartment. Instead of using the "knock on door approach" as we did in the morning - we tried the "extremely loud" doorbell from lobby approach. Chinese intercom systems are pretty funny - because you will have intercom receivers scattered all over your house (including next to the toilet) - so it is pretty hard to miss this. Luckily - Kip was awake anyway (and alive from her flu bout) - and we got buzzed in.
Kip couldn't believed that she had slept through Ant's door knocking episode that morning - but Ant was just happy getting back into the apartment and escaping the horrible windchill outside. Whilst Ant defrosted - we watched this "Great Hotels" show (you can probably guess where this is going just from the name of this place) - where this "wacky" woman did a half hour show on the Disneyland Californa Adventure Hotel (or something). Fair and balanced reporting - yeah right... She was really annoying - and the Disneyland Hotel was really tacky. I remember she spent five minutes explaining how great the detail was in one of their presidential suites - although I'd thought that someone had done a 360 degree projectile helicopter vommit throughout the living room - it was so ghastly.
Ant and I left Kip on her road to recovery - and headed to our final destination for today - the Yashion Markets (the markets from the night before) - for our last minute shopping needs. Just so we can make our bags that much more heavier for the trip home.
On Kip's advice - we headed up to the top level for some food court lunch stuff. I had thought hI had stepped onto the set of "Boyz in the Hood" where a group of Africian Americans were shouting out the women working at the food court "THIS HAPPENS EVERY F##KING TIME I COME HERE B!TCHES!" You are about a 17 - we want you to be about a 3. Anyway - you got to love Amercians for their subtleness and their ability to meld into their surroundings with ease... "F##K! SH##! F!!K!"
Ant and I gave each other a slightly "non-approving look" - then we set off buying some Chicken Curry (for me) and some sizzling beef dish (for Ant - his favourite). I went to the not-so-free world's most complicated and confusing drinks stall. I had attempted to order 2 bubble pearl teas (at the not-so-free world's most expensive price of 20yuan for two) - and they said I needed to pay. I pulled out my "food court" card - and they said that they only take cash. They then said I need to go to the other drink stall to pay (ooooohh!). When I tried pulling out a 50 (to split up cash) - the evil woman noticed a wad of 20's and demanded one of them. I then went back to the Bubble Pearl counter and attempted to reorder my drinks (one Taro and one Chocolate). The woman then manually started to make the drinks (and when I mean manually - I mean making them with a cocktail shaker instead of a electric blender). She started pouring an "Almond" Tea - and I had refused it. She then went onto making the "Taro" and Chocolate teas - which took about 10 minutes for her to make... Ant was worried that I had been abducted or something.
With the all important taste test - it was obvious that I shouldn't have paid anything for these drinks - they had to be the worst Bubble Pearl Teas I've had in the planet (including some dodgy ones I had at Queensland University once) - free and not-so-free world.
After our food court episode - we headed down to the "Men's Fashions" floors - where everything is "knock-off". I think a lot of locals are a bit surprised why foreigners shop here. A lot of China are becoming middle class and those that were "raised" on fake brands - are now wanting the real deal. Hence they find it a bit funny that foreigners (with more $$) are wanting the cheap and nasty stuff... Maybe they should come out to Australia - where all the clothes are s##t and the prices are nasty.
Ant found me a CD shop to babysit me for 20 minutes. I ended up buying 6 new CDs. It was sort of funny - because I had brought the CDs to the counter - and all the prices were marked on the CD - totalling 80 yuan. I had a 100 yuan note ready in my hot little hands when the guy selling me the CDs gave me a 10 yuan discount (even though I was prepared to pay 80 yuan). I shut up and pay the 70 yuan.
Ant and I stopped at a jeans shop where we both tried on some "guinune" Diesel and G-Star Raw Jeans. Although she started the price for the two of them at 480 - we managed to get it down to 300 yuan ($50AUD). (Dan had revealled to us that we probably could have gotten it down to 200 yuan for two pairs... opps!)
Ant couldn't have a shopping trip and be outshopped by me (I had a pair of jeans AND some CDs). Feeling more and more desperate - he tried on some "geniune" G-Star Raw jackets on - only to find that they didn't fit and the zipper didn't really work all that well.
As the day was rapidly drawing to a close - we both made tracks to Jenny Lu's (that foreigners supermarket with the good DVD selection) to grab some pressies for Kip and Dan and some snacks for Ant and myself for the trip home to Australia. It's always a bit strange going to a bottle shop and seeing all of the "boutique" Australian wines at "boutique prices". We grabbed 2 nice bottles (one Australian and one Chilean - Kip loves Chilean stuff at the moment - wait till she tries Chilean food...... vommit) and a big box of chockies (to go with their apocolyptic supply of Tim Tams and Ferro Rochers from Kip's mum for Xmas).
Our taxi ride back was pretty much double than what we thought we would pay. The driver was more lost than us and Ant kept grumbling and grunting at the driver. It was 20 yuan - but Ant and I were rapidly running out of money. We needed at least 80 for the trip to the airport...
Back at Kip and Dan's (Dan had returned from work) - we did a quick pack (oh my god our stuff is heavy), exchanged pressies (which they loved) and said our final farewells (for at least a fortnight - Kip and Dan are coming back to Australia in the next week or so - and we'll hopefully catch up with them in Canberra - showing off our sexy 6 burner BBQ). Unfortunately - I couldn't find any room for Louie in my bags... I so want a doggie! It was great catching up with Kip and Dan and terrific to get a local's perspective on Beijing and China. Dan's Mandarin is completely amazing (I have trouble with engrish as it is - just read these blogs). Their apartment is cool (just pitty about the lack of S-Bends in the plumbing and the "Mystical Magical" smells coming from the pipes - which were both sending Kip and Dan insane).
Dan takes us out to a taxi on the street - and explains in Mandarin that both Ant and I don't have much cash left - so hopefully this taxi ride won't cost too much. After we wave goodbye to Dan - we are on our merry way back to Australia.
We have had a awesome time in Beijing. Apart from our health problems (Ant's a lot worse than mine) - there have been heaps of highlights - catching up with Kip and Dan, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Military Museum... and Mao. I pretty much agree with Dan that Beijing feels different from the rest of China (even Shanghai) - people seem to be able to drive better here - and there is slightly less agression with the locals (in terms of pushing in, etc). The relative lack of smog has been pretty amazing (apart from one day) and the development for the Olympics is nothing short of incredible (although I'm not so 100% convinced it is all good). Overall - Beijing is definately recommended - and even though we were only here for 5 days - there is still plenty of stuff that we haven't seen.
To be continued...(Trip back to Australia)
Ant was starting to freeze - I mean Jack Nickolson freeze at the end of "The Shining" sort of freezing... But... this was our last day in Beijing (and China on this holiday for that matter) - and we needed to keep doing tourist sites until Ant really did look like Leonardo Dicaprio at the end of Titanic - so we headed to the Tibetian Lama Temple (why of course). 
The journey there was all via the underground - so it was fairly warmish and Ant was happy for the time being. As soon as we stepped out onto the street at the Lama Temple - there was a huge wind chill and it was hella cold. That said - we were still determined to get to the Temple.
Walking past the 1000s of incense shops (well - there might have been at least 20!) we made it to the entrance of the Temple. These Tibtian Monks have obiviously been in coohoots with the Great Wall Gondola people - as they too had a "VCD Ticket" thingy happening. Ohhh VCD - it is just so good quality...!
The Lama Temple complex was fairly impressive - as you would walk thru one temple - then another - progressively getting bigger. Getting bigger also were the Buddha sizes. In the last temple - there must have been a Buddha that was the Mashmellow Man-size from Ghostbusters - he was that huge. We dubbed him Mashmallow Man Buddah. On our way out of the temple complex - I caught Ant warming up on a Incense Stick Lighting Bin thingy.
Instead of going on the subway back to Kip and Dan's apartment (which would have cost us 10 yuan for the two of us) - we instead decided to take a taxi (12 yuan). Ant was very cold - and desperate to get into the warmth of Kip and Dan's apartment. Instead of using the "knock on door approach" as we did in the morning - we tried the "extremely loud" doorbell from lobby approach. Chinese intercom systems are pretty funny - because you will have intercom receivers scattered all over your house (including next to the toilet) - so it is pretty hard to miss this. Luckily - Kip was awake anyway (and alive from her flu bout) - and we got buzzed in.
Kip couldn't believed that she had slept through Ant's door knocking episode that morning - but Ant was just happy getting back into the apartment and escaping the horrible windchill outside. Whilst Ant defrosted - we watched this "Great Hotels" show (you can probably guess where this is going just from the name of this place) - where this "wacky" woman did a half hour show on the Disneyland Californa Adventure Hotel (or something). Fair and balanced reporting - yeah right... She was really annoying - and the Disneyland Hotel was really tacky. I remember she spent five minutes explaining how great the detail was in one of their presidential suites - although I'd thought that someone had done a 360 degree projectile helicopter vommit throughout the living room - it was so ghastly.
Ant and I left Kip on her road to recovery - and headed to our final destination for today - the Yashion Markets (the markets from the night before) - for our last minute shopping needs. Just so we can make our bags that much more heavier for the trip home.
On Kip's advice - we headed up to the top level for some food court lunch stuff. I had thought hI had stepped onto the set of "Boyz in the Hood" where a group of Africian Americans were shouting out the women working at the food court "THIS HAPPENS EVERY F##KING TIME I COME HERE B!TCHES!" You are about a 17 - we want you to be about a 3. Anyway - you got to love Amercians for their subtleness and their ability to meld into their surroundings with ease... "F##K! SH##! F!!K!"
Ant and I gave each other a slightly "non-approving look" - then we set off buying some Chicken Curry (for me) and some sizzling beef dish (for Ant - his favourite). I went to the not-so-free world's most complicated and confusing drinks stall. I had attempted to order 2 bubble pearl teas (at the not-so-free world's most expensive price of 20yuan for two) - and they said I needed to pay. I pulled out my "food court" card - and they said that they only take cash. They then said I need to go to the other drink stall to pay (ooooohh!). When I tried pulling out a 50 (to split up cash) - the evil woman noticed a wad of 20's and demanded one of them. I then went back to the Bubble Pearl counter and attempted to reorder my drinks (one Taro and one Chocolate). The woman then manually started to make the drinks (and when I mean manually - I mean making them with a cocktail shaker instead of a electric blender). She started pouring an "Almond" Tea - and I had refused it. She then went onto making the "Taro" and Chocolate teas - which took about 10 minutes for her to make... Ant was worried that I had been abducted or something.
With the all important taste test - it was obvious that I shouldn't have paid anything for these drinks - they had to be the worst Bubble Pearl Teas I've had in the planet (including some dodgy ones I had at Queensland University once) - free and not-so-free world.
After our food court episode - we headed down to the "Men's Fashions" floors - where everything is "knock-off". I think a lot of locals are a bit surprised why foreigners shop here. A lot of China are becoming middle class and those that were "raised" on fake brands - are now wanting the real deal. Hence they find it a bit funny that foreigners (with more $$) are wanting the cheap and nasty stuff... Maybe they should come out to Australia - where all the clothes are s##t and the prices are nasty.
Ant found me a CD shop to babysit me for 20 minutes. I ended up buying 6 new CDs. It was sort of funny - because I had brought the CDs to the counter - and all the prices were marked on the CD - totalling 80 yuan. I had a 100 yuan note ready in my hot little hands when the guy selling me the CDs gave me a 10 yuan discount (even though I was prepared to pay 80 yuan). I shut up and pay the 70 yuan.
Ant and I stopped at a jeans shop where we both tried on some "guinune" Diesel and G-Star Raw Jeans. Although she started the price for the two of them at 480 - we managed to get it down to 300 yuan ($50AUD). (Dan had revealled to us that we probably could have gotten it down to 200 yuan for two pairs... opps!)
Ant couldn't have a shopping trip and be outshopped by me (I had a pair of jeans AND some CDs). Feeling more and more desperate - he tried on some "geniune" G-Star Raw jackets on - only to find that they didn't fit and the zipper didn't really work all that well.
As the day was rapidly drawing to a close - we both made tracks to Jenny Lu's (that foreigners supermarket with the good DVD selection) to grab some pressies for Kip and Dan and some snacks for Ant and myself for the trip home to Australia. It's always a bit strange going to a bottle shop and seeing all of the "boutique" Australian wines at "boutique prices". We grabbed 2 nice bottles (one Australian and one Chilean - Kip loves Chilean stuff at the moment - wait till she tries Chilean food...... vommit) and a big box of chockies (to go with their apocolyptic supply of Tim Tams and Ferro Rochers from Kip's mum for Xmas).
Our taxi ride back was pretty much double than what we thought we would pay. The driver was more lost than us and Ant kept grumbling and grunting at the driver. It was 20 yuan - but Ant and I were rapidly running out of money. We needed at least 80 for the trip to the airport...
Back at Kip and Dan's (Dan had returned from work) - we did a quick pack (oh my god our stuff is heavy), exchanged pressies (which they loved) and said our final farewells (for at least a fortnight - Kip and Dan are coming back to Australia in the next week or so - and we'll hopefully catch up with them in Canberra - showing off our sexy 6 burner BBQ). Unfortunately - I couldn't find any room for Louie in my bags... I so want a doggie! It was great catching up with Kip and Dan and terrific to get a local's perspective on Beijing and China. Dan's Mandarin is completely amazing (I have trouble with engrish as it is - just read these blogs). Their apartment is cool (just pitty about the lack of S-Bends in the plumbing and the "Mystical Magical" smells coming from the pipes - which were both sending Kip and Dan insane).
Dan takes us out to a taxi on the street - and explains in Mandarin that both Ant and I don't have much cash left - so hopefully this taxi ride won't cost too much. After we wave goodbye to Dan - we are on our merry way back to Australia.
We have had a awesome time in Beijing. Apart from our health problems (Ant's a lot worse than mine) - there have been heaps of highlights - catching up with Kip and Dan, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Military Museum... and Mao. I pretty much agree with Dan that Beijing feels different from the rest of China (even Shanghai) - people seem to be able to drive better here - and there is slightly less agression with the locals (in terms of pushing in, etc). The relative lack of smog has been pretty amazing (apart from one day) and the development for the Olympics is nothing short of incredible (although I'm not so 100% convinced it is all good). Overall - Beijing is definately recommended - and even though we were only here for 5 days - there is still plenty of stuff that we haven't seen.
To be continued...(Trip back to Australia)
posted by NicknAnt @ 3:03 AM
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