and the horns and bustle outside on the street a different urban alarm
to my rural ears... I don't think that the people in this neighborhood
believe in sleeping in on Sundays, and I definitely didn't want to
stay in bed on a beautiful, warm sunny day! I am right by a canal
that apparently hosts a type of farmer's market on the bridge in the
morning - people with their vans and small trucks and motorized
tricycle-wagons selling fruit and corn, pomegranates (of which I
stumbled through my first yuan transaction and bought 4 by mistake)
and baskets and even a man with 4 small birdcages - the birds much too
small to eat, so I suppose he must be selling them as pets. It is
total chaos, of course, with bicycles and taxis and pedestrians in the
middle of the road, with no real concern for collision (something I
noticed last night as well, the sort of intricate dance that is
involved in driving/crossing the street/navigating the crazy mix of
traffic here).
With all of the hustle of the roadside market, I didn't realize at
first that a network of side streets went back into courtyards and
tree-lined avenues, pleasant shade and peace on an already hot day...
I had a lovely walk through this area, watching everyone turn out for
breakfast outside at the venders (selling fried bread! also had to
have some of this. yum) and plastic tables in front of sidewalk cafes.
There were a number of elderly people gathered in one of the parks
for what looked like group morning kalisthenics (sp?), and other
solitary folks that were down on the different platforms over the
canal, stretching or just sitting and having a quiet thought. At one
point I passed two old women that were perfectly in sync practicing
the routine of Tai Chi. It made me wish I had stuck with that class
for longer than 3 weeks! On one of the avenues, there were remains of
the classic courtyard homes, some in rubble that were being tidied up
- wrought iron fences all along the sidewalk and park benches in
between - all with people sitting and taking in the morning. One
older man alone with a set of prayer beads, quiet.
When I flew in last night, it was to the vast and lonely international
terminal that was built for the Olympics, and the sun was setting in
golden light through the infamous Beijing smog. I think we were the
only flight to go through immigration at the time - I was sweating
bullets because of the quarantine station. I've been fighting a cold
for the past few days, and was nervous about the automatic temperature
sensors, sure they would find something wrong with me and stick me in
quarantine as a possible swine flu carrier. Luckily I rushed on
through, past the indifferent officials wearing face masks, who just
gave me a red stamp and sent me on for the next stage.
My best luck of all was having an old friend living in this city - he
was actually part of our region for the Russia exchange, and we joked
about having a mini Nizhny Novgorod Oblast reunion. Almost all of us
from that area have caught up now via facebook, and so Luca and I had
planned to meet up when my train arrived. With this unexpected long
layover, he was kind enough to offer to meet me at the airport and
help me get set up, the wonderful thing about having friends around
the world! His girlfriend Yin is super sweet and speaks better
English than he does - they took me out to dinner at a rather nice
place, but I am soooo glad they were there to order. We had a feast!
Chinese fashion, we all had small plates and then ordered several
different dishes to share. And oh, the cuisine is fabulous. I knew
it wouldnt be the same as the MSG laden greasy American version, but
the flavors and variety were way beyond my expectations. Too bad I
don't have wireless, otherwise I would upload a photo. There was a
mushroom/bamboo dish, eggplant in yummy fish sauce, roast duck,
cucumber & pickled egg salad, a spicy sechuan peanut dish, dumplings,
and the most exotic dish was chicken feet - which I tried, and liked.
It took us about 3 hours to finish dinner, dessert, and tea.
This is getting very long, so I should just post and go eat my
pomegranates :) I leave this afternoon for Moscow (a city which is
far less intimidating than Beijing) and will be there until the
evening of the 15th, when I board the train. I hope this uploads all
right, I couldn't access the site (I have a feeling that the
government has blocked it, just like facebook) so I'll email it in.
More soon!
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