Blow by Blow- 10 April

Random Place of the day: OLD STREET. The one we visited before was only a small segment. This is the real deal.

A church under construction outside the main entrance of the street (Where tourists bus drop off their passengers)

Blow by Blow- 9 April Part 2

Today I'll teach you how to visit a art museum.

Tip 1: Surroundings are very important! I liked the way the Chinese gate entrance juxtaposed against the minimalism grey buildings. Nice contrast.

Step 1: Be clear on which museum you're going to. You don't want to ask about history in a art museum. Better still, take a photo of the signs. Look. It says ART MUSEUM. 

Blow by Blow- 9 april Part 1

These are the photos that you won't be able to find anywhere else. I took this during an early morning visit to the local market. They're not on Facebook. I don't plan to upload them. All I can say is that there is more to the weekend than just going shopping. 

A makeshift fishmonger's. All he do is just to get his fish in the open air(hence the stench),and soak them in water instead of packing ice cubes above. The weather's cold enough to freeze it, and keeps the fish fresh.

Blow by Blow- 8 april part 3

Last post for this day. Pretty house

Blow by Blow- 8 april part 2

Continued from the previous post

Classroom block or staffroom. This looks like those New England University buildings. This is the place I don't mind becoming a full-time nerd.

Blow by Blow- 8 april Part 1

SPAM PHOTO DAY!I will upload all the day's photos on the blog, cause this day is the perfect photo day!

 Statue of a warrior who was grave was in the city area. A statue was built to commemorate his endeavors. They do remember and emphasis on historical landmarks. I forgot what exactly what did he do.

Blow by Blow- 7 april

Graduation Ceremony today. It's amateur stuff, bit cheesy, english's bit strange, but yeah, we made it ourselves. Presented in front of everyone in the group and some of the teachers ourselves. The interview segment was done on the 4/5 april and we managed to cut it into 1 and a half minutes. Sit back and enjoy.

Blow by Blow- 6 april

6/4/2011
Visit to 吴桥 today, 吴桥 is an acrobatics town, where many of the townsfolk know street magic, acrobatics, or anything performance related to a circus.
It isn’t the best place to go.

Blow by Blow- 5 april

5/4/2011 

Everything seems to be coming to an end, whether we like it or not.

Blow by Blow- 4 april

4/4/2011
Full on IS preparation today. A few more days before all of this ends.
Strangely I just realized how wasteful my life has been throughout this while. In Singapore, I don’t blink an eye when I buy and the shop assistants hand me plastic bags. Not to mention my preference for anything individually wrapped. And then I bring my life from Singapore to china, and I do exactly what I’ve been doing
And I realize the amount of plastic that floats around in the room which 1) becomes unused or 2) rendered useless. My life is really plastic straddled. Even when buying water, I choose the kind with plastic shrink wrap around the bottles instead of a box.
All for the sake of convenience. How I hate convenience. The more we depend on it, the more side effects it has on us, so much to the extent that we forget the basic things that we could have done ourselves, but we don’t, saying it takes up too much trouble
There is no such thing is too much trouble. It’s just the lack of convenience that we harp about.
I just hope not to the extent where we’re substituting the little things like writing a memo with a word document, a drawing or doodling an iphone picture, or even a voice recording instead of speaking, because we’re hoping we can use it over and over again. The sake of convenience. Ah, how nice. 

School grounds at dusk. I still run off occasionally.

I think i took this same picture about 3 weeks ago, and you can see the difference now.. All the leaves are growing back slowly, and the school is being dyed green.

Blow by Blow- 3 april

3/4/2011
2^nd last Sunday spent in Tianjin city. 10 of us originally decided to go to the Italian food street, but we ended up in the 滨江道 again. And sad to say I ended up buying a shirt, vest and a pair of boots.
Gr. I need to learn to manage my finances.
Is there something to write for today?
Yes.

Blow by Blow- 2 april

2/4/2011Last day in Beijing today. We must train for better stamina.Being the last day in Beijing, we went to do what most tourists would come to try-climbing the Great Wall of China. Climbing is an understatement to me, we should say scaling the wall. As we stopped along the way to the entrance, I was amazed by the advancement of Chinese construction. They were able to construct solid barriers out of stone on the mountainous region, 1000+ years ago. 

 kay, this is the little town built entirely out of nothing but the route to the great wall. It's tourist infected and there is a KFC in one of the shops. I think I saw a Subway restaurant. 

Blow by Blow- 1 april

1/4/2011
Another Friday at last! I now remember that I’m in Beijing. Strangely, my parents also went to Beijing when I was a 3 year old kid, and I recall asking them to take them with me.
Fast forward 14 years and I’m here on a school trip without them. Time does strange things to people. In the past my mother would not let me out of her sight, even for a short while. Now, she’s perfectly fine that I call/text back every 3 days or so.
Speaking of that, I need to do that more often. I think it’s the texts I sent to my parents that make them smile, even at work, their jobs look really stressful, and this is the least I can do.
Visited a bird’s nest as the first stop. When we reached the place at 740 am in the morning, there were already hawkers peddling goods towards us. And I thought no one would come this early.

The "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium! At its architectural beauty at 730 am in Beijing Weather. I liked the way the lines were criss-crossing around it like a giant ball of yarn. I hear the ventilation isn't that spectacular.  

Boy, how wrong I am. As we walked in the compound, no less than 5 of them approached us, asking us whether we were interested in any of the souvenirs they had, and they were willing to sell it at a lower price to us. Even though we walked away and ignored them, they still tailed us, hungry to earn money from us. I think I need to dress more conservatively so that I will be mistaken for a local Chinese and not get myself approached by people. It worked for me the past few times when I visited china.
After narrowly avoiding any of these vendors, we clambered up the bus, afraid that any of them would go up and make a final sales attempt (It happened before to me, and it’s not pleasant), we left the car park and got a taste of the “famed” Beijing traffic.

Traffic Jam, at 8+, after we left the stadium. It's really messy, and the cars don't really move, so you can catch a quick nap if you're not driving. I admire Beijing drivers for getting through this kind of traffic every morning. I don't know how do they do it. The sight of so many cars and the constant stop-start motion makes me motion sick.

A slightly luckier shot this time. Like the bus was able to move (YAY) for about 10 m before stopping again, which is considered lucky in that kind of traffic.

 Hmm.. A rather spectacular building in Beijing city. I don't know what's that. But I remembered most being asleep and not being able to see its awesomeness. I wonder how the top of the building stays there with its strangely built base. These people are sheer geniuses. How did my finger get there?><

At 8+, the traffic congestion is so bad the cars are not moving. According to my math lecturer, heavy traffic = cars still moving. Traffic jam = cars not moving.
I think we were caught between heavy traffic and a jam. The bus did seem to move. Strangely, nobody had their hands permanently on the horn, and the roads were quiet (or is it because of my earphones?), and they didn’t horn when there was congestion or something blocking their path, they only horned when they needed to.
Beats shanghai hands down. The sound of car horns there is 24/7, even at 3 am in the morning.
Forbidden City was our 2^nd stop.

This is the back gate of the Forbidden City, the part with the giant portrait of Chairman Mao being the front. This entrance is less crowded, and passes through a downtown estate area, so I recommend going by the back. The Forbidden City was built with the ideal of grand entrances, so taking the back is certainly faster and cuts the chase.

Old palaces are interesting places. There are so many tourists groups inside, and you can count the number of tourists groups. And then there’s the part where the speaker comes in, and you start to hear the explanations about the same places in different languages and dialects, and it’s hard to hear what your guide is saying. Not to mention trying to catch up with them moving around the place. This visit to the Forbidden City only allowed us to cover the emperor’s residential area, study, gathering hall, etc. the emperor’s living area is so huge, I don’t see how can one person live in an area which can accommodate a thousand. Doesn’t he feel bored? i don’t know how anyone can stand it

Nearing the Emperor's residential halls. All the buildings in the compound look about the same to me. I wonder how does the Emperor like his entire house being painted in red? I need color. Red alone will not do. Does he actually recognize the different buildings? 

 Think this was the exit of the private gardens. The entrance is pretty small, judging by Palace Standards, so I'm guessing this is private and used by the royal family only. 

This looks like a sundial, probably used for stargazing or time telling or some geomancer's daily reading. I wonder how did they get the small slab to tilt like that. It's quite heavy. And it holds up after so long? That's amazing.

The hall where the emperor receives his guests. So you would walk through this fenced marble pathway to meet the son of heaven. Ahh, the aura.

 His office. We can put a lot of modern offices in that building, and that's for a single user? No fair. 

 Even the stairs have their own carvings? This belongs to a king then, no doubt. 

 Strangely, the Forbidden City does not have toilets for day trip visitors. So they had to build and install modern ones, and this was taken outside the washroom, like a waiting area. 

I’m going to get an audio tour the next time I go. It’s easier on me as well.

The map of the Forbidden City, depending on the route you used. For visitors who don't bring maps. However, some parts of the palace remained sealed, so you can imagine how much time spent walking inside each hall if you were to go in to all the opened ones. 

When we walked out of the Forbidden City entrance by the main gate,

 That's just 3 dummies. Don't worry. 

Outside the famed entrance. That's a HUGE picture. I wonder does it over the gate entrance if they were to bring it down? And how do they actually bring it up in the first place?

 A underpass route showing the attractions in the area. They even routed it for you,so you can maximize your time to see as much places as possible. 

we had unknowingly entered the 天安门 square, where student protests had once raged against china’s reputation abroad. There were people who approached us, asking whether we would like to take a photograph against the memorial statue.

 Memorial statue. I can't take the picture of the words on it clearly. 

I’m starting to admire their persistence. They don’t mind asking the same question over and over again, and face rejection every now and then. I would have gotten tired by the 10^th try. Also, competition here is cut-throat. The vendors fight tooth and nail against other vendors to get as much business as possible, to the extent of fighting over a potential customer. Even though they may sell the same things, each vendor tries his/her best to package it differently, attracting the most customers possible.
Live and let live. I need to pay more attention to them in the future.
And stop throwing them dirty looks when they approach me for business

 You can only see such things in Beijing. Panda stuffed toy as a tiny flag.

 And another, this a stuffed sheep. 

 Think this was a museum which we walked straight past and didn't go in. I knew I shouldn't have followed them. I'm nerd to a degree of architecture, geography, history and culture. Posing my photos and self portraits is something I fail miserably at. 

 Beijing's shopping street. They fitted those cool grooves on the pavement so that the trams can travel through the street. The trams do move, just that we didn't get on. Geez, WHY do we always miss out on the fun stuff?

A clearer picture of the groves on teh street. Isn't it the coolest thing you've seen?

Street alley. Same shopping street

 Giant Haw Candy on a stick. MUAHGGGEGEJNMAEUM. That looks delicious.

Crossing a street alley. Photo was taken after a slight drizzle, but the air becomes very much fresher and cleaner.

Outside a house. I liked the contrast with the pile of mismatched bricks heftily stuffed in the small hole in the world. A small ounce of disorder adds interest into our lives.

 A entire cartful of charcoal bricks. I've never seen it before, and this is very interesting to me. They would be still using charcoal instead of piped gas like us. 

Blow by Blow- 31 march

31/3/2011
First day in Beijing. Beijing is different from Tianjin, and Beijing seems like a complicated place to live in, compared to Tianjin. For one, there seem to be much more people in Beijing, and a lot more tourists. Beijing’s traffic jams are quite spectacular, and this is when walking is faster than driving.

Traffic jam! At about 10 am on a Friday morning, where the rush hour period is long over, and many people are at work. Well..Nope, and the road seems permanently crowded. The idea of rush hour traffic seizes to exist, cause throughout the day, the roads are jammed. Like that. It's a good thing the cars do move, but very, very much slower.  

Apartment block for singles only. So if you're attached, married, separated or widowed, you cannot stay here. Well, that pretty much takes care of the many potential residents for now. 

We visited the summer palace and the temple of heaven today. Even though the carparks may seem deserted and nobody is there, you take that impression that no one there back after you go inside. The summer palace is overrun with tourists. There were hawkers everywhere, selling things like maps, snacks, toys, instruments and souvenir items. As we walked, we were continually approached them, peddling their wares, trying to get some business from us.

Entrance of the summer palace. This is where you need a ticket to go in, or climb over the walls 'cuz you're a CIA agent and you think tickets are stupid cause they are a waste of paper, money and manpower.

Giant LED panel displaying the information, or rather "Notes" about the 2 ticketing seasons, codes of conduct. They have explanations in Chinese(for mainland visitors or overseas chinese) and English(for the rest of the world)

Same LED, but this with a different display. 

And another one

 And another one. 

 Ah, ticket pricing of admission. Looks pretty reasonable, compared to the fees we pay in Singapore.

 Entrance of summer palace. Squeezed through the gate with tons of tourists. Yes i now love crowds. zzz.

 A man doing chinese calligraphy using water and tiles as ink and paper. The water dries up after a while, so the words fade in a few hours, which is kinda sad. Still, extremely cool on my rank.

A rather big 寿, which means longevity. I took this when he was done with his word. I reckon it's 3m across and 5m long.

I don’t know whether to pity or scorn them. I pity them because they have no choice but to sell souvenirs on the streets to earn their keep, I scorn them for not applying for a proper job, given the number of hiring notices around. In any case, they’re (hopefully) independent and living on their own money, which I think it’s the bare minimum to live your life.
I nearly got lost today. The place was soo big, and I was occupied with taking photographs (on assignment) and I didn’t notice the rest of them walking off!

 Inside the main courtyard, where numerous tourists groups were gathered beneath the flowering spring trees. It would look nicer if it wasn't this crowded.

Men hawking/playing chess in a quiet corner of the gardens. I still can't remember/ don't know what they are really doing.

I need to be more attentive of my surroundings in the future. I don’t want to end up as a “missing person” in china that no one is able to find. That kind of news isn’t very welcome to anybody, especially to my mother.
Checked into a hotel in the evening. The hotel in Beijing compared to the one in Tianjin seems like miles apart. The room felt really comfortable and nice (so are the rates, they go by USD), and I didn’t feel like coming out any time soon.

Picture of our hotel room, view of the door. The bathroom is on the right hand side, and the "kitchen" on the right. The bathroom has a bathtub, powerful toilet and a giant bath mirror in front of the sink. Now my house toilet seems on par with the one in Tianjin, compared to this one. It feels like a dream.

Picture of the writing desk. Like how am I supposed to write anything if the light's all wrong ?

For dinner we had a taste of roasted duck. Dinner was in a specialty restraint selling that. We were greeted by dishes and dishes of food, and as many of my friends were not feeling so well, so the table we were at for 10 people had only 6 people around it.

Table of food. 

The same picture again, just the camera's slightly tilted so you can see the size of the table (and dishes), and you can see just how much food is uneaten.

I don’t know because we were tourists, the decision to add extra dishes was made, or simply because that is the normal appetite of the locals to eat that much food, but half of the food on the table went uneaten. The portions were simply too big for us, I felt overwhelmed just by staring at the food, not to mention eating it.
At the end of the meal, the food would have been disposed off, and it’s such a waste to cook so much and barely half gets eaten. And there are people who can hardly get enough to fill their stomachs. I guess this is the wealth-poverty divide in china.
I think it’s alright to cook just enough food or sometimes even less, but I hate to see wasted or uneaten food. Besides, cooking less = wasting less=buying less=higher savings.
Caught up with my sister on the phone after roll call. The poor girl got so much going on, I think she needs a break. I shall find something nice for her. I don’t know what yet though. my parents are uncontactable for now.

DAY PHOTOS

On the highway to Beijing, we drove past a farm. There's a person cycling on the small road in the picture, just that I can't zoom in too much (the zoom eats the battery life. Please use a DSLR people. It saves electricity) 

Trainee Policemen on a walkabout. I think this was outside the training academy.

A newspaper stand in Beijing. Geez, even the Tianjin one only probably takes up half of the size of the newsstand. I'm not used to it.

A tour guide taking a short breather while waiting for her tourists to return from their photo taking frenzy after getting absolutely carried away by the scenery in front of them. She replaced the normal tour guide flag with a Miffy Rabbit toy, which is rather uncommon. 

Residents taking the day to practice their acrobatics. They do this for leisure and as an interest, rather than taking it to a full time job. 

A classic example of Chinese ingenuity. This is actually the drain for the gardens to prevent rainwater from collecting. It doesn't look like one and there are intricate carvings on it. I thought that was the platform frogs jump on in the middle of the night.

·     A small boy playing with a toy. His expression of concentration is adorable

-temple of heaven

·       Poor bird chained on a stand, so it can only sing. The bird was flying about when we approached it, I managed to take this after it had its attention drawn to a piece of fruit my friend held up

A man busking by playing a traditional pan pipe. I've heard about it so many times, but this is my first time seeing it.

Taa Daa!! Temple of heaven. Crowded.. As usual. And my camera doesn't let me take the pretty colors of the temple exterior..

Tour Guide on a break. Talking on the phone does give one a lot of energy. 

·         More photos of tour guides on a quick breather. Like this one. The guide fitted her guide flag atop the umbrella. Nice. 

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