More Than Enough Kevins in Beijing

On July 20th, another one of my good high school friends, Kevin Watford, came in to hang out and experience Beijing. Yep, the same Kevin I went to visit about 6 weeks in Shanghai. Sadly, I had quite a busy week, and we only got to hang out a few times. Tuesday night, after I finished all my work, we headed to the famous shopping district of Wangfujing to check out the goods. 

Wangfujing is one of those places that embodies the typical juxtaposition of new, luxurious China, and the absolute shit that is the older Chinese hutongs (dirty, back alleys). But, for me, the best part of China is seeing these hutongs, where all kinds of dirty business goes down. Bargaining is a must, which is a talent of mine, since I love yelling at people in Chinese, and am relatively stubborn. They also had Chuanr (串) of every kind, which is basically meat, fruit, veggies, or (apparently) insects skewered on a stick and grilled or boiled. Here, the specialty was cockroaches, or LIVE scorpions on a stick. By live, I mean that they were still moving, and you picked one and watched as they slapped live insects on a grill. Sadly, I don't have photos, but here's someone else's photos.

The next day, Wednesday, we headed out to Summer Palace (颐和园), which is what it sounds like, the place where the emperor would take his "summer vacation." And what a vacation home. We spent about five hours here just walking around, then hiked up to the very top to see a breathtaking view of nearly all of Beijing and KunMing Lake. Pictures to follow.

Entrance Plaque: Yi He Yuan

An ornate gate, serving essentially no real purpose

Where else can you get hundreds of slaves to 

decorate the underside of your roof?

Kevin Watford's dad pointed out this:

each stone was placed by hand into the sidewalk. 

There's got to be over a mile of this ornate sidewalk,

with flowers and other designs inlaid into the pavement.

I guess when you have unlimited free Chinese slave labor,

anything's possible!

The summer palace is bordered by the beautiful KunMing Lake

Then we climbed to the very top

On the way, a woman was doing the typical 

over-priced "write your name in some Asian style"

In addition to some Buddhist temples, 

the very top had some incredible views

including the lake, where you can apparently rent 

paddle boats or take a ride on this dragon-boat thing

After heading to Summer Palace, I had to return home to study for my test. Then on Thursday, we only had time to get lunch, because CET was taking us on a three-day trip to Xi'an. Xi'an was quite a trip, more on that next time.