New Years Day, 2016: We landed in Beijing on time. We decided to skip the Great Wall due to time constraints, but a damaged bag also delayed us further. We proceeded to the office, in which the agent said that the two options were to fly back to Japan to get it fixed (ummm, nope), or that he had a replacement suitcase that was "$100 on the market." Since my suitcase was around that price, but I knew that his was nowhere near (it didn't even have extender abilities), I told him that we would take the suitcase if he could also offer us some funds. He said no, then he gave a very low price. We bargained for over 15 minutes, yelling and arguing. This is not at all how it works in Japan. They give you a sum of money based on the type of damage, not at all outside of reason, and then profusely apologize. But after a while, he agreed to a compromise amount, then shook my hand and said "you win." Let me be clear: I won nothing. This was a disgrace.
From there we went to find a taxi. We were told that a taxi could not hold our bags and that we would need a 200 yuan van. We had to argue here as well, then name our price for a normal taxi (good I looked up reasonable prices beforehand), and then we all shoved in and headed off. The driver got lost and spoke zero English, but eventually we made our way there. We stayed at Hotel Jen for one night near the Chabad of Beijing, unpacked, got things settled, and made our way to Friday night services and dinner. What a tiring day, especially considering we were up all night. We returned that evening to our room, looking out into the night as the buildings disappeared into a purple-yellow haze. It was pretty disgusting, and you could taste it in the air.
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| A smoggy view from the hotel room |
Jan. 2: We went to the synagogue in the morning, followed by lunch. In the afternoon, we made our way to a really neat area of Beijing, a sort of reclaimed abandoned factory district-qua-art district. There were plenty of interesting and odd exhibits from all over the world, most of them free, making for a very refreshing scene and a great way to spend the afternoon. We returned to the synagogue in the evening, then returned to the hotel, grabbed our bags, and took a taxi across town to the Doubletree, welcoming us with warm cookies and at least half-decent English.
Following check-in, we walked over to the subway station and went to Wangfujing Street to see the night market. So many interesting smells, all of which I'm sure would have made for a variety of tastes and stomach problems. People were eating bugs and cows, pigs and rats, living, dead, whatever. It sure was something. We also went into a big bookstore nearby, since my dad loves Chinese military literature (which probably raised a few eyebrows as well). We then saw the entrance to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square at night, with Changan Avenue lit up in traditional Moscow Communist fashion, replete with guards and plenty of cameras. Eerie and effective.
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| My dad seeing the Forbidden City entrance for the first time |
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| Hello, comrade. |
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| Look at that nasty smog! |
Jan. 3: There was a gentleman from London who worked at the Doubletree with impeccable Mandarin. He was both friendly and extraordinarily professional, making it a sincere pleasure to plan out our next two days. We walked over to the Temple of Heaven, a disappointment, in truth, after all of the temples and shrines kept beautifully in Japan. That said, it was much more colorful, and the park in the area was clearly a familiar place to the locals, many playing chess, go, cards, or other Chinese games.
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| Relics at the Temple of Heaven |
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| Looking inside the temple |
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| Old stoves in the Temple of Heaven complex, once used for animal sacrifice |
From there, we traveled to the Forbidden City and walked through. Man, it goes on forever. It was incredible thinking back to the vassals and tributaries of old and the power that such a place would have commanded (and required to keep). It was very impressive.
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| Daytime outside the Forbidden City. See all of the cameras and speakers on those lights? |
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| Moat (frozen) outside the palace walls |
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| Some pottery from the Beijing Capital Museum |
Jan. 4: Since it was our final day in Beijing and my father wanted to try a bullet train, we decided to buy round trip tickets to Baoding, a nearby town. The train was faster than the Shinkansen in Japan, but less sleek and comfortable, and also quite packed. We made our way out of the train and began to wander, going into a supermarket and seeing some of the local (and foreign fare). We went up in that building and found ourselves in a multi-level building filled entirely with sellers of fake wares. There was no attempt at hiding. Prices were dirt cheap, brands were terribly spelled, and we clearly felt out of place in this smaller, more remote town. Still, we completed our rounds dutifully. We then began to walk down the street, eventually getting bored and deciding to take a bus back to the station. We got on the wrong bus, but with the help of the drivers and the other passengers (and my ability to write some Chinese characters), we made our way back. While waiting for the correct bus, a number of older people began placing chairs in the road to block it. They were clearly protesting, and it was obvious that no young people would join them. There is great fear of government punishment, but the elderly have less to worry about. As we boarded our bus and headed around it, we saw a police car going in the other direction. Freedom to gather is not a right or privilege in China. All of the "people's square" areas in every city were filled with guards in case the people would wish to gather. The events of 1989 would not be repeated. The government continues to see to that.
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| Beijing West Railway Station |
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| Starting to protest |
We waited for hours in the Baoding railway station for our return train, eventually boarded, headed back to the hotel to collect our bags, and then made our way to Beijing Railway Station (another relic of Russian influence) for our night train to Harbin in the north. We boarded our soft sleeper, with the two of us, a young female student, and a male middle aged con artist who spent time speaking enough English to try to convince us to first cancel our hotel reservation so that he could use his discounts to get a better one, then trying to convince us to travel with him to our hotel once we arrived as a favor. And man, did he snore and talk in his sleep! I thought I would never fall asleep.
Jan. 5: We arrived into Harbin tired, dazed, and confused. We didn't have any clue where our hotel was, despite thinking that it was walkable. Since we didn't have the address written in Chinese, no one could get us there. However, in the station, there was a gentleman working security who was a huge bulls fan and had some of the best (if not the best) English we had encountered from a local in China, far outside of the areas in which we thought such a thing to be possible. He checked our information, wrote down the address, showed us the taxi stand, and was just really amazing. We took a taxi to the junkiest hotel of our trip, the ibis hotel, checked in, paid a bit for breakfast (a total waste, unless you like northern Chinese pork dumplings), and then dropped our things into the room. We walked around a bit, desiring to head to the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival, but it was apparently too early, as our next taxi driver discovered. He refused to take full fare, dropping us off instead in a shopping area. We looked around at some ice sculptures there and stopped into a Starbucks.
Eventually we took a bus to the festival. It was absolutely frigid, but it was incredible. The colors and shapes used to create the massive and beautiful ice sculptures was unparalleled. I've posted plenty of pictures. We spent time hopping between restaurants/cafes and being outside, eventually waiting until it got dark for the fireworks before heading back to the hotel by bus. I was able to even remember how to get from the bus stop back to our hotel on foot!
Jan 6: Harbin used to have a very large Jewish community, and it turned out that the old synagogue was only a 15 minute walk from our place. We went inside, paid our museum fees, and could easily make out how the shul most likely looked. The first floor was an art gallery, mostly of paintings of cathedrals (of all things!), but the second and third floors were a museum to the Jewish history of Harbin. I learned a lot about the city and its connections to my people.
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| Hamsas and medallions of Lenin. Hmmm... |
In the afternoon, we made our way to the airport. We found a lounge and I showed my Priority Pass and they let us in. As we left, some other people were taking out their Priority Pass and talking to the agents and asking if it gets them in and everyone was very unclear. They were ultimately denied entry, making me think that we should not have gotten in, or that too many questions make for problems. No matter. We boarded the flight on China Southern, which did not have our kosher meals (though the attendant tried very hard to accommodate and make us happy, which we really appreciated). We arrived Shanghai on time, bought the round trip maglev train and 24 hour subway pass, and made our way to the Hilton, sharing some cookies and drinks before bed.
Jan. 7: We decided to explore Shanghai, seeing the Bund and the newer economic centers. We did a lot of walking around, as well as some sitting and watching of the boats.
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| Repairs, standing on the ramparts with bamboo support. |
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| Talk about gaudy... |
At the day went on, we decided to return to the hotel, a good thing indeed, since Dragonair cancelled our flights. We asked the concierge to call them, and while I spoke to the agent at Dragonair, it became more and more apparent that we would need to actually go to the airport to get rebooked. So, ruining our day, we made our way to the airport, without any kosher meal any longer. Frustrated and tired, we headed to the lounge for a respite for a few hours, then made our way to the plane.
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| Shanghai Pudong Airport interior |
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| Our new Dragonair flight, on an Airbus A330. At least the crew were nice. |
Moreover, while watching CNN one day in Beijing, a story was being aired about the Chinese economy falling a bit. That was okay. Then it switched to a story about some disappearing booksellers in Hong Kong. The news, within five seconds, cut to an article they had presented ten minutes before and then repeated an earlier commercial break until this news story passed in real time.
People in China were often quite rude, constantly making me revisit the phrase of "the Japanese are insincerely nice, and the Chinese are sincerely rude." Even if people weren't being directly rude, mannerisms were often quite uncouth. China is simply a different place with a different attitude.
The smog and military prowess of China were both constantly shoved down our throats, one literally, one figuratively through posters and military parade videos on repeat on the subway line. It was pretty unreal, and you could feel a lack of freedom within the country. It was certainly unsettling. Still, I'm thrilled that we were able to see and experience this unique and lovely place.
