It has been an adventurous fortnight for Trivia G here, especially in the vehicles department. Well, at least now I know that Bruce is capable of taking care of itself, whenever I am not around, and that it gets cranky (literally) when I do not drive it for more than a week!

Ok, back to Beijing. Today, lets go to the summer crib of emperors of the yore, and see a bridge with many lions...

But first, let me introduce you to Beijing's infamous traffic...I spent alot of time in the bus, to the extent that I managed to master a game on my mobile phone, during the 7 short days I was touring...

A lakeside view of the Summer Palace. The cool breeze of the lake was a welcomed reprieve from the sweltering Beijing heat. It is a HUGE structure, and it spans the lake, the palace on top of the hill, and some more gardens to the left of the lake (picture below)!!

and this....

The Nanjing Bridge where the Nanjing Massacre took place. I guess they did not know how to build draw bridges, as the enemy used this bridge to enter into Beijing and (I think) conquer it. It is also known as the Marco Polo Bridge, because....the famous explorer rode his horse through here and deigns the scenery of the bridge to be the most beautiful he has seen...Each of the lions/mythical-creatures-that-look-like-lions here are different from one another. K the tour leader asked us to count the number of lions, and answers ranged in the 100's. It was kinda fun seeing the Uncles in my group trying to count the lions - one needs to walk the bridge twice because there are lions on both sides, and its kinda confusing to try to count both sides at once...

....And here's the scene.... err.. yes, it is a bridge across a field.... because the river that used to flow through it ceased to do so because of a dam upstream....Still a sight to behold, no?

The path on the bridge itself was re-surfaced, leaving a small part in the middle of the bridge which is made of the original stones - it was well-worn and very uneven to walk on, unless you really want to sprain your ankle(s)!

Linguistic Clash

As one observes from TG's profile, she cannot speak, write, or comprehend Mandarin. Bad, bad goddess, as that language is actually supposedly her mother tongue. Technically though, the Chinese come from various dialect groups, and I am a Hokkien - Sin-Neng hybrid. I usually simplify matters by telling people I am Hokkien, as Sin-Neng is an obscure dialect group. I can understand Sin-Neng abit (hah! take THAT you Mandarin-spewing peeps!!), and have the comprehension and vocabulary of a 7-year-old in the Hokkien dialect - enough to order food, ask to be fed... what more could a goddess ask for??

Anyway, I digress, after HPAIR, I was supposed to join a tour of Beijing-Tianjin-Chengdu with a tour group from my hometown. The tour leader (K) asked me to meet them at the Temple of Heaven, which was 20 mins away from the hotel. Hence, I made my way there, anticipating lots of knowledge and fun for the next 7 days.

I met them at the pearl shop at the Temple of Heaven - an anti-climax if there was every any, as what I saw was oysters with pearls, and lots and lots of pearl-based-girl decos. This goddess is not into pearls, and her significant other has often-times sighed a big sigh of relief because of that - s0, dont go telling me that 'oh, girls must like jewelry one maaaaa!!"

The Temple of Heaven - apparently a place where the Emperors of China came to pray for good harvests, etc etc. Also a place filled with local and non-local tourists.

Me infront of the structure that was supposed to symbolise the 4 seasons, no. of elements, and how many lunar cycles etc etc - all apparently matches the no. of pillars and levels there are in the structure.

The reason for this pathetic knowledge of what I was visiting? Well, my friends, from today onwards, my knowledge of China will be transmitted 2nd hand - by K, while the Tour Guide (got difference one, you know!!) babbles on in Mandarin (re: first paragraph of this blog). K can only do this while she is not busy hearding the 31 other people who are in my travel group, and when she is not busy making calls to the next accomodation or destinations to make arrangements.

So, out of boredom, I made it my mission to take pictures of the places from un-common angles - like the one above - I think it is from a bunch of stairs - yes there are more stairs. And is it me, or did they paint all these temples/palaces the same shade of red, blue, gold, green, and white?? By this time, it was getting really, really hot, and thankfully, the tour ended, and all of us gathered at a park of some kind. Watched some people play a version of badminton/tennis which a racquet that had a shortened handle and a rubber ball - it was so graceful, and seemed to defy the laws of physics, and also something that South Malaysians will know was Chap-teh - a shuttle-cock-like thing that one kicks with ones leg.

After that, we went to, what I was told, was supposed to be a special lunch. It was..... Peiking Duck.... AGAIN for me!! Oh well, I ate some, but I guess the jaded feeling for this duck is slowing seeping in.

We went to see pandas after that. Australia -Kangaroos, China - Pandas - natually. First we only got a$$ shots of those shy animals - which would be sufficient, but then, disaster struck.

We followed the other people there to another enclosure where a panda can be seen close-up. And yes we did. I think the panda is cute, and HUGE. Reminds me of a certain someone ;-) HOWEVER, can you see the thing he is playing with???

It is a plastic mineral water bottle!!! Stupid tourists threw that in, so that he will come nearer to the fences where we were, so that they can take a better picture of it. WEI!!! GO DOWNLOAD A PICTURE OF THEM FROM THE INTERNET LA!!! THEY ARE ALMOST EXTINCT, YOU KNOW, AND YOU WANNA HURT THEM WITH YOUR MAN-MADE ECOLOGICALLY-UNFRIENDLY THINGS??? As this picture is being taken, another tourist has thrown in another bottle as this one was tearing to bits. I really hope that panda does not get hurt playing with these dangerous objects - would you let a child play with this bottle???!!

The One With HPAIR (Continued...)

The last blog entry threatened to crash on itself due to the numerous pictures, so here is a continuation of my blog on HPAIR. This will be my last blog for the day. The Gala Dinner was a bittersweet event, as we, the participants and speakers, were to part ways after that. The keynote speeches managed to captivate the audience with the urgent message about creating global citizens and future leaders who understand, and emphatise with each other. However, how can you put a bunch of young people together at a table with food, and not expect hilarity to commence? Here's how...

I had Duck #3 during the Gala dinner. They served two roasted pigeons too. As you can see, not much of it was eaten. Trivia Goddess remembered the fact that Pigeons carried cancer-causing stuff, and the fact that the HEAD of the pigeon was served, made her decide not to partake in the pigeon. My table-mates thought the head was a good photo-op, and put it on a spoon so that we can take proper pictures of it... Marc the Quebec-guy, also thought it will be funny to...

kiss the pigeon!! See how amused we were, and the awesome photo-op it presented. We were trying SO HARD to surpress our gigles as the speeches were still on, and people at other tables were already looking at us funny...

My roommate during my stay at the Hyatt - Jessica!

What more can I ask for?? Great people, great conference... It was an event to remember. Next - Trivia G's amazing trip through Beijing!!

The One With HPAIR 2007

Finally! This post is about the conference that I went to. I submitted a paper about 'Densha Otoko' a.k.a. Trainman - for the Pop Culture workshop. It was written in a short period of time, thanks to the DVDs of Trainman provided by my darling, and some further research. It was surprising that I got it, considering I threw my hat into the ring hours before the deadline!

There were also workshops about Security, Leadership, Social Policy, Economic Growth, and Information Society in HPAIR 2007. I presented a paper in the Pop Culture workshop. Overall, the conference was FUN, EDUCATIONAL, and ENLIGHTENING. I will recommend it to any undergrad or postgrad. I met so many people from all over the world, and learnt alot in those four days!!

Opening ceremony. Funky... We had plenary sessions on Energy and the Environment, as well as the Olmpics - enlightening topics, and relevant to China, which is where we are, too..

Some of my workshop mates... Our workshop watched movies, listened to songs, and saw interesting pictures, and had notable speakers. Bollywood, Tibetian tea-houses and movies, HK movies, animes, mangas, sculptures, religion, TV, were all discussed. People from other workshops 'migrated' to ours because it was so cool! GO POP CULTURE!!

Me and Natasa of Slovenia. We were probably the oldest pop culture workshop participants. An interesting thing about the participants of the conference is that they all have interests in Asia, be it Asian economics, culture, politics, and so forth. There were 3 Malaysian participants that I know of, me, Peter, and another Chinese gal who is studying in China. I think there are more, but they are 'hiding' as students from our neighbouring island-state uni's and Chinese uni's. It is saddening that we have Malaysians who do not want to be identified as such, and this is our younger generation! Something has gone wrong somewhere...

Having said that, I noticed that some of the students are really 'citizens of the world' - they come from one country, spent their childhood in another 1 or more country, and pursued their university studies in another! I think we need more people like that to have less wars...

The always-cheerful Singaporeans - it IS a country with a million smiles! They set up a booth during International Night, along with the Germans, Koreans and others which for the life of me, I cannot remember now. There were performances (singing, dancing, fashion shows) during the night as well, by the Koreans, Indonesians, Japanese, Chinese, Singaporeans, and many more. The one that caught my attention was the one by this Ukrainan girl - she was the ONLY rep from her country, and gave a short talk about Ukraine. Now, THAT is what I called patriotism!

The coolest speakers on the block! On the right is Prof. Helen Hardacre from Harvard - the speach was in a Q&A format with Linda Stein, a feminist/sculptress - who had her one minute of fame in Borat's movie.

On our last day, we went on a field trip to the Living Dance Studio and the 798 Art District. A fellow participant, Amanda told a silly but farnie joke - Q: Why were the other numbers afraid of "7"? A: Because 7 ate (8) 9!! hahahahahaha... err... not funny?? :P

These are the faces of people who partied too hard during International Night and the after-parties held thereafter - we were all trying hard to stay awake to listen to the presentation about the independent Modern Dance movement in China...

Natasa and Amanda infront of the dance studio. It was a former factory, if I am not mistaken. Pretty landscaping though...

Post-dance studio. We found a nice restaurant - food was not expensive too! This is Duck #2... Re: previous post.

Scene from the 798 Art District. We saw alot of sculptures, drawings, and other works of art... Among them was...

A Chairman Mao(s) statue...Cheeky Peter in a life-imitating art moment.

The One With a Peiking Duck

We are still at Day 1. Peter wanted to fulfil his life-long dream of eating Peiking Duck in... Peiking for dinner, and persuaded us to go to this uber-famous place, Li Qin, for it. So, us two girls, one who is not a big fan of ducks, and another one who is a vegetarian, followed our fearless leader to the place, with the help of the hotel doorman, who told the cab driver where the place was. The cab driver had to call up the place for more info, which made me a little worried whether this will be the downfall of being three people who has the Mandarin language comprehension limited to counting 1-10, and saying 'ni hau' and 'xie xie' ONLY. The mystery deepens when the cab dropped us off a lonely-looking street and Peter led us into a dark alley where some hutongs can be seen. How can a famous restaurant be located somewhere this isolated??? Naturally, I voiced my concerns "Oi Peter, you taking us to sell to pimps issit??" But I was soon silenced when we arrived at the restaurant, which is actually in a real hutong (a courtyard home). We had to wait for almost 30 minutes, eventhough we had reservations (we arrived early due to over-enthusiasm), and there was a LINE forming to go into this humble restaurant. We entertained outselves watching the ducks being fire-roasted, and with the waiting patrons' antics...

Ducks being roasted... I think I zoomed too much in this pic...

The restaurant-in-a-hutong. Festive, isn't it?

Peter, demostrating to us how to eat the duck, when it finally came, ONE HOUR after we sat down and entertained ourselves with the two vegetable dishes we ordered. (it was worth it!!) It involves putting cucumber and spring onion strips on the popiah-like skin, after smearing the skin with the dark sauce, and then the duck meat. The duck was carved right infront of our eyes...luckily, although it looked huge, the amount of meat was not too overwhelming, as there were only two of us to finish it! Peter finished most of the duck, while I had some, which was a good thing, for I ended up eating Peiking duck FOUR times during my short sojourn in Beijing - not by my choosing!

The One With Big Buildings

Opposite the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People, among other buildings. Roohi, Peter, and I walked to Tiananmen Square after the registration session for HPAIR and a quick tea.

This is the countdown-thing to the 2008 Olympics in front of the Great Hall of the People. Apparently it was just installed recently, so..lucky us! Peter, being the boy he is, was so tempted to kacau the soldier that was standing ramrod straight infront of the building - just to see how he will react, but fortunately, common sense prevailed.

Me infront of the place...

A rather nice monument - people power!!

Chairman Mao's museum was under renovations (re: previous post). Roohi and Peter were amazed when Trivia Goddess told them that the body of Chairman Mao was mumified, as another leader - Stalin.

Interesting road signs off Tiananmen Square. Can someone tell me what does the one with the car and the 'explosion' on it (the right-most one) means?

Another work-in-progress - the National Performing Arts Center. Why do countries LOVE to build semi-spherical buildings?? Eg: Geodestic Dome @ Komtar Penang, the 'durian' at Singapore's Esplanade...

The One With the Un-Chinese

I was at the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations 2007 Conference (HPAIR 2007) from 16-26 Aug. in Beijing recently. The conference was only from 17-20 August, but apparently, it would have been very un-chinese of me if I did not visit Beijing fully since I am going there anyway (under the auspices of my supervisor and my piggy bank's accounts). I took off on an SIA flight from Penang - Singapore, and was on a Beijing-bound plane a little after midnight, after meeting up with my new-found friend Roohi at Changi. We shared a cab to Grand Hyatt, where the conference will be held, and which will be our home for the next few days. The first language difficulty we had was in the cab - poor driver managed to tell us just in time that he needed 10 yuan for toll. Imagine trying to tell that to two sleep-deprived girls, neither of whom speak mandarin, and who does not know what a 10yuan note looks like...you get my point.

First impression of Beijing - it is a little blurred - literally - the skies were cloudy/hazy - official statement - it is due to the yellow dust storm from the desert far west. Roohi and I were very optimistic, and decided to conquer the Forbidden City less than 4 hours after getting off the plane. We did not know how FRIGGIN HUGE it was - guidebooks advise a whole day to appreciate it - we did it in three hours... We also almost kena conned on our way there by some young woman asking us to go to a "special art exhibition" which was interesting, if there was not ANOTHER girl telling us about HER art exhibition after we politely declined the first! After some detours, we managed to get to the Forbidden City safely...Here are some pictures that, and other stuff we did on Day 1, 16th of August.

See?? Its hazy!!! and... Lots and Lots of people...China is home to 1.3 billion of people afterall.

Compulsory picture of the front of the Forbidden City - correct me if I am wrong arr, this adventure started after a 5-hr plane ride... this is the entrance before the real entrance to the forbidden city - the one facing the main avenue of Chang An Avenue...

Another blurred view of the forbidden city...

China - the country filled with... stairs...

...and more stairs... nice ornate carvings though, which I guess one needs to distract oneself of the amount of stairs one has to climb!!

This hall is being restored - will be opened end of 2007. Yes, it is a good idea to visit Beijing this year before the Olympics in 2008, but bear in mind some of the landmarks will be undergoing restoration in preparation for '08.

Long story short, Roohi and I had a great time exploring the Forbidden City, we first went to EVERY temple/museum, but, it was HUGE, and all we wanted to do after two hours into this adventure was to get reach the exit of the city - we marched straight on - no more museums and Hall-of-Englightenment-etc for us, no sirree!! we took a cab to the hotel, although it was walking distance... the Forbidden City was... A CITY!!....my legs still can remember the pain of the walk... the good that came from this - now I don't complain of climbing the stairs up to my apartment...