China on $50 a weekend

This past weekend I took a mini-trip to Chengde, a medium sized city about 4 hours by train from Beijing.  

Some highlights:

• Taking the bus is slow, frustrating and cramped.  Buses apparently have no regulations and regularly pick up random passengers who wait by freeway entrances in an effort to make an extra buck.  We wasted almost 2 hours because our bus was trying to pick up passengers.
• Bargaining really is an art.  You can even bargain for the hotel room.  The place we stayed in the first night made a huge show of how much nicer they were than another place down the street, even saying "We guarantee 24 hour hot water!".  Untrue.  Yay cold showers.
• The Imperial Summer Villa was breathtaking.  It's good to be Emperor.
• Temples everywhere.  We only saw two.  Turns out nowadays, temples = gift shops.
• Almost got into a fistfight because a taxi driver tried to cheat us out of 1.60 RMB (approximately $0.20).
• Called the local authorities on a breakfast place for trying to cheat us out of 20 RMB (~$2.50)
• Tried Chinese white wine, 8 RMB a bottle (~$1).  Only 56% alcohol, but went down like fire.  I'll stick to 151.
• Entire trip cost (2 nights): 450 RMB (~$56)

Beautiful

Today marks at least the fourth or fifth time someone has commented on how nice my skin looks.  Mostly because I am white as a sheet, and as it turns out, pale is the new tan in Asia.

So all those in the US who said I always looked sickly and pale, IN YOUR FACE!

All bicycles go to heaven

Of course you hear about how everyone in China rides bicycles everywhere-- but it has to be seen to be believed.

I thought I could get away without a bicycle. 'I'll walk everywhere!' I told myself, indignantly. I caved within a day. The campus is enormous and it takes at least 30 minutes to walk anywhere. Even on bicycle, it takes at least 10 minutes.

Given some large proportion of a at least 1.5 billion people ride bicycles, it follows that there would be a healthy industry built around bicycles. The difference between China and the U.S. is that this industry isn't built around new bicycles, but rather, old bicycles. You can't go more than a mile without seeing a bicycle repair shop. And most people ride old bicycles, or, if you pay a little more, new bicycles that have been professionally made to look old.

Apparently, there is a lot of thievery in China, especially of bicycles. A friend of mine, who bought a rather shitty second-hand bicycle, had his stolen within a matter of days. Granted, it was unlocked, but it was parked in a well-lit place around a lot of people. He thought his bike was too shitty to be stolen, and was very wrong.

Given that everyone rides bicycles, there is also some need for bicycle-pooling, because it's not always convenient to find parking. So, often you will see someone riding on the back of the bicycle. (Every bicycle comes with a little luggage rack above the rear wheel) I hope that one day, I will make it big, and be able to afford a bicycle with a cushion on the back. Then, I'll be able to attract the ladies.

I ended up getting a beauty of a clunker. Pictures to come.