Pagodas!

It is Saturday - time for the weekly excursion...

This morning, we woke up to a pretty grim situation. For those who follow Kimbeijingerly, you know that our Korean vacation was a bust earlier in the week. What you may not know is that since we returned, the air quality has been so bad that the embassy rates it as "dangerous", advising all children to stay inside. The issue is that on top of the fog, the inversion layer over Beijing traps all the burning coal smoke from the nearby villages. Simply evil. Here is a picture of the sun today at 2pm.

We thought about staying inside and groaning all day but rallied to get out of town. About an hour away are the mountains - we figured that if we got there it would still be foggy but at least less polluted. Boy, was that the fix for us.

We went to the Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest - roughly an hour away. This is an area that has several 1000 yr old pagodas with the ashes of buddhist monks resting inside. It was pretty amazing.

On top of the pagodas, it also is in a beautiful mountain setting - we hiked for 2-3 hrs up to the peak. About 2/3 of the way there, there is a big bell you can ring for buddhist good luck.

Our driver, Mr. Duan, came along with us. I think it was nice for him to see - he had never visited there before. Frankly, I think he is convinced we are insane. (the peak we hiked to is the one behind Lucas - yes, all the way to the top).

Also, I got to watch Kimberly the linguist master chat with him in Chinese. I am already light years behind her. Mere miles behind Lucas. At least Kimbeijingerly taught me how to remember how to say "I forgot".

At the end of the day, we drove back through the pollution to home. However, definitely recharged and ready for another week.

More pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30443412@N08/sets/72157625125146988/

Zai Tien!

Brad

Lama Temple

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Originally uploaded by cincimakers

The weekend before Forbidden City - we went to Lama temple. This active Tibetan Buddhist monastery is about 40 minutes from our house and was amazing! Packed with tourists, monks, and monk tourists.

The complex was 10-20 different temples, ranging prom pocket size to one big enough to house a 50' tall Buddah carved from a single sandlewood tree. Wow.

That's it for todays's posts - more to come (hopefully more quickly than last time)

b

Family Pictures

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Originally uploaded by cincimakers

Last weekend the trip was to the Forbidden City. It was pretty amazing. Basically just the buildings but amazingly huge. Hard to believe that this was essentially someone's house less then 100 years ago.

While there, no less than 4 families asked Lucas to join them in their family photo. He was clearly their favorite exotic sight. Go figure.

And the weekend before ....

Saturday Excursions

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Originally uploaded by cincimakers

Wow - it has been a long time since I have posted. Luckily, Kimbeijingerly has been picking up the slack.

We have started to settle into a rhythm here. Every Saturday, we see something cool. Every Sunday, we stay home, have soccer (sorry - football) practice, and relax. The weeks are packed with work, figuring out life, and normal life. Except life is not normal here. However, becomes more so every day. However, this post is not about the joys and struggles of settling in, it is about Saturday adventures.

This picture at left is obviously Optimus Prime. For those who didn't know, after he filmed Transformers the movie - he came to Beijing to hang out in the modern art zone - 798. He lives there amidst injustrial tanks, factories, caged dinosaurs, paintings, and other assorted modern art goodies. We had a great time yesterday with Lucas and his friends playing the game - "is this art?".

And last weekend ....

How to buy a bike in Beijing - step 1

Well - i decided that it was time to start biking to work. However, I needed a bike. Not my Serotta. Not a mountain bike. I needed a real chinese bike - heavy, tough, and cheap.

I thought about getting a used Pigeon or other communist era bike but decided to go with a basic new Giant. Giant and Trek are the big brands here but Giant seems to be a bit more utilitarian.

Super proud of myself, I downloaded the name and phone of the store in Chinese to my ipad (my drive does not speak english). I had never been there but friends told me it was only 5 min away. Lucas and I hopped into the Minivan with our driver - Mr Duan.

To my surprise -we drove for like 45 minutes. Guess I got the wrong store. Mr Duan had to hop out and ask directions 3 or 4 times as well. We were in a VERY Chinese city outside of Shunyi where we live. Not another westerner in sight.

Finally - we got to the Giant store. Luckily, next door there were a bunch of cannons parked including shells. Lucas was certainly excited.

I found a nice cheap bike for $120 inside. However, when I asked them to come down in price (everything must be negotiated in China) they wouldn't drop a dime. I think this offended Mr Duan. He got on the phone and told me "better price - my friend --go". I figured what the hell and we got back in the car.

How to buy a bike in Beijing - step 2

After leaving the Giant store, we got back in the car and drive back to Shunyi. Lucas and I passed the time by checking out weird vehicles - like this one piled high with bottles for recycling. (the best was the day before when we saw someone walking his goat behind a motorized cart)

How to buy a bike in Beijing - step 3

So - after we drove back to our area, our driver brought us to a back alley in one of the rural "villages" of Beijing. These are the areas that nobody goes that is not local.

We pulled up to a sliding metal door, Mr. Duan honked the horn, and we drove into a dusty courtyard, driving around various small dogs rolling in the dust and barking at our tires.

Mr. Duan's friend came out and said hi (I guess - all was in Chinese). He then called someone, yelled into the phone, and the bike box behind Lucas came down the conveyor. They guys (all in offical Giant shirts) assembled the bike and let me test ride it around the dogs in the courtyard. $90 changed hands and the bike was mine - saved a whopping $30 vs the $120 retail price.

I must say, the savings wasn't huge in $$ terms but was a great experience. Also - I plan to get a nice mountain bike while here - definitely will go the wholesale route and have Mr. Duan hook me up.