Don’t worry, there are subtitles. It’s a long commercial for Beijing-based Plastered T-shirts. You can see some scenes of hutong life in it.
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 The Birds Nest at night Though we had all gone to bed in the wee hours Thursday, we were all surprisingly alert by 9 am. First up, a walking trip to the Bank of China east of the hotel to exchange American greenbacks for Chinese yuan. Then, we took a not-so-successful trip to price cell phones in Zhongguancun 中关村, got lunch at Pizza Hut, and visited Yuanmingyuan 圆明园, which is a short subway ride away. Yuanmingyuan, also known as the Old Summer Palace, was the site of the Imperial Gardens, which the British and French ransacked and burned to the ground in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Now, the Gardens of Perfect Brightness are one of Beijing’s many tourist attractions, and Westerners — even British and French ones — are welcome to visit. Friday was our day to visit the Forbidden City. Though Sally, Vanilla and I had been to Tian’anmen Square twice so far, we saved the Forbidden City for the new teachers’ arrival. The Imperial Palace, as it is also known, is a huge place; a thorough visit would take two full days at least. We lasted only a few hours. Between the hot sun, the huge crowds, and wacked-out sleep schedules, all six of us were pretty tired after seeing only a fraction of the grounds. Besides, we also wanted to shop in Xidan 西单 and see the Water Cube and Birds Nest before calling it a day … um, night. Possibly related posts:
 Team JiDa prepares for takeoff Hoo boy. A few months ago, my son told me he was going to visit me in China, so I advised him to come in through Beijing. Shortly afterward, I learned that Max, Karen and daughter Haley would be coming to Jishou U. So, I suggested they could arrive about the time my son would leave from Beijing, so I could drop him off and pick them up. Instead, ticket prices rose, and James couldn’t come this year, but I decided to stick to the second part of the plan and visit Beijing anyway. While I was riding around in a car in Anhui province the week before, I was chatting on QQ. The foreign affairs office at JiDa wants us to fly in and out of Changde now, instead of Changsha, since the Changde airport (though small) is two hours closer to Jishou than Changsha’s. Sally Liu (a student I blogged about a while ago) lives near Changde and was on QQ one day. It occurred to me I could meet her in Changde and see the town before flying to Beijing. Possibly related posts:
TIANJIN, CHINA — I have set a land speed record, for me, anyway. Last Sunday I went nearly 209 mph (334 km/hr), in complete comfort. No, not in a car. In one of China’s bullet trains. Last weekend, I had to visit the US Embassy in Beijing (for reasons I will explain below), and I had set aside one day of my three-day junket to sight-see. While my hotel was fairly close to the Bird’s Nest and the Olympic Park, I decided to add another city to my list of visited places — Tianjin, a historic city that hosted foreign concessions as far back as the 1860s. I would have skipped Tianjin for a more propitious time, but the idea of zipping along at an average speed of 150 mph was really appealing. I love trains.  Washing bullet trains for the next run China is completely gonzo about high-speed rail services. Already blessed with an extensive conventional rail network, China is building new HSR lines to connect the provincial capitals and major cities. One such HSR line is the 73 mile (117 km) run between Beijing and Tianjin. China’s bullet trains are built by China High-speed Rail (CHR) using technology and designs shared by French, Japanese and German companies. They run on dedicated electrified lines on welded rails (no clickety-clack noises), and the cars have airline-style seating. Ticket prices are a bit steeper than for conventional trains; the Beijing-Tianjin run costs 58 yuan ($8.50 — yeah, Americans, it sounds cheap, but a sleeper berth on the overnight train from Changsha to Jishou is 118 yuan. Everything’s relative.) Possibly related posts:
BEIJING — I cut short the previous post, because I realized what time it was: the beginning of rush hour! The time flew by while was writing; it was already 5 pm when I left the Starbucks. Rush hour in Beijing is like rush hour in any big city. As an experienced New Yorker, I knew what I was in for: commuters packed like sardines in a rolling tin can. It was either brave the commuting hordes, or sit in Starbucks for another hour to wait rush hour out. I decided to brave the crowds. Onve you have experienced the arcane, century-old NYC subway system, any newly designed (aka modern) system is a piece of cake. Beijing’s subway is no exception. Pardon me while I bore you with details. My hotel, part of the 7 Days Inn chain, is in Sihui, near my friend Katrina’s Beijing home. It is neat, no frills place, a bit like a Super 8 or a Motel 6. You get cable TV, a nice bathroom, a kingsize bed, free Internet, a smallish room, and free breakfast for 169 RMB a night. My stay here was a total of 1014 RMB for six nights, or about $150. [You can add that to the cost of renewing my passport. That, and another 900 RMB for train fare.] Possibly related posts:
BEIJING, CHINA — I am violating my no-Starbucks rule and chilling at the pervasive overpriced coffee house just a few blocks from the US Embassy. A caffe Americano (plain black coffee) here is 24 RMB, about $3.50. Some things are universal. The clientele is bit more international than in Louisville, of course. Within earshot were two women speaking German, a group of businessmen and women speaking Chinese, two Americans and one Caucasian woman fiercely intent on her iPod and laptop. This place, attached to a swanky hotel, is a bit more upscale than some SB’s I have visited, too. But then, that seems to be the norm here. (The Pizza Hut I visited earlier this week looked like a 4-star restaurant.) The purpose of my visit to Beijing now fulfilled, I can take time to record the last few days’ activities. Nothing really exciting happened, unless you count the afternoon spent shopping for a new laptop (which I am now using). My passport expires in September, but I have decided to stay longer than a year. At some point I needed to renew my passport, so I can renew my Chinese residence permit. It expires in early July, so first things first. I had to renew my US passport before July. Possibly related posts:
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