pantone801

On my recent whirlwind weekend in Beijing I had several must-see items on my to do list. This included visiting a Hutong, going the the Apple Store in Sanlitun, finding a gay-bar, and visiting the 798 Art District. All the guidebooks rave about the district, and I have also seen a doco ABC about the district and a few artists.

If you are into arty stuff- this is a must see in BJ. There are about 3o-60 galleries with pieces from various artists, and from what I gathered this area was an old factory- maybe something to do with the military. A lot of artists moved into the area and set up studios. I think maybe the district has now become a product of its’ own success, and now the rents are too high and artists cannot afford to work there. The day I was there, Christian Dior had a major event, and I saw a massive sculpture of Shaq O’Neil with a big Nike logo on it. I am not sure if I like the commercialisation and over the top trendiness of the place. But in saying that- it was still a fantastic experience.

The Graffiti was the only street art I saw anywhere in BJ. I was only there for a few days, and there may be other hot spots around the city, but to me it all seemed very controlled.

The first gallery I entered a local guy struck up a conversation with me, and said he wanted to chat with me and practice his English. I was a bit guarded. I have read stories of tourists meet locals that want to practice their English, and are hit with a large fee for their time, or are forced to buy a worthless artwork at the end of the conversation. This guy Tom ended up hanging with me for the rest of the day, and we chatted about Art, and comparing the lives we living different countries. I was not prepared to give him cent (or Yuan) for any ’services’, and as we said goodbye- luckily he was genuine. We swapped email addresses and said farewelled each other.

As I said there was some graffiti, and the quality was great, but I was dissapointed that it was confined to a controlled area, and that I did not see more around the city.

The Chinese characters mean "798"

What is the spoonerism of Five Luck?

This is one of my favourites. Political and Chinese at the same time.

I am so bummed I mssied this episode. Spics ‘n Specs is one of my fav shows. Thanks for sending me the link Marky.

The blue and amber eyes are stunning. This cat was so feral I would not touch it for I feared getting worms or something- a bit sad really. He looks great, and just needs a hoomin to look after him.

I was really surprised that there are so many feral cats in Beijing.

This guy was in a drain, he could not get out, except back down the drain pipe, the first time I walked past he scampered off, later when I came back he was sunning himself in his drain-nest.

via robmuch

I slept in this morning after the big night last night, and luckily this morning I was not feeling too ‘precious’, and made it down to the hotel buffet just in time for breakfast. I usually have fresh fruit, muesli and yoghurt, but today is Sunday and I had a bit much to drink last night so I splurged in french toast, a croissant, bacon, eggs, sausages and more. After that artery clogging meal I decided to get some exercise and go for a walk.

The weather is clear, and very crisp, which is much better than the last time I was here when it was hot, smoggy and humid. On my way out of the hotel I noticed this couple, and I could not help notice this ladys’ boots, they were covered in fur and had a little diamante studded D&G on them. She was wearing a short dress fishnet stockings and a fur shawl, she seemed under-and-over-dressed at the same time.

Fur Boots

Too cold for subaking

Qinhuangdao Hotel

Wandering along the foreshore there is this giant statue that is gated off, and the ticket box was closed. I think the reason it was closed is because the guy was fast asleep in his bed upstairs. I like the boots sitting outside on the window sill

Qinhuangdao Seaside

This smoke stack is behind the hotel, it looks great against the blue sky

Donkeys are used to pull goods around, this is the driveway to the hotel.

I wandered up to the street to see if I could get into see the giant statue, and luckily the other entrance was open. I paid the entry fee of CNY35 (AUD$8) and wandered round taking some photos. Qinhuangdao is the only city in China named after the title of an emperor. Qinhuang refers to the Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC), the first emperor in Chinese history. The emperor searched for the Xian (Chinese “Immortals”, who attained their immortal status by favor with the gods and possessed magical skills), During an imperial visit Qin Shi Huang made a grand obeisance to the sea. After that he sent two groups of people into the sea to look for the “Immortals” and beg for certain elixirs. At this site he built a large viewing area with a sculpture of himself, standing at the seaside.

This all sounds interesting, but unfortunatley the park is really run down, and there are some attempted revovations. I wandered through exhibits that were falling apart and there was broken glass on the floors, some exhibit rooms had people living in them. But the view out over the statue to the ocean is great, and I did manage to get some interesting pics.

Place where Emperor Qin is Seeking Immortals

This weighs 8 tonnes, and it the largest statue of the emperor in China

Souvenirs

The viewing area, this overlooks the statue and the ocean

I do not think I have worked my breakfast off yet, and I should be doing some work, but am instead sitting here updating my blog. I think I will go do a few laps in the hotel pool, and then get stuck into some work.

QHD Holiday Inn Pool

Yesterday in the cool crisp autumn weather was spent visiting the [mostly fake] Antique market in town. I found this intricate padlock that I quite liked and stared bargaining for it, they say you should always try and get half of the initial offer, but I think I am see as a cashed up westerner, and the initial offer is usually very high, and this padlock started at CNY800 (AUD$175!). So I made an offer of 100 yuan and was not really prepared to go much higher, she came back with a price of CNY600, and I offered CNY108 (AUD$23), and she seemed happy with this. I went to get my cash out, and then the hawker would not accept it, it seems there was a misunderstanding and she thought I was going to pay CNY1800- almost 3 times the original price. Unimpressed I stuffed my notes back in my wallet and wandered off.

Street Market

Antique Market

China Rocket

Yellow Autumn Gingko Leaves

Great Wall Hotel

New Century Park

Butterfly Restaurant

Chestnut and Port Knuckle Rice Hot Pot

Prawns

For lunch we found a very smart restaurant called Butterfly, I was not really expecting much, other than something seedy because of the name. We had a great lunch, and I had this delicious hot pot with chestnuts and pork knuckles, with a side of prawns.

Me, wearing a helmet used to decorate the cool bar

I was with these two guys from American offices of the company I work for, we wandered around looking for this bar we heard about that is decked out like a Vietnam War tent, or a scene from M*A*S*H. We did find the bar, and had a great night there last night. The local owner was super-freindly and kept the bing [ice] beer flowing all night. The main table in the bar has plates of sunflower seeds and peanutes in their shells, and the floor is strewn with the spent shells (the toilet was not that healthy though). While sharing a beer with a local he pulled this item out of a plastic bag and offered it to me, it looked like a large shrimp, and I tried to take a bite but it was too hard. My new local freind gave me a plastic glove and instructed me to scoop out the contents with my finger, wich I did. The texture was creamy and it was quite spicy, I then asked “Yum, what is this?” to which he repsonsed “Goose head” and I was picking out the brain. It was not that bad, and all the beer probably helped sterlise my stomach because I was not suck the next day.

Chinese toiltes are not all created equal.

This is a luxury marble example of a squat toulet, pictured in the Great Wall hotel in Qinhuangdao.

Just down the road there is the bar (I can’t remember the name), right next to the Tian Tian Entertainment Centre and Bathhouse. The bar is decked out like a camp from the Vietnam war, or a scene from Mash, with old miliatary items strewn around. The beer is bing [Ice or Cold] and the staff were great, but the look stunk and was filthy. I quite like this pic tho, it has been enhanced using the Lola Settings in Camera Bag on my iPhone.

Daylight saving is great! After work tonight we took Mishca down the road to Lake Monger Reserve, which is only a few blocks from our place. The Lake is an important feeding and breeding habitat for waterbirds, migratory birds, tortoises and is a drought refuge when other wetland areas dry up in the summer months.

Having daylight saving is very novel because we missed it so much while we were in Queensland (yes the Sunshine State does not have sunshine in the evening). I took my new camera along and got some pics too.

www.poladroid.net has a great app that will Polaroid-ize your digital photos. There is a Mac and PC version and it is super-easy to use. If you shake the image with our mouse while ‘developing’ it’ll work quicker. Here are a few I tried out with pics I took at Perth Pride over the weekend.