Juggling: My new Random Obsession
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 in: News
I only managed to go twice to the Beijing Juggling Club’s weekly meetings in Yugong Yishan–I wish I had learned about it earlier. The club is headed by Federico Moro, who runs the juggling side of Natooke, the little fixed gear bike/juggling shop I stumbled upon in the hutongs (owned by acrobatic cyclist Ines Brunn, Natooke is listed in City Weekend, along with an interview of Fede). I noticed they had some yo-yos at the store, but was also intrigued by all the juggling paraphernalia and asked more about the club. I went to my first meeting the following Monday, and had so much fun, I bought my first set of juggling balls. I was impressed by how many beginners were there; the club seems to draw newcomers all the way up to advanced professionals. Some people were struggling with the basics, while some were successfully keeping six balls or rings in the air. A few people were playing diabolo (also called Chinese yo-yo) or poi. Everyone was friendly and encouraging. (more…)
Karma Chameleon – a test of character disguised as good luck
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 in: News
One thing I’ve noticed about show business, is that while the shooting itself may be fun, the rest of the time is boring as hell to the “talent.” Especially once we were done with our jobs, we were very ready to get back to Beijing. My “wife” had more parties to attend, and I wanted to hang out with my friend since she was going back home the following day, but I had also promised to go to the Beijing Juggler’s club, since it was my last opportunity to do that as well.
It wasn’t that late, but it took well over an hour for our car to arrive, but instead of Beijing, it took us back to the hotel, in the opposite direction. My costar got tired of waiting in the hotel lobby and had to call a family friend to come pick us up. By the time they dropped us off at Mudanyuan station, it was already close to 7pm. I was already getting frustrated with the casting lady, and then she refused to take a cab, insisting on walking down the street and waiting for the next bus. The bus was more crowded and sweatier than normal, and by the time we arrived back at the sushe I just wanted to get away from her. I said goodbye and she told me to let her know if I was ever back in town. I laughed and kept walking. (more…)
Back on TV…
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 in: News
The afternoon after being ambushed by the casting director, she told me that I had a choice to either go stay at a hotel near the shooting location or get picked up at 5 in the morning the following day. I didn’t really have my own place, and had been imposing myself on my friends at the sushe, I choose door number one. So the adventure began a little earlier than expected.
That is, it would have, if the driver was on time and not two hours late. (more…)
云梦山, Chinese for “This is why doing things for yourself in China is a pain in the ass.”
Friday, October 8th, 2010 in: News
Megan’s dad visited shortly before I left for Xingtai, taking her on an amazing multi-day hike through the Gobi Desert with the Beijing Hikers (jealous? me? very). When he returned to the states he gave her a Beijing guidebook, leaving her a small library of options to choose from. Since our plans for Qingdao fell through, I found myself scrambling for a new worthwhile endeavor to fill a day or two, and dove into the guidebooks for something good. Having already been in Beijing for almost 3 months, there were few famous attractions left that neither of us had yet experienced. After some deliberation, I boiled it down to a few options, and we settled on Yungmengshan, a hike about an hour or two outside of Beijing that looked relatively straightforward. A single bus would take us to a Beijing suburb called Huairou, where we would transfer onto a shuttle bus to the base of the mountain. Can’t get much simpler than that, right? (more…)
Back in Beijing, the Fluidity of Plans
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 in: News
I awoke, still on the train. The sun was igniting the thickening sky, which I took to indicate that we were getting closer to the cities. I asked the guy next to me what time it was, and whether we’d reached Xingtai yet. “Oh, we already passed Xingtai, Shijiazhuang is next.” Damnit, I slept through Dan’s stop, and he’d disembarked without getting to say goodbye. After a couple weeks together, I figured I owed him at least that much, in addition to the money I wasn’t able to pull out of the ATM in Xi’an. This would have been made easier with the aid of my phone, but it was useless to worry about that at this point as well.
The train pulled into Beijing around 8 in the morning. I bade the British kids farewell on my way off the train car. The smell of human waste on the tracks a pleasant welcome back to the city. I set off if search of a bus schedule, unwilling to shell out another 60 kuai for my own cab, I figured I could make it on the bus, and found an appropriate route back. An hour and less than 2 kuai later, I dropped my bag in the student lounge and collapsed into the couch. Before passing out, I sent Dan this message since I didn’t get to say it in person: (more…)
The Train Ride from Hell
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 in: News
A cab proved harder to hail than we had anticipated, as drivers in Xi’an tend not to use their meters we kept waving our arms at cabs who already had fares. We finally managed to get one and hit the ground running at the station. We were close to missing the boarding time for our train, let alone find out which train car had the upgrade office and try to get sleeper tickets. We got onto the train, dripping in fresh sweat, to find that no upgrades were available. We were going to be stuck in hard seats for the next 14 hours (only 10 for Dan, he was going back to Xingtai). This was the city’s last way to stick it to us before we could leave its walls, and it got us good.
Goodbye Xi’an, and fuck you very much. (more…)
Our last shitty day in Xi’an
Monday, October 4th, 2010 in: News
When Dan and I got back to the hostel, we checked back into a different room and hit the showers. Our roommates were all French, and they couldn’t have been all bad, since they were listening to Rodrigo and Gabriela when we came to put our bags down, but as with most French people I’ve encountered in China, they pretty much stuck to themselves and ignored us. All the better, I wasn’t in a very philanthropic mood to begin with. After we had washed the day’s grime away (or at least gave it our best try), Dan and I hit the hostel bar, playing some ping pong in the dark and chatting up a few other guests. One older Australian guy was there with his brother and their family, and we bought each other beers and decompressed our frustrations re: China until the wee hours of the morning. I also met a nice girl who was teaching English in some random place and came to Xi’an on holiday, and she gave me the great idea of renting bikes the next day. (more…)
The Bus Ride from Hell
Monday, October 4th, 2010 in: News
We asked the drink peddlers at the park entrance where we could catch a bus back to Xi’an and they pointed down the street at the bottom of the hill. Almost to the intersection we were intercepted by a middle-aged lady offering us bus tickets. She escorted us to the bus “station” and tried to get us to come sit under the awning, which seemed kind of like an open garage with a sketchy food stand in the middle, run by herself and a couple other women. Still stung by the blatant opportunism we’d encountered in Xi’an thus far, we were suspicious of her intentions and refused her offer, opting to wait out by the curb for the bus. She kept trying to get us to come “inside,” which just made us more suspicious.
“I just don’t want her to win, because now she’s pissed me off with her insistent attitude and I just don’t want to do what she says, even if she’s not trying to con us or anything, I can’t let her win!” Dan confided as we watched the 5th or 6th bus pass for the wrong destination. I thought that Xi’an was a common place to come and go to Huashan, but you certainly couldn’t tell from the bus schedule. The bus lady kept assuring us that the bus was only minutes away, but every bus that came by was destined for some other place. I was getting more agitated, ready to walk back to the train station, but Dan stopped me. “we’re already here, the bus will be along eventually.” I realized that I was getting worked up over a relatively short (albeit uncomfortable) wait in the sun. Not just China, but all of Asia is pretty much full of transportation that either lacks or ignores any schedule, especially my own. An hour’s wait for a bus is a drop in the bucket, I need to sack up and learn some patience. (more…)
Huashan Day 2: Descent back to Madness
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010 in: News
The nearly vertical section of stairs we had to climb to get to the East peak was completely swarmed with people. The queue stretched for a hundred meters, which of course bulged into a massive amorphous blob of humanity, trying to funnel its way down the step ladder as people pushed in and jockeyed to get down first. It’s amazing that this kind of behavior is tolerated; both in the US and UK, these queue jumpers would get soundly scolded and sent to the back of the line, but here it’s such common behavior, it seems that you’re just foolish not to cut in line here. You have to push to get ahead.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt46FVz-1Dc (more…)
Huashan – a Rocky Start
Sunday, September 12th, 2010 in: News
Almost 6 months after I first read about Huashan, I was finally going to make it happen. I was excited… almost as excited as I was about the selection of western breakfasts the hostel’s bar/restaurant offered. Eggs, toast, hash browns and sausages? Count me in! After breakfast, I hoped that the mountain wouldn’t be such a disappointment. All the ingredients were there for a good breakfast, but the Chinese chef didn’t quite know what to do with them to make them hearty and delicious. Did he… boil the sausage? sigh… At least the box of kittens in the restaurant were fluffier than the eggs, although I didn’t try to eat them.
I got back to my room to pack up my things; since we were going to spend a night on the mountain, we were going to leave our bags at the front desk and come back to spend one more night in Xi’an afterwards. When I walked into the room I immediately noticed that something was missing: my phone. I’d foolishly left it on my bed, charging while I was 100 paces away eating breakfast. I was pretty sure I knew who it was (one of our roommates, a Chinese guy who “checked out” before we got up, but Dan saw him back in the room while I was at breakfast, sneaky asshole). Having limited experience with hostels is my only excuse for my naivete, which was quickly snatched away, along with my precious link to the outside world. It’s hard to express exactly how I felt, but needless to say I felt violated and outraged by such casual theft. It was as if someone tore away my security blanket from me, and I was suddenly left with a large rectangular hole in my pocket where it should be. My iPhone had been a constant companion over the past few years, and it saved my butt when my computer died. Dearest iPhone, you will be replaced, but more importantly, you will be missed. (more…)
