blocked blog #2 Peking

8-23 Lukas took me out for dinner to some very tasty and quite cheap
Chinese food and then we headed to a bar just for a couple of
Tsingtao, but he had to work early in the morning so we didn’t stay
out too late.


8-24 First thing in the morning I headed to the PSB to try and extend
my visa. I don’t want to be in Nepal until the first week of October,
so I can stay in china about 2 weeks longer than my visa is good for.
Well, the guide made it seem simple, but it wasn’t. Apparently they
don’t really extend your visa, just issue you another 30 day visa,
which means if I did it today I would only get to stay two days longer
than I would have before. They told me to wait like 20 days and then
do it in the city I am near during that time. This is a bit crazy to
me though bc they don’t always issue you an extension and it can be 10
days or 15 days or 30 days, you don’t know. So it’s tough to make
plans if you can’t know in advance if you will get the 30 day
extension and it’s costly (jail or 100 dollars per day you stay over
your visa) if you aren’t out in the 30 days. So like if you are
flying and want to be here for 50 days, how do you know for sure
you’ll get your visa? I will just wait about 20 days and then apply.
I should hopefully get it, but if I don’t it will be easy enough to
arrange a flight to Kathmandu or definitely a cheap flight to Bangkok
if all else fails.

My first tourist sight I saw was the Lama temple. The largest Tibetan
Buddhist temple outside of Lhasa. It was quite ornate and full of
people praying and bowing and lighting incense with big flames burning
everywhere.
My next stop was the temple of heaven which was a place that the
emperors of dynasties 500 or so years ago used to pray to the earth
and heavens for good weather, good crops, etc. The temple area was
huge and was in cool symmetric circles, octaganol, and square
structures. Before entering the temple I met a nice Chinese family
that had a mom that spoke decent English and two young kids that could
basically ask my name, my age, where I was from and my favorite color
(or which they repeatedly asked). But they were quite kind and showed
me around the temple area and the mom translated things for me from
the Chinese guide that they had. They were on a tour group as they
were visiting Beijing from the SE province of Fujian. So far I have
really found the Chinese people to be friendly and smiley and helpful.
It’s quite a big change from the sullen and often unfriendly
Russians. Here, even when you don’t speak a bit of Chinese (like how
I didn’t speak a bit of Russian), they will at least try and listen
and watch your hands and then help you, as opposed to the russians who
would often just ignore you, wave you away, or scowl. My camera case
zipper broke so I was shopping for a new camera case in some mall type
area and I had all the ladies running around looking for one for me (I
had my old one with me to show them so they knew what I wanted.) But
they were all quite funny and laughing with me (and likely at me).
And unlike a mall in america, this mall you could bargain down the
price. They sold things like cameras and such here too and I wondered
if they were fake or not. Lukas just bought the new Iphone, but a
fake one he said bc it only cost him about 70 bucks compared to the
300 or 400 it goes for in the US. But it works just fine and he has
had no problems with it. I wonder if all the fake products (fake
north face gear is quite popular here for example) have a major impact
on the US economy or not. I doubt many people buy the real things
here.
There are very few foreigners around here, so you definitely stick
out like a sore thumb…or like a hollywood model. People are
constantly asking to have their picture taken with me. If I had a
dollar for every picture that was taken with me, I would not be
staying with Lukas tonight but at the Beijing Four Seasons. You get
lots of families asking to be in photos with them, and then just like
in Japan you get the (presumably) high schoolers hanging out in groups
asking for your picture. When it is the groups of teenage girls, they
act all shy and giggly and then everyone of them wants to be touching
you in the photo. Afterwards they like to give you a hug or a bow or
something similar. Just really reminded me of Japan so much bc it was
the same way. The guys also want pictures with me, but only a few
will put a hand on my shoulder while the rest flash peace signs or do
cool poses. You almost feel like a character in Disneyland. I guess
maybe this is how celebrities feel.