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8/18/2008 |
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OLYMPICS 2008 |
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Today was not an Olympic day for me...it was a day for showing my guest, Brad a little of life in Beijing. He has tickets to Athletics, his favorite event, for the rest of the week at night. Getting a cab ride home from the Bird's Nest is not easy...especially for a non Chinese speaker like Brad. He has fared well, for sure, but it does put him in quite late each night.
So Brad got a slow start today and he woke up especially hungry. We hopped on our scooters and headed to a local breakfast place, Smallville. All the items on the menu are named after super heros...I had the Penguin (Cheese Omelete) and he had the Joker (eggs, pancakes the works). After a hearty breakfast we motored through the narrow streets (hutongs) of the chinese villages in our area. He was blown away by the contrast of the makeshift homes and markets tucked away just behind the Expat world of opulence. It is striking.
One minute you are passing a lady sitting in the street selling cabbages and other shucai (vegetables), ratty dogs lying in the middle of the road and dirty babies with split pants...the kind all they have to do is squat anywhere and do their business...no diapers. And literally the next second you are driving by the campus of the International School of Beijing, a multi-million dollar, state of the art campus for the children of corporate heads and embassy dignitaries from around the world. It is mind boggling. One world hasn't changed in centuries and one world works to form minds to create change.
That was so interesting to Brad we continued to spend the rest of the morning going through village after village seeing the side of China that this country is trying hard to hide from their Olympic visitors. For the last two years, these villages have been hidden by landscaping and walls or torn down and evacuated to the equivalent of tenement housing. In the place of the villages China has created parks or mammoth new developments of the most extravagent lifestyles. It has been truly amazing the transformation in just our little area. Since we arrived they have built the new Beijing Convention Center (absolutely huge), a 5 star new Crowne Plaza, a shopping center, headquarters for both China Air and China Air Cargo (enormous buildings) and many housing developments, villas, parks, etc. Even a McDonalds and a Papa John's.
Then after we both worked out, we cabbed it to Beijing's growing art district for even another look at a completely different slice of life here. Qi Jiu Ba (798) is the arts district that has taken over a large complex of warehouses that used to manufacture artillery. From artillery to art...nice transition. Now the area is bustling with cafes and galleries and being frequented by Beijing hip twenty somethings and tourists, alike. What does amaze me is how expensive everything is. I have gone several times and never bought any art...the costs are staggeringly disproportionate to what you see in the west. Brad asked about a very small and very mediocre painting and was quoted almost 5,000 USD. I could not see more than 200 to 500 USD as a reasonable price. Then we priced some beautiful photography and the prices started at 15,000 USD and went to 60,000 USD. The photography was limited and signed and I will say quite stunning...so who knows. You tell me.
After a very late, but delicious lunch at 798, I put Brad in a cab for the games and headed home for a quiet dinner with friends. Now I need to go prepare for teaching English to the grocery store workers (I do this every Wednesday morning at 6:30) I have some new materials to look over and then a little sleep. Good night.
Robbie
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posted time 9:38:42 AM |
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