29.06.09 Last day at the dormitory

Today is my last day in the dormitory. Tomorrow I'm going to move to the hotel and my parents will come to Beijing on Thursday. Besides packing my stuff today, we went walking around the campus with Paula. After walking around we went to eat at the International Student's dormitory's cafeteria for the last time.

Teaching Building 5, the place where I spent many hours trying to study Chinese

After I move to the hotel, I probably won't be able to update my blog until I'm back to Finland on July 24th. I'll try to get online somewhere, but I probably won't be able to. So, 25 days of traveling starts here and I'll see you all in Finland after that.

The dormitory

28.06.09 Beidaihe

After the sun started to show itself around midday, we went to the beach and stayed there quite long. In the afternoon we changed our clothes and went walking around again. We walked quite long, had some snacks on the way and then dinner later in the evening. After dinner we started driving back to Beijing.

Boats at Beidaihe

This was my last trip from Beijing on this trip. Of course I'll be going to Tibet in a little over a week from now, but that time I won't be coming back to Beijing anymore. Maybe some other time, I'll be coming back to Beijing again, but this is almost it for now.

27.06.09 Going to the beach

We took the subway to the other side of town around midday with my roommate today. There we met with two of my roommates friends and started our way towards Beidaihe, which is a tourist resort at the sea. When we arrived there, we checked into the hotel and went to the beach after that. It was already about five, but there was a little sun still.

Beach at Beidaihe

We sat on the beach for a while and after that went back to the hotel. After a change of clothes, we went walking around and for a dinner. We had a nice dinner on a pier by the beach and walked around some more after dinner also.

Beidaihe by night

24.06.09 Dandong

In the early morning we took the morning bus from Dalian to Dandong, which is right at the North Korean boarder. When we arrived to Dandong we had lunch in a small place where one Chinese man was very interested and happy about us foreigners. After that we continued our way to the North Korean border.

The old and new bridge to North Korea

Dandong is separated from North Korea by just one small river. There's the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge going between the countries but there really didn't seem to be much movement on that bridge. Next to it is the bridge that was bombed down from the North Korean side by the American's during the war. Nowadays, you can go and walk on the bridge on the Chinese side that is still in one piece. The bridge only has the supporting pillars on the North Korean side.

View from the bridge towards North Korea

From the bridge you could see the North Korean side with a telescope, but it "kinda" seemed very fake. There were some factory looking buildings on the other side (no smoke coming through the chimney though), people in colorful clothing just hanging around, a ferris wheel with carts that didn't look 3D...

The museum on the Korean war

From the bridge we went to the other side of the town to a museum about the Korean war and Chinese involvement in it. The museum was quite nice. There were actually two sides to the museum, the old and the new, and the new was really good and the old was really bad. The old building smelled really badly of mold and there were just pictures of people's heroes.

The Dandong Railway Station

The new side of the museum was really interesting but since we came there too late, I had to walk through half of the museum because they were closing the place down for the day. By then, it was also time to go to the train station and take the night train from Dandong back to Beijing.

23.06.09 Hanging around in Dalian

Dalian

We went to get our bus tickets to Dandong after the lunch. We were looking for the ticket place for ages but after a while we finally found it. After that we went bowling for few hours and then for dinner in the same restaurants as the day before.

Bowling

After dinner we went walking around and ended up playing this game where you're supposed to kick and hit this feather thing around. It's pretty much like foot bag (the game guys were playing in middle school) but you have a feather thing not a ball. After playing for a while, we went to look for the harbor, but never made it there and just took a cab back to the hostel in the night.

22.06.09 Dalian

On Sunday evening I went for a trip with few other exchange students. We took the night train to Dalian, which is on the tip of a peninsula on the northeast side of Beijing. We arrived there in the morning and went to our hostel to take a shower and leave our stuff there.

A beach in Dalian

After that we went for breakfast/lunch at a small restaurant near by and the food was good. We had some soup with dumplings inside and fried bread with stuffing inside. After that it was time to go to the beach. The beach wasn't a sand beach but one with small pebbles. There were some tents on the beach for people to get some shadow or something of that sort. After all, here people don't want to get tanned, so of course you need shadow. I wonder if the people should be told that it's not enough to be in the shadow, since you can even burn in the shadow.

The People's Square in Dalian

Another thing that we noticed was the fact that the beach was filled with men and there were very few women. Pretty much all the guys were really dark and wearing quite small swimming pants. We even saw one guy with string pants.... An image I'd like to forget but can't. And about weird things, we also saw this one women with a hood over her head. She was wearing a swimming suit and a white hood with holes only for the eyes and mouth.....

Dalian by night

In the evening we went for dinner in a small restaurant in downtown and the food was ok. After that it was time for some karaoke and after that a bar. The funny thing in Dalian was that there everyone things you're Russian and in Beijing all foreigners are American.

18.06.09 Yuanmingyuan Ruins and shopping

After my exam we decided to go and see the Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park with Paula. The park was once an imperial garden built during the Qing dynasty, but in 1860 the French and British troops destroyed and looted it quite completely. The park was pretty and it must have been very nice before it was destroyed. Nowadays, you can only see ruins and lakes that are filled with vegetation.

The Yuanmingyuan Ruins

After the park we went shopping to downtown and the weather seemed to just get worse and worse. It was really smogy/ foggy / smoky (don't know which one, but it was really bad) and when we got to downtown you couldn't even see across the street clearly. I don't know why the weather was so bad, because we just had a big thunderstorm and lots of rain on Tuesday and I would have thought that would have cleared the air, but obviously not. Despite the awful weather, I managed to find three new tops, so now I'm ready for some more traveling :).

A bad day in Beijing

18.06.09 School is done!

This morning I had my last Chinese exam. So, now after almost 5 months of lectures and four final exams, I'm done with school in Beijing. From now on until July 24th, I'll be on holiday, traveling and sightseeing.

On Sunday I'll go for a little trip and in 14 days mom and dad will come to Beijing. From Beijing, we'll come back to Finland through Tibet, Nepal and India. Can't wait :) But now it's time to start sightseeing. Happy Juhannus for everyone and remember to drink enough, de-hydration is a serious thing ;)

13.06.09 Parties

Yesterday, on Friday, after the lectures, our teacher wanted to take our class for lunch. Well, I was the only one who showed up, so, I went for lunch with the teacher. Few hours later, it was time for the Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language departments semester ending party. Meaning, that all the classes had to prepare a performance and do it at the party. The party, or actually performances, were held at a hall and it lasted forever. Some of the performances were nice and some were quite boring. The boring ones were acting and I didn't understand anything, and thus, were boring.

A singing performance from the semester ending party

The performance thing was like the Winter and Spring performances in primary school. And also our performance was like primary school, because we read a poem. There were only five of us and we just read from the poem from the paper, but for one reason or another we got a price for it.

Chipao party, me and my roommate with our new chipaos

Today, the tailor came to bring the ready clothes and they are nice. And now that we have our new dresses, we'll go for dinner tonight with the dresses on. A chipao party!

12.06.09 Last week of school

Today was the last day of school, or lectures actually, next week I'll have my exams then it's done. I haven't done almost anything this week except gone to the lectures. On Wednesday the tailor came here to try on the clothes and tomorrow we should get them.

This week, Matti also fixed my internet. Someone might have been wondering why I haven't updated my blog for a long time, and it's because I haven't been able to get into the blog. I even tried going to Starbucks and getting online there, but the internet there was even worse. I guess it might have been because of the anniversary of the Tian'anmen Square incident and added internet "security" due to that. But now Matti did some miracles and now I can get into the blog again. Sorry, for the flood of updates today :)

07.06.09 Ups and downs

On Thursday the tailor came into our dormitory to get our measurements, because were getting Chinese dresses, called chipao, made with my roommate. So nice :). On Friday it was time to go to the Indian Visa Application Center to apply for a visa for the trip with mom and dad. The only thing I can say about the Visa Application Center is never again. The office was awful, it was outsourced, so all the workers were Chinese and they didn't really speak any English. The only answers I got from them were the ready practiced answers without any understanding. Well, they did take my visa application but we'll see if I actually get the visa. Hope for the best.

A panda in the Beijing Zoo (this was the only side of them they wanted to show to people...)

Paula had an unexpected free day on Sunday, so we went to the Beijing Zoo. The zoo was quite depressing, because the cages were small and the animals looked very bored. Most of the animals were just sitting or lying in the cages and mostly just showing their back side. We were thinking with Paula that we should learn how to say "I'm sorry, but the zoo animals are the other way." The good thing is that this time we didn't have to pose in any pictures, but it's still annoying when you're looking at a giant panda and someone else is staring at you and it's not the panda.

Lake in the Beijing Zoo

I also discovered how different people consider different things unusual. I was waiting for Paula next to the zoo gate and people walking past were staring at me and looking back at me. The interesting thing was that no one seemed to notice the little kid about 3 meters away from me pooping right at the sidewalk. The kid's dad was just making sure there was a fresh napkin under the kid when the kid was walking around... And I guess that's normal, but a Western girl standing at the sidewalk is unusual...

02.06.09 More shopping and some culture

On Monday it was time for some shopping with Paula again. We went to Xidan shopping street to look for shorts for me, and yes, I was actually thinking of buying shorts. The only problem so far has been, that all the shorts I've seen in the shops have been extremely short. I was thinking of getting a pair of shorter kind of shorts, but not that short. Finally I found a nice pair of shorts that were good length and good price :)

Wall around the Temple of Heaven park

On Tuesday we went to the Temple of Heaven park and the Liulichang Cultural Street. I already went to the Temple of Heaven park earlier when it was the Women's Day, but then the park was still gray. Now the park was all green and it looked nice. The Liulichang Cultural Street was filled with small shops selling brushes, ink, paper, paintings, books etc.

Temple of Heaven Park

After walking through the Cultural Street, we went for lunch in a tiny restaurant. The restaurant was small and we were almost the only customers. When we got our food the waitress took a nap on the table and we had to wake her up to pay. But the food was really good.

30.05.09 Busy week

On Wednesday I went to a fabric market with my roommate and her friend. I got some silk for some clothes that I'm going to get made before I leave. On Thursday I started my three day holiday from school. I think the holiday is called the Dragon Boat Festival. Also on Thursday Matias came for a sudden visit to Beijing, so on Thursday I went around the town with Matias. In the evening we went for dinner and few drinks with Matias and Paula.

Dragon Boat Festival in Beihai Park

On Friday I went to lunch with Matias and in the evening I went for a massage and few drinks at La Bamba. On Saturday it was time for a little rest and homework. Sunday I had school and rest of the day went by with sleeping, doing homework and going to the grocery store.

27.05.09 Shopping and Summer Palace

Last weekend was really hot and I didn't do too much. I did go to a bar with my roommate and her friends for few drinks on Friday. On Saturday I went for dinner with the same group. But on Monday it was Paula's free day again, so we went shopping and got our nails done.

View to the lake in the Tower of Buddhist Incense in Summer Palace

On Tuesday we went to the Summer Palace with Paula after my classes. We managed to get through some of the Summer Palace park area, but probably not even half. The park was build for the emperor and empress and it's huge with an artificial lake and everything. Although we only saw a little bit, the park was really nice and I need to go there again to see more of it.

Suzhou Street in the Summer Palace

22.05.09 Olympic park

Last Sunday I went to a food market, where you can buy fish, meat, vegetables, fruits and everything related to food. The place is not for the weak mind. I saw black whole chickens, turtles, and all other weird things. The fish of course were alive and were killed when you picked the one you wanted. The saleswomen sure weren't too sensitive about killing the fish. They slammed them to the floor and to the side of the table. Bon appetite :)

The Bird's Nest

On Monday I went to the Olympic Park with Paula after classes. In the end of the Olympic area there's a park and we decided to start our sightseeing from there. It was almost impossible to believe that we were in Beijing, the place was so empty. Near the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, there were more people and the Nest and Cube sure are pretty buildings. During the Olympics the place was probably unbelievable.

The Water Cube

On Tuesday I went to see a dance performance at the Drama School near downtown. The dance show was done by a South Korean group and it was modern dance with a really cool computer animation on the wall behind the show. The animation was really nice and added something extra to the show, but other than that I'm still not a big fan of modern dance. :)