So right now, not gonna lie, I am in a little writing slump. This is most unfortunate, considering that I have two other articles that must be written and I have struck nary a key for either of them. Writing on this blog makes me happy though, so I cast paying work aside to write here. However, today I will be cheating and taking the easy way out. I found an old email that I wrote back in 2006 while I was traipsing about China and am going to reprint it here for you readers. It is a bit entertaining, if for no other reason than my glaring rewrite of Chinese history in the last paragraph. Enjoy!
Dear everyone,
So far so good. the past two days have been more exhausting than the plane
ride, i must say! we are in beijing, staying a few blocks from tianemen
square. we have been "recuperating" from our journey here by doing any
number of non-restful activities, such as traversing the Forbidden City
(which should heretofore be known as "the city formerly known as forbidden"
due to the teeming massess of tourists), and walking the circumference of
beijing. apparently Beijing has a metropolitan area the size of Belgium. no
joke. i may be exaggerating about walking the circumference of it, but i am
with two boys right now who do not believe in doing things the easy way.
(TAXIS ARE OUR FRIENDS!) We randomly met up with this Spaniard named David (
a very cute Spaniard by the way) and we have been adventuring with him since
we got here. We will be joined tonight by his Venezuelan friend, who i
suspect will also be dashing, and we are all going to climb the Great Wall
tomorrow! Since the Great Wall is one of the main reasons I am here, I am
quite excited.
However, on tap for today is a bicycle ride. Now, considering the
teeming population of China, the congestion of city streets and my tendency
to run over people flat on my bike (think: Rod, 8th grade homeschooling PE)
this will likely prove to be a terrifying, albeit memorable escapade. For
the Chinese people. :)
China is definitely chock full of history and culture. The Forbidden
City is where the last emperor of the Ming dynasty lived, right up until
1922 and then Communism started creeping in, via Chairman Mao! Whose body I
can see on display in Tianemen Square for a quick 2 seconds, should I so
desire. They LOVE him here. And my mastery of Cantonese? Forget it. I just
got hello down yesterday. And food? We went to a market last night where
they were selling any number of delicacies on a stick-octopus, TINY SPARROW
BODIES (!) whole baby snakes, cicadas, SCORPIONS, grasshoppers, etc. It was
not for the faint of heart, to be sure. I am ashamed to say that I headed
straigtway for McDonalds.
Anyway, more after the Great Wall! Write me!
Claire
Two questions: how much weight did you lose (meaning surely you did not partake of the stick food), and are you absolutely sure that the McDonalds hamburger was real beef??????????????????????
ReplyDeleteI definitely lost some weight on this trip. I did eat snake on a stick, which was fairly disgusting. And no, NOT sure it was real beef. I think i had the fish sandwich? Can't remember. They also had a specialty sandwich, not quite available here in the States...a Crawfish sandwich!!
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