Sunday, March 18, 2007

Beijing!

Fewer words, more pictures. Here's 鼓楼大街, Guloudajie.


Oh yeah, on the second day of class, while taking the bus to school, our bus crashed into the bus in front of it. We got off and walked to class. This is the bus:


“Socialism with Chinese Characteristics," Deng xiaoping called it:

(Wangfujing, 王府井)

Consulting a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctor. He spends a long time stroking his beard and reading your pulse.



Beijing West Train Station, with trains to everywhere.


This is the hutongr (胡同) where I live. The name is Baochao, 宝钞胡同, off of 鼓楼东大街, with a wonderful view of the bell tower. There is no good translation for Hutongr, maybe "alleyway." I don't think Chinese people even know where it comes from-- most convincing thing I've heard is some bastardization of a Mongolian word during the Yuan dynasty, when the Mongols ruled China in the 1200s.




Okay, so no indoor plumbing, right? Without going into details, this is where things that have to happen, happen. I should add that the bathroom I use does have dividers between stalls, albeit sans doors. This bathroom is equidistant from our little place, but the bathroom I use is usually bustling with activity, while I suppose this one gets far less use. You can probably figure out why.



Some final pictures from the hutongr.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome pictures this entry and the one before - especially of you looking quite fearsome in the gondola. Most entertaining story. Glad to know you are doing well!
Mary and Phil