Greg goes to China

So last week I returned from my great adventure in China. I traveled to three different Chinese cities (Heihe, Haerbin, and Beijing) for a week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only was it my first time in China, but my first time in any Asian country. It was super interesting and I would love to go back some time.

So on the afternoon of Monday May 10, I went to the Russian travel agency from which we were leaving. I traveled to China with a group of 12 Russian tourists. This meant that my trip to China was even more interesting, because I wasn't just seeing China as any old tourist, but from the point of view of a Russian tourist, complete with Russian commentary. When we had all piled onto the bus to go to the border control, our tour guide, Liza, told everyone on the bus that "This time we have a special tourist coming with us... an American!"

When we got to the border checkpoint to cross the river into China, Liza explained to all of us the procedure for going through customs, and told me that I would go first, because my situation is more difficult. You see, there is an agreement between the local Russian and Chinese governments that Russians don't need a Chinese visa to cross the border into Heihe, the city across the river. But I'm an American, so that means that I had to get a visa (and a fairly expensive one at that). So I went up to one of the desks and handed the customs agent my American passport. She kind of looked at me funny. I guess it isn't every day that Americans pass through Blagoveshchensk to go to China. She asked if I spoke Russian, and I said yes, and we started talking about random stuff as she stamped and evaluated all my documents. I got through the customs, and then we went out on the shore of the river to board the hovercrafts to cross the river. They use hovercrafts because not all of the underlying ice had melted yet, and it wasn't safe for ships to cross. But it was really interesting to ride in the hovercraft. So we crossed the river, and for the first time in eight and a half months, I got to see what my host city looks like from the other side of the river. Then we went into the Chinese customs, which wasn't as easy. I think this must have been the first time an American had passed through their border, because as soon as I handed my passport to the Chinese customs officer, her already stern-looking face became even sterner, and she said something in Chinese that sounded to me like "Oh, shit!" She started looking at my passport really carefully as if it were fake, and looked back and forth from my passport picture (which was taken over 4 years ago and really looks nothing like me) to my face. She called over one of her military-clad comrades, who took my passport into another room. Fifteen minutes later, he finally returned and waved me through.
So I had made it to China. Heihe is larger than Blagoveshchensk, but is not nearly as interesting. We all went to a big shopping center called "Hua Fu", and they let us walk around and shop for a couple of hours. Finally after 18 years of buying stuff "Made in China", I could see what it was all about and get it straight from the source. T-shirts in China are funny. The Chinese think that English is "cool", so they put it on their T-shirts, even if the English words on them don't really mean anything in particular. For example, I found a shirt that read "Me pimpstyle" and had a bunch of random other words in what looked like was Dutch. This shirt I found rather humorous, and actually ended up buying it for the heck of it.

That night after dinner, we went on the train station to take the overnight train to Haerbin. Now let me tell you, Chinese trains are pretty great. Now I know that no one back home cares, because Americans never travel by train, but having logged over 100 hours on Russian trains myself, I can judge. The Chinese trains have smooth rails that don't go "Clickety-clack" the whole way, they have air conditioning, they have TVs, carpets, and semi-decent toilets and washrooms (all of which Russian trains don't really have for the most part).

We arrived in Haerbin early the next morning. At 4 million inhabitants, Haerbin is a big enough city, with a lot of sights and things to do. We were only there for a day, but we did a lot. We got to ride a big ski-lift type thing over the Sungari River, and got a great view of the city. We went to the Haerbin "Polarland" where they have polar bears, penguins, seals, sharks, dolphins, and other seafood whatnot. After that, we went to the Siberian Tiger Park. We rode in a safari-type bus through the tiger land, and got to see some tigers up close and personal. There at the park, we also got to see a Liger (a lion and tiger mixed), which I had previously thought only existed as a joke from the film "Napoleon Dynamite". After that, we went to see a silk factory, and then we went to the Haerbin TV tower. At the top of the tower, the floor is made of glass, so you can look down at China 300 meters below you. It was cool. Later that night, we got on another train and made our way to Beijing.

The next morning, we arrived in Beijing and immediately went to go eat breakfast at... McDonalds of all places. As I was enjoying my Big Breakfast™, I looked out the window and enjoyed the view of a huge, modern and bustling city. With over 12 million inhabitants, Beijing is huge, and I hadn't seen anything lke it for a long time, even Moscow doesn't compare. As I sat there, I thought about the impression that this city is making on the Russians I was with. I have traveled a bit, and I have been in big, modern cities before, but even for me, Beijing was an amazing city. I couldn't even imagine what was going through the minds of the Russians, some of which who have only been in small Russian Siberian cities all their lives. This city, with it's cleanliness, hundreds of skyscrapers, bright, diverse architecture (as compared to the hundreds of 6-story, gray concrete apartment blocks built with the same blueprint that scatter our Russian hometown), and other signs of high technology and 1-st class citiness, must seem almost fairy-tale like to some of the Russians.

Our first day in Beijing (or Pekin as it is called by the Russians), we went to go see Tiananmen Square. It was huge, and interesting to be were the famous "tank man" stood some 30 years ago. Even though I was traveling with a group of other white-skinned tourists, somehow the Chinese picked me out as something else or just thought that I looked good or something, because a few different Chinese on the square asked to take their picture with me. Maybe I just look too American or something. After Tiananmen Square, we walked to the National Center for Performing Arts, which is a huge metal and glass dome-shaped structure surrounded by a moat. The only way to enter is to go underground, under the moat, where they have a glass ceiling and you can see the water rippling above you. Inside the huge outer shell are several separate buildings holding theaters and concert halls. We even got to listen to an orchestra reciting and an opera singer practicing. Inside the building, everything is made of wood and marble, which I ended up knocking on. Ever since I have been in Russia, I have gotten this bad habit of knocking on wood/stone/marble decoration to see if it is real. You see, in Russia, whenever something looks like expensive marble or wood paneling, 80% of the time it is really linoleum or some sort of plastic composite made to look like wood or marble. Anyway, as a result of my knocking, I found out that all of the material in the center was real whatever it looked like. Which, for some reason, was sort of comforting to me. That evening, we went to go see the show "The Legend of Kung-Fu" which was really cool with all of its martial arts acrobatics.

The next day, I climbed the Great Wall of China, which was indescribably cool. The steps for the most part are really steep, and even going at the fast pace that I usually walk, it took me about 40 minutes to get all the way to the top. But it was well worth it, as the view was spectacular, and I had just climbed the great wall. Before I had left, my parents had told me over skype that they had heard that you can even buy a Coke now at the top of the great wall, and how strange it was. Well, I confirmed that you actually can buy a Coca-Cola (and several other drinks) on the top of the great wall by buying one and enjoying it on the way back down.

After that, we went back into the city and say all the Olympic structures left over from 2008. I saw the "bird's nest" stadium, the "water cube" aquatic center, and a big office building that is shaped like the Olympic torch. After seeing all that stuff, we went to a Chinese tea ceremony, where were tried a bunch of different types of tea. Then we went to a flying acrobatics show which was really amazing and fun. That night, I decided to go for a walk, as walking through cities at night is somewhat of a hobby for me. I found a large pedestrian street with large stores on either side. It was really cool just to walk through and enjoy the sights of all the buildings lit up in various colored signs and TV screens. I also found a side street that looks like a stereotypical Chinatown with all the red hanging lamps along the street, and vendors selling all types of Chinese meat on skewers and noodles. I also found a foreign book store and even though I had told myself that I didn't want to learn any Chinese and that it wasn't interesting, I bought a small Chinese survival dictionary. I am somewhat of a language aficionado, and couldn't help learning some of the characters and basic phrases. I returned to the hotel and went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, I could barely move. My whole body was stiff and sore, my nose was plugged, my ears were full of fluid, I had a headache and a sore throat. I was sick, but I managed to get out of bread, eat breakfast, and get on the bus. We went to a natural hot spring, and relaxed there for a while. Then we went back into the city to do some shopping, and I was able to end off some postcards. Then I started getting chills, and I decided to go sleep in the bus. When I woke up a few hours later, I had a fever. They bought me some Tylenol, which I took. They also brought me a thermometer, and I had a temperature of at least 100 degrees. I went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning I woke up, still not feeling all that good. We had free time until noon, and I had wanted to get up early and do some exploring on our final day, but it didn't happen. I did really want to see the subway system though, so I managed to walk to the nearest station, buy a ticket, and ride the metro one station and back. Later that day, we went to the World Park, where they have miniature replicas of famous buildings from all over the world. After that, the tourists did some more shopping, and I did some more sleeping. We got on the train that night and returned to Haerbin.

The next day in Haerbin, we had all to ourselves, which meant I slept most of the day, and then in the evening went walking around the river shoreline, which was very beautiful. There were dozens of kites in the air everywhere, and it was a nice sunny day.

The next morning, we arrived in Heihe, ate breakfast, and went back across the border, this time on a boat instead of a hovercraft. So thus ended my adventure in China. My trip to China really changed my opinion of the country and of the Chinese people themselves. Before my trip, I had a different opinion about the Chinese people (based on the Chinese who live in my host city), but after seeing people from a different part of the country, my opinion changed. I am very glad that I went, and would love to return again to explore more of the country.

By the way, I went to the doctor after I got back, and found out that I had strep throat and tonsillitis, and started on medicine right away, and now I'm all better.

Chinese Negotiations and the Minnisota Vikings make an appearance in Blagoveshchensk

So I decided to get in shape. And to do this, I decided to run. Now running wasn't my first choice, and isn't particularly my favorite thing to do, but I don't really have other options. Biking would be my first choice, and I see plenty of bikes on the streets every day, but the problem is that no one I know owns one. Or maybe I could try rollerblading. The problem with that is that I never learned how to rollerblade, and I also don't own rollerblades. So that left me with running. All you need to do to run is yourself and a pair of running shoes. Even this posed a slight problem, as the only shoes that I had with me, besides my winter boots, are a pair of beat-up Sketchers which are fine for walking around, but would probably destroy my feet if I tried anything above the level of speed-walking.

Luckily, I have a Chinese market in my city. All of our shoes (including my Sketchers) are made in China anyway, so I figured that getting them straight from the manufacturer would be the cheapest way to get in shape.
So on Saturday morning, I went to the Chinese market. You walk into a large building, and Chinese products are all laid out in front of you in endless alleyways of sunglasses, coats, women’s underwear, shoes, toys, and even Chinese food. There is just so much stuff there. And buying it is like a game.

Believe it or not, there is actually a special technique to shopping at the Chinese market. This wasn't my first time there, but today was the first time that I was there alone, without a Russian to help me do the shopping or negotiating. Before I went, I told my host parents of my intentions, and they gave me a few pointers. "When you first go in, don't stop anywhere. Just look around the entire place first and scout out where you are going to do the bargaining. Never pay the first price that they offer you. Always name a price a little below half of their offer and then move up to half and don't go above that. If they don't want to negotiate, just start to walk away, and they will usually start lowering the price. But you have to be careful, because sometimes they will start following you and getting aggressive. And you don't want to let them know that you are not Russian, otherwise they will never negotiate." This last bit of advice was not particularly worrying-- I probably speak better Russian than them anyway and they aren't going to notice if I don't conjugate a verb correctly. Even if I told them that I was from the United States, they probably wouldn't understand anyway.

So I went, and I scouted. I stopped in at one of the stalls I saw. I looked at some of the running shoes on the wall.
"You like? What size are you? I will find for you!" said the Chinese proprietor of the stall.
"45" I said, using the European metric measurement that was printed on the tongue of my Sketchers. She brought them, they were too small. She didn't have anything bigger.
So I went to the next stall. I tried on a pair of 46's but they were still a little small.
"Do you have anything bigger?" I asked. He did. He had 47s. So I tried them on, and they fit well, but they were made of black leather with no ventilation.
"They fit? Good! So you will buy?" He excitedly prodded me.
"Yes they fit, but I'm going to be running and I want them to breathe."
"They won't! Don't worry! They are good quality!" I think he thought that I said I didn't want them to break. I repeated that I wanted them to breathe, and started taking them off, but go the same response. When I started to walk away, he got mad. "They fit! Why don't you buy?! They fit!" he started yelling at me. "I know. But I want to look around more, at other shoes." I calmly responded, even cracking a friendly smile. It didn't faze him.
"Just name your price! What price do you want? You will buy!" He said glaring at me.
"Good bye" I said, and walked away as fast as I could.

I went into another shop and tried some on, and the sales guy started getting aggressive too. But then my phone rang. It was my friend Vika, and we started talking. It gave me a perfect excuse to get away without being nagged.

Finally I went to the fourth booth. I found a nice pair of running shoes, ventilated, and with air cushions. I asked for 47's to try on. She kind of looked at me, because 47 is already really big and hard to find. "Fine" she said "I'll be back. Stay here." she was gone a long time. She finally came back.
"Are these 47's?" I asked. I looked at the tongue. The four was intact, but the second number had been scratched out. In both shoes. I tried them on anyway. They fit, and were comfortable. I wanted to buy them. I asked how much. She said 2,600 rubles (about $90). This was a lot, even if I bargained it down half. I had wanted to pay somewhere around 500 rubles for shoes, and I didn’t even have that much with me.
"Oh" I said, disappointed "I was looking for something cheaper"
"I can make discount for you!" She said eagerly. "But I wanted shoes around 500 rubles, so maybe I could look at another pair"
"How about 1,600?" she said "It's a good price"
"You don’t understand... I only bought 500 rubles with me. I don’t have 1,600."
"1,000 then!" She replied.
"I can't pay that." I repeated.
"Look and see how much you have!" she ordered.
I looked. I had 1000; I told her I had 700.
"That's too low! Minimum 800, but I'm already losing money!!"
"750!" I tried.
"No! 800 minimum. It is already not profitable for me!"
"Fine 800" I conceded. She already had the shoes in a bag. She took my money counted it, and returned to her position at the stall without looking back. I walked out with my new running shoes in a plastic baggie, feeling pretty good about myself. I had just negotiated a 2,600 ruble ($90) pair of shoes down to 800 ($26). It was a little more than I had wanted to pay in the first place, but I felt content with my purchase and my new mastery of bargaining skills. Even my host parents were impressed when I told them how much I talked it down.

So the next morning, I woke up early and went running, and I looked pretty American while I was at it. Jogging in itself is still not super popular in Russia, and is actually pretty American, I have been told. Plus I had my big headphones on, and as sporting the "Minnesota Vikings" T-shirt which Ethan (who conveniently happens to be from Minnesota) gave me as a present while we were in Vladivostok together. I ran about 3 miles in all, along the river embankment. When I returned home, I hurt. This was the first serious physical activity that I had done in 8 months, and my muscles were aching all over. But it felt good to get a good lung-pounding workout in again, and I was just glad that I survived.