Year of the Dragon...

China kicks ass on New Years!  Now this is a holiday.  Nine day, government holiday. Everything is closed, everyone is gone.  And little to no air space is saved from firework blasts.  Kids don't have a bed time, 600 million people migrate and more fireworks explode by the minute than do in the US on a whole fourth of July.  This shit is crazy. And SOOOOOO dangerous.  And so awesome. I loaded two videos from a roof top bar on the first 'official' night of the New Year.  Mayhem, really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVpoteWJQJs&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZLxGea1ffA&feature=g-upl&context=G28b15afAUAAAAAAAAAA    Whoa.

Its the year of the dragon, which means, its going to be a great year.  I don't really know what it means/its supposed to be a year of good fortune, but, anyway, experiencing this epic holiday here in China has been amazing.

Numero Uno: ice sculptures.  This one tasted delicious.

Numero Dos: the streets of this otherwise insanely rushed, trafficked, obnoxiously noisy and busy city are literally all but empty.  Seriously.  Where have all the people gone?  This I said to myself daily.  Empty subway trains, empty buses.  Very interesting really, because if there is no one here, then who is shooting off all those freaking fireworks!?

Boom, boom, blast, pop, pop, pop, every night, all night (and day).  It started last Friday and it was still going off ten days later. So, the fireworks are amazing like i said; but, so are the dumplings! Numero tres: Dumplings.

Dumplings are the traditional food of the Chinese New Year. A few of my co-workers were able to get together to partake in this tradition with our Chinese friend Sunny.  She has been making dumplings since she was six.  It was so fun and apparently the more you eat, the more prosperous your year to come will be...I expect to be very prosperous as our dumplings were delicious!

After 10+days of fireworks, my ears, and the streets, need a rest.  There is firework confetti everywhere and the smoke still hangs in the air (imagine that, Beijing).  But, wow, what an experience.  Ten days off of work, I saw dragon dance, heard fireworks, visited the mountains outside of Beijing (and saw fireworks from a distance),  ran from fireworks, seemed alone in a city of 22 million, saw fireworks blast against the sides of buildings, had sooo much fun and loved China for the first time.  Year of the Dragon: welcomed.

#5 Bikes, bikes and more bikes!

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQG6-DojVw.

Not a day passes by when I do not smile with the site of all these bikes!
Bikers just look happy.  Who doesn't like biking?  Kids love it, adults love it, the old people here apparently like it alright.  Everybody be biking!

Hopefully, soon there will be 9 million and one.  I won't stay in Beijing for much longer but, no matter, I am still getting on one of these bikes.  It has to be done.

Here, you can see, there are so many bikes that sometimes people just throw them around.  Just throw your bike where ever, you can buy one on the streets for 80 kuai ($12).

So many shapes and sizes of tires, some come with furry mittens to keep the driver's hands warm.  Some come with flowers and plaid seats and most have baskets with butterflies on the front.  There are electric ones that sneak up on you in the street and scare the poo outta you if you're not careful.

Bikes got wagons and three wheels and a lot of Chinese stuff in the back and can sometimes tip over in the street with too much gusto mighty turn...be careful!  And its entertaining/nerve racking to see these bikes wage traffic wars for right of way with BMWs, buses and rickshaws.

There are bike lots at every subway and shopping mall; a bike valet or closet if you will.  The guards are nice, as they like all the bikes too!

Anyway, I like bikes.  People in Beijing like bikes...maybe this place ain't so bad after all.  I mean, its only taken me, what?, two months to find 6 things I like about this city...okay, Beijing...agree to disagree, but at least we can both appreciate bikes.

The Lama Temple is number 6...

This place is a winner.  Lama Temple...mmm, pretty.  I realize there is some sick irony in this temple's being called as such in Beijing.  A lama is a Tibetan monk, but Lama means one thing to most of us: the Dalai. Maybe it is because of this irony that it belongs on the top ten list and maybe because of this irony I love this temple even more.  Maybe.
Either way, politics or no,  I love this place.  It is a  refuge in the midst of a seemingly spiritless, concrete sprawl of a city.
The temple is a former imperial palace converted to a Buddhist temple and lamasery in the early 18th c.  Its gorgeous colors burst out and up from the concrete walls which protect this sacred place from the outside world (or maybe the opposite way around).  The architecture exudes ancient China; colorful, dramatic, and imperial.

The Temple sits just off a major subway stop in the city center amongst the busy hutongs.  Upon exiting the subway underground, you smell the incense. You smell it and you hear it because the peddlers line the subway halls and hutong side walks, the stairs and the exits ready and waiting, the alley ways colorful with malas, incense already burning and vendors speedily  Chinese chatting to sell you a bit of spirituality.  

The thousands a day who light the incense as offering to the Buddha also light your spirit with the smoke and sage smell.  Smells like a dream would smell if you added a little hibiscus and fresh spring wind. Light three sticks from the inferno of already burning offerings, say your prayer, prostrate if you desire and there's your offering.  Move through to the numerous  temple halls, Buddha statues and gaze on the 90 foot Maitreya, the future Buddha to come (he is gold and gorgeous).

Oh, the Lama Temple, my sanctuary of multiple halls with lovely names in an otherwise spiritless sprawl of a city: The Hall of Everlasting Protection, the Hall of the Wheel of the Law, the Pavillion of Ten Thousands Happinesses. Don't you want to always be in a place called the Hall of Happinesses? Or maybe you would prefer the Hall of Harmony and Peace?  Here resides many Buddha statues and dozens of Taras, among which is a statue of Avalokitesvara, whom the Dalai Lama is the incarnation.  This Buddha is portrayed with one thousand arms and one thousands eyes.  He is said to be a Buddha of compassion, one who has vowed to put off arriving in Nirvana to aid sentient beings in attaining Buddha hood in this life.  Oh, Lama Temple, you and your Tibetan Buddhism are amazing.


Here we have it: the Lama Temple. It is love and a shining star in a city of dark, smoggy ewwy things.  Go Lama Temple, GO!

oh...maybe I should keep my voice down...That's all for now

Number 7...the sports on tv are wicked...

Is this seriously on my top ten?  This is my life now, when part of my top ten coolest shiz in Beijing is watching badminton? Some what depressing.  But hey, if it makes you happy, right?

Its true that I didn't watch one football game this season (sorry UT! I still love ya).  Soccer, absolutely.  Ice skating, fo sho. Badminton...duh.  Its on at the local bar: I watch  it.  I see a fair amount of ping pong matches, as well. The sports commonly on the tube are much akin to what we would normally watch, say, every four years or so at a little thing called the Olympics.  Track and field, gymnastics, even good ole curling shows up on tvs in restaurants and bars everyday and salons and sides of ginormous buildings.  Its nice to have variety.

And for this, Beijing, I salute you.  

Funny sign!

  China is so weird. This funny sign is so weird.  "My baby is too cute, please don't kiss him"? Sex-Ed bumper sticker?  I drive too so fast you can kiss my...baby? Anyway, So weird.