Epic Beach Adventure, with culinary tidbits

So I should be working on my final report that’s due next week, but there’s this little thing called procrastination…we all know how that goes. To fill you in on my current progress in the lab, I still haven’t been able to synthesize much more besides borax and table salt. If I never actually told you any details about my experiment and the compound I’m looking to produce, all you need to know is that I have no use for borax and salt. I have about a week left in the lab, so we’ll see if I hit the jackpot.

In other news, this weekend was our epic beach weekend, and I think I’ve finally recovered from the lack of sleep and excitement of the ocean. I really could go on and on about my satisfaction in sitting by the ocean and having a horizon to stare at, but I won’t bore you.

Our beach adventure really started early last week when Nebromaha and I went to purchase the train tickets for everyone with one of our grad students. To buy a train ticket you must go visit the whole in the wall counter where a lady looks up the train you want on her computer, prints the ticket, and you give her money. In the internet age, this seems pretty complex, but there’s no e-ticket option. And there is also no option to buy tickets on the fastest train that leaves at the best times when you’re a foreigner and don’t have time to go half way across the city to show your passport. We learned this only after waiting in the line for half an hour, forcing us to return to the office and look up some other potential trains. After much back and forth with the lady at the computer on round 2, we finally left with our tickets. And not just any tickets. They were the cheapest tickets, under 15 dollars round trip, and in other words, the worst seats possible. 4:50 AM Saturday departure from Beijing, arriving after 8 AM in Beidaihe, with the return train leaving Beidaihe at 11:50 PM Sunday, arriving in Beijing at 3:30 AM Monday morning. And we had no seats. These were standing room only tickets. Needless to say, we were in for quite the adventure.

After work on Friday, Nebromaha and I stocked up on food at Tsinghua for breakfast and lunch. We also stopped at the grocery store for some other supplies and I made probably the best four dollar investment I’ve made in a long time – the fold up stool. These proved to be invaluable, because no one actually stands for four hours on a train, regardless of what their ticket says. Most people come prepared with a stool so they can sit in the aisle. This was something we were alerted to ahead of time, and it made all the difference. The stools also got carried around for much of the weekend, which made for a fun game to find the most random places we could pull them out and take a seat. (I think that escalator won.)

Returning home with everything we needed, we stopped for a quick nap before heading off at 10 PM. In addition to the stool tip, we were also told that we needed to get to the station incredibly early. Our friends told us it would be easiest if we slept at the station, something that’s fairly common. Leaving at 10 allowed us the chance to catch the subway before it closed for the night. Arriving at the Beijing Railway Station, we realized we were in for quite the night. The huge square outside the station was full of people camping out for the night on a few sheets of newspaper. We found our own spot and circled up like travelers on the Oregon Trail with their Conestoga wagons. Bags in the middle, then the stools. We sat for a while, drinking our radiation grade Mountain Dew, thinking “are we really doing this right now?” (Mountain Dew comes in the most ridiculous neon green bottle here.) But this is a normal night at the Beijing Railway Station. We didn’t come prepared with newspapers and couldn’t find any place to get one, so we just slept on the ground in shifts (the surface really wasn’t too much harder than our beds at the hotel).

Next step: get on the train to Beidaihe…along with the rest of Beijing. This is where all rules are thrown out the window along with personal bubbles, and the pushing and shoving begins. Being the smallest one, I was strategically chosen to lead the group. Once through the ticket check it was a sprint to the track, and the mobs quickly grew at the car entrances. This wasn’t the first stop for the train, so it was already packed with people, many of whom had to first get off before we could shove our way on. As they literally fell out of the train one by one, we continued to push and shove along with everyone else jockeying for position. Although all of us had tickets for the train, this in no way guaranteed us a spot. This was the how-many-clowns-can-we-fit-in-a-Volkswagen-beetle game, Beijing Railroad edition. Luckily, the four of us all managed to get on safely.

I lucked out, able to squeeze myself next to a family that was lucky enough to have seats. My stool fit great right next to the small table between the seats, getting me out of the aisle. Now you might think that an aisle packed with people is pretty useless as an aisle, but every few minutes someone would come barreling through, searching out the bathroom or the food car, forcing everyone to squeeze even closer together. This got old really quickly, but amazingly everyone seemed to be in a good mood, especially considering the circumstances. There were very few eye rolls or frustrated sighs when the next person came crawling through the aisle, disturbing everyone else. In such close quarters, the stranger sidled up next to you quickly became your new best friend. After the initial angry pushing and shoving, everyone seemed to happily enjoy their journey.

The train ride really was the most exciting part of our weekend. The beach was great. Definitely busy and commercialized, but to me it didn’t much matter. It was the ocean. We caught a bit of a snag trying to find a room for the night, as most places were already full or don’t accept foreigners. But we finally lucked out with a two story bungalow for less than 20 bucks a person, which was probably the last room in town.

The highlight of the weekend, besides the ocean, was our dinner on Saturday night. I had heard that Beidaihe is famous for their fresh seafood – really fresh. I decided that my goal for the weekend was to eat a fish that I had chosen out of the tank myself, a common occurrence at high end restaurants in Beijing, but an ordinary culinary experience on the coast. However, this was no ordinary culinary experience for us! After picking our fish from the rows of tanks, the man snatched it with his net, and then “smack!” He swung the fish up over his shoulder in the net and threw it as hard as he could on the ground. And then its tail stopped flipping and it was dead. But I am confident to note that this fish did not die in vain. It was no doubt the best fish I’ve ever eaten. It was served whole, lightly fried, with some sort of sauce and spices. And in about the same amount of time it took for the fish smacker man to kill the fish, it was gone, because we devoured it! I even tried an eyeball, but it was crunchy and weird. I don’t think I’d recommend it. But all that was left of that fish was the tip of its tail, its jaw, and spine. Fish from our Gloucester fish share will just never be the same.

The rest of our time at the beach was fairly uneventful. We slept, read, played in the sand, got sunburned – typical beach activities. The train ride home was also rather uneventful, a pleasant surprise after the last trip. It was much less crowded this time around, and we managed to hit the jackpot and find a table with four seats. We arrived back at Beijing Railway Station unscathed, only to then be completely ripped off by our cab driver on the way back to the hotel. He wanted to agree to the price ahead of time (a high price) while we kept pointing at the meter. At 3 AM you don’t really have any other options, so we sucked it up and headed home for a few hours of sleep. It was back to work again on Monday morning. I learned that I have indeed inherited the Trescott sleep gene, as I pulled one of those head bob nod offs while my grad student and I were analyzing my samples using the scanning electron microscope. This, by the way, was right after my bro date with four of the guys from the lab who took me to a dumpling restaurant for lunch because I told them I like dumplings and they ordered cow intestine and chicken feet just to give me a hard time. The cow intestine was a win, but the chicken feet not so much. I decided I’m not really into eating toenails…

Betty

Climb Every Mountain

Sorry for not writing in a while. I’ve been pretty busy lately. And by busy, I mean that I’ve actually had to enter the lab a few times during the week instead of sitting at my desk all day. I still haven’t been able to synthesize the compound I’m trying to, but no real surprise there. Start praying to the chemistry gods!!!

Anyways, I’ve done lots of exciting things lately, and they all share a common theme – climbing. First was the drum and bell towers a few weeks ago. The stairs were about a foot tall each and incredibly steep, making for a fun ascent. If you think of some simple trigonometry, the taller the triangle, the larger the incline, thus the need for some incredibly steep stairs. I realized that if the empire had figured out the spiral staircase technology, life would have been a lot easier if you were in charge of sounding the drums each day. But unfortunately for the seven guys who continue the tradition and play each day on the hour for tourists like us, this was not the case. The brief performance was one of those make your heart vibrate kind of shows. Also more views of Beijing from the top. The more I see it from above, the more I realize just how big it is!

Next stop in the climbing tour – Fragrant Hill. The name comes from the fact that the peak apparently looks like an incense burner, but who knows. This hill or mountain (whatever you want to call it) is at the edge of the western edge of the city, a fairly easy bus trip from our sweet digs. (The digs are not actually all that sweet, but someone makes my bed every day, so I can’t really complain).

The park was just what I needed – some nature. I’ve been having nature withdrawals for the past few weeks. The city thing is fun, but it’s beginning to get a little old. I just want to see some birds, hear some good nature sounds, and boy what I wouldn’t do for some ocean. (More on the ocean to come. Epic beach weekend in the works!) The park was an excellent, exhausting day, and my butt muscles were certainly feeling it the next day. Most of the paths are lined with steps leading up to the top, but we also did our fair share of off-roading. Not only am I a Trescott, but I am also a recent graduate of “Adventure Club”, Malawi chapter. So, when I see a fence in the woods with a clear path on both sides, my natural instinct is obviously to take the path and jump the fence. A few of the others needed some convincing, but after a steep climb through the trees, a pee break, and some serious wrestling with the overgrowing branches, all agreed the fence hop was worth it. The climb was certainly a workout, and our picnic lunch of dumplings at the top was well deserved. More excellent views, and you could just make out the city center through the smog and haze. It was a blue sky day though on the mountain, which are a real treat here. Oh, and I forgot to mention the Party singalong that we happened upon on our hike up. I really did start to feel like I was in the Sound of Music, climbing a mountain to the voices of a few hundred people. Who knows what they were singing about, but it made for a good climbing soundtrack.

Fragrant Hill was certainly a fun adventure, but it was only just a warm-up for this past weekend’s fun. One of my neighbors was in China on business, and decided to make a stop in Beijing for the weekend. And what is the number one thing that one has to do when they come to Beijing? Hike the Great Wall. So, that’s just what we did. Well actually it was a bit more complicated than that, because first you have to get to the Great Wall. When the Beijing Bible as we call it (my awesome tour book that gets us everywhere) tells us to take the bus to Huairou where we should transfer to another bus, I don’t really question it. But, it was the first time I lost faith in the book, because when we arrived in the city of Huairou, instead of one stop, there were about ten, and instead of a second bus, there were only minibus drivers wanting to rip you off and sketchy unmarked taxis. Regardless, we did make it to the wall (by way of the sketchy unmarked taxi, of course).

The Great Wall is truly breathtaking, and for two reasons. One, the views are absolutely amazing. I scored again with an excellent blue sky day and high visibility. The mountains are similar to those on Lost, and I almost felt like I was on the Island, except there was no water. The Great Wall is also literally breathtaking. It’s a tough climb! You can opt for the gondola which will take you up to the wall, but once you make it to the wall, the fun has only just begun (and by fun, I mean hard work and lots of sweating). There were relatively few people at this section of the wall, but once we made it to a certain point, everyone hiking down would pass on some words of encouragement and let us know of the real treat waiting for us at the top – a section of the wall that hasn’t recently been restored. It’s odd, because there’s a sign which tells visitors that this area of the wall is forbidden, but then directly past it there are two vendors selling cold bottles of Coca Cola and beer. This is not the first time I have found that no entry means entry in Beijing. It seems to happen all the time in subway stations.

After hiking down to the other end of the wall, to cap off our excellent day we decided to take one of the alternative options of getting off the mountain – the toboggan. The non-Trescott grandfather instincts were making themselves known. It was certainly a this-would-never-go-over-in-America activity, with no formal signed releases or safety equipment, but I think that always adds to the fun. And the signs advising you to lean into the turn are the icing on the cake. The ride was great, and a perfect way to finish the day.

Now I just told you about my visit to the Great Wall, and you’ll say, “Oh, that’s nice, Betty went to the Great Wall.” But I really didn’t give you any idea of how great it actually was. It’s one of those you-had-to-be-there moments. The pictures might help (but the files are too big and I don’t want to screw them up trying to post them, so you can’t see them now). But it’s one of those things you really just have to see for yourself. I’m sorry. Maybe this is my excuse for being lazy and not wanting to write more, and it’s definitely a bit corny, but really, the Great Wall is pretty great.

There is one more item on my list of things I’ve climbed lately. (Cue Bob Barker voice). It’s a new bike!!! It’s been graduation at Tsinghua University, and I say it like that because for the past two weeks I have seen someone in a cap and gown every day. Regardless, this means that a few of our friends in the lab are moving on, and one was kind enough to loan me her bike for the rest of the summer. She’ll be working on the other side of the city, and I guess has no need for it. This is great for Nebromaha, as he no longer needs to drive me to work and to breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, but it’s been an adjustment for me. This is also where the climbing comes in. The bike is a bit too tall, and the mount and dismount can be challenging. I still haven’t mastered the one legged push and jump over that looks so graceful when executed correctly, but I will say that I’m getting pretty good at the dismount. This is less fun when trying to dodge vehicles in the middle of an intersection, but I guess I’m here writing this, so it’s worked out so far.

Hope you all had a good 4^th of July. Fireworks are illegal in the city, and diet soda doesn’t exist in this country so there were also no Diet Coke and Mentos explosions for us.

Betty