I LOVE my Camera!

I just want to take a moment to express my extreme appreciation to some extremely special folks at home.

For my birthday, my friends and family pitched in to get me a new camera for my year in China. And wow. Good call. I tell everyone that's why I have such a rad camera and I think of how thankful I am all the time because that camera is practically my new favourite necklace.

So thank you so very much to Jess, Nic, Mom, Dad, Jess DL, Tara, Mike, Ari, Leanne, Paul, and Erica (and I am really sorry if I missed someone!)

I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love my camera. That's some love for all of you.

A few shots of me and my New Best (Non-Human) Friend:

 Carrousel along river in Weifang.

Daily apartment elevator rides to the 19th floor

 Maybe this is Wonderland.

 Sinead, Me, and Amber at TaiShan

Staff room social with Mr. Groves.

A Fraction of Beijing in Photos

Wide pedestrian walkways flanked by large leafy trees, street side flower planters, brick apartment buildings covered in vines, separated bike lanes, ambient noise of car engines, and the constant symphony of car horns. This is Beijing. Or, this is the wee fraction of Beijing that I know. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by Beijing. I am not sure what I was expecting but expectations were blown out of the water.

It’s National Holiday week in China and despite ample warnings about massive crowds of people, we trekked off to explore the capital. We did avoid the major tourist areas (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Beijing access point to Great Wall, etc) because of the unfathomably large amounts of people. This just means that I have good reason to go back for the requisite sightseeing. This introductory trip was a lot of wandering the streets, eating imported foods that you would never see the likes of in Weifang, and meeting more foreigners than you would ever see the likes of in Weifang. 

And, I took a lot of pictures thusly I present to you: 

32 Photos: A Fraction Of Beijing As Seen Through The Lens of Laurel Temmel

1. Guy napping on a park bench alongside a busy street. Napping is super common in China. In Shandong Province (where I live) the government regulates nap time. That's why we have a two hour break in the middle of classes every day. I'm not sure about regulations in Beijing.

2. How to cross a street in China. Don't be afraid to stop in the middle and wait for an appropriate break in traffic. The strategy is to make it across paying attention to one direction of traffic at a time. I don't think it's actually possible to cross if you are waiting for both directions at once. That said, it's a reasonably frightening moment when you are standing in the middle of 8 lanes of zooming and honking traffic.

3. Triangular flower towers at the end of each block. Love it. The next step is growing some veggies in there... then you've got yourself Beijing local produce. So much potential and in the meantime, it sure is pretty. Also, note the red lanterns and bike lane. Standard issue in China. 

4. EcoBici bike share! Get on with it, Canada!

5. It's impossible not to take this photo when you see a row of dwarf size Chinese army statues. 

6. It is also impossible not to love a city that has brick pedestrian walkways shaded by large trees. Beijing- I had no idea.

7. 

8.  Your bike repair stop. 

9. I am pretty sure this means: No Fireworks On Cars. I think this both because of the symbols and because if it was legal, I think I would have seen it by now. 

9. Orientation Conference. Navigating with Chinese maps and road signs is pretty tricky. Plus here, the road signs run perpendicular to the road that they are naming. So, it can get pretty confusing.

10. Grandma's Kitchen. It's no Lady Marmalade, but still a North American breakfast heaven. Grease, Cholesterol, and Caffeine. Hallelujah, Amen.

11. The subway promotes intimacy among all travellers. Sinead, Me, and Joey- Randi must have been squished some place else at the time.

12. As you can see, I am the tallest in all in this subway car. The real advantage in this case being access to oxygen and higher visibility. 

13. More sustainable logging practices.

14. "Vintage" Mau buttons. We found the antique district. I am not sure how much of the "antiques" were from times of yore- but still sweet market finds at high tourist prices. 

15. Prayer beads

16. Stone carved stamps. 

17. Painted buildings that look like the Chinatown we imagine. 

18. Alleyways with 'art'- possibly paint by number. 

19. 

20. Painting the building red. 

21. Alleyways are for biking too. And sidewalk chalk.

22. China is designed for shorter folks. 

23. More beads. I bought a necklace that may or may not be jade. Asking price: an ambitious 150 RMB. I paid 30 which means it was probably made yesterday and is worth about 5. I believe in bargaining but you also have to respect that it's their way of making a living. 

24. Calligraphy brushes. 

25. Old coins

26. Antiques or just pretty dusty. There would be no way of knowing. 

27. Meticulously painted buildings

28. Any street, Beijing. 

29. Selling paintings and statues. 

30. Handmade shadow puppets. I talked to the girl that was selling these. Apparently they are made out of leather. Her grandparents make them, and she will learn how to make them when she turns 18.

31. I was pretty overwhelmed at this market experience and only ended up leaving with my 'jade' beads and some postcards. I am going to have to go back once I am more China street market savvy to pick up some goods.  

32. People watching is a two way street. 

Until next time, Beijing. 

PS. For further reading: Globe and Mail does it again! (Thanks JDL for keeping me posted.) 

Perfectly Imperfect Day in Beijing:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/how-to-spend-a-perfectly-imperfect-beijing-day/article4564935/

Bargaining in Beijing:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/bargaining-in-beijings-dirty-market/article4266255/

The Perfect Day on The Great Wall of China

I can say with confidence that I've experienced the perfect day of climbing the Great Wall. We were convinced by some fellow Canadians at the hostel to brave public transport in three incarnations (subway, bus, taxi van) to arrive at a more wild and less touristy part of the Great Wall. I'm going to admit that the preceding day, my enthusiasm was wavering due to thoughts of epic transport mishaps and that decision making lag that is just part of travelling with a big group but, man oh man am I ever happy that we all pulled through.

So team Sanlitun Hostel, 14 ambitious hikers hailing from Canada, US, Sweden, Finland, and China, marched off the the metro. We could not have asked for a more perfect day. Clear skies, crispy fall air, warm afternoon heat, golden sun, and an ever so slight breeze. And the Wall! We went to a more rural area (I'm sorry, I really can't remember the name at all at the moment!) where we took a public bus in and then hired some cabs to take us to a wee farming village where the path started. We hiked up to where the wall started (a 30 minute march that I would compare to the likes of Mt. Erskine) and then there we were: The Great Wall of China.

For me it was another one of those I-can't-believe-I-am-in-China moments. And this was before we even started our hike/scramble/climb/cling-on-for-dear-life of a day trip. This part of the Wall is not maintained like the main access points (which I have not yet been to) and therefore, I think pretty stunning: hundreds and hundreds of years old, built by humans, and still more or less intact. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to build. The sheer quantity of material to extract, refine, move, and secure into place is an engineering feat for any era. Suffice to say, Ancient Chinese blood, sweat, and tears... emphasis, I am sure, in that order.

My first view of the Great Wall:

A lot of the forest area and greenery is growing up around and into the Wall and the watchtowers. This makes for a seriously beautiful hike and some seriously loose bricks and stones.

This is the initial taste of what's to follow: extremely steep "stairs" with loose bricks, rocks, and gravel. It was definitely the type of hiking that you would rather have had a harness for.

Climb 1: Made it!

We decided to take a group shot before we lost anyone for real.


Me and Sinead. And yes, I did hike the entire day with a baguette in my backpack. A baguette, a block of cheese, salami, avocado, chocolate, pomegranate, and 2 litres of water. Other people opted for a lighter load- I opted for delicious and hydration. Ironically, I ended up eating the much anticipated 2 foot long on the ride back but it was delicious and I made a lot of friends.

Just a little bit of incline. The photos don't really capture how terrifying this was because you can't see the bricks moving.

Fellow Canadian Josh climbs a watchtower.

Rolling hills and snaking walls...

The Great Wall Jump Shot, because you can't come all the way to China and not do it.

This was the farthest point we made it to. The climb up to this part was definitely the most terrifying of them all. I had initially decided not to do it, but then talked myself into it.

Yes, and I did this whole hike in my Converses. Sinead and I were laughing because we both brought running shoes to China for things like hiking and climbing the Wall, but then of course when you head out to Beijing for a few days, you don't pack your runners. So, you can be as prepared as you want but you'll just end up using whatever you have.

The far watch tower is apparently the tallest one on the Wall, or this section of the Wall, I'm not one for researching or fact checking. We wanted to make it there but ran out of time. More reasons to return...

This is the terrified, proud self-portrait after that last hairy climb.

And descending often proves more challenging than ascending.

In a nutshell: amazing. Absolutely perfect weather, an incredible team, a long sweaty beautiful hike, and 2 feet of well-travelled sandwich. I can't think of a more perfect day. But wait! We capped it off with a delicious dinner of Beijing duck and Tsingtao beer. It's 3 days later and I can still smell the sweat, taste the beer, and yes, my legs still ache when I walk down stairs.