Thursday, November 23, 2006


An argument ensued among us, with one camps claiming this might be a real PSP on sale and those who though that the 20 kuai asking price (about $2.5) made that impossible. Some sucker finally bought it and was disappointed that it contained not a PSP, but counterfeit games for the PSP.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Little Sichuan, ironically for a restuarant specializing in the cuisine of the province so poor it is famous most for its food and the prostitutes it sends throughout the entire nation of China, this place was really pricey and actually not that spicy, more sweet than anything. Worth a try, though.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Out on the prowl, we decided to check out the Sichuan restaurant located on the area maps we were given at orientation. This area is called Xiao Xi Tian(r) and is a great place to get everything you could ever want on a stick.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

"The Aflutter Red Flag," as our campus' communist party newspaper is called. In Chinese, it sounds a lot more dignified.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The weather today was the main reason I went shopping. This was one of maybe 6-7 days the entire summer that there was any blue to be seen in the sky's above Beijing. It was not only clear, it was scorching hot! This is the main plaza in front of the adminstration building at BNU. This shot is actually looking toward the beautiful campus fountain, but since no VIPs are here to day, it's shut off, of course.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Back at the ally across from BNU's east gate. Time to cross the overpass back home.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Since I was a transit-taking mood, rather than walking the 28 minutes back from the subway station to Lanhui, I hopped on one of the many busses (this one quite unusually empty) that make their way up XinJieKouWai back to the east side of BNU. The driver on the articulated busses (and until recently on all other busses, as well) concentrates only on driving, while one or two shoupiaoyuan sell tickets to riders. Ever since Beijing provided a discount for those who use the electronic transit card, though they seem to be spending most of their time reminding people to swipe their card and calling out stops, and for the busses without cameras on the back doors, telling the driver when to close the doors.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The longer I've been in Beijing , the more these lines continue to dissapear as Beijingers move to a new wireless transportation debit card. If you don't have one, you need to queue up for a ticket (30 cents on the loop and east-west line, 75 cents if you include the overhead "Chengtie" up to Wudaokou and the far northern suburbs).
EAP China! Robert Klein.

As anyone who knows me well can attest, I love transportation. I love subways, trains, ferries, boats, it's all good. The Beijing subway is still pretty small (there are currently only three lines, though that will triple by 2010), but when it's convenient it's great. Like Beijing's busses, getting on and off is quite an experience though. It's most easily compared to getting on to the 30-Stockton in San Francisco's Chinatown where everyone and their mothers (literally) push to get on first. The difference is that in China it's not just little old Cantonese ladies, literally everyone does this no matter how much longer it actually makes things take. If you want to get off, you need to line up before your stop to push your way out, or you'll never leave.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006


After exploring with the girls for awhile and making a purchase for my Dad, I hopped on the subway back home. In fact, there's a subway entrance that leads directly into the Silk Street Market building, but it's on the 1 line, one stop down from the transfer station to the loop line that leads back to BNU. The advertisement is for a primary and secondary school aggiliated with Peking University, the nation's premier comprehensive university. The english translations for emergency precedures below, however, were hopefully not made by one of that fine institution's alumni.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

And then we found Silk Street. Forced indoors to reduce counterfeiting a couple years ago. The result is that while everything is still counterfeit, they tend to be some of the best counterfeits in town. The vendors also speak more English than you'll find anywhere else in Beijing, but they use it to badger you and bellittle you.On a later visit, when I came to purchase a coat for my trip to Outer Mongolia during the national holiday, one hit me. They're horrible. Please understand, this is not China...this is not Chinese culture..this is Silk Street, a nasty little world unto itself. It's one of the few places you can get winter clothing ("North Face," "Columbia," "REI") all year round, as long as you don't mind that the tag for your coat might refer to a pair of ski pants, and vice-versa.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The friendship store! The world famous Beijing friendship store that used to be the only place in China where you could purchase western goods. Now it's main feature appears to be the Pizza Hut downstairs (and according to some guidebooks, its unusually well-kept toilets, truly a rarity in China.)
EAP China! Robert Klein.

After walking all the way to the street's dead end at yet another embassy's apartment complex, we turned aroudn and headed back to the main street, Jianguomen Waidajie. And then we figured out exactly where we were...
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Since we finally figured out the Chinese name for Silk Street was Xiu Shui Jie, we decided to walk up it. But there were no markets, counterfeit goods or pushy hawkers "Hello! Hello!" in sight. Just diplomatic residence compounds like this one.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I needed to buy some stuff. My friend from Berkeley Linh Dao (at left) and Riverside's finest, Bo Yong needed to buy stuff. So we all decided to take head out to the "Silk Street Market," we'd all heard so much about. You'd think it'd be simple to figure out where it was...but it wasn't. First off, the name is not "Silk Street" in Chinese, that's just a made up name in english probably used since it's famous for tailored suits. After convincing the girls I could get us there using the subway rather than Linh's beloved Beijing taxis, I soon discovered it was a little more complicated than it seemed.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Zhu ni de sheng ri kuai le! Happy Birthday to you!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

But UCLA's Simon made the heat "Ain't no thing, girlfriend."
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Even Uma Thurman (Berkeley's Meredeth Godwin) is feeling the heat.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

There is a critical flaw to eating hotpot in a private room in summer. It gets hotter than Chongqing itself (well, almost...when I end up there in a few hundred pictures after this one, it was 43 degrees celsius-109 fahrenheit). The EAPer using this fine, upstanding UCSD student as a human shield is doing so to prevent me from taking a picture of his shirt...it's absolutely soaked in sweat.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

All right, time to explain hotpot now that I have a visual aide. Each person gets a personal pot of either Mongolian (no spice) broth, or the more popular Chongqing-"MaLa" version, which is so spicy it will make your lips tremble and go numb after a few bites. At Minbao, as well as some other joints, you can request "half-spicy" which is flavorful without the painful aftereffects a pure Chongqing broth often brings. Dishes of vegetables, meats and other goodies are ordered communally and added by the individual to their own hotpot, to be cooked exactly as desired. Hotpot mushrooms are absolutely to die for. I once (not this time) ate an entire plate of them almost entirely by myself.

Hotpot is originally Mongolian, and as a result variants of it can be found throughout East Asia. The Chongqing version started as a way to sell tripe on the banks of the Yangste River (much as the burrito is supposed to have begun as a way to sell cheap meat). So the story goes, people quickly realized that lamb (the traditional Mongolian ingredient), beef, certain types of noodles, lotus root, and every kind of vegetable known to man actually tastes great cooked fresh in the stuff. And in the Chinese food culture, where "fresh" is everything, it's a great way to get your veggies (or, octopus, cuttlefish, etc.)

EAP China! Robert Klein.

Can you see how excited Bonnie is about eating hotpot in our own private room? She's ecstatic. By the way, that pitcher of plum juice being poured is also free.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Back in Beijing, it's Helen's birthday! In China a nice dinner out means one thing, and one thing only, hotpot ( 火锅 )! More on the details of hotpot itself later. This was the first trip for most of us to "Minbao Hotpot City", one of the best hotpot places in the city, and just about three kilometeres from campus. To be one of the best hotpot places is a big deal; they're absolutely ubiquitous in China and our neighborhood in particular seems to be full of them. But only at Minbao features a convenient location, high quality, affordable prices ($2.5-4 to stuff yourself silly), and free unlimited tap beer. Yes, that's right. Free, unlimited tap beer. Of course, your only choices are Yanjing and Beijing Beer (both local brands), but unlike in the bottle, from a keg they're more or less drinkable.
EAP China! Robert Klein.