June 16, 2010
2010 Asian odyssey: Shanghai World Expo, Kuala Lumpur, and more! (Part 4)
By Simon J. Lau
My time in Beijing has been wonderful, and before I leave this Friday, I wanted to introduce some of the folks who have made this experience so special. I have included several pictures below of the hostel staff and fellow travelers whom I have befriended. There are also some photos of my visit to the Beijing Zoo. The main attraction there was the giant panda exhibit, but my all-time zoo favorites have always been the lions and tigers.
One of the lesser-acknowledged aspects of Beijing is its cultural diversity, which is, in large part, rooted in its long and complex history. There’s actually a well-established and wildly diverse Muslim community in Beijing, and I recently ate at a Middle Eastern restaurant owned and operated by Muslims. Pictured above are a few of the lamb skewers and local beers we ordered. Many of the Muslims living in Beijing today are from the Gansu area, but ultimately, their history (through a long series of twists and turns) traces back to the Silk Road that connected China to the Middle East. It’s really fascinating how many layers of history you uncover here through day-to-day activities (such as eating and food).
Here are several of the fellow travelers I’ve met at Leo Hostel. In the middle is Sarah, a student from Canada, and Oscey, a student from Germany. These two actually met each other at the Beijing airport, and by the time Sarah left for the next leg of her trip, they were nearly attached at the hip! It made me realize how the backpacking culture really cultivates fast friendships and a sense of openness. It isn’t every day that you meet a total stranger one morning and end up spending the next week together. But that seems to be how things work. It’s an experience that I’m beginning to think more people should have and that I’m glad I’ve started to experience for myself.
And these two are Martin (Ma Xing, or as David and I like to say, “machine”) and David (Da Wei). I usually hang out with these guys late in the evening since Martin works the night shift at Leo and David just stays up late. For the better part of my trip, these guys have spent their late nights teaching me Chinese. Martin is a recent graduate from Beijing Geely University and started work the day I checked in. David, on the other hand, has been in and around China for the past several years. During that time, he’s taught himself Chinese and regularly chats with locals at the hostel or other employees at local establishments.
One funny story is David’s Chinese name, Da Wei, is supposed to mean “big” and “strong,” but occasionally people tease him by using the homonym of Wei, which means “stomach”. Anyway, staying at Leo has inspired me to think about the hostel business in China. I joked with Martin that in the next few years, he should continue improving his English and learning how to run a hostel. So, if I do get into the hostel business, I’ll make him the general manager of my hostel chain. I even have a name for it – Red Panda!
This was my go-to guy for my daily dose of soy milk. It’s a bit like the relationship between avid coffee drinkers and their barista. At first, we could hardly communicate with each other, but now I can order my daily items, including his baked breads. It just goes to show how much my language skills have improved just by being here. Most recently, I’ve been able to tell him where I was born, where my parents are from, my Chinese and English names, and I have learned his name and some of his history as well.
This was part of the lion and tiger exhibit at the Beijing Zoo. The cages looked pretty dated – they reminded me a bit of the transition between circus exhibitions and modern zoo enclosures. Although it was pretty cramped, I was intrigued by the structure because it reminded me of a scene from Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” In this one part of the story, the main character finds himself at a zoo in Nanjing where Japanese soldiers are ordered to put down a group of tigers. Being in that building and being around those tigers brought me back to that portion of the book and made me wonder whether this exhibit was anything like the one Murakami had in mind. If so, if he were here with me, I wonder if he would have thought the same thing.
One thing that’s very different between China and America is what’s allowed at the zoo. In China, visitors always try to feed the animals! In this case, one visitor fed Coke to a brown bear. The hilarious part was that the bear really liked it and stood on his two hind legs so the kid could pour the drink into his mouth. It was obvious to me from the bear’s reaction that it had already had soda in the past. Nonetheless, I thought it was kind of ridiculous that the zoo doesn’t prohibit people from throwing food and pouring Coke into the enclosures.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t show you photos of the giant panda exhibit! These three guys were just chilling, enjoying their bamboo. The one on the very left was so lazy he was on his back the whole time and didn’t even sit up to eat! For those who don’t know, pandas are loosely related to modern bears, and it’s actually under debate whether they are more closely related to raccoons. Also, the female panda can only reproduce on one day each year, so that, combined with centuries of over poaching, has driven the panda population toward extinction. Thankfully, China is very serious about protecting the giant panda, and they’ve done a lot to bring the panda population back from where it was. I’m hopeful that in the future there will still be “bamboo bears” for all to see!
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