Ryan Ing

Haircuts here are pretty awesome, because for 10 RMB ($2.50), they’ll wash your hair, cut your hair, then wash it again.

And they actually use scissors here, not like those Chinese hairdessers in Chinatown who just use the electric razors and finish the job in 5 minutes.

The only problem is that they prefer completely different hairstyles (That long, sometimes mullet-esque style).  Plus, they of course do not know what a lineup is. Left the place with crooked sideburns.

One haircut used, 10 more remaining. (Membership card was 100 RMB)

Took a look around inside The Peninsula, which had all of the flagship designer brand stores also in the building.

(Parked in front, two BMW 7 series, in the background, two Rolls-Royce Phantoms)

Good ol louie

I’m a fan of the Museum

Ate at Japanese fast-food restaurant called Yoshinaya. Was amazing. I don’t think you can find anything like it in Toronto.

Fast food (Ex. Mcdonalds, KFC,) is actually more expensive than local Chinese restaurants; I guess because they’re international companies. So it’s actually sort of a treat for Chinese people to go to these places.

Well fed.

Lastly, dropped by the campus cyber cafe  to play a game or two of Dota. The cyber cafes are about the same as the ones in Toronto, except that they are usually a lot bigger (about 100 computers split between two rooms). BUT TO MAKE IT EVEN WORSE, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SMOKE INSIDE. Cyber cafes are already known to be hot and sweaty (some guys take off their shirts while playing), but the cigarette smoke makes it even worse.

And one last thing I forgot to mention about restaurants; they all do delivery. And it’s also free! (Tipping is not part of the culture here anyways)

But while in the cyber cafe I saw about the craziest thing: a dude got Mcdonalds delivered to him, inside the cyber cafe, and he didn’t even have to leave his seat. (Photo below)

So literally you can sit in a cyber cafe all day without even having to get out of your seat to get food.

This is what they do delivery on. Awesome ain’t it?

Went out for a morning jog and found… a shelf.
Fit in well:

Just enough shelves for all my shoes

Picked up some weights and a mat.

Was awfully confused because they told me they weighed 15. I kept telling them that was too little, (15 pounds?).

In China they have fully adopted the Metric system (6 foot 4 inches tall = 162.5cm), so they actually meant 15kg, which is actually 30 pounds… heavy.

BURNING PROOF!!!!

Went to the International Imported Food Market, and bought a 15 RMB orange ($2.50) out of curiousity. Tasted horrible.

The Mandarin oranges here are better than ever though, hah

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Summer Palace is one of the most popular tourists attractions in Beijing.

Entering…

A view from one side of the palace to the other side. You can take a boat across instead of walking around the circumference. Would say the whole thing is about the size of the Toronto Islands. And if you think about that, that’s a huge piece of land build for one person to live on.

Might help you float if you fall in

Hand painted, a few kilometres long walkway

Meticulously painted, most def. Wish my ceiling could have that.

Bowser doors, hahah. If you remember the old  SNES games.

Drop by the one of the markets with Noah, to pick up some sunglasses. When we first asked them what the price was, they said 150 RMB. But Noah was able to haggle them down to 20 RMB. That’s like 20% of the original price, lol. They really make an effort to try and rip you off if you look like a foreigner.  Only a few dollars spent ($3.50 CAD)

After a long trip, return back to the room. Now have a Brazillian born Chinese guy as my roomate (Korean guy switched out).

Get my phone set up. In Beijing most people don’t have cellphone plans like they do in Toronto. Instead, people just use pay-as-you-go cards. $15 CAD will last you a month or two no problem.

Go rock climbing with Andre and Noah.

Have dinner after at a chuar (Chinese shish kebab) restaurant which was pretty dirty.

- In China, you can smoke cigarettes in most restaurants. So it really sucks when you’re in a small restaurant, andthe table beside you has 4 mans smoking bogeys.

- Unless it is an upscale restaurant, it is not too socially unacceptable to leave your garbage on the table or on the floor.

- Outside drinks ARE allowed. So you can buy drinks or alcohol somewhere else, and drink them there. A couple times I’ve ran to the convenience store to buy drinks while waiting for our orders, then having them with our meals.

- It is also common in a lot of restaurants to pay first (right after you tell them your order), but it makes sense, since you do not have to tip in Chinese restaurants. It’s also a lot faster, since you can just eat your food and leave, without having to call the waiter for your bill.

One of the nicer restaurants I’ve visited.

Get my keys to the room. Not your typical looking key…

Fits in like that, kinda weird.

Meet my roomate, a Korean guy named Kyu Jung Park, studying his masters here. Not able to communicate much more than that since he barely knows English.

Noah takes me around the city to various malls.

Beijing has a few “Downtown” like areas, instead of having just one big one in Toronto.

This one is called Sunnytune, and is similar to Yorkville with a lot of upscale stores.

Bape store is crazy decorated, way more than the one in NY.

Same with Uniqlo

The currency conversion rate is 1  Canadian dollar = 6 Chinese Yuan (also called RMB).

Took the subway around, here’s a photo of the map:

A lot bigger than the subway system in Toronto, and a lot more modern. Inside there are TV’s playing commercials and stuff, as well as electronic maps so you always know which stop you’re approaching.

EATING SUBWAY IN THE SUBWAY!!!

Until next time…

Packing for the trip wasn’t all too bad.. vaccum sealed my clothing into a brick. That’s 25 pounds right there.

Plus, finally got a new backpack after using the same one (left) for 4 years.

Though the flight was 13 hours long, it wasn’t that bad at all. Luckily, I had an empty seat on the left, and a white guy from Halifax going to Shanghai to teach Chinese on the right. No crying babies.

Slept for most of the flight; woke up to finally have a look at the big goodbye card you guys made me, thanks.

Also took a look at the video you guys left on my ipod for me to watch. It was jokes.

Best part: “Yo when you come back, we’re getting you a penthouse party” – Josh

I’ll remember that.

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Hop off the plane. Unlike when Adam, Eric, and Noah all arrived, I had my own brother pick me up at the airport.

Hop in a Chinese taxi (Hyundai Elantra, no Toyota Camry taxis up in here) and we zoom off to Renmin University.

What blew my mind was.. NO ONE WEARS SEATBELTS. That’s right.. not even that taxi driver, and we’re going 120KM/H on the highway. Maybe more dangerous, but it’s nice to just hop in and not have to worry about it.

Arrive at campus, get fitted into my room. Meet Andre Milov, who was Adam’s roomate 6 years ago, and he takes us out for dinner. Go for a massage after. A massage. NO, NOT WHAT YOU”RE THINKING.

Just a normal massage by a dude. It was kinda weird to lie there face down with my eyes closed, being massaged, while everyone else in the room was speaking a foreign language.

Leave a comment if you like, check back tomorrow for Day 2.

WELCOME

Hope you like the new minimalistic steez layout. I’ll be keeping you guys updated about my time in China here. Sorry that it’s already October and I haven’t begun my posting yet, but I’ll be catching up on all the blog posts I’ve missed until I’m at the current day.

If you haven’t already heard, I’ll be staying here for the next two years studying Chinese and spending time exploring my roots.

I’ll try to have at least one photo for each blog post to keep things interesting.

Feel free to leave comments.

CHINA!!!!!!!