Jason Visit

            Yet another holiday fell upon my tiny/enormous city last week!  National day was celebrated in style across the country with fireworks, flag raising ceremonies and lots of time off work! The trains, buses, subways, roads, airports, and sidewalks were jammed travelers on their way to visit family or see another part of the country.  I was one lucky duck because one of my very close friends from back home flew all the way out here to spend the whole week being my partner in crime.  Some of you may remember Jason.  We met in New Orleans on my road trip and he spent last Christmas with us in McCall.  He even brought me fresh supplies and comforts of home. You, my dear Sir….are just the bees knees. 

            It was a much-needed break from work and homesickness and for 7 days we painted the town.  We started in Beijing of course, and after a late night hotel fiasco spent our first day trekking around The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city.  To say it was busy would be a colossal understatement.  China’s overflowing population is never more acutely felt than on a holiday weekend at a tourist attraction. A living ocean op people swarmed everywhere as we made our way around the capital city in a hectic lively buzz.  We floated with the crowd going where they went, turning where they turned as one giant tourist organism taking photos and buying street snacks. Pretty entertaining really.

Luckily our hotel with in the Russian part of town which was much quieter, so after a day of jostling about in the masses we headed to our calm neighborhood for some nice warm noodles and Jason’s first ever, Chinese beer. Thanks Muhamet for the hotel recommendation! It was perfect!

            The next day we were met with a rainy morning so we headed to the silk market to do a little shopping.  For those of you who know how well me and shopping get along you can assume I didn’t purchase anything, but it was fun to window shop and translate/barter for Jason who made off with two tailor-made suits, a silk robe for his mom, and a pair of souvenir snow globes.  That afternoon when the weather cleared we had dinner at a famous Peking duck restaurant, which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

            Wednesday was filled with a trip to the Great Wall.  You may remember I have been there before but with food poisoning, and naturally I was much more impressed this go around. We hiked as far as we could before our legs turned into mush from the steep grade, and followed it up with workout erasing steamed buns and trinket shopping.

            The following day was a rest day even though we took the train back to Tianjin.  We relaxed and chatted and strolled around the neighborhood in the cool fall air after a filling jiaozi dinner. Heaven really.  The rest was well needed because we were back at tourist grind the next day.  We started out with a morning walk in People’s Park where we rented a paddleboat and spent the next 60 minutes making wake around the park pond.  We imagined we were racing the other boats and really tore it up. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.

Side Note: Laughing that hard does wonders for the spirit. It makes you glow and tingle inside. It fills you from bottom to top with the notion of possibility. Just consider it a face-lift for your soul.  Teacher Madi recommends a heavy dose of this kind of laughter at least once a day.

When we finally turned our boat over we were exhausted from spinning water cookies and refueled with a delicious Hot Pot lunch and more window-shopping. I haven’t walked so much in a week in my life! Well maybe, but not for a while!

That night we armed ourselves with much sought cheese, crackers, and red wine before heading to a KTV down the street from my apartment.  For those of you who don’t know, the Chinese love to sing in public.  In America karaoke is something done after far far too many jello shots and usually followed by immense shame. Here however, there are huge buildings filled with private rooms where friends gather and sing and snack and drink.  I know it sounds weird, but it is one of the most fun things in the whole world.  Jason and I spent 5 hours singing every song we knew taking breaks only to enjoy some cheese and wet our throats with wine in preparation for the next song. Ahh what a day!!!

After our late night we had an easy morning and went to ride the Tianjin Eye. Similar to the London Eye I hear, but on a bridge.  That night we had dinner in Italian Style Town and took a night boat tour of the river.  It was beautiful all lit up and just the perfect temperature.  We ended our visit that night with gelato and lit a lantern to new beginnings and forgiven pasts.  Jason flew home Sunday morning after his last Chinese meal tired of fun and excited to get back to work…NOT! Thank you Jason for this amazing visit and I look forward to our next adventure! 

It was really fun to have someone to show my city off to. It also made me appreciate it more because I went touristy places and did touristy things. My city rocks, sometimes I just get to wrapped up in nonsense to enjoy it! Well, that’s all for now. Until next time xoxoxo