This is another journal entry from my time studying in Beijing back in 94-95. You can find my previous entries at these links:
China Journals: Chinese Bureaucracy
China Journals: Money and Moshing
The Bicycle Gang: (R-L) Makoto, Carl, Nabil, Steve, Me, Alex. Berren lays across us with the Forbidden City behind us.
September 24, 1994 (Sunday)
It’s now about 10:45 AM. Yesterday I had a busy day. In the morning, Berren, Carl, Steve, Alex, Nabil and me went on this hellacious bike ride all around Beijing.
We left about 10:30AM, we really hauled ass…flying down the da jie’s like we were on fire! First, we went to the Shangri-La hotel so I could mail a letter to my girlfriend back home. Then we rode to Tian’ an’ men Square for a minute and ate at this french bakery called “Vie de France”. I had an actual milkshake there! (Cost me 5.50 yuan!)
Tian’an’men is all dolled-up for the October 1st National Day. 1994 is the 45th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. There are flowery decorations everywhere in the square, including a huge dragon and a massive red rooster. They look like Rose Festival floats on steroids.
From there, we pedaled to the Temple of Heaven, only to discover that it was closed for the Anniversary. Ahhh—China. So we waited for these two British girls, who were gonna meet us there.
After awhile, they arrived on foot. We decided to leave, so they rode on the back of our bikes; one on Berren’s and one on Carl’s. We rode carefully back up Qian an men Jie, through the throng of tourists and shoppers.
Here’s where things get interesting. First the rest of my bell fell off my cheap-ass bike. It rolled off into the mass of people crowded in front of some store. Then..we lost Berren and the British girl on his bike, Louise.
We reached Chang-An jie and pulled off to the side to wait for them. We ended up waiting for about an hour before Alex rode back to try to find them, to no avail. So, we broke out the hackey sack and kicked it around for awhile.
After a bit we began to wonder if they got arrested or decided to stop for a beer. About an hour and 15 minutes later Berren reached us, looking tired and pissed-off.
According to him, the British girl decided to walk (she did reach us shortly after he did)..something about the quality of his riding or something…ha! The British girls decided they’d be better off going their own ways..so we boys all rode to a park called Coal Hill by the Forbidden City. It’s a really beautiful park, with a peak overlooking the Forbidden City and Bei Hai park..and all of Beijing. It was a long hike to the top, and after the bike ride..we were tired.
In Beijing, you pay to see trees.
We finally got back to BeiWai about 6pm after being separated by Carl and Nabil, who wanted to take a different route. About 10 minutes after we got back, the two of them rolled through the gates looking exhausted.
We all went to dinner later and everyone wanted me to go dancing with them at some clubs, but I was feeling pretty sick, so I stuck around here and slept about 12 hours last night!
Today I think I’ll mainly study, maybe go to the Shangri-la to have my film developed. There’s this really cute girl that works there in the gift shop.. but I’m a stand-up guy..I’ve got a girlfriend back home! I can enjoy the scenery though!
One More Thing: On Friday I tried to pay my frigging $550 tuition, but at 4pm they were closed for the day! I hope they don’t kick me out!
Footnote: On Monday, I paid my $537 — the lady at the desk didn’t charge me the dreaded 5% late fee. She gave me this mischievous smile and winked at me..telling me I didn’t need to pay the late fee. I think she likes me! ha!
