First Week in Visuals

Here be pics. Mostly for Eka, who requested. =)

By a roughly chronological order, this should go first:

Cool motto, huh.

The large-sized dinner. The guy in the back was a Japanese intern (the one whom I talked to about J-rock and anime =D -- see previous post). Quite ex (each of us spent around 100Y), since they follow the international standard, I suppose. Service charge was 15% (!) ...owwie.

But on that note, only foreign-brand restaurants here would have service charges (as far as I've seen, at least). Local ones are mostly family-style, cafetaria-sized, with no service charge. My roommate (from US) was wondering if we should give tips and how much the standard is. I frankly don't really care since I don't plan on giving any =D *cheap cheap* but at that time I was perky enough to ask the waiter (bwaha) who told us, nope, no need.

Back home of course I never have to worry about this, Singapore is so practical they decide everything for you. But since it mattered to my roommate I suppose it might be useful info to put up.

Next, here's the view from our hotel room that I took one night when I was bored.

Nothing magical about that cube of light; it's the reflection of our lit room.

Thought they were nice colours. I was intrigued because the lights in those "blocks" kept coming on and off in brisk succession. Still haven't figured out why. As for the "rays", they were not planned. Those are actually the window curtains. ^^0

I did some search and asking-around about the type of electrical plug to bring, but still wasn't sure about it before I arrived. =P So here is a pic for whoever is planning to come. =) It fits many types, how convenient. The two-round-legged (pardon the non-terms) standard plug we get in Singapore or Indonesia, the parallel two-flat-legged, the triangular three- or two-legged (i.e. just fit the bottom two).

The day before work started we went to explore the shopping complex at Wang Fu Jing (王府井). Our first bargaining experience went rather... errr... ahaha.

By taxi from the hotel (Haidian district) to Wang Fu Jing, we passed by the Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City at its opposite. I would really like to visit these two places in the near future, but for now I've only got the distant view of them. =)



Here's (one part of) Wang Fu Jing's crowd:



This board caught my attention, ads for the 2008 Olympics at Beijing. They've even started selling the souvenirs in some of the shops. 6_6 That was Beckham, in case the resolution is not good enough to recognize him. I have to admit I needed to see the signature and the Chinese-adapted name (below) to recognize him. =$


Around that same area is St. Joseph's Church. Read from the guidebook that it's one of the most photographed sites. I realized it too late to suggest going in for a look. XP



Some random shops.. I just liked the colour scheme of this one. =D


And this one because it has that old-style door. Probably too blurred to see, though. We are still wondering, to date, whether those are fog or (polluted) haze.


A lantern-adorned shopping alley:



Nine million bicycles as the song says, not that I'm counting.. And that pavement is a nice view. They have several similar paintings further down the street.

And here's a local bemo. =D

We entered a small bookshop along the street, because we glimpsed some manga artbook there. I was so happy to see those going at 42Y each (S$8+) which would be perhaps one-tenth the price back home (depends, actually, but around that). Was about to get a Saiyuuki one for 40Y, but then I saw the cover was in bad condition, and the owner offered to get it replaced, so I'll need to return there some other time.

Should have asked for that same book for half the price =D seeing as I might not feel like taking another taxi ride there.. but we'll see. =P

Anyway, the moment we entered that shop, this was the sight that greeted us:

Cute horrrr. And he did this some more:


Well, aside from this store's keeper, I do have complaints about most shopkeepers I encountered. I put them into three categories: (1) the over-friendly ones (buggy and touchy) who turn nasty once you bargain too low or decide not to buy after all, (2) the ones you have no conflict with, either because they are polite or because the shops have fixed prices, and (3) the couldn't-care-less grumpy ones.

I couldn't decide yet if this society is courteous -- the people generally are not, e.g. they don't say a word when bumping you.. and sometimes it is even on purpose to get on their way. But a flyer-distributing guy on the crossroad quite amazed me with the amount of greetings he threw my way just while handing me that piece of paper: "Hi, this is such-and-such service from us. [I took it.] Thank you. Our store is just over there. [I said thanks and started walking away.] Thank you. Bye-bye. [I returned the bye.] 慢走." (common parting saying that literally means "walk slowly")

Some people are reasonably polite but they are just naturally loud so it's like they're yelling at you. =D I don't really have problems with these, but the grumpy shopkeepers really get to me, the way they're answering my questions like I'm such a bother.

I guess I do have a problem with this city's business system in general -- where everything is to be bargained. ^^0 This morning I helped my roommate bargain the cost for laundry -- imagine having to bargain even that. 0_0

Unless in supermarkets, the prices we see in stores are never the real price. We should really get a local to take us shopping next time -- how they cope with this system, I wonder. Most things are cheaper than they are in our homecountry anyway, but by local standards it would still be a rip-off and of course no one likes that feeling. =PP

This morning, I was walking around a nearby shopping street, and thought I might as well get an international calling card. First I entered the China Post building. Thought, civil service should be cheaper ah? Read in the guidebook that an IP card worth 100Y could go for 35Y (strange as that wording may sound) so that was the price I asked for. But the lady insisted on 50Y. What's more, she was type number 3, so I walked out on her. `_-

Later, found another phone shop; the guy wasn't sure if he had the card that matched my requirements (destination etc) so he called someone else to ask. That person probably told him the real price directly, because he simply gave me the price of 32Y, which I took up happily.

See, business-customer relationships would be so much better this way. `_'

Anyway, the nearby shopping street I was talking about is Zhongguanchun Shopping Plaza. They happened to have this African art sale, with the actual African ladies manning the place. =)


Some more pictures from around the plaza, since I quite like the glassy scenery.

That's all I have for now. =)

And oh, this is from a Beijing city online guide my roommie forwarded me:

"On the whole, Beijing is a pretty safe place. Your greatest dangers include crossing the road and paying much more than you should for your souvenirs."

The "crossing the road" part could be quite true, though Indonesian-road-trained people shouldn't need to worry. Simple Singaporean jaywalking skills also suffice. But it's probably more of a habit problem -- on my way to first day at work I was wearing formal shoes and so half my concentration went to proper walking. =D Seeing the zebra-crossing, I just walked onto it with my pedestrians-own-the-road attitude. As a result, a bicycle-riding man had to swerve very suddenly, yelling angry words at me. =P

Well, I'm getting used to things here, weather and food and roads (language is still taking some time..) that I'm actually wondering what it'll be like when I return to all the humidity and skimpy food portions back home. =DD