BeiDaiHe

So..last weekend we went to BeiDaiHe!! Basically you can call it a beach with lots of Chinese people..some pretty fun rocks to climb on and LOTS LOTS LOTS of sun!!! We had a great time..getting there on our own.. no leader, no professor..on our own in China!!

My First Train Ride Ever! It was interesting trying to plow through the Chinese who don't believe in lines ever!! So..needless to say it took a while to even get a ticket. We finally got settled in our soft seats...which ended up being not that soft..but we got two to a person so good sleeping space. We met some Koreans who gave us SUSHI!!! Oh so good!! I had been waiting for that!! They were totally nice...and I realize how it is such a small world...because since we met them on the train they found us in BeiDaiHe...even though they didnt get off there and I saw them here in Tianjin at the random Carreforre (a French WalMart)...anywho..It was a great train ride...it took four hours to get us there but it was worth the views of the countryside and realizing that it is exactly how it looks in TV with everyone working in the fields with their pointy hats and plows. I also finally got to see some rice patties...which is very interesting..I still really dont understand how that works.

So once off the train...we got mobbed by Chinese trying to get us to take their taxi to the actually beach area...a common occurance in these parts. We found a van and we were on our way! Luckily they knew of a hotel and we got three three person rooms for 120 kuai which was like 40 kuai a person which is about 5 dollars to stay for one night...SWEET DEAL! We got in our room put the swimsuit on and hit the beach!!

The beach was great, not as beautiful as say the Bahamas, it was more like the beaches on the Atlantic side of Florida..shelly and orangish sand...not white...but we were definitely fine with it!! We laid out some towels..got our drinks and we were ready to go!! The water was freezing but we swam! Once you were in it it was soo fun so we couldnt resist! We did a little rock climbing and watched all the Chinese WATCH us. They were very amusing. Our Chinese was definitely tested on this trip. Once one Chinese person figured out we could speak a little Chinese...about twelve others surrounded around us. I think at one time I had at least ten around just me. I tried to play possum...didnt work...finally we would just go get in the water. Not that it wasn't fun to talk, but it got old fast when all you want to do is relax on the beach.
So yeah we laid on the beach all day and then once the sun was gone..we headed up for dinner outside and a walk through the longest night market I have seen here..at least a mile long. Crazy...but not a success since every seller there had almost the same thing.

The next day we all laid out for a while. Some people went hiking around taking pictures and finding interesting things. Most of us continued with the sunbathing and relaxing before our last week of class. Sylvia and I met the cutest boy! He spoke relatively good English, but we made him practice Chinese with us. He asked if we had any American money..so I found him a quarter since we had exchanged the rest..and I have never seen someones face light up like that before. We knew he was going to keep it forever. He went to show his dad and came back with Chinese money for us..even though we already had some. It was soo CUTE!!! One of the many highlights of the day! Another highlight was Amanda playing whale...or maybe stealing Noah's boxers...or maybe even all the Chinese men in their tight tight TIGHT shorts/speedoes! Haha

Some ladies left early and Sylvia, Amanda, Noah, Nick and I stayed to get that last minute sun. We decided to head up around 3:30pm to eat and catch a taxi back to the train station. The ladies weren't hungry so we ate some bingqiling (ice cream) and the boys picked out there meal from some tanks infront of the restuarant...yes they have any seafood you want ready to go right there infront of you...point to what you want and they scoop it up and cook it! CRAZY! After they ate...man we walked to find a taxi forever...and finally once we had two...we were in a rush to get to the train station.

After about thirty minutes in the taxi, we realized we werent going the right way or were even in the city where we were dropped off. we kinda freaked out..but we were cool. Once we did stop...it was the most GHETTO train station ever. It had the this greenish coloring that made it seem like we were in a horror flick and it was just all around weird. So we realized we couldnt make the 5:30pm train..so we asked about the next and last train and she told us it was full....aka...NO MORE SEATS!! WHAT?!?!?!

Ok so we finally figured it out and got tickets..but no seats..how does that work?? you may ask.. but we really didn't know..we thought maybe we sat in the box car attached to the back or something..but it didnt work out that way.

We got on the train and somehow Nick got a seat so he was lucky...but it was also good because that left us with four people and so the next car we found we hopped on and fond four seats together and just sat quietly...trying to be sneaky!! So..everything was great it started moving...and then the little man in charge came and asked Sylvia for her ticket...and she acted like she couldn't find it and then the guy next to us told him we studied Chinese and we could stay...that was basically so once again they could observe us for hours on end. We decided since we had four hours to go..we would start the trip off with some Baizhou...the worst tasting alcohol on this earth!! (well at least what I have tasted) It tasted like rubbing alcohol with a black licorice taste...which neither was very tasty. So we played cards finished that and still had time to spare. We started talking with those around us and making friends, you know that usual thing you do on a train. Some exciting moments: Sylvia getting Chicken stuffed in her mouth by a Chinese man "Cheersing" us, getting gifts of cigarettes and almond nuts that we had to smash open with the beer bottles. CRAZY!! Once again...we were surrounded with at least 20 Chinese for the last hour of the trip...it wouldnt be exciting without them there!! Needless to say it was a great trip on our own ...and if I had to do it all over again the same way..I WOULD!!!