The Epic Rickshaw Story
So, this morning started out with a little blogging by TJ.
Then we proceeded to eat some breakfast and TJ bought a jinyan from the gift store and we tried it out in front of the hotel with our bus driver, Dong Shi Fu.
Then Chuck took us to the Sumer Palace and gave us instructions. TJ was definately up front paying attention.
This next picture is in front of the gate to the Summer Palace, which is where the Last Emperor was filmed.
Once again, TJ practices the crane form Mr. Miyagi taught him on the plane.
After such intense karate practice TJ and I need to focus our chi on peace by the Lake of tranquil longevity.
Afterward, it only felt appropriate to do some Tai Chi Chuan by the peaceful tree next to the lake of tranquil longevity.
Oh, and about our new hobby, Guard Photos, we seem to be much more amused by it than they do.
TJ took this next photo and I love it. He and I really liked this little bridge and I think he captured it well.
Lions are a constant theme in China, and they usually sit outside to protect buildings. TJ and I decided to help this lion do its duty. No one is getting past these two lions.
Anybody know what pandas graze on? Thats right bamboo. Later you will find out about the Chinese people who started calling me panda.
So, there was this dance going on and this wonderful band that I believe were playing some sort of weird harmonica. For some reason all the old people walking through the park knew the song and were singing along. It was so cute to see old chinese people walking and singing along.
TJ and my side of face + cool building shot:
Okay, so here is where the day took an outrageous turn of events. Below, you will see pictures of me playing my new favorite game. It's like a mixture of hacky sack and badmitton, with a little kung fu thrown in to mix it up a bit. Well, anyways our group was playing and then this little circle of 50-70 year old chinese women start playing beside our group. These ladies are absolutely amazing. They are quick on their feet and movng there legs outragouesly and kicking high. So, I decide that this is the group I need to play with. Holy cow, not only was I sweating my ass off, these 60 year old chinese ladies were better than me. They kept trying to incourage me in chinese and I was like hahahah 60 year old chinese ladies playing kick the birdie. So, I would repeat whatever they just said and they would all laugh and laugh. It was so much freaking fun. They were having so much fun, they started calling me "big panda."
This next picture is to show you that I'm truely playing with the Golden Girls of the Chinese Dragon. We had a crowd of onlookers that at one point was bordering on unsafe.
The reason I'm showing you these photos is because after about 30 minutes of playing, I got a bit daring. Lets just say I was no longer satisfied with the simple kicks, I had to break out the scorpion and what I aptly dubbed the flying dragon of river fire. On my only attempt of the latter I fell back to earth, rolling my ankle as I hit the ground. It immediately swelled turning a wonderful shade of black/blue/brown/red. Thats right, I got injured playing kick feather with the elderly in China. In fact I can barely walk right now and I have garnered some wonderful nicknames from the group since what I can only refer to as, "the accident."
After I destroyed my ankle we then went to the pearl factory where the kids got a really good hands on lesson on pearl production.
Then it was off to the Chinese school were we introduced this group:
To this group:
TJ had been looking forward to the Chinese school this whole time and was really looking to make a connection with someone. He had talked about how cool it would be to meet somebody cool in China. Instead, the opposite happened. His buddies hobbies were Math, Biology, and Badmitton. The kid's strategy to win over Teej was ask him meterological questions about random parts of the US. All in all TJ was a bit let down.
So, the wheel of fate spun and decided that TJ and I needed a littel adventure to lift our spirits. If you look at this next photo you can just tell bad things are about to happen.
So, here is the poor rickshaw driver that got stuck with us. He's huffing and puffing at this point trying to keep up with the group, and we're definately the caboose.
Next thing we hear is POW, and I see the chain to his rickshaw fly off. TJ and I made this face:
Here you can see him running the bike trying to catch up to the group. [they were long gone]
So, here's TJ and I in the Ho Tong, the oldest [read poorest], part of Beijing. We're stranded with a rickshaw driver who speaks no english. He's looking frantic and trying to figure out what to do. TJ keeps asking whats going on and his look is what I would begin to describe as frantic.
Well, the next thing we know some guy on a bike rides up with a cell phone and he's talking nonsense to us about so sorry. There is also some vendor kid who won't leave us alone about buying a damn rolex. So, the red jacket guy tells us that we're going to meet the rest of our group at a home where we will get to talk with a local resident. At this point we're thinking we're heading back to the group and then to the family. But instead of meeting the group first we went to the house. And by house we mean sketchy alleyway. So, here we are at sketchy ally and red jacket bike guy is telling us to get off here and go down this ally toward the house. Our driver stopped and there is about three vendors saying "rolex" "how much." At this point, I started to get a little prepared for the worst. I started thinking, "oh, the ole broken chain mug em in an ally trick," but I had to keep my cool. TJ on the other hand is entering phase one of total melt down. So, I'm like alright TJ, lets head down this ally toward the "house." And, I'm thinking maybe we will at least shake the vendors. The bike guy then says some chinese stuff to them and they disperse. We then head down an ally and TJ is so flustered he walks the wrong way into the wrong house. We then get our bearings and we end up at what could roughly be described as a dwelling. Where we are greated by a big gregarious Chinese man who speaks no english and appears to be wasted. TJ now enters phase two of total meltdown. He starts talking all fast and saying I don't think this is right, Joe, we need to get out of here, this isn't safe [face wrinkles and eyes tear]. So, I being responsible big brother, get out my cell phone and call Miko to find out if this is where we should be. She affirms and says they will be here in a couple and TJ finally relents. It was quite an amzing adventure. Here's the ally we went down.
Here is the home owner TJ and I refered to as "Drunken Master." He took a liking to TJ and I and even gave TJ a little gift.
We finsished the night with dinner and a show. It was well needed.
Then we proceeded to eat some breakfast and TJ bought a jinyan from the gift store and we tried it out in front of the hotel with our bus driver, Dong Shi Fu.
Then Chuck took us to the Sumer Palace and gave us instructions. TJ was definately up front paying attention.
This next picture is in front of the gate to the Summer Palace, which is where the Last Emperor was filmed.
Once again, TJ practices the crane form Mr. Miyagi taught him on the plane.
After such intense karate practice TJ and I need to focus our chi on peace by the Lake of tranquil longevity.
Afterward, it only felt appropriate to do some Tai Chi Chuan by the peaceful tree next to the lake of tranquil longevity.
Oh, and about our new hobby, Guard Photos, we seem to be much more amused by it than they do.
TJ took this next photo and I love it. He and I really liked this little bridge and I think he captured it well.
Lions are a constant theme in China, and they usually sit outside to protect buildings. TJ and I decided to help this lion do its duty. No one is getting past these two lions.
Anybody know what pandas graze on? Thats right bamboo. Later you will find out about the Chinese people who started calling me panda.
So, there was this dance going on and this wonderful band that I believe were playing some sort of weird harmonica. For some reason all the old people walking through the park knew the song and were singing along. It was so cute to see old chinese people walking and singing along.
TJ and my side of face + cool building shot:
Okay, so here is where the day took an outrageous turn of events. Below, you will see pictures of me playing my new favorite game. It's like a mixture of hacky sack and badmitton, with a little kung fu thrown in to mix it up a bit. Well, anyways our group was playing and then this little circle of 50-70 year old chinese women start playing beside our group. These ladies are absolutely amazing. They are quick on their feet and movng there legs outragouesly and kicking high. So, I decide that this is the group I need to play with. Holy cow, not only was I sweating my ass off, these 60 year old chinese ladies were better than me. They kept trying to incourage me in chinese and I was like hahahah 60 year old chinese ladies playing kick the birdie. So, I would repeat whatever they just said and they would all laugh and laugh. It was so much freaking fun. They were having so much fun, they started calling me "big panda."
This next picture is to show you that I'm truely playing with the Golden Girls of the Chinese Dragon. We had a crowd of onlookers that at one point was bordering on unsafe.
The reason I'm showing you these photos is because after about 30 minutes of playing, I got a bit daring. Lets just say I was no longer satisfied with the simple kicks, I had to break out the scorpion and what I aptly dubbed the flying dragon of river fire. On my only attempt of the latter I fell back to earth, rolling my ankle as I hit the ground. It immediately swelled turning a wonderful shade of black/blue/brown/red. Thats right, I got injured playing kick feather with the elderly in China. In fact I can barely walk right now and I have garnered some wonderful nicknames from the group since what I can only refer to as, "the accident."After I destroyed my ankle we then went to the pearl factory where the kids got a really good hands on lesson on pearl production.
Then it was off to the Chinese school were we introduced this group:
To this group:
TJ had been looking forward to the Chinese school this whole time and was really looking to make a connection with someone. He had talked about how cool it would be to meet somebody cool in China. Instead, the opposite happened. His buddies hobbies were Math, Biology, and Badmitton. The kid's strategy to win over Teej was ask him meterological questions about random parts of the US. All in all TJ was a bit let down.
So, the wheel of fate spun and decided that TJ and I needed a littel adventure to lift our spirits. If you look at this next photo you can just tell bad things are about to happen.
So, here is the poor rickshaw driver that got stuck with us. He's huffing and puffing at this point trying to keep up with the group, and we're definately the caboose.
Next thing we hear is POW, and I see the chain to his rickshaw fly off. TJ and I made this face:
Here you can see him running the bike trying to catch up to the group. [they were long gone]
So, here's TJ and I in the Ho Tong, the oldest [read poorest], part of Beijing. We're stranded with a rickshaw driver who speaks no english. He's looking frantic and trying to figure out what to do. TJ keeps asking whats going on and his look is what I would begin to describe as frantic.
Well, the next thing we know some guy on a bike rides up with a cell phone and he's talking nonsense to us about so sorry. There is also some vendor kid who won't leave us alone about buying a damn rolex. So, the red jacket guy tells us that we're going to meet the rest of our group at a home where we will get to talk with a local resident. At this point we're thinking we're heading back to the group and then to the family. But instead of meeting the group first we went to the house. And by house we mean sketchy alleyway. So, here we are at sketchy ally and red jacket bike guy is telling us to get off here and go down this ally toward the house. Our driver stopped and there is about three vendors saying "rolex" "how much." At this point, I started to get a little prepared for the worst. I started thinking, "oh, the ole broken chain mug em in an ally trick," but I had to keep my cool. TJ on the other hand is entering phase one of total melt down. So, I'm like alright TJ, lets head down this ally toward the "house." And, I'm thinking maybe we will at least shake the vendors. The bike guy then says some chinese stuff to them and they disperse. We then head down an ally and TJ is so flustered he walks the wrong way into the wrong house. We then get our bearings and we end up at what could roughly be described as a dwelling. Where we are greated by a big gregarious Chinese man who speaks no english and appears to be wasted. TJ now enters phase two of total meltdown. He starts talking all fast and saying I don't think this is right, Joe, we need to get out of here, this isn't safe [face wrinkles and eyes tear]. So, I being responsible big brother, get out my cell phone and call Miko to find out if this is where we should be. She affirms and says they will be here in a couple and TJ finally relents. It was quite an amzing adventure. Here's the ally we went down.
Here is the home owner TJ and I refered to as "Drunken Master." He took a liking to TJ and I and even gave TJ a little gift.
We finsished the night with dinner and a show. It was well needed.
posted by La Poderosa at
4:54 AM
<< Home