On Thursday I headed down to the Temple of Heaven park for a look around. Like all things in China it costs. It was a fairly nice park although I have to say it's a little weird that they won't let you on the grass. There were plenty of old people around exercising and so on and one particular thing they were doing was dancing with plastic rackets that had balls on them. They were listening to this revcording that I guess told them the steps and they would all turn around and flip the rackets around in union. It was interesting since they were able to flip the rackets around without the balls actually coming off. That was pretty impressive.
That night I went to a show of acrobats that was pretty good. It was definitely not the A list and none of them looked over twenty. There was a contortionist and there was a woman who was able to spin two parasols with just her feet which is more impressive than it sounds. Also there was a boy in a suit with flames stitiched on it who was a juggler and at one point juggled six balls on the ground while walking up and down stairs. He also juggled eight balls but he fucked that up. It was kind of nice to see him fuck up since it was a reminder that this shit is totally hard to do. It's easy to forget when you watch people do this kind of thing seemingly effortlessly.
Last night was the first World Cup game and I headed over to the expat area to watch some of it. In one block I was asked about 9 times "Lady bar? Massage? Lady bar?". And then again when I walked back down the block. The bars were all very expensive, think NY prices, and so I just stayed for one and then went back to the bar the harmonica player owns to watch. For some reason all the Chinese were rooting for Germany. No idea why.
Man, is China inexpensive. For example, yesterday I had one beer and dinner and it cost ten yuan. This is 1.20. The bus costs 12 cents. Most sites are around 2.50 to get in.
Today I headed over to a lamasery to look at the all the Buddhist temple stuff and it was interesing to see all the people with HUGE bundles of incensce praying and bowing. There was a Guiness Book certification on one of the temples because one of the idols was 35 feet tall and cut out of a single tree. There was a sign urging everyone to "Treat relics well". I did.
That night I went to a show of acrobats that was pretty good. It was definitely not the A list and none of them looked over twenty. There was a contortionist and there was a woman who was able to spin two parasols with just her feet which is more impressive than it sounds. Also there was a boy in a suit with flames stitiched on it who was a juggler and at one point juggled six balls on the ground while walking up and down stairs. He also juggled eight balls but he fucked that up. It was kind of nice to see him fuck up since it was a reminder that this shit is totally hard to do. It's easy to forget when you watch people do this kind of thing seemingly effortlessly.
Last night was the first World Cup game and I headed over to the expat area to watch some of it. In one block I was asked about 9 times "Lady bar? Massage? Lady bar?". And then again when I walked back down the block. The bars were all very expensive, think NY prices, and so I just stayed for one and then went back to the bar the harmonica player owns to watch. For some reason all the Chinese were rooting for Germany. No idea why.
Man, is China inexpensive. For example, yesterday I had one beer and dinner and it cost ten yuan. This is 1.20. The bus costs 12 cents. Most sites are around 2.50 to get in.
Today I headed over to a lamasery to look at the all the Buddhist temple stuff and it was interesing to see all the people with HUGE bundles of incensce praying and bowing. There was a Guiness Book certification on one of the temples because one of the idols was 35 feet tall and cut out of a single tree. There was a sign urging everyone to "Treat relics well". I did.
posted by Josh at 10:52 PM
1 Comments:
The only reason I know the word lamasery is because it came up in your first spelling bee, Josh.
I'm loving this stuff. Keep it up.
Post a Comment
<< Home