Beijing Travel Bug

My friend Sophie who own a fresh new blog MySummerSolstice tagged me to share 7 random facts about Beijing. Well, couldn’t help but think them over…good or bad…they all happened to me!

1. Prepaid electricity, gas– this is not really a very unusual thing but for me, it is. I need to check our electricity counter everyday to see if we need to buy energy credits. At least we’re all conscious about our usage..we get to calculate our daily expenses. 8 hours of using the aircon will costs us 10 credits. Unfortunately, one time didn’t get to check our gas credit..while I was cooking..dang..gas stopped fuming so microwave became my best friend.

2. Unbashful Comfort room experiences – In Beijing, mostly the urinal is on the floor so the girls and guys who need to poop would need to squat. It was really hard to do it since there’s a possibility of losing your balance. Well, that quite didn’t matter. What ticked me..I get to open cubicle’s door unknowingly with someone peeing because some don’t lock their doors! I end up being the one going out of the CR. Weird thing is, they weren’t embarassed at all! I even remember one comfort room in the province of Chengdu, we had to endure cubicles with no doors at all, plus no urinal! Just a drainage…plus so many unsightful things you can see..argh.

3. Couple-ly sights – I noticed a lot of couples wearing almost same style of clothes when they hang out together which was sort of funny way to show they’re together. Imagine seeing both wearing same cartoon T-shirts while doing some PDA (public display of affection) on the streets. Cute..sort of.

4. Milktea and Yogurt haven – My favorite milktea drink…available almost everywhere! I can’t resist buying milk tea..hot or cold, I love it to bits. Also in supermarkets, there’s a lot of different kinds of yogurt. It seems to be a favorite for Chinese buyers. I noticed about 8-10 brands competing for shelf space.

5. Hard Haggling – Haggling is different in China, you need to haggle for a much lower price especially if you look foreign and don’t speak much of Mandarin. The sellers are smart but you should be smarter. Sometimes, what you thought was a good deal is not. I’ll try to blog some haggling techniques one can practice in China.

6. Spitting – Good thing now there’s a fine for anyone caught spitting in streets. This one is the most disgusting habit some still can’t resist to do. Way back in 2005 when I visited Beijing, every 20 secs while walking on the street, there’s someone spitting! Well, fortunately, there’s a sound they make seconds before spitting..at least I have some leeway to run away fast! Now, people don’t spit as muh..whew. One memorable spit I saw in winter..frozen spit!

7. Ancient modern architectural melting pot – I love how ancient architecture are still well-preserved in Beijing. The big city has wondrous imperial gardens, Forbidden city, Summer palace, old ruins to see and behold. These are perks for wanderlusts like me!

Okay, so now I’m done, I’d like to tag 3 people to post about 7 random facts about themselves. I’m tagging Kats, Berns, Garot.

For the rules :

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

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