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Karoake

I went out with about half of my studio to celebrate a couple people's birthdays on Monday after work for a bit of karoake. I'd heard that karoake is huge here, and it turns out that it is. It's also completely different here than in the States. It's all done in private rooms with just you and your friends, and nearly everyone (at least in our group) is an amazing singer. It's less about singing crazy party songs, and more about singing love ballads American Idol style.

Here's our private room complete with 4 monitors for selecting your playlist, about 5 microphones, couches, an area for duets, tambourines and shakers, and a large flat screen playing the music videos with lyrics. A few people from studio had asked me to give them English names which is good because it's much easier for me to remember. This is Denzel. His birthday was one that we were celebrating and he was there a bit early to get our room. It turns out that in China you treat everyone else on your birthday instead of them treating you.
Before starting the singing we all got some food from a buffet and brought it into our room.

Gao da and Austin (Chenye)

The singing begins.

Gao Da workin' the mic.

Austin and Gu.

"but it was all Yellow"

Everyone kept adding English songs to the playlist and wanting me to sing them. They were surprised to find out that I'd never heard any of the songs that they were selecting. We finally got a couple familiar songs like Yellow by Coldplay.

While it was mostly love songs, there were a couple instances for breakin it down.

Denzel and his wife in the duo corner. Looks like Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Me about to attempt another song they selected for me....... Tears in Heaven.

Everyone laughing at my attempt.

Chinese Labor Day Weekend

We had an extended weekend due to the Chinese equivalent to Labor Day on Friday. Here's a quick rundown of the weekend's events so far:

Thursday evening at the Beijing Acrobatic Show. Pretty amazing stuff.

We weren't allowed to take pictures at the show, so we tried recreating parts of it at the apartment.

Bad picture on a bus.

We tried catching a cab to go meet up with some friends on Friday night, but didn't realize that the Jackie Chan show just let out. Apparently he was at the Bird's Nest (right by our apt.) that night singing and doing karate (who knew). There were thousands of people everywhere and catching a cab was impossible, so we ended up getting on a random bus just to get away from the crowd to somewhere we could actually catch a cab. Apparently Jackie Chan is like the Pope here.

During the day on Friday we went to the hutongs and the Drum and Bell towers. A hutong is just a name for these little neighborhoods that are comprised of a maze of narrow little alleyways that are easy to get lost in. There are some really cool shops and restaurants in there.

Nicole in front of the Bell Tower

Inside one of the cool restaurants in the hutongs.

Little place called Feel the New Space Tea Ceremony(?)

Sign from the subway station. This is what it feels like sometimes in Beijing. People yelling in your face with a blowhorn. We figured out how to get around on the buses and subways this weekend which was pretty cool and super cheap. The buses cost the equivalent of about 6 cents and the subways about 28 cents. Not that taxis are necessarily expensive. What would be a $30 cab ride in Fort Lauderdale, is about $4 here.

Picture of me and my body double on a subway poster. The people in my studio at work all think that I look like the guy from Prison Break (or "Break the Prison" as it often referred to here). The show happens to be huge here, so I'm going to start trying to pass as this guy on the streets.

What can possibly be better than golf after a manicure?

Saturday we went to Ritan Park. Here's a picture of some of the kite flying in the park. Look like a nice day? That's because they did a little weather control causing it to rain the day before to clear the smog and make a nicer holiday weekend.

A restaurant in the park called The Stone Boat where we had lunch.

Ended our Saturday with a little shopping in the Silk Street Market. It's all bartering/haggling in here. The women working the booths are ruthless and know all the tricks, but it's a lot of fun talking prices down from 500RMB to 30. It does get old though if you're not in the mood and don't want to have to deal with the agressiveness/arm pulling/etc.

Summer Palace / Nicole's B-day

Yesterday was Nicole's Birthday and we had a pretty full day. During the day, we took a tour of the Summer Palace........

Before the summer palace, we stopped by this temple. The Ginkgo Biloba trees in this shot are over 600 years old.
Save the Rails!

At the Summer Palace.......

Ceilings are always built with tall people in mind.

Some pics from our b-day celebration for Nicole at the apt.

Soccer Game

Aaron and I went to a soccer game Wednesday night. It was a Beijing team vs. a Korean team. Beijing lost 1-0. I didn't have my camera on me, so here are a few of Aaron's pictures.

Weekend Trip to Great Wall

We made it to the Great Wall this weekend. It was a great trip. Easier to tell in pictures and captions, so here you go:

Went with my studio on Fri night. Everyone ended up joining the soccer game at the hostel we stayed at. Occasionally running down a long driveway when the ball was kicked over the "castle wall".

Simple rooms, rock hard beds, shower head in the middle of the bathroom. Did the job though.
Barbeque on Friday night at the hostel.

Breakfast at the hostel before heading to the Great Wall. Start the morning right with onions.

Below: Arrived at starting point for the hike to the Great Wall. We were expecting a little 5-10 minute easy walk, but it turned out to be a 3 hour hike/climb. The picture below was taken as we started the walk, and the arrow points to where we ended up. We ended up taking the wrong route at some point and followed a drainage route of the mountain rather than the designated path. A couple death defying hours later, we made it to the Wall. Luckily, the Wall did cross the mountain that we climbed, because we ended up on a different peak than the where the designated trail led. Words and pictures don't describe the greatness of the Wall or the journey it took to get there, but here are a few pics and words.

Nicole about to go vertical on of the areas where we had no other choice. Not up to ADA standards.

We asked ourselves what our mothers would think if they knew we were climbing this mountain with no gear, no park rangers, no cell phones, and no idea if we were going the right way. We managed to stop and smile for this picture for mother reassurance.

Finally made it to the wall and it was totally worth it.

This kid was able to make it to the top due to his ability to do this.

Here we are on the way down, joined back up with the rest of the group. It turns out that the designated trail actually had some crude ladders in certain difficult areas. Would've been nice on the way up.

After the hike you can grab some drinks/veggies/fruit floating around in this pool of water.

Gao Da with part of our lunch. Eatin' fresh in the neighborhood.

Lots of nuts and berries.

Watch out for this kid!