Well... it's been just about a week or so since my last update. It's been a bit of a boring week primarily because most everyone from work was absolutely missing in action, having flown back to their families a week and a half ago. However... last Sunday night was the beginning of the Chinese New Year festivities, and of course I had to partake.
I went over one co-worker's house. Osier. He had neglected to return home this year. Also invited were another co-worker, (not sure how to spell it, but sounds like Sue Chin), and their friend Joster. The night was full of beer and fireworks. I was pretty shitfaced. The food was excellent and plentiful. I brought with me just a few fireworks so that we, too, could join in the festivities. It was quite loud and fun, but since we were out in the suburbs I feel it was a bit more muted than if one had been inside the third loop. How can I be sure? Well, I'll tell you later.
Naturally we stayed up drinking and having a joyous time until some-odd 4am, at which point we started passing out. Waking up at noon, I was induced to stay until as late as 4pm, as the recovery took a bit longer than was expected. This recovery, of course, consisted of a bunch of guys (Sue Chin had left) lying around on couches lazily sipping beer and falling asleep like a bunch of fat cats. However, I did have to work that Monday, and so at some point, once the sun was gone, I decided I might want to actually go home and do some work. And so I did. Until 3am.
Tuesday... erm... I'm a little foggy on that day honestly. I don't recall much of it at all. Osier had suggested we all go to the city to see the temple festivities on Wednessday, so I'm sure I woke up late on Tuesday, worked until 3am again, and passed out. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Work was a bit inopportune at this point. There was some grunt work I'd just been informed needed to be done post-haste and so I basically pulled Monday and Tuesday night long hours to get it done.
Wednessday, I took off of work to go to the various temple parties in the city with Osier, Joster, and Sue Chin. We went to two different fairs. One was just a typical street-fair, a blocked off 2-block stretch overpacked with a billion people all dressed oddly and scammering to buy little knick-knacks. The second was actually at a temple, Daitan Temple Park. This was a little more spacious, had some more shit to buy, and had somewhat more interesting people.
I'm not sure what made the people at Daitan more interesting. Perhaps it was that there was a lot more free space, so I could look at the people more rather than just see a glimpse of a face in a crowd. Or perhaps there was a lot more interesting items for sale at Daitan that people were wearing around. It's really hard to say. Either way, naturally, I brought my camera with me to document the situation at these events. They can be seen over here.
I'm going to be honest... I'm really not much of a consumer. I rarely look at the goods being sold because they simply don't interest me. I might have a picture or two, but really not so much. On the other hand, I could look at the same item on some girl or some guy and instantly think it's picture-worthy. Not sure what that means. Maybe it just means I'm fascinated with how others use items, even if I personally have no knowledge, ability, or desire to use them myself.
I'll note a few things about the temple fairs here. First, people love to buy shit there ;) Second, little kids, apparently, do not wear pants. They wear pants with a slit up the ass region so that, if necessary, they can poop right there in the street where 10,000 people are walking. Most times there's not even enough space to notice that they're pooping, and you find yourself stepping in it before you even knew the kid had done it. It was a bit shocking, needless to say.
Judge for yourselves I guess and go look at the Street Fair Pics.
It turns out on the way to the street fairs, I lost my cell phone. Yes I'm just that clumsy. So I had to go home Wednessday night and try to get a new one. Luckily I met a German on the train and he helped me out with my purchasing.
Now... that past Sunday, New Years, was quite loud and fun, but that's to be expected on the night of the holiday. What was not communicated to me was that the streets of Beijing would literally be a war zone nightly, between the hours of 8 and 11. And I do literally mean a war zone. When explosions are happening, beams of fire are leaving boxes smoking in the middle of a 6 lane road, and the place just generally feels like a war zone, then it really is war.
Let's remind you all, that this is the country that invented gun powder. And let me also tell you, they know how to use it. And so do their 4 year olds, who are permitted to light such implements of destruction. The sky of Beijing is usually cloudy and smoggy, but when war is going on, you often can't see the result of any such beautiful looking designs in the sky if they're more than a block away. However, what you *DO* see is a white flash of light up in the clouds. And what you *DO* hear is either a whistler (sounds like a falling bomb), or one that simply sounds like machine gun fire, or another that sounds like shelling (and produces no design at all... AT ALL. It's ONLY PURPOSE is to make HUGE BOOMS.)
Combine these three sounds with just the flashing lights in the clouds and the smoking rubble of the city, shit-tons of debris left scattered on main streets, cars driving on the sidewalks so they don't go over or get hit by some explosions, and, well, it's total fucking anarchy. Seriously.
Thursday night my friends and I went out for drinks (and then a club lol) and stayed out until 6am. That's right, Harper. I've brought Thirsty Thursdays to Beijing and am keeping it alive quite consistently.
Friday I did work during the day, but that was the night most of my war photos were taken. The German I had met had a megaphone, and so we planned that Saturday we'd go out and MAKE WAR but that he'd bring the megaphone and yell German things through it during the shelling and machine gun fire. We tried to figure out if he should say something war-like, such as "give up, your people will be safe under German control", or rather something else entirely, such as a recipe for some type of pastry... AND NO EGGS!!! (raaaah!)
Unfortunately the war was quite subdued Saturday night. We're not sure if people just ran out of money, or if it's that people are actually required to work this Sunday to make up for one-too-many days off. Either way, the opportunity to make war with a megaphone proved elusive. It's ok though. It would only be hysterical if I could get video of it, but none of us have a video camera. I suppose a properly staged photo could also look awesome, but the war is elusive, the rubble is cleaned up, and only sporadic shelling occurs far off in the distance.
The full photostream is here: http://flickr.com/photos/rawblem/
My favorites are here: http://flickr.com/photos/rawblem/sets/72157613110722655/