Beijing II: We Go Hardcore
We had originally planned to be in Beijing for only three days, but Communist red tape (an ironically appropro term, now that I think about it) kept us there for a week. We had to get a special permit to travel to Tibet, due to its being a sensitive area of the Red Empire. To do that we had to go to a travel agency. The one Drew had found online wasn't open, but fortunately we met a Chinese girl named Kiko who spoke a very small amount of English and helped us find another agency.
Anyway, after much wrangling and hoop through-jumping we got our permits and train tickets. They first told us that we simply must have a guide, to the tune of $20 a day, or, if we didn't hire a guide, we could only stay in the city limits of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and then only for a max of 7 days. And we were told we had to check in with another travel agent there in Lhasa once we arrived. All of which was bogus, we later discovered. We didn't hire a guide, nor did we check in, nor was our permit ever checked by anyone, travel agent, police officer, Red Army officer, no one! So we experienced a little bit of authentic Communist China for sure.
After the first two days in Beijing we moved from our hotel to a youth hostel, where we met Timmy from South Africa. He was in the middle of a one-year, 'round-the-world trip, stopping off in Beijing to study Mandarin.
Kiko was a very cool girl. She took us, including Timmy, to a Chinese hardcore concert (of all things), a fascinating window into the (sub) culture. Here's the gang waiting for the subway. Timmy and Kiko are in the middle:
Here are some (blurry) shots of the concert, which included something like 7 bands, all of which sounded just like American hardcore bands, but with Mandarin lyrics:
By the seventh band (there were 12 slated to play), we were all longing for some good ol' major chords and pretty melodies. Needless to say, we didn't get any such thing that night. Hardcore, in any language, is only palatable in small, small doses, and we had a solid two hours of it. Way, way too much.
Anyway, after much wrangling and hoop through-jumping we got our permits and train tickets. They first told us that we simply must have a guide, to the tune of $20 a day, or, if we didn't hire a guide, we could only stay in the city limits of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and then only for a max of 7 days. And we were told we had to check in with another travel agent there in Lhasa once we arrived. All of which was bogus, we later discovered. We didn't hire a guide, nor did we check in, nor was our permit ever checked by anyone, travel agent, police officer, Red Army officer, no one! So we experienced a little bit of authentic Communist China for sure.
After the first two days in Beijing we moved from our hotel to a youth hostel, where we met Timmy from South Africa. He was in the middle of a one-year, 'round-the-world trip, stopping off in Beijing to study Mandarin.
Kiko was a very cool girl. She took us, including Timmy, to a Chinese hardcore concert (of all things), a fascinating window into the (sub) culture. Here's the gang waiting for the subway. Timmy and Kiko are in the middle:
Here are some (blurry) shots of the concert, which included something like 7 bands, all of which sounded just like American hardcore bands, but with Mandarin lyrics:
By the seventh band (there were 12 slated to play), we were all longing for some good ol' major chords and pretty melodies. Needless to say, we didn't get any such thing that night. Hardcore, in any language, is only palatable in small, small doses, and we had a solid two hours of it. Way, way too much.
posted by Jordan | 5:11 PM
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