Day 19- June 19: Putting My Life In The Hands Of Others

Today was the day… it was finally time to go bungee jumping. I had been looking forward to this ever since Ben Booker showed me the video of himself doing it last summer. Was I nervous? Obviously. But, more than that I was excited and a little antsy to get there. We were headed to Long Qing Gorge. Seriously, Google this place, it is awesome. Our entire group had decided to go on the trip and even Yuan came along (after a bit of convincing) to act as our translator. We all had put our money together and rented a bus to act as our chauffer for the day. Our first stop was McDonalds for a marginally good breakfast. Next, we were off and rolling into the Beijing countryside. As everyone else put their headphones on and hit play on their iPods, I sat silently, once again mentally kicking myself for leaving my own iPod at home. Alas, the countryside was really beautiful and there were sections of the road that ran right beside the Great Wall. Once we finally arrived it was a twenty minute walk (all up hill) to the ticket office. Yuan insisted that we could not pay the 10 RMB to have a golf cart or horse take us to the top, he said it was too expensive…stingy bastard. Finally we bought our tickets and entered the park. The next phase of the journey was to ride what they described as “the world’s longest elevator” to the top of a dam. To enter the elevator you literally walked into a dragon’s mouth, which was pretty crazy. The elevator consisted of six normal sized elevators with small landings in between each of them. I consider this to be cheating, thus it is not “the world’s longest elevator” in my book. Finally we boarded a boat that took us down a long river that was surrounded on both sides by beautiful cliffs, some of which had Chinese engravings. Then it happened, we went around a corner and saw what appeared to be the horizontal section of a crane protruding from the side of the mountain…it was the bungee jump. From the boat we were able to see a couple of people take their turn jumping…it looked absolutely exhilarating. When the boat landed at the dock we all quickly hiked up the mountain and parted with the 135 RMB that it cost to partake in the adventures. As I handed the man at the ticket counter (small broken desk) my money something funny (terrifying) occurred to me, I had just paid $20 USD to jump off the side of a cliff. There are certain purchases where it is all right to buy the cheaper version…bungee jumping is not one of them. Even with that thought, there was no way I was backing out of this. I climbed up the narrow, steep, rusty steps and got into line. I was the fifth in line out of our group of nine who had decided to take the plunge and there were seven Chinese men and women (who did not speak a word of English) in front of us. The wait was terrifying. It seemed to go on forever, but in reality it probably was about an hour and a half. I watched as one by one everyone in front of me jumped off the platform. Everyone in our group was a bit nervous and we all joked about the possibility of the cord breaking or of our feet slipping out...the normal things to help everyone relax. Finally, it was my turn. I walked down the rusty plank and sat down on a small wooden bench. Three Chinese men started talking in Chinese (they spoke no English). After what I am guessing was my pep talk, two of them wrapped Velcro around my ankles. Let me repeat, Velcro! Seriously, it was a Velcro band that would be holding my ankles (and life). Then they attached the ankle harness to the bungee line with an old (rusty) carabineer. The carabineer that I used to hold my keys in high school was of better quality. Then, they walked me out on the ledge and let the bungee cord fall down. The weight of the cord hanging above the water was almost enough in itself to pull anyone down. I held the railing behind me, put my toes just over the edge of the platform and tried to catch my breath. The Chinese man tapped my shoulder said something and before I knew what I was doing I took a swan dive over the edge. It was exhilarating! The further I fell, the faster I went. I could feel the gravity pulling me towards the water and just as I approached the surface, the line caught and shot me back up into the air. I bounced up more times than I could count (two really good ones at least) and I wore a huge smile on my face the whole time (there are great pictures and even a video). Once the line settled and all the blood had rushed to my head I was lowered into a boat that took me over to the docks. As soon as I got off I saw Russell (who went right before me) and neither of us could seem to put into words what had just happened. All we knew was that our adrenaline was going through the roof and we proceeded to sprint up the mountain in order to watch everyone who was still in line. After watching everyone else jump our group went and checked out a small Buddhist temple and started heading down the mountain. To get down the final section of the mountain you had two choices: you could hike or pay and ride a small luge down a track. Of course we all paid and raced down the track at very unsafe speeds (I almost flipped mine twice). This would have been extremely exhilarating on any other day, but I had just jumped off a mountain, so it did not quite measure up. We eventually made it back to the bus and on the way home stopped and ate some Chinese food. When I arrived back at the Global Village it was time to Skype with Dad (Mom was there, too) for Father’s Day. That night John Nash and I stayed in and watched a bootleg DVD copy of Kung Fu Panda 2. I cannot think of any words to describe just how exhilarating an experience that was. Happy Father’s Day, Dad, I am glad I am still here to say that to you.

Day 18- June 18: To Go To Shanghai, Or Not To Go To Shanghai, That Is The Question

I decided to treat this Saturday like a Saturday should be treated…I slept in until 1:00 PM. After taking my time to get ready Russell and I decided to go and get a pizza from Pyro Pizza. We split a large pepperoni pizza and a large Caesar salad…we ate every bite. It was a great American meal. Over lunch we discussed the possibility of taking a trip to Shanghai on the weekend of July 1-3. The plane ticket would not be too expensive (around $150 USD round trip) and it would be an awesome trip to check out the most populated city in China. Russell also said that his Dad would help with the hotel as a birthday present. John (Tackaberry) had the original idea to take the trip because he had a friend in Shanghai for the summer. When we got back we went and talked with Yuan about the difficulties that a trip to Shanghai would present and he informed us that it would definitely be possible to pull off. He also gave us a gift from the PKU International Summer Program. It was a nice new backpack with the words “Peking University International Summer Program” printed across the front and a leather bound daily planner with the PKU logo (mine is red). After a few hours of lounging around Russell, John (Tackaberry), and I went and ate dinner at a place called The Bridge. It is actually the same place where we had the “Big American Breakfast” on the day of our Beijing tour…so I had the same thing for dinner to complete my day of American eating. After the dinner we went and hung out at Pyro Pizza for a little while. All the while we discussed the possibility of our trip to Shanghai. I went to bed early, anticipating the exciting day that was ahead of me tomorrow.

Day 17- June 17: Finally…Peking Duck

My morning started out with a progress meeting with Rich. It was a really great way to start the day. We talked about the projects that I have been working on, my expectations, and generally about how I was enjoying the internship. After we wrapped up our conversation he gave me notes from two interviews that he had conducted and asked me to write them up so he could put them on the website. They were both really interesting. One was with Dom, the founder of Plastered T-Shirts where Cat works, and the other was with a celebrity chef in Beijing who designed three summer salads for Gung Ho! Pizza. After my write-ups I had a meeting scheduled with Josh. Our meeting focused on putting together the details for the 4^th of July party and discussing the various aspects that go into hosting a mixer at Pyro Pizza. After the meeting I spent what was left of my workday organizing my notes for the 4^th of July party. That night our group had a dinner reservation with Jim James, the internship coordinator who had helped all of us find our internships in Beijing. I met Rui, Yuan, and John Tackaberry at the subway and we all went to meet everyone else at the restaurant. I went with them specifically because I did not know how to get there and I wanted Rui and Yuan to help me out. What ensued was a dramatic series of events that included getting off at the wrong subway stop, walking through the Russian district in Beijing, and aimlessly wandering for about forty-five minutes until we finally came across the restaurant. It is actually really funny to hear Rui and Yuan talk. Normally when they are around us they speak in English, but when we were lost they bickered in Chinese and tried to hide the fact that they had gotten us lost. Finally we arrived at Xiao Wang Fu, a well renowned restaurant in Ritan Park. Surprisingly, we were not the last group to arrive, we were the second to last and the other had to work late. The dinner made the entire trip worth the trouble. I finally got to eat Peking Duck, which is considered the specialty of Beijing, and it was amazing. Our meal also consisted of spicy chicken, ribs (yes actual ribs with rub like I have at home), a ton of other foods and this great dessert which was simply a piece of dough that was either fried or not and you dipped it into an amazing custard and vanilla sauce. Jim James was great company. He shared a number of interesting stories and ideas and the dinner conversation was really enjoyable. At dinner we also made plans to go bungee jumping this coming Sunday. Afterwards we took a stroll through Ritan Park and Jim James showed us a stone boat that had been turned into an upscale bar. We eventually took a taxi back home in order to prepare for that night. Our plan all along was to go out in Sanlitun that night. We had all been there to either work or shop but we had not enjoyed their nightlife (primarily because it is a forty-five minute taxi ride to get there). But once we arrived it was all worthwhile. Bars lined the streets on both sides. There were street vendors all around selling all kinds of weird food and there were people from all over the world everywhere. On top of that we checked out two of the largest clubs I have ever seen either on TV or in person. At one point the night did take a scary turn. I saw a drunk Chinese guy accidently knock over a trashcan and he just kept walking along. Three young Chinese guys who apparently owned the trashcan yelled at him and when he did not stop they attacked him. Literally, attacked, one guy smashed a bottle over his head and when he fell to the ground the three guys beat him for at least three minutes straight. Finally he was able to run away. After that we continued to check out all of the bars and eventually took a taxi home. It was a great, but long day.