Week Three: HEYTEA and the Ocarina of Time
Working as Hard as My Internet Will Allow...
This past week has been a frustrating combination of having a quite a bit of work to do, and sitting at my desk twiddling my thumbs while I wait for the internet to cooperate. I've noticed it's really only at work that I have issues connecting to the internet, which is probably the worst place to have issues with it. When it does decide to function, I spend my time doing research on international, regional, and nationwide treaties and commitments related to children's rights, and finding out which ones China participates in.
On Friday, I met with two of my coworkers, Anna and Enbo, and we had a meeting with two workers from ECPAT, an organization based in Thailand. ECPAT is a worldwide network of NGOs working to end the sexual exploitation of children, and they publish reports about different countries and their efforts to stop sexual exploitation. While I'm here, we'll be working on a report regarding China's efforts to stop the sexual exploitation of children, and ECPAT is helping us design and compile research for the project.
Doing the research is getting more and more difficult, however. The trade war between the U.S. and China is intensifying, with China blaming the U.S. for the trade war, creating a blacklist of U.S. firms as tensions rise, and looking into FedEx for wrongful delivery of packages. There have also been arguments about recognition of Taiwan as separate from mainland China, with China saying they'll "fight anyone" for the unification of Taiwan. These political events have caused the government to crack down on all illegal VPN usage, meaning I've been cut off from the world outside of China since last Thursday. I managed to get one of the VPN services I use to connect for about 40 minutes at 1 in the morning on Saturday night, but since then there hasn't been a peep of activity. Hopefully things will improve, but until then, I've got hundreds of pages of saved reports that I can read.
Tourism Makes my Feet Hurt
This weekend I did more than normal, walking 8 miles on Saturday, and another 6 on Sunday. It might not seem like a lot, but unfortunately none of my shoes were made for walking that far, or maybe it's my feet that aren't built for it. On Saturday, I decided to check out a popular stationery and home goods store called Muji. I took the Metro to a nearby shopping mall, and the store was something else. I'd been to one in London, but this store was huge - it was almost like a small IKEA that sold clothes. After, I hopped the Metro again and headed over to 三里屯 (Sānlǐtún), the popular expat area. To put it simply, it's the SOHO of Beijing. One of the more popular shopping centers in 三里屯 is called 太古里, or Taikoo Li. It's a hot spot for amateur photographers trying to take photos of the younger, more fashionable crowd that hang out there. There's a bunch of high-end shops and restaurants, as well as some smaller boutiques.
It was cloudy and raining when I went, so the photos I got of the outdoors aren't as stellar as I would like, but it was a beautiful space. It was open to the air, and there were large LED billboards, with a giant fountain in the center for kids to play in. It's a cool place to visit, but always super busy, and most of the stuff is really expensive, so I only bought a few things. One of the things I did get, however, was tea. I heard about HEYTEA (喜茶) while doing some research in preparation for moving to Beijing. If you hadn't noticed by now, fruit tea is one of my favorite drinks, so I felt like I had to try it. All of the websites I saw gave great reviews of their cheese tea, so that's what I decided to get. When I walked over to HEYTEA Black, Sanlitun's special HEYTEA cafe, the line stretched far past the door. It took me almost an hour just to get up to the counter, so I decided to order two teas to make it worth the wait. It took another 30 or 40 minutes for me to get the teas, and at that point I was wondering if it was really worth it. Thankfully, both of them were delicious, though my favorite was definitely the peach cheese tea. You're probably thinking "wow cheese tea sounds disgusting", which is a fair first impression. Cheese tea is just regular fruit tea topped with a sweet and salty cream cheese foam. It's one of my favorite drinks, and kind of hard to find in Williamsburg, so I'm happy to be able to have it while I'm here.
On Sunday, I initially thought I was going to stay home to give my feet some rest, but I decided
that it was better to spend the day exploring. Again, through doing some research before I came to Beijing, I discovered a small chain of cafes called Maan Coffee. Maan is apparently very popular for their waffles and their selection of Korean-style foods. Around lunchtime, I headed over to 朝阳 (Chaoyang) to check it out. The cafe was absolutely gorgeous, with old brass light fixtures everywhere, and everything either made out of burnished steel or a dark wood. There were even trees growing in a row down the middle of the seating area! While I was there, I got the bulgogi panini, and I hadn't realized just how much I missed actual baked bread. I've only been eating 馒头 and 包子, (mantou and baozi) which are both steamed, so it was nice satisfying that craving. Not to mention, I haven't had coffee since arriving in China, so getting a mocha was a wonderful break from all the tea I've been drinking, even though I do love tea.
After sitting in the cafe for a while, trying to decide what to do, I picked a random place I'd seen on some tourist website and headed over. It wasn't too far from the Temple of Heaven, so it was pretty close to the city center. It was a hutong (胡同), or an alleyway that's part of a traditional living complex. They're found throughout Beijing, though they have been slowly decreasing in number as the city evolves and modernizes. Like all touristy areas in Beijing, this one was packed with foreigners and locals alike. Unfortunately, it was so busy I didn't even have time to stop and take photos of the area, though it was very cute. There were a bunch of stationery shops, and other more gift-shop style stores. There were also a few trendy bars and cafes there, like one that specialized in coffee-related cocktails and showed old, black and white film.
While I was there, I found a small shop that sold tea and ocarinas, a type of musical instrument that sounds kind of like a flute. I bought some delicious (and slightly sour) cranberry white tea, and while I was waiting for it to be bagged up, a young woman who worked at the shop came and taught me how to play a few notes on the ocarina. I kind of wish I could have taken one home, but they were all ceramic, and I was worried it wouldn't survive the trip back. Playing it was fun, though, and it reminded me of one of my favorite games as a kid, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's tempting to find an emulator and play through it again, but I doubt I'll have the time, or internet, to do it.
This coming week, it's the dragon boat festival, so I have a few days off of work to go explore other cities in Beijing. I'm excited to see where my current work and adventures takes me!