February 6, 2008.

Making pork dumplings with the staff
Paulie enjoying the common room
It couldn't be a true visit to China without fireworks!
Ooooohh....aahhhh....
A view of our hostel's courtyard

This past weekend, Paul and I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Beijing to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Even though Korea does not take the whole week off for this holiday (as the Chinese do), we still got a lengthy 3 days off (plus the weekend). Being so close to this great country and having always been curious to explore it, we decided to (after an unsuccessful attempt to get to Hong Kong to see my cousin, Kristin) head to Beijing.
Traveling to Beijing is pretty easy from Korea. It's only a 2-hour flight from Seoul--piece of cake. It's getting to Incheon Airport that's a pain. We took the night bus to Seoul (leaving Sokcho at 11:00), which takes about 3 hours. However, once in Seoul at that time of night, the airport buses don't run. The subway also isn't running. So, you can either fork over a wad of won and splurge on a cab ride to Incheon (which is about another hour away), or, you can hang out in Itaewon (foreigner central) and take the airport bus that leaves at 4:00 am. So, we waited it out in the McDonald's (open 24 hours, baby!) and also a bit on the 4th floor of the Hamilton Hotel. After we got to the airport, we waited some more! (Our flight didn't leave until 11:00 am on Wednesday). There were plenty of folks heading out of town for Seolnal (Lunar New Year), especially to China.
The flight to China was pretty uneventful. We took China Southern airlines. First time I'd ever had a sweet fig for dessert on a plane! Once we got in, the plane unloaded on the tarmac, and we all got onto a shuttle, which took a while to get to the terminal. I wondered if this would be standard procedure for the upcoming Olympic Games...
Paul and I finally found the airport buses and the one headed to the neighborhood where our hostel was located. Having already changed our money to yuan in Korea, we were ready to start spending! Only about $2 to get from the airport to our hostel in Xidan (the first of many cheap transportation experiences in China!). We got off at the last stop, having read before online that the hostel was only about a 15-minute walk away...well...not exactly...
Our hostel, the Lotus Hostel, was in one of Beijing's many hutongs. Hutongs are the narrow alleyways of Beijing that crisscross the city and make groupings of courtyard homes. They were created after Genghis Khan's army sacked the city, and reached almost 6,000 in number 60 years ago. There are now only about 2,000 left, due to city modernization. "Hutong nearly all run east-west to ensure that the main gate faces south, satisfying feng shui requirements. This south-facing aspect guarantees a lot of sunshine and protection from more negative forces from the north. This positioning also mirrors the layout of all Chinese temples, nourishing the Yang (the male and light aspect), while checking the Yin (the female and dark aspect)." (Lonely Planet China, 137).
All of the signs for the different hutongs look very similar, and several times we thought we'd made it and went down the wrong one. We kept asking the Chinese for directions, who were helpful and friendly despite their lack of English. We finally made it there by about 5:00 and were extremely grateful!

Now, as many of you have seen on the news, there has been a bit of weather in China lately. Apparently, this winter has been their coldest on record in quite some time. This being said, I wondered if there would be any issues with our lodging. We were greeted by the owner and told that the room we'd reserved online was not fit for staying, since the pipes in the radiator had burst and it couldn't be heated properly. So, he put us up in the most expensive room (but we still paid the same price!). Here's a little information about the "north room": The most important rooms in a quadrangle courtyard are called the main structure or zhengfang. The main room is the north room, or the upper room, host room. With the ancestral tablet and the hall placed at the center, the main hall enjoys the highest position in the dwelling, its bay being much superior to other rooms in both depth and height. There are usually three bays in the main room, the middle one being an ancestral hall, the eastern one for grandparents and the west one for parents. Just like the traditional quadrangle courtyard, there are only two rooms in our north room, these two rooms have the excellent position and the most delicate decoration, thus the price is comparatively high.

Needless to say, we were pretty happy about that, not that we would have minded staying in the other room. But you can never complain about an upgrade. So, we dropped off our stuff and rested a bit, before heading to the kitchen to learn how to make Chinese dumplings. There were a couple other staff and some travelers already in there working on rolling the dough into small circles and filling them with a mixture of pork and carrots. The head cook and one of the other staff showed us the right way to pinch and seal them in a half-moon shape. How fun! They were making three batches: pork and carrot, leeks, and beef and vegetable. After pushing out a few we each got a plate of our own FRESH dumplings to sample. All I can say is WOW. Chinese dumplings are tasteeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Later on at 6:00 the owner invited all the guests into the common room for a little dinner of sorts. It is traditional for Chinese families to have feast the first night of the New Year celebration with an even number of dishes. He had wine, juice, candy, dumplings, sliced pork, vegetables, and many trays of candies and candles set up on the table for us. We toasted the new year (with Great Wall wine!) and sat around enjoying each other. The staff at this hostel was soooooooooooo fun and friendly--we had a great time getting to know them. After dinner, most Chinese watch the New Year holiday program on TV with their families. It showcases musical performances, comedy sketches, and fanstastic acrobatics. We sat around watching it with everyone. It's quite an elaborate program--I really wonder how much money goes into all the exquisite costumes and performers!
After that it was time for...FIREWORKS. We'd already heard them being set off in the streets before dark, and we'd passed many small shops selling them in our neighborhood. Our staff had bought a whole bunch for us to enjoy in the courtyard. Let me tell you, it was really fun being in China for Lunar New Year and setting off firecrackers. China is, after all, the birthplace of fireworks (they originated in China some 2,000 years ago). I think Paul and I felt like kids again, all giddy with the excitement of the light and the noise. And let me tell you, this noise kept up ALL NIGHT LONG...(and pretty much all week long, too!)
After a nice hot shower, we both sank into bed, grateful for two down comforters and the chance to rest again.