How many of us had the opportunity to give ourselves a name post-natal stage? You might have always wondered why do i have the legacy of my family names embossed making your name big, though friends might call you with the so called "pet name", we don't really use it officially or do we dare to? Well the average well educated Chinese whose mandarin names are already shorter and easier to remember unlike the "thai" names they do have the flexibility to give an English name, well that sounds really cool to me. Of course when a guy likes monkey names himself as monkey, a girl an Apple, a woman Angelina, that calls for a traveler like me to notice. They do apply the logic to their chinese name - First name followed by family , and they choose an English name which sounds like their first name. Not only that the mainland gives the visitors a Chinese name too...They named me "Ye Wei Jie ", looks they applied the same logic. My recent visit to Beijing is one of the best travels abroad not just because of i hiked "The Great Wall of China" , but because i got to know the pulse of the Chinese culture to a certain extent. Having traveled to good number of places around the globe, i think "We Asians" are very good at hospitality and Chinese are no exception to this, and no wonder i am uncomfortable visiting the west. There are few things i have to mention about my travel, First the food, i had an impression the Chinese food is very difficult and the strange aromas gave me a nauseating feeling when i was in hongkong, however i realized it depends on what kind of restaurant you end up in. And fortunately because of David Wang ( My Colleague, and Good friend) i was able to have the best of the Chinese cuisines. I pretty much tried most of the interesting stuff barring pork and beef though most of the places you end up getting only these two, thanks to David who made sure i always got excluding this, that's what i say it depends on what place you are eating at and whom do you go out with. My favorite on any given day would definitely be the Sichuan cuisine though there is
grotesque mis representation as Shezwan in India. You also get to see some strange dishes like this one.
Most of the English translations sound bit funny.
Leaving the fun side, i think the infrastructure in Beijing is something commendable, imagine an n level flyover with vast lanes connecting some n ring roads, and those huge buildings in the down town with numerous huge malls which are filled with all the damn brands on earth is something i couldn't even think of. I guess this development is not just restricted to the provinces Beijing,shanghai or xinjiang but to the remote places as well, no wonder almost all the provinces are well connected by road, air and rail. Though you could see every car vendor (there are about 4 MN cars in Beijing almost the population of sydney) , they account to the biggest jam hiccups where you get stranded on the roads for eternity, no wonder half of the 10MN population opts the subway which is well connected and saves good time but is always crowded, nevertheless enjoyable.
One of the important things that Beijing withholds is its traditions and culture reflecting the various eras that it has been through and this is pretty much visible if you visit the Tinamen, Tinamen Square, The old City, The Forbidden city which are located right at the center of Beijing and ofcourse the Winter Place and the Summer Palace where you are enthralled by the beauty of the Huge Palaces, and also the lake across the palce which is frozen at this point of time where are you can pretty much walk on most parts is something to be expereinced. And how can i forget the Great wall at Badaling and The Ming Tombs which gives you an insight into the History of the Mainland and the visit indeed refreshed my memory of the dynasties i studied in school (The Qin Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Tang and Ming Dynasties to mention a few ) .
Though the Modern China is about tall towers and vast 8 lane roads, the old culture is pretty persistent in every beijinger's Mind and they still like the Dragon (The Emperor) and The Phoneix (The Empress). I think they adapt the technology from the west pretty fast and put it in practice very quickly which is why its such a fast growing economy. Though they speak pretty fast and loud chinese which hard to comprehend from their actions, they have good writing and reading skills of English but poor at listening and i think the new generation is filling the gap and sure to take on the world some time soon. For Instance, Tinamen @ Nite.
The Beijing Olympic Center or the Birds Nest , the stadium is marvellous and if you have witnessed the olympics i don't think no other country in the world can repeat such a feat. Though i would like to key stroke few more thoughts i would like to conlcude with some shopping tips for the shopaholics who might land up at the silk street where you can find the Mix of Fake and the Real Brands and you get pretty much every damn Bag / Clothes- so much of variety for women / watches / electronics / what not...one simple tip start with 20% and walk away if you don't like the price (period).
Here are some of those wonder ful moments captured and i think i should mention about David Wang, without him this travel wouldn't have been so successful and memorable.
The Forbiddedn City.The 
Great Wall @ BadaLing
Xie Xie (Thanks) David...
Sipping the Green Tea (My favourite though is jasmine..." i say Zai Jian..(Good Bye)
More Fotos @ :
http://picasaweb.google.com/yennevijaykumar/BenguluruToBeijing
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