Monday, March 9, 2009

Back in the PRC

So here we are back in China, this time in Bejing. Its day three and already things are out of control. Not really, but the pace here is so fast. Thus far we've seen the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, which is the oldest section built by the Qing dynasty. We then saw the MIng Tombs and the next day the SUmmer Palace. We've gotten lost looking for bars and instead stumbled upon a back alley street with an old Ay Yi selling food and beer and we hung with her, getting drunk and eating for 20 rmb. We met our Peking University counterparts yesterday, and I was matched up with a very intelligent and open minded student who was all about talking about the taboo issues of China, and seems to have a revolutionary flare that Mao would be proud of. She'll be a big help with my thesis. We walked around yesterday and did some location scouting, Tetsugo actually got a photo, and I found an entire street of the housing complexes I'm looking for, as well as the burnt out Hotel next to the CCTV building which looks incredible in its shelled out glory. So hopefully today I'll actually be able to shoot, though I need to coordinate today's activities with how I will lug around the 4 x 5 camera I'm using. Not much time to write in detail, and i need to pick up a CF card reader before I can upload photos, but i've been shooting alot, and will soon have some good stuff up.