My Liveblog of "Samantha Brown in Beijing"

I am on The Travel Channel's mailing list. You may know that I am
obsessed with the Travel Channel- mostly for Anthony Bourdain's show.
Today they told me that I could get a free Travel Channel Episode,
which as it turns out is Samantha Brown in Beijing. Samantha Brown
hasn't done Asia before. Her show is more the cheery American goes to
see touristy stuff, while Bourdain's is more the digging deeper-eat
street food- get drunk with locals type. But it's turning out to be
totally entertaining.

First she visited the hutongs in Beijing. These are the old school
alley ways that you can only reach by pedicab. This brings me back to
my high school trip, when Zoe and I shared a pedicab and our entire
orchestra had a fleet of them. But man, Samantha Brown speaking
Chinese really boosts my self esteem. At least I somewhat try to do
tones! Her "duo shao qian" (how much?) made me laugh pretty hard. And
apparently, her pedicab cost 200, which seems like a ripoff. Not that
I know how much mine cost 8 years ago but it was probably like 200 for
all of us.

Also, she was explaining how the subway is easier to use post-Olympics
because there is so much English now. There's English everywhere in
Guiyang too! But I'd like to see her try to navigate the squeaky,
bumpy, crowded Guiyang bus system. Oh, wait, she just was trying to
buy a subway ticket- "yi ge" means one! Come on Samantha, that's what
you want!

I'm totally jealous that Sam is wearing tube tops and shorts.
Especially since I was just outside, where everyone has on ridiculous
coats, scarves, and cartoon character earmuffs. And we're still cold!

Now she's in the Forbidden City. She can't believe how large it is. As
high schoolers, we quickly got over our sense of wonder and felt like
we were in a never-ending land that kept repeating itself- it all kind
of looks the same. Oh guess what? I know the pipa song that is
playing- does that make me a Chinese music nerd?

Oh yes, she's in the Peking Duck restaurant! That is a good memory.
They just said "gambei," which they claimed is "cheers" but is really
more like "bottoms up!" As in, down your whole glass. Well, I have to
give Sam credit for eating duck's tongue- never had it. Although I've
had ox tongue, which is not a weird flavor but it's more the texture.
Because there's a tongue already in your mouth. Ooo, a behind the
scenes on the cooking of the duck, in fireplaces.

I'm starting to realize that the Great Wall was not so crowded when I
climbed it. Maybe because it was rainy? Although I do remember both
small children and old people practically running by me, which was
upsetting as I huffed and puffed. Although I gotta recommend the Great
Wall- seeing it is cool, but climbing it gives you such a sense of
accomplishment.

Samantha just tried fried starfish. It looked hilarious at the end of
a stick. All of my HK friends who went to Beijing had scorpion at that
night market, I think. Well, that's the end. I don't know how long
this is free on iTunes but I'll recommend it! A good intro to China!