Beijing Belongs to Beyonce

I saw BEYONCE in concert on October 23rd in Beijing. Emily, Kim, Brittaney, Luna and I went. Beyonce was fierce and amazing, of course. She made several outfit changes and had weird videos and everything possible. The highlights were (in chronological order):

1. The curtains opening, revealing Beyonce's silhouette surrounded by billowing smoke.
2. "If I Were a Boy" breakdown into a cover of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette.
3. "At Last" with video footage starting with slavery and ending with President Obama.
4. A video of fans and celebrities dancing to "Single Ladies."
5. Beyonce singing and dancing to "Single Ladies" as the crowd joined in.

Even though our seats were high, and Emily and I were clearly the loudest in our section, we lived it up and had a ton of fun with Beyonce!

The next day in Beijing was spent in the 798 District. It is the art district with a ton of modern art galleries. There are interesting statues outside and galleries full of striking paintings and Mass MoCA-esque artwork. I bought a poster of a painting of a barber shaving an old man's head under a large tree. Very Chinese!

Kim and Luna had things to do in Baoding, so they left Saturday night. Emily, Brittaney went on a night tour of the city! Our tour guide from the hostel, Fanny, was the same person that brought Emily and I to the Kung Fu show last time. The bus driver's name means Little River. Since my name means mountain, and his means river, he told me to call him big brother! They were half of the fun! As it was late, we did not go into the buildings but they were lit up beautifully! The stops on our tour were:

1. 2008 Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest
2. 2008 Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Center
Fun to see these two after watching the Olympics!
3. Hou Hai Bar Area
A beautiful lake surrounded by noisy, unique bars with live singers.
4. National Grand Opera Theatre
Possibly most beautiful building I have seen in person? Pictures do not do it justice! It is surrounded by water and the reflection makes it appear as an egg. I will never be able to enter this building because tickets to any of the shows are VERY, VERY, VERY expensive.
5. Qian Men Da Jie
Small trains go up and down this busy street packed full of pricey, western stores within new buildings built in ancient styles.

The last crazy thing of the weekend was the whole trip back to Baoding. We ended up leaving on an early train with cheap tickets. The tickets were cheaper because it is a slower, not as nice train. A whole family (about 8 people) stood in the aisles until people got off at the first stop. The family reminded me of the traditional Ecuadorians in the Andes Mountains. Obviously, this family was Chinese. One of the kids laid under our seats. A worker on the train stood on the seat next to me (in his little toe socks) to try to sell some kind of lotion to everyone on the train. I do not think I can describe how crazy this train ride was! I paid for a ride and entertainment.