BEIJING, CHINA 2006

Thursday, December 28, 2006
BEIJING, CHINA
This year Christmas fell on a Monday, which means that New Years Day was also on a Monday…which meant that the winter break given to most teachers at hogwans was just over a week…most of us finished sometime on Friday, 22 December, and had to return to school Tuesday, 2 January…much nicer than the break I got stuck with last year, which was only four days in total…this year I made travel plans before switching schools, so I traveled with teachers at my old school…we had all traveled together previously to Vietnam, so I knew it would be a good time again…
We took off on Saturday, 23 December, to Beijing, the capital of China…landing at the airport, we got off the plane and onto a bus which took us to one of the terminals…it was definitely not what I expected at an airport that will be part of the Olympics in a year and a half…I expected something more modern and up to date…I don't know if they'll be doing anything to the airport (expansion, renovation, etc) before the games…as we exited the building, we were greeted by the usual taxi touts, who want you to take an "official" taxi somewhere…usually at a price that is at least double what a metered taxi would cost…having been warned against taking these, we took a regular metered taxi…the driver knew where to go, (and didn't take us a roundabout way) which is no small feat in a city the size of Beijing…I had previously made reservations at a hostel, which turned out to be fantastic (except that the common area was chilly nearly all the time)…we arrived early evening the first day, so we didn't do much except eat dinner and talk about what we wanted to see and do over the next few days…we signed ourselves up to go see an acrobatic show, a kung fu show, and the opera…we also figured out transportation to one section of the great wall…our hostel ended up being awesome in regards to information in general, especially transportation around the city to see everything…
The first full day we all met for breakfast in the common area…the hostel also offered food, including western breakfasts…I love banana pancakes, so those were a staple for me…ivan consistently got toast, eggs, French fries and bacon…paul and correne mixed it up…after eating, we got on the city bus (the number, where to get on, where to get off, and cost were all information the guesthouse helped us with) on our way to tiennamen square and the forbidden city…the bus cost a whopping 2 yuan…which is equivalent to about 25 cents…practically nothing…and that was an expensive bus that was air conditioned during the summer…other buses were only 1 yuan…we got off, and immediately started taking pictures…at one end of tiennamen square there are a couple huge gates…not gates in the standard western sense, but gates as in you have to go through a tunnel in the middle to get through it…huge, ornate, impressive…at one end of tiennamen square is the end of the forbidden city…well, one of the gates anywho…(can you tell that Chinese culture has traditionally built a lot of gates?)…this gate is the famous one with the picture of mao…(who is still very much revered in china)…it's called the gate of heavenly peace…it was from this gate that Mao declared the people's republic of china…there are 5 doors through the gate, and social hierarchy determined who got to use which one back when…only the emperor got to use the middle one…we took a lot of pictures, as were all the other tourists…through that gate into a "courtyard where you can buy tickets for the forbidden city…the area was full of tourists, and touts…the touts come up to everyone, offering everything from special tours of the city, to tours of other sights, to knick knacks for sale, etc…at first you don't mind so much, but after a while, it wears on you, and you start being rude to all of them…since this is how they make a living, some of the touts are very persistant, which can be incredibly annoying…finding the correct line to buy tickets wasn't so easy…the proper tickets are for the palace museum, but of course that wasn't stated anywhere…anywho, after buying the tickets we walked through the next gate, prepared to be wowed…unfortunately, as soon as we walked through that area, we saw that one of the major buildings, the library, is under renovation…(the whole city is undergoing a LOT of renovation in preparation for the 2008 summer Olympic games)…definitely a disappointment…howeva, that wasn't too much of a disappointment, because the 'city' is HUGE…no one is kidding when they say you need to allow at least half a day to see the area…lots and lots and lots of art…lots and lots and lots of temples…a beautiful garden that is probably way better looking in summer…lots of pavilions…lots of mini gates…there is a starbucks somewhere in there, though we didn't see it…this particular starbucks is currently the center of some controversy, as many Chinese people want it gone from the 'city'…I can't say I blame them…an American icon in the middle of a cultural relic of another country…I'm not the most patriotic of people, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want a Samsung store in the middle of ellis island…(please don't tell me there is anything like that there?)…the downfall of not having vendors in such a large place is that we were really really hungry by the time we left the city…hunger probably contributed to us leaving a little earlier than we normally would've…howeva, we were there for a good four hours…(the cold contributed as well, I'm sure)…on the way home we ended up on the most crowded bus I've ever been on…very very very crowded…but I got the impression that that was normal for locals…there are a zillion of them, and only so many public buses…evening entertainment was an acrobatic show…while not as good as what we saw in north korea, it was still great…I don't know what the acrobats put on their resumes, but they are really good at what they do…being that flexible is amazing…after the show, we took a taxi back (feeling more than a little carsick by the time we finally got back to the guesthouse) and all slept soundly…
The next morning was the same morning routine, though a whole lot earlier…the four of us, as well as two other girls staying at the same place, were all going to the great wall…we chose a section of the wall that isn't as highly touristed, and the tour isn't combined with any other tour…(the section of the wall at badaling is often combined with a tour to the ming tombs)…our drive there was less than two hours, and quite scenic after we got out of the middle of the city…knowing how cold it might be, we had all bundled up, big time…I had five layers on, two t-shirts, a long sleeve shirt, two sweaters, and a coat…I guess that makes six layers…the others were all the same…when we got to the wall, the driver said he'd be back in four hours to pick us up…we were excited that we could do whateva we wanted…at this particular section of the wall, you have two choices to get up…take a cable car (ski lift chair) or hike up…then on the way down you have three choices…hike, cable car, or toboggan ride…we took the toboggan ride down, which was great…back to the wall…it's an amazing sight…it covers half the country, and was never militarily breached…(the Mongols did get through, but that's cause the commander of one area let them through, thinking that the Mongols would help quell the internal unrest in the country)…it's a fantastic engineering feat, over 1500 years old…lots of stairs, lots of ups and downs…lots of great views…it is said that it is one of only a few man made things that can be seen from space…I don't know about that, but some people swear by it…we got there early enough that there were very few people, and we were able to get lots of good pictures…you don't think all the stairs are a big deal until you look back and see what you climbed…(and the next day when your calves are ready to fall off)…I think we could've walked all day, just to see how far we could go…amazing…since the wall is so well touristed in general (even our section, which wasn't as heavily visited as other sections, still draws quite a number of visitors) there are lots of vendor stalls set up…no food, but LOTS of souvenirs…silk robes, t-shirts for $1, purses, wood carvings, etc…anything you could want…when you walk by each stall, the vendor tries to get you to look at his/her stuff…the vendors are VERY aggressive…if you are good at bargaining, you can find stuff and get it down to cheap prices…I'm not so good at bargaining…in fact, I'm terrible…and I know it, so I don't buy the stuff at all…after all my fellow travelers exercised their formidable bargaining skills (they really are good at it) we got back in the van and drove back to the city…as this happened to be Christmas day, and our little group was in the holiday spirit, we decided to splurge on dinner…after finding a tony roma's listed in the guidebook, we hopped in a cab…the restaurant was supposed to be in a fairly upscale mall…(the mall included a store that sold bmw clothing, as part of the bmw lifestyle…the mall also had a little jewelry kiosk called eva jewelry…obviously my fame has extended to asia!)…it turned out that tony roma's was no longer there…but there was a sizzler…being very very hungry by that point, we decided to go for it…for those of you who don't know, sizzler proclaims itself to be a steakhouse…that it is, but not a high class place…every meal comes with the buffet bar, which can also be ordered as a meal itself…it's not bad, but not great either…(very little option for dessert, and we all know that I remember restaurants by their dessertsJ)…the steak is not the best available, but we still had a good time…and, more importantly, the restaurant was HOT…we all shed our coats, as well as two or three layers of clothing…since our guesthouse wasn't all that warm, it was great to be comfortable, even a little roasty…a good meal, good conversation, and then back to the guesthouse, the end of day 2…
Waking up day three, of course I had to take a shower…on my way to the shower, I stubbed my toe…BADLY…blood everywhere (part of the nail fell off) and quite painful…I felt like the biggest idiot, as I was walking rather oddly for the next couple of days...on this day we had decided to go see the temple of heavenly peace…as with all temples, it's not just one building, but a large area, with gardens and several actual temples, all dedicated to something different…we took a bus again from close to our hostel, but this time when we got off, we had no idea which direction we were supposed to go…the bus stop was not in an open area, (the day we went to tiennamen square it was easy to figure out where to go, as the monuments were tall) so we had no clue…I don't remember if we asked a passerby, or if someone asked us if we needed help, but the result was the same: we figured out which direction to go…a five minute walk later, we were next to one of the gates (the west gate) of the temple…after paying for the entrance ticket we walked in to find ourselves at the end of a huge park area…this temple is situated on a north-south axis, with buildings/monuments to see in all four directions…the main paths going east-west were wide and lined with trees, and somewhat reminded me of European gardens…all of the temples in this area are round, with square bases…this is based on an ancient chinese belief that heaven is round, while the earth is square…we visited all the areas of interest in the temple…one of the temples was where the emperor would go a couple times a year (for less than 4 hours each time) to pray for a good harvest…called the hall of prayer for good harvests…(what else would you call it?)…another spot is the echo wall…it actually works, if you stand in the right places…one person on one side (east or west) says something, and the person on the other side actually can here it…the wall is perfectly round (I've forgotten the correct word) so the sound travels well…it travels so well that we could even tell who was talking! Of course, with so many people trying to do the same thing, it got really confusing, really fast…the wall is 65 meters in diameter, it's not small…this wall goes around the imperial vault of heaven, which used to contain tablets of the emperors ancestors, to be used in the winter solstice ceremonies…this vault isn't so impressive to look in after you've seen so many other temples/vaults/etc…we also went to the southern end to see the round altar…it's 5 meters high, in three levels…the top tier, according to the Chinese, is supposed to symbolize heaven…supposedly, if you stand in the middle of this and say something, the sound waves bounce off the marble, which is supposed to make your voice louder…due to the group of Chinese men all (slowly) taking turns, we didn't get our turn to try...on our way out of the temple complex, we stopped by the garden of seven stones…they were placed there to represent the peaks of one particular mountain area…but there are actually eight stones in the garden…the manchus wanted to feel that they were part of everything, so when they invaded, they added an eighth stone to symbolize their part in the world…(who wants to be represented by a rock?)…almost across the street from the temple of heaven is the pearl market…it's a 5 story market, that obviously sells pearls, but also sells just about anything else you might want…if you are good at bargaining, it's awesome…electronics, tea, t-shirts, silk, shoes, knick-knacks, etc…sooooooo much stuff…since it's all fake, the prices they tell you at the start are absolutely ridiculous…we felt as though we were able to get better deals than summer visitors, simply because there weren't as many shoppers, and the vendors were less likely to turn down our offers…we ended up spending a lot more time in there than we had anticipated, but it was fun…when you walk through markets like that one, there are all sorts of things that all of a sudden, you "need"…on our way home, we had picked out another restaurant to go to for an early supper…but, due to all the construction and what not, the address at which it was listed, was no longer in existence…we're sure the restaurant was probably moved to a new location, but we didn't have that information…definitely a disappointment, but hey, what are you gonna do? We ended up taking a bus back to the hostel (again, another supremely crowded bus…the Chinese pack a whole lot more people onto a bus than the Koreans) and ate dinner there, before heading off to the kung fu show…(which we almost didn't get tickets for, though we never really did figure out that entire story)…the show was fantastic…not what any of us thought we were going to see…I think all of us thought we were going to see demonstrations of skill…but it was a story instead, which, in the end, turned out to be awesome…the acting was good, there was a lot of work being done by the stage crew…we walked out of there feeling like we had seen something really really good…it wasn't all just acting out a story, there were demonstrations of kung fu skill…wow…
For our last full day in Beijing, we decided to go to the summer palace, which is in the opposite direction of any of the other sights in the city…again, our hostel provided us with excellent directions on where to catch the bus, and, for the third time, we got off at the last stop…we purchased the entrance tickets, and as we walked through the first gate, one of the very first buildings turned out to be under renovation, and was completely covered…howeva, as with all the other areas we had seen, the summer palace wasn't what most of us would think of as a "palace"…it consists of temples, gardens, and pavilions, that all go around a lake…some of them are connected by a long corridor, others are not…the lake has always been there, but was expanded and deepened by emperoror quianlong in the 18th century…the summer palace has been burned down a couple times, only to be rebuilt years later…we walked through the entire length of the corridor, around most of the lake…saw many of the temples, climbed many of the stairs…it's such a peaceful area…at the end of the day, we all had decided that this was our favorite sight, except for the great wall, just because it's the great wall…there is a marble boat at one end of the corridor, (which is technically a hallway, though there are no walls on the side, only a ceiling of sorts) it's huge…along this corridor there are 8000 paintings, they're all very intricate…amazing…since it was so cold, the lake was nearly completely frozen…as we walked around, we could see people walking across the lake, and other ice skating…ivan (the irish guy in our little group) had never seen a frozen lake (does it not get that cold in Ireland?) so he was determined to go out on the ice…we stayed there for over three hours, and still felt as though we had missed parts of the palace…finding the bus to get back to the hostel was easy, and for once, VERY WARM…I knew it must've been roasting for everyone else if I was warm…dinner this night wasn't at the hostel…instead we went to a restaurant very near the hostel, so ivan could have peking duck…there was only one English menu, and it seemed as though none of the servers understood a word of English…which lead to a lot of pantomiming…ivan's duck was good, as was paul's sweet and sour pork…my spicy chicken was good, as were correne's egg rolls…none of this sounds very fancy, but the way it was presented was very aesthetically appealing…after dinner we walked back to the guesthouse (correne and I stopped along the way for another treat from dairy queen) and got in the van that took us to the opera…we had been told that the peking opera was world famous…after the show, we weren't quite sure what it was famous for…it was a series of three small skits of sorts…the first one went for quite some time, and there was no sound involved, just a pantomimed fight on the stage…the choreography was good, but it left something to be desired in terms of outcome…the second chapter involved a lady "singing"…I put that in quotation marks, because to our ears, it sounded more like a cat singing…maybe that's the way opera is done there, but wow, it wasn't all that pleasant…the third chapter was more of the same…while the performance itself wasn't anything we would like to see again, the costumes and choreography were really really good…even now, after having time to think about it, I'm still not sure how it became 'famous'…an easy taxi ride back to the hostel, hanging out for a little while, then off to sleep…
the last morning our group didn't see much of each other…correne and paul were going back to seoul, ivan and I were continuing on to hong kong…