Beijing, China
May 21-28, 2002

w/Stephanie arriving from Sydney, AU

2002/05/21 (China's date sequence), TUESDAY:

Ni Hao everybody,
Started the day early with a flight to L.A. to catch my flight to Beijing. Flying time is approx. 12-14 hours from LA with no stops. Coach class was tight but I lived. Really pretty easy, no problems anywhere, smooth flight. I was surprised at how easy it was to get thru customs and immigration in China. No questions. No expressions or greetings either. I was met by the hotel driver and taken to the Novotel Peace Hotel in the heart of Beijing. Nice place...by the way, it's a French hotel. Driving in Beijing is a trip, pun not necessarily intended. In a soceity that lives by rules and regulations, these do not seem to apply to driving, cycling or walking. Keith would fit in well here. The lane lines and lights are just there as guidelines and, maybe, safety for foreigners. Anyway, after arriving at the hotel without a hitch (by the way, they require a passport for check-in and keep your receipts for selling back your RMB..renminbi or People's Money), I unpacked and crashed around 6pm, Wednesday, Beijing time which is yesterday 5am TX time, I think. Steph called around 9pm to let me know she was in Shanghai and would arrive in a couple of hours. She checked in around midnight and we chatted, briefly, before both falling into bed not to arise until....wait for it....5am Thursday morning! The sun rises early in Beijing, 4:30am, and, o-boy, it is bright at 5! Alas to start the new day in China.
Zai jian (goodbye)
2002/05/23, THURSDAY:
Wei (I think is an informal hello... I heard people answering their cell phones that way..no idea if it's spelled right),
After finally arising at 5:30am, both of us too stubborn to be the first one up or in the shower, I finally gave in. After all, I didn't fly to the other side of the world to sleep. Having showered and dressed, we stopped in the coffee shop for our free breakfast around 6:30am. The buffett was a decent mix of Asian/American fare, including deep fried french toast. Odd.Our first stop today was the Guguanxiangtai or Ancient Observatory. Cost was Y10 which is approx $1.25 US. Not bad. It only took us an hour and a half to find it (versus the 30-40 minute walk it should have taken). We were walking all around it but couldn't quite figure out the streets and alleys to get inside the circle of modern high-rises. Great walk though, we found the train station among other things and, eventually, stumbled, almost by accident, into the observatory. Obviously, as indicated by the name, it is an ancient architecherual building and site (as are most things in China although this is changing rapidly with modernization). The observatory, established in 1442, dates back to the time of Genghis Khan. We found very little english here but there were some interesting exhibits including rare documents of a varied sort and a replica of a Ming dynasty star map. Carl, you would like it. Very quiet couryard despite being in the middle of Beijing, which may I say is quite a large city! Atop the observatory are very large bronze celestial measuring devices that were gifts from missionaries who arrived in 1601. Wow! To the Chinese, paying attention to celestial changes was one way of safegaurding one's position and power.
Following the visit to the observatory was a taxi ride, which is always an entertaining venture, to Tiantan or Temple of Heaven. Cost is Y14 but we paid Y30, I think. We realized later that we paid for the "full" ticket that includes visits to all the individual halls and temples (those are Y4 extra for each). Turned out to be a good deal but a lesson learned in paying attention to what ticket the attendent is attempting to sell. Being westerners and having no ability to read Chinese, you WILL be taken advantage of if you don't watch closely. Even so, it still only cost about $3 U.S.Near the entrance of the park, Stephanie and I spotted a group of local dancers. We meandered over to take a look. What we found resembled a class practicing, what seemed to be, swing dance to traditional chinese music. Interesting. This park is, also, a gathering place for locals to fly kites, study for exams and practice their tai chi. The Temple of Heaven, as a site and park, was built for imperial sacrifices conducted on the winter and summer solstices. The temple grounds were built according to numerology and feng shui. The four gates mark the four points on the compass and the park is semi-circular to the north (curvature suppossedly corresponding to heaven's shape) and square on the south side (corresponding to earth's shape). The park includes the Huanquitan or Round Altar, the Huangqiong Yu or Imperial Vault of Heaven, and the Sanyin Cheng or Echo Wall. The stairs leading to the Qiniandian or Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests are called the Ziti Qiao or Bridge of Vermillion Stairs. This hall was built, orginally, in 1420 but lightning burned it to the ground in 1889. It was rebuilt using, oddly enough, timber from Oregon.  The design is based upon the calendar where the pillars represent the seasons, months and days. The 28 pillars or poles support the sturctue without nails. The hall stands 125 ft high and 98 ft across.
Upon completion of our temple tour we were quite hungry so we stopped in a local restaurant located on the park grounds. Quite an experience. There was no english to be found...neither spoken nor on the menus....nothing. So, we winged it. Luckily, Steph had her handy dandy "point to it" restuarant/menu map. That helped, slightly. We, then, broke out the limited chinse/english dictionary found in the back of her guide book. Slightly more progress. After much pointing, looking things up and nodding, we think we conveyed what we wanted. Let's cross our fingers. While we waited for our surprise meal to arrive, the chef/waiter indicated he wanted to look thru our book so we gave it to him. He sat at a table flipping thru it and returned it when he finished. During our meal, he returned, again indicating he wanted to borrow our book again. No problem so we handed it over to him. This time, he proceeded out the door, placed the book in his coat pocket and took off on his moped. We just looked at each other, began to laugh hysterically and hoped he was coming back. We didn't want to lose that particular book as it was our best guide book we had. It must of been about 10 minutes or so but the waiter did return, book in hand, every page still intact. We assumed he made copies but don't really know for sure. Makes for a good story though, don't you think?
Weather was warm and humid but not unbearable. Sunny. From the restaurant, we walked thru a few of the many side streets and alleys to find the pearl market/flea market. Wow! What a place. More pearls than you can imagine....fake and real. Tom, it was as bad as Sam Moon. I picked up a souvenir while Steph picked up a good deal on a North Face rip off backpack/suitcase. Cool pack in all actuality. We caught a cab to the hotel (the cabbie couldn't figure out where we wanted to go next so we headed for home base to start over from there). Our next, and final, stop for the day was the Old Summer Palace (not to be confused with the New Summer Palace). We couldn't decipher the sign at the entrance gate so we really had no idea of closing time. We spent about 30 min. there which is not nearly enough time but we got the idea of the place.
The Old Summer Palace, aka the Chinese Versailles, was a summer retreat from the 15th century to 1860 when it was looted and blown up by the French and English during the Second Opium War. It has been retained as a "monument to China's national humiliation." About half an hour later we grabbed a taxi to the hotel and were in for night. Our TV was broken, not that there was much to understand on it anyway, so we watched a movie on my computer.Until next time...
Susan
Exchange rate is about 8 yuan for $1 U.S.
2002/05/24, FRIDAY:
Up at 3:15 a.m.! We talked about going to the sunrise flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square if we happened to get up but this is ridiculous! No alarm... just me off schedule. I waited until 3:45 a.m. before I woke up Stephanie. We, sleepily, got dressed to catch a cab to the square....ah, another story about "ways to make an extra buck." The flag raising ceremony at the square is a big deal in Beijing and where else at four in the morning are two westerners going to be taking a cab, generally, except to the square? Right? Especially, when we showed him on the map, in Chinese, where we wanted to go. Well, our cabbie decided to be cute. He drove us to the correct street but turned right instead of left. Then, after a few minutes, he began to slow the car and acted all confused. Well, we pointed to the Chinese map again and he was all "surprised" and indicated we had driven the wrong direction. We needed to go back the way we came. Yeah, big surprise. Anyway, we made it to the square without incident this time and in plenty of time to catch the event. But, it did cost us an extra Y5 (wow, like an extra .70 cents U.S. I think we can spare it). So, watch out when taking a cab to a big tourist spot at 4 in the morning. It could cost you :) Now, where was I. Oh, yes, the flag ceremony. We arrived at Tiananmen Square at 4:15 am. We noticed a large crowd gathered, on the street, near the middle gate of the square. The police have not opened the gates to allow visitors into the square, yet. Stephanie and I decided this must be the place to be. That, maybe, there was a flag procession to the pole. So, we waited with the herd. We started near the front of this group but as the group became more anxious we had been shuffled to the back. This turned out to be good fortune for us. Over the loud speaker came a garbled sound then, suddenly, the herd took off running as if a race had started. Stephanie and I were left looking at each other assuming this meant an announcement had been made to signal the opening of the gates and that flag-time was drawing near. If we had been standing in front of this group, they would have run over us like a stampede. Needless to say, not undertanding Chinese was a disadvantage at the time but provided another comical moment for Stephanie and myself. It was almost 5am before the flag ceremony, actually, began. What a crowd....mob scene you might say. But, what a moving experience....even if it was for Communist China.
There were several school groups in attendance, from different parts of China. It reminded us of the 7th or 8th grade school field trip to Washington, D.C. that students from across the states would take. While wandering around the square, Stephanie and I were "accosted" by several students. We seemed to be the only english speaking people around and the students wanted, desperately, to practice their english and to learn from us. So, they would form a huddle, giggleing, in what we assumed was a decision making process to choose "the one" to approach the "Americans." It was all very cute and they all spoke very good english. But, we were getting tired of the spotlight so we continued on around the square. After all, it was time for breakfast!FYI: Tiananmen Square covers 99 acres with standing room for 300,000 people. The square, also, houses the Mao Zedong Mausoleum. Yes, you, too, can see Mao stuffed and on display.....ewwww...gross.
8-ish am set off for a walk thru some hutong areas (alley ways of old peking/beijing). Not much happening this early in the am. Maybe later. We continued our walk in front of the Forbidden City and T-square heading toward Beihai and Jingshan Gongyu parks. Somehow we  missed a pass thru street and ended up walking for 5 miles or so. Not much you can do when you are blocked by a huge wall to your side except walk around it. Great walk, though, as we were able to see much of Beijing this way. We passed the "new Forbidden City", Zhongnanhai, where the current president of China and other high ranking officials of the Communist Party reside. The interior is off limits to tourists. The name means central and south seas after the two large lakes in the compound. Gaurds are everywhere. We, also, passed the Beijing national library. 10 million books & 4 million periodicals/newspapers. Access is limited and access to rare books is more limited. We discovered the Jingshan park and took a quick stroll thru it. It only cost Y2 or .35 cents approx. Next, we caught a taxi to the Yonghegong (Lama Temple). It is the most colorful temple and holds the largest single wood carving buddha (from white sandlewood)...guiness book record holder in 1990. The Buddha stands 18 meters tall above ground and 8 meters below ground. Now, that's what I call a tall Buddha.
Next stop was a quick walk over to the Kong Miao; Guozijian or Confucius Temple and Imperial College. A forest of Steles stand with recorded names of the successful civil service examinees who are locked in one of 8000 cubes 1.5m sq. for 3 days. Many died or went insane during the lockup. The survivors are remembered with their names engraved, for all to see, on the Stele tablets. Hard to respond to that one. Also on display were stone tablets with 13 Confucial classics that took the scholar 12 years to complete. There was a well that students were told to drink from if they suffered from writers block, basically. No telling what was found in that well. Finally, a cab ride back to the hotel for R&R around 2:30-3pm. Tom came in tonight so we grabbed dinner at a french restuarant located in the hotel. Tomorrow is the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Sunday is the Forbidden City and Peking Opera. Until then. Goodnight.
Beijing's population = 12 million official residents with another 2 million migrant workers.
2002/05/25, SATURDAY:
Ni Hao, ya'll-
Today was the day for the Great Wall and Ming tomb tour. Luckily, we were able to sleep in as we didn't have to be downstairs until 8:30 a.m. Judging by our previous awakening hours, we had plenty of time to get ready. Our tour group consisted of 9 people (2 English couples, a Scotish couple and Tom, Steph....the aussie couple...and myself) as we loaded up the bus and headed out of Beijing. Our guide provided a brief city tour as we drove north of Beijing towards our first stop, the Jade factory. For instance, she pointed out the old moat system which still exists in some form throughout most of the city; we passed by the embassy area where we were told the Russian embassy is the only country's embassy to be built so close to downtown Beijing. This was allowed due to the close connection between China and Russia. Ah, the games we play. We were, also, told how much Beijing has changed just in the last 10 years. Ten years ago, there were hardly any cars....everyone rode bicycles or walked. Even a taxi required a reservation two weeks in advance as there was only one taxi company for the entire city. Not anymore as taxis are as common in Beijing as they are in NY city. Beijing was virtually levelled of all ancient/imperial sites and a grid system was built in its place. Very few reminders of old China were left after the cultural revolution.
The Jade factory is an interesting place, seeing how they carve jade, and we were given the test to determine if a jade piece is real or fake.  We all, sort of, passed and failed.....meaning we were able to identify 1 or 2 pieces but not all 3 of the 6 that were real (or fake, depending upon how you want to look at it). One way to tell a real jade piece is by the color. Real jade is translucent vs. glass that is opaque. Another way to tell the difference is by sound. Real jade makes a nice sound when tapped while glass kind of clinks. Finally, real jade will cut glass like a diamond (if it's hard stone, the soft jade, obviously, will not be able to do this). Isn't that amazing? I'm sure ya'll just couldn't live another moment without knowing that :)
Next stop is the Ming Tombs. Not that exciting of a place. Seemed to be a big tourist stop, aka another place to tempt you into buying more junk, along the way to the Great Wall. That's ok. You just have to learn to say no (or in this case, wo bu yao meaning I don't want). The tombs were built while the emperors were still alive. Proceeding in this fashion allowed the emperors to approve location and supervise construction. Feng Shui was very important in tomb builiding...a la the mountains for defense, the doors facing southward, the secret main entryways, etc. The tomb was completed in 1381.  If an empress preceeded the death of the emperor, then she would be placed just outside the tomb until the emperors death at which time they would both be placed, side by side, deep within the tomb.  However, if the emperor died first, then the empress would have to be buried in another section of tomb as the emperor's tomb would be sealed never to be opened again. So much for longevity. The Ming tomb is the only tomb to have been excavated. Excavation started in 1957 and in 1959 the tomb was open to the public. Of the 16 dynasties, only 3 emperors are not buried here. One did not like Beijing, so he was buried near the south capital; one killed himself or was killed or something (maybe steph remembers what happened?) and I don't remember why the third one isn't buried here, either. Sorry folks. Anyway, that's not important. What is important is the Great Wall. Let's proceed, shall we?
Changcheng or The Great Wall sits 60-120 km (37-74 mi) north and west of Beijing and covers approx. 6000 km from the China Sea to central Asia. The wall stands 26 feet tall and 23 feet wide at its base. It could accommadate 6 horsemen riding side by side. It was built by many dynasties, starting in 221 b.c. and continued building over a two thousand year period! The original wall was built of wood and has long diasappeared. It was replaced by the current brick and earth structures during the Ming dynasty. The people are now in the process of restoring the wall as sections of it have disentagrated. Let me tell you, it's a tough climb. I've, also, been told there is a Great Wall marathon....no thanks. Beautiful, beautiful vistas!
The return trip to the hotel was pretty quiet...needless to say. After cleaning up a bit, we all headed out to dinner. This, normally, would be uneventful but not tonight. Upon completion of our meal we asked for the check. Now, I must tell you that we dined at a hot pot type restaurant. This means we each had our own personal fondue burner complete with sterno fuel. The waitress came by to stir our sterno to create more heat for our pot...she did this with wood chopsticks which we thought was risky in itself. But, at the end of our meal when we asked for our check, she came by to put out our sterno. Well, with Stephanie's she managed to catch a napkin on fire and didn't notice. When we brought it to her attention, she grabbed our check to extinguish the flames. Hence, our bill now caught fire. Well, all fires were put out without any damage but we wondered if we would be eating for free now. No such luck. She quickly created a new bill and it was correct. Oh well. At least we had dinner and theater tonight! Tomorrow is the Forbidden City. Catch ya'll then. Later tators.
Susan
yellow = the color of the royal family
red = good luck and wards off evil
Warnings = No scribbling and No Chinese characters
summers = 40 C (approx. 100-105 F) and very humid
hutong = mongolian word meaning "well" for water
 The Chinese have diffferent gates for different entrances. For example, after a successful battle you would come into the city thru one gate but failure meant entrance by a different gate.
2002/05/26, SUNDAY:
This morning the pollution was really bad. When I first arrived, you could see the mountains in the distance and the air quality wasn't much worse than Dallas. By the middle of the week, you could tell there were mountains out there but not much more than an outline. I would rank air quality to that of Los Angeles (which, by the way, has become much worse since the last time I was out there....or so it seemed). But, by the end of the week you had no idea there were any mountains and had a hard time seeing the city. Although, suppossedly, this is still much better than Shanghai on most days. Scary. Part of their pollution comes from the fact that the Chinese still burn coal to heat their homes in the winter. However, they do have many electric buses on the streets and many people still ride their bicycles. In fact, many deliveries are still made on bicycle. The funniest thing I saw was a guy on his bike with about 20-25 epson style printers strapped onto the back. Wow! There's nothing these guys won't carry on their bikes. Tom said his beer company in Shanghai, Lion-Nathan, employs about 15 delivery guys.....all on bicycles! Funny site seeing beer delivered by pedaling. Enough about that now.
Our destination today is Gugon Bowuguan or The Forbidden City aka the Old (former) Palace Museum. An interesting tid bit, Mao wanted to destory the Forbidden City to eliminate any signs of imperial China but someone convinced him to keep the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City and The Great Wall are the two top tourist (how about that illiteration) stops in Beijing. Obviously, this means crowds but it really wasn't all that bad. Cost is Y55 or, approx., $7 U.S. 
The Palace City was completed in 1420 and emperors ruled from here until the demise of the dynasties in 1911. The old palace covers 183 acres. It's about half a mile wide and more than half a mile long. The entire complex is enclosed by walls that are 30 feet tall and is surrounded by a moat 170 feet across.  Behind one of the main halls is a 200 ton marble carving of nine dragons. It is carved from one, single piece of marble and is just amazingly beautiful. Surrounding one of the courtyards are bronze vats used for water storage. This water was heated and kept to help fight fires in the winter time when traditional methods would be frozen. We did not see all the many side halls and museums but we saw enough. It's huge!
We had some time left before Tom had to head back to Shanghai so we stopped in a tea house for a snack. Many of the tea houses in China are about the ceremony of the tea not necessarily the tea itself. We were seated in a private corner with a good view of the streets. The floor is hollowed out for your feet while the chairs are inches off the floor. Our hostess brought all the different utensils needed for the tea ceremony and began to explain the ritual. One of the most important steps is warming and washing the tea pot (seperate from the pot used for boiling the water). You, also, need to wash the tea leaves with the warm water before making the actual tea. Next, a small amount is poured into what looks like a shot glass, rinsed then you roll this glass between your fingers and smell the aroma, or bouquet, of the tea. I can't remember the particular tea we chose but it smelled heavenly. Finally, she poured a cup of tea that is not for drinking. You pour a cup then dump it into "the sea" or wood block as the first cup is not fit for drinking (fyi the cups represent seagulls). The second cup is poured. One must hold the cup a particular way when sipping and it is different for men and women. The women hold their cup to represent a lotous blossom opening (or something like that). To end the ceremony, you drink three sips of the tea. The first sip is to test the tea, the second is to drink the tea and the final sip to to experience or savor the tea. This is as bad as wine tasting.
We returned to the hotel so Tom could gather his things before heading to the airport. Bye Tom. It was fun! Afterwards, Stephanie and I headed for the Peking Opera. This is something, I think, everyone should experience. There are two kinds of operas: the full, authentic opera and the opera for the tourists (in other words, the readers digest condensensed version). We saw the latter. The first half was very play-like with translations printed on a digital sign while the second half was very acrobatic and visually stimulating! I loved it! They were beautiful! It reminded me of Cirque du Soleil in a way. There was one guy who did a continous flip flop, in place, for at least 10 seconds straight. Now, that doesn't sound like a long time but, trust me, it is. Amazing. It was all a combination of dance, acrobatics and martial arts (I wish I could twirl my bo that fast). Some of the translations were part of the real entertainment. For example, "we are congenial and we have mutual affinity" or "our love will never switch."Off to bed now. One day left before heading home.
Susan
I forgot to mention that in China you're not a real man until you've climbed the Great Wall.
Another sign for Carl: take care on elevator
2002/05/27, MONDAY:
Last day in China as I leave for home tomorrow and Steph returns to Sydney. So, we decided to spend it shopping. First stop was Liulichang Jie (Jie = street or road). This street, and other areas we visited today, are a part of the old Beijing....small alleyways/hutongs. This particular street is the Glazed-Tile Factory street, named so for the Ming factory that existed there but was destroyed by the Qing. The street underwent renovation and now contains many old book, art and antique stores. Very cool, "artsy" street. I should have bought another bag like Stephanies back pack so I could have brought home more things....paintings, puppets, place mats, painted bottles....I love different, creavtive, art pieces. I was told that if you don't haggle with the people they will get offended. Usually, this means you can expect about 10 percent off.
Next stop was Dazhalan, which means "large wicker gate." This is a more modern pedestrian mall street. Both of these areas will give you the feel of the type of stores and shopping that took place when emperors ruled from the Forbidden City. Dazhalan is where you will find the best silk stores as well as tea stores and apothecaries.Our final stop before lunch was a return trip to the Hongqiao Market or Pearl Market. It's a huge bizarre in a five-story building where you can find knock-off designer label items and the largest selection of cheap (inexpensive) fresh water pearls. This is the place where all important heads of states are taken to buy pearls. We, even, saw a picture of Bill Clinton. We returned to the hotel to drop off our purchases before heading out to lunch and, then, to the modern mall just down the street. Another funny english translated sign we saw in the mall stated a store that was "honest and reputadle." No, that is not a misspelling that is what was printed on the sign. The lower level of the mall is where we found an old Beijing shopping street (still inside the mall, though) that was renovated to resemble old Beijing. It was a tourist spot/walk that provided a brief history of Beijing via printed signs. Here is where we found a candy store and decided to try some of Beijings' candy. We don't know what kind of candy it was but it looked like a hard type candy that might, actually, be good. Nope. Nothing like it. It was a powedery candy that was brown and I can't begin to describe what it tasted like but it wasn't good. Moving on now. There was a sign describing the way old Beijingers would make rice balls or cakes, etc. The sign stated: "the rice is cut into rotundity and squareness." Now, how can you beat that?
Our final evening of the trip, we walked down to a market area that is open every evening from about 6 -10 p.m. There are many vendors here selling all kinds of food, the LEAST appetizing being grasshopper on a stick! No joke! No, I did not try it. I'll let someone else let me know what it's like. We did try the coconut with a straw. Maybe it was the type of coconut but it tasted like fat free milk....sort of milky tasting but really watered down. Not terrible but not necessarily good. We tried what we thought was going to be fried bananas but they were just, basically, doughnut holes. Not too bad but very greasy. Couldn't eat but a couple. Afterward, we strolled thru more of downtown Beijing and found a place that Tom would have loved...hehe. It was a "pub" that was "ornately" decorated but not in the tradition of China.  It was to resemble a cave in which you stepped down into to enter. Neither Stephanie nor I were ready to brave a place like that but I'm sure it would have been quite entertaining. Sorry you missed it while you were with us, Tom. Ah, well, back to the hotel to pack and sleep. Tomorrow, I return to the states. It's been great and I recommend a trip to China for anyone who hasn't been there, yet. See ya'll soon.
Susan