The Summer Palace

The summer palace was a beatiful place for the empress to spend her time with the service of eunichs. The lake is huge, and man made. The temple was for worship, and the long pathway of 768 meters was created so that the empress could be carried by the eunichs in the shade while they entertained her by telling stories. At the end of the pathway was a boat created entirely from marble. It was warmer here, peaceful, and very nice.

The lake was entirely frozen over. There were many families playing on the ice. William was not interested in falling through and declared simply that he cannot swim. I don't think swimming matters when it was this cold. It didn't matter. We've both been on frozen lakes before.

The left side, the right side, and the cross beam all had paintings. The paintings did not repeat, so you can imagine how many there were over 768 meters. Each painting represented a story in their oral traditions. A few pictures of the paints are below.

Looking out from the pathway, you could look at the lake, and be cooled by the breeze during the hot summer months.

The temple for worship. Again, the entire place was for the empress and the eunichs. In fact, one eunich would travel daily from the Forbidden City to here to fetch water that the emperor believed would give him eternal life.

The marble boat given as a gift. I don't think it floats since it is solid rock.

In the summer there are many boats to spend time on the water.

Some kids ice skating. It was a pretty way to spend the afternoon and very relaxing. The temperature was more enjoyable. I was picturing something like the forbidden city, more buildings and such. This was better since it was more like a park.

Wharton International

Our hotel in Nanning.

William

William was our guide in Beijing, and I am certain I will never forget him. As I mentioned before, he was a very large man. He had long hair, a booming voice, and spoke rapid-fire, non-stop, English and Mandarin. He was a riot; I laughed so much in Beijing. I think we amused him very much as well.

He set us very much at ease (so much so that I felt quite anxious leaving him to go on to Nanning). He liked to push the white lightening on us. Apparently, we did so well the first day, that the second day, he bought a stronger variety. Now, this one made my nose run and eyes water. Yummy! William took time to tell everybody that I drank it, always followed by laughter. The driver took time to turn on the light in the car to give me thumbs-up in the review mirror. I can’t tell if they’re impressed or laughing at me. (Now, I only drank about an ounce. This was the meal that we also had scallops, so it was getting to be a bit like Fear Factor for me since I don’t like seafood. The scallops turned out to be OK, actually, and they were served with other foods that were quite tasty.)

William also made me feel almost comfortable practicing my VERY limited Mandarin. He kept encouraging me to try different words. It was great fun for him. I think that he actually was impressed that I retained the vocabulary, but despite his flattery about my very good pronunciation, I think he was having a great time of it. He never made me feel bad or self-conscious though. I told him how we had stopped practicing our Mandarin when we found out that our daughter would speak Cantonese. Soon after, he heard a family speaking Cantonese, so he just went over and demanded that they give me a brief lesson in Cantonese. I can now say, “Don’t cry,” and “Don’t be afraid,” in at least 5 languages. I’m sure that will be useful. LOL.

Aside: I mentioned before that in our Chinese lessons, the “forced drinking culture” was discussed. It was in the context of a lesson that said, “Can you speak Mandarin?” “I can speak a little.” The word for “a little” is “yidian.” They said it’s common to double it, “Yidian-dian,” and it would be useful in the forced drinking culture to ask for less to be served. They said, and I quote, “Go ahead and try it. I’m sure it will impress your Chinese hosts.” So the second day that White Lightening was being dumped (without asking me) into my glass, I said, “Yidian-dian,” and held up my hand. William laughed uproariously and said, “Oh, Lora, you are very naughty!” I have no clue why.

William had a lot to teach us. It was fascinating listening to his perspectives on everything from the one-child policy and Tibet (which travel etiquette books advised not discussing) to “Elder Bush” and “Little Bush” and the Clintons. He referred many times to the euphemistically entitled “peaceful protest of 1989.” At the beginning, so much of what he said sounded like the Chinese propaganda machine. I wondered if he really felt that way, or if that’s what he had to tell us. He took us to a food market (pungent with spices, fresh meat hanging everywhere) because he wanted us to see that “China is so prosperous.” (He puts the emphasis on the second syllable.) It’s hard to believe that when this was in the old Hutong neighborhood. As he talked for 3 days, though, it became possible to see his perspective and appreciate the great change the Chinese people are experiencing. When he was a child, for example, everything was rationed annually, and in order to shop, you had to present your allowance book to make sure you were authorized to buy more cooking oil, or if you had used your yearly allotment – this if you could even find what you wanted to buy. Now, you buy whatever you want, whenever you want, in markets overflowing with food. Huge changes in only 40 years’ time. Still, two small mochas cost more than three times what William said we should tip the rickshaw driver, and God knows his life isn’t easy.

Confucious Say: Elevator Door Like Mouse Trap

We were just coming up from breakfast, and I sprung something when I tried to step into the elevator. The doors opened, I tried to step in, and they slammed shut on me. Lightening fast. I will have a bruise on my shoulder and it seems to have broken a blood vessel in my hand. It is swelling and turning blue. Michael went to get me some ice. But, actually, it doesn't hurt at all. It was so funny -- I'm still laughing. Ka-BLAM like mouse trap.

Andrew - I said, "I'm glad my shoulders are wider than my head." Your dad said yeah, if I'd been Dora, I'd be a goner.

Babies and Kids In Beijing

We stood out quite a bit in Beijing. (I have read that it will be even more so in Nanning.) We are getting used to being stared at. There is nothing to do but make eye contact and smile. They don't look away. :)

I met a baby girl at the airport, 8-9 months old. She was very cute. I could hear her babbling behind me, "Da da da da da," so I turned around to meet one very shocked baby. Huge eyes, no expression, absolutely silent and still, unable to look away. It was so funny. (I guess that's how Ari will feel, and then they'll hand her over, less funny.) I flirted with the baby a little and never got a smile, but I did get her to reach out and touch my finger, E.T. style, and play a little game of take-turns-patting-the-seat-back.

I gave her mom one of my cards to help explain why I was bothering her baby. She looked at it, nodded, and the baby snatched it away. At that point, our family picture became visible. The mom took it back, pointed to my picture, to me, and held up four fingers. I nodded, and she held up the picture to another lady, babbling and holding up 4 fingers. She turned back to me and asked hesitantly, "Quatro?" I said, "Si. Quatro." Then someone beckoned her away and I did not get to discover if she knew any more Spanish than that. I would have loved to have a fumbling conversation in Spanish with a Chinese woman in Beijing. . .

After we got on the plane, there was a large group of children who boarded, probably 15 - 20 kids with a couple of chaperones. Some of them called to us, "Hello? Hello?" and then scurried on, giggling. Some were shy, smiled, and ducked their heads. One little girl hid her face, but Michael said hello and waved, and she smiled through her fingers. Another little girl's mouth literally fell open in shock, and the look on her face was utter disbelief. It was though she had just boarded a plane and found bigfoot having tea with the loch ness monster. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Poor Ariana.

The Great Wall

The great wall really was an amazing thing to see. We really didn't stay long because it was so cold (well below freezing with a strong wind). However, it was worth every appendage numbing minute. Lora may have a different perspective, but was a real trooper. I know how much she loves cold weather. I've seen pictures of the wall during peak season where it is just a sea of people trying to push their way along the wall. This was NOT peak season, and in some ways, the cold may have been a blessing.

Rough Terrain.
I was hoping where we would go wouldn't be flat. It wasn't.
First glimpse of the wall. It was hard to believe.
Greats Wallcicles- Cold. Very very windy and very cold. Well below freezing and a steady 20 mile an hour wind. Even with the cold there were a lot of street vendors pushing tee-shirts, post cards, and other things. They would start out at 40 or 50 rmb and then would be asking you what you would pay and offering to give it to you for 10. One old lady was particularly persistant. They seemed to ignore Lora and focus on me. She was selling postcards (they all seem to sell they same stuff). After many many "No" answers, she declared I could "buy" later. On the way back down the wall she caught me again and I had this weird moment of trying to out pace a 60 year old woman selling postcards for pennies. She was so insistant that at some point it made it more of a priority to NOT buy anything. I was torn between two thoughts. 1. Buy one of each thing and they will leave you alone since you already have it. 2. Buy something and you will be marked a sucker and be swarmed.
The wall extended to the horizon in both directions. Turns out this is one of the more preserved sections. 1/3 of the 6000km wall is totally gone, 1/3 is in very bad shape, and 1/3 is okay. In the more remote regions there is just no money or reason to preserve the wall so it is destroyed by humans near by needing bricks, rock, or soil. In fact, in one area a portion of the wall was torn down so that a fake one similar to this section could be errected in a different area for tourism.
The walk is steep! What a thigh burner. Of course the cold numb feet made it more challenging to both film, take photos, and come back down the stairs.
You can see the wall on the distant ridges.
Just keep walking... just keep walking... You can see this lady is about to keel over from exhertion. I did have the not-so-pleasant thought of one less push vendor!
So pretty... so massive. I didn't realize it wasn't one wall. There are many branches and spurs to the wall covering and protecting other peaks.
Great wall grafiti. It was carved everywhere. I wonder if it says something profound, or is just the usual for a good time call information. I'd like to think it is more profound than that.
Arrow slits, angled down to discourage invaders.

On the way to the Great Wall

After checking that we were dressed warmer today, our guide helped us to our driver and off to the great wall which was an hour plus depending upon traffic. We did try to dress as warm as possible, but with bag weight restrictions off 44 lbs or less per bag, it is hard to pack for every possibility. I layered up a bunch of tee-shirts, and Lora borrowed an extra pair of socks to try to keep her feet warmer. We new it would be cold at the wall.

Beijing has more high rise buildings than I have ever seen in my life. Most big cities I have been to (New York, Las Vegas, LA, Seattle, etc) have a down town section with impressive sky scrapers. Beijing is a forest of sky scrapers both for office space and for apartments. Most people live in apartments. As you drive therough the city, it is a mix of buildings that are disintigrating from age, building left from the various dynasties, and miles and miles of glass sky scrapers. Nearly 1 of every 7 skyscrapers is being worked on by a giant crane, Beijings newest bird :)

Many many apartments, some that look quite old!

Arrow Tower- used to be a guard tower for the wall that protected the city. We are driving where the city wall used to be. The wall was torn down and replaced with roads.

Government building-A cool mix of old and new architecture.

Apartments as far as the eye can see.

Endless construction.

Another guard tower for the city wall.

Can't remember......

"The Birds Nest"- We are bound to never forget this weird building after the 2008 olympics. Everywhere you go it is clear the olympics is the focus and is of great pride. New roads, new airport, new trains, new everything to accomodate the huge influx of travelers during the olympics. In fact, entire neighborhoods and apartment buildings have been leveled in order to make room for the olympic village. I guess it helped that people don't really own the land they live on. It makes clearing space much easier.

Olympics aquatic center. The unique walls somehow bring in light and lessen the energy needs of the building to make it more green.

A city on the move. One slip and your a gonner!

On day 1 we visited a silk factory. I learned a lot about silk. It was pretty cool. However, the tour culminated with a hard sell trying to get you to buy a silk stuffed comforter. Actually they had pretty neat silk stuff from silk clothes, silk rugs, silk art, etc. The bottom line was that it was a tourist trap. Today had a similar stop. This time it was to learn about jadeite and how masters created jadeite sculptures, bracelets, and jewelery. Some of the pieces were very very cool! However, it was still just a tourist trap to try to get you to buy things.... We didn't buy anything since ROCK does not help you stay under your 44 lbs weight limit.

Intricate ship carved from a single piece of stone.

What a lot of work and patience.

So how do you get that back to the US without it being destroyed??

Needless to say they didn't get us to buy anything. I wonder if the tour company gets a small perk for bringing by potential clients?

The trials of coffee addiction

Tour day 1 was great. To Lora's joy, there was no snake at all. As you will see, it is WAY to cold for snake. We also realized that we didn't have a morning Mocha, so it was time to remedy that. After getting up and getting ready, I headed down to try to order to Cafe Mocha's. It doesn't appear the Chinese are heavy into coffee. It was about 7:30 in the morning, and after a brief exchange of uncomfortable short phrases, the young lady (who actually new English pretty well) explained that the machine wouldn't be ready for 15 more minutes as it needed to heat up. Strike One.

After Lora was ready, we headed back down (more than 15 minutes for her to get ready!) and tried again. The lady asked us where we would sit? Apparently mocha's here are not like ones in America where it takes them 25 seconds to shoot it into a paper cup and charge you 5 bucks. I carefully explained we wanted to take it 50 feet to our right to the buffet and have it with breakfast. Apparently the coffee place was different than the buffet place, so it caused a bit of a commotion. She made up the mocha's in decorative ceramic coffee cups, and then didn't let us touch them until she had escorted us to the table next to the coffee shop and got us settled. People at the hotels and such are EXTREMELY polite. Oh well, it was a bit bumpy, but we got coffee!

Breakfast at the buffet was excellent. Where else can you have fried rice, fried noodles, bacon, ham, fresh fruit, pastries, bagels, donuts, congee, waffles, pancakes, and a bunch of things you don't quite recognize all in the same meal. I did give ordering an omelet another try. The previous day I ended up with just 2 fried eggs. This time I got a fresh omelet, but there was some confusion on what I wanted in it so it was built with all the ingredients they had. It was still good. Good thing I like pretty much everything in an omlet. Tomorrow I am determined to find soy sauce. How can there be no soy sauce in China?

End of Tour Day 1

So much as happened over the past couple of days that it hit as been hard to find the time to sit down at the computer and write it all down. The only place we have Internet is in the room, and the only time we are in the room, we are ready for bed. Where did we leave off?

Well after visiting the places in my last post, we went to a local restraunt for the famous Peking Duck. Our guide (who really was wonderful) felt it necessary to order everything on the menu for us to try. Actually, he was a tremendous host and took his duty of keeping our tea full and our shot glasses full very seriously. The duck was delicious. Small pieces of duck were cut off and put on plates. You would take a piece of duck, dip it in plum sauce, wipe it on your flat "pancake" (which looked like a tortilla) and then fill it with peppers, scallions, cucumber, potato or other fillings as you wished. I don't know how many ducks we got in addition to are banquet of other dishes, but it was a very filling meal!

Other than this tasty guy, we also had some thin fried potatoes, chicken with peanuts and a spicy sweet/sour type red sauce (kung pao), sweet/sour soup, some sort of green peppers and beef stir fry, and some strange desserts that had sesame seeds on the outside and some sort of rice and bean on the inside that had been deep fried. After getting home at the end of the Day 1 tour, it was straight to bed! The bodies are still getting used to the time shift.

A Really Quick Note on the Cold

The day after we went to the Forbidden City (numb feet day), our guide mentioned that on the news that evening they said it had been a 40-year record low in Beijing. (I might also mention that they don't heat places much -- not restaurants, cars, family homes. Brrrrr.)

"Hottapot."

This is Chinese Hot Pot (pronounced "hottapot" by our guide), which was yesterday's lunch. The soup in the middle (we had a very spicy variety chosen for us) is kept simmering over a burner in the middle of the table. Thin-sliced meats and vegetables are brought, which you simmer in the soup, then bring out and eat. This is DELICIOUS. (I ate extra just for you, Anne.)

Beijing Tour Day

First, a note on the food. Granted, we have only been here a day, and we are in Beijing, not Guangzhou – but the food has been SO GOOD. Also, the guide is rather demanding that we should eat more. I may have gained 10 pounds today.

Second note is on the weather. Beijing is COLD. The temperature is in the 20s (F) and dry, so ordinarily completely acceptable weather. The wind, however, is relentless, and my feet got so numb that climbing stairs was beginning to get dangerous because I could not feel where my feet were being placed.

Despite the cold, everything has been amazing. It is truly different here on the other side of the world. Today, we began at Tiananmen Square.

(Brrrrrrr.) Police presence everywhere. That led to a tour of the Forbidden City, which is huge. Amazing that the entire complex was built for use by one person (and his concubines.)

We learned that in China, everything has a meaning, and everything has to be balanced. Everything is symmetrical. In this picture, the hill is man-made (centuries ago) because the hill to the North had to be built to balance the water to the south of the Forbidden City.

Everything symbolized something. In the USA, we simplify this and call it feng shui. In China, it is very important, even down to the colors which each symbolize something and have to be balanced. Thus, the overload of color everywhere. To my American eyes, honestly, it looks gaudy, but I’m trying to learn something about the significances. (I did think it was amusing that the guide said his mother has visited several US cities, and the only one she liked was Vegas.)

After the Forbidden City, we went 180 degrees to a rickshaw ride through the old Hutong area and then then ate lunch (a huge, absolutely delicious lunch) at a family home in this neighborhood.

This was followed by a tour of the Temple of Heaven. This was really neat because so many people (all bundled in winter wear) are playing hackey-sack, poker, dancing and singing, having fun in the park. The Temple of Heaven was the site where the emperor could get closest to heaven and offer his pagan (blood animal) sacrifices for a good harvest. The temple’s culmination, though, is this amazing architecture, everything done in multiples of nine, an open-air tower with a small pedestal in the center on which the emperor could stand to offer his prayers. It is a place designed for him to be “closest to heaven.” Acoustically, it’s amazing. Every word you say is echoed back to you. Ironic that “closest to heaven” meant hearing his own words come back to him.
We had Peking Duck (and a sample of just about everything else on the menu forced on us) for dinner. Delicious. All of it.

Oh yeah, we did try the Chinese “White Lightening.” The mandarin lessons that I was listening to had one lesson where the teacher (from Shanghai) talked about the Chinese “forced drinking culture.” I now know what she means. It’s very peculiar, unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. It’s very strong alcohol, and I will not say it’s good, but I can say there is absolutely no rasp or burn with it at all. I don’t think it’s meant to be a woman’s drink. They pushed and pushed for me to try it, but pointed and laughed when I did. Then insisted I drink more. I sure hope there’s no more tomorrow!