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Published: June 17th 2012
CHINA: Beijing...in blizzards to find a fur hat...How it all began. The year is 2002...dinner with a friend from my youth...not seen him for years...he partnered with a Chinese/Georgian woman from Beijing...her parents Professors of Fine Arts...she separated from her family during the Cultural Revolution...lived in caves with others...me unable to imagine I would later meet some of these people...their stories changing my perspective on life.
Over dinner showing me pictures of snow capped mountains ringing a surreal plateau...
"We are going to Shangrai-La...its just opening up to tourism...we want to go before its too touristy...would you like to join us?" "Shangri-la"...that's the name of my first comp tennis team...this is fate...count me in!
Booked three weeks and received itinerary for five...OK five...why not?
Denise won't come as we are leaving before Christmas...friend from Primary school says he'll come...another Chinese couple coming...six going...Den & the kids wishing us well.
As it turned out, in some ways it was as if I was going alone...every man for himself on occasion...a concept then foreign to me. Yet these instances probably prepared me better for life on the road...learning I could handle any obstacle or curve ball
INTO WHITE
The Forbidden Citylife threw at me...in later trips choosing my destinations...relishing the challenge...using friendliness as my ticket to discovery...and to open doors.
And these instances handed me some of my most memorable adventures...some of which I will share as I blog China...14 provences to date...4 in this trip...and more to come.
Arrived this first trip early morning...during
"the most snow in Beijing at Christmas in 138 years"...lucky me...my first white Christmas awaits.
Four of us stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Wanfujing...the Chinese couple at their residence in Beijing...I always stay at the Crowne Plaza in Beijing...nothing like receiving
"Welcome back Mr Hooper...good to see you again"...genuine entreaties as I make it a point of getting on with staff...no matter where I am.
After a couple of hours sleep up at 9.30am...sensational breakfast together...waited in the foyer getting ready for Day 1. Had a look in one of the shops in the hotel foyer...and when I walked out...where are the others?...they know I'm here!
Lesson one...don't let them out of your sight.
Looked everywhere...went back to my room...sharing with one of the others...note on the table..."
We've gone out for the day...back at 3:15pm"...you're kidding...on my own
on Day 1...you're kidding!
Well...I always said what my first purchase would be...I'm off to find a fur hat!
I headed out into the snow...wary I had no idea where I was going...took a left then a right...found a shop with incredible artifacts...at incredibly high prices...I'm in heaven already...now how do I get back?...there's a hat shop...what? only for photos...no English...me no Mandarin...directions not possible...just keep going.
Marvelled at the traffic...a bus changing lanes...three vehicles vying for his space...watching in five directions...somehow not getting run over.
And then I saw it.
An elderly man in an insane fur hat...I had to ask...a crowd gathering around me...me pointing at the fur hat
... "Excuse me.Where can can I buy one of those?" A man stepped through the throng...some English
. "He wants to know why you want his hat!"
"No. I want to know where I can buy one...just like his." "You want to buy his hat?"...English faltering...crowd laughing...me bemuzed as well.
The more I asked...the more they were certain I wanted this old man's hat...talk about lost in translation!
Out of the crowd stepped a soldier...in a black fur hat...flags down a taxi..leads me to it.
"He will take BROOM PLATOON
Soldiers sweeping the roads, walkways...on duty to keep Beijing moving you...100 yuan...Best hat shop in Beijing."
"Will he bring me back?"..."No problem...get in." I got in the taxi...driver nil English...snow smattering the windscreen...I have no idea where we are going...time to enjoy the ride...no point in worrying...destiny awaits.
We drove past Tiananmen Square...I jump out of my skin in delight...he jumps the kerb...receives a ticket from a woman in a plastic raincoat...just leaves the vehicle there...follow me...snowing lightly...this is so surreal.
I don't know where we went...I've tried to find it on later trips...I think it was somewhere in Dashaling...Tiananmen's gate tower back there.
As I followed the driver a man steps in front of me...offerring me a black fur hat with a red star...the taxi driver saying
"No No No"...insisting I follow him...me insisting
"How much?"...bought it for 25 yuan...must be good quality!
Anyway we reached the shop down an alley...every shape of fur hats imaginable...bought a mink fur hat...460 yuan...didn't know it was mink until later...travels with me each time I go to China...saved my life many times...often taken off my head by passers by...looking and pointing at the label inside...thumbs up.
I insisted on a walk through Tiananmen...the driver with
his vehicle...not now snowing...bought some postcards...no idea the price was unbelievably high. Met some students...the first of many...always anxious to practice their English...and happy to take my photo with my camera...in my new fur hat!
That night met David at his office...he will lead our trip to Shangri-La.
He takes us to the Golden Waters Fitness Centre...4 of us men...scalding public baths...men only our section...young man assisting me undress
..."I can do it"...a meal in dressing gowns...then a body massage...pretty girl...my first taste of Chinese bath houses.
A nightclub...gorgeous singers strutting their stuff...at the bar each with our own pretty waitress...playing dice with us...if we lose we have to buy them a beer...we always losing...no idea how...their way of making an income...and in the loo...a young man cleaning my shoes while I urinate...his way of making an income.
We felt uncomfortable there so David took us to another...where a lovely Mongolian girl called Annie chatted with me as she stroked my face...my friends warning...me
"I'm fine. You're just jealous." The next morning up early...the 3 Aussie men to see the raising of the flag at 7.33am...no time for breakfast...headed up Wanfujing in a blizzard...me slipping in
TIANANMEN & ME
Day 1...in my new fur hat...pretty excited to be here...just me...and the students who took the photo my boots on the ice trying to keep up...they running ahead in their joggers...where are they?...feeling lost and alone...just keep going.
Got there as the ceremony was finishing...at the Gate of Heavenly Peace...across the road from Tiananmen Square where I had been the day before...where are they?...there you are!...Mao's portrait smiling at me...soldiers covered in snow.
We entered the Gate...soldiers marching...cannons...the Forbidden City walls...we decide to walk around it...my beard and nose icing up...head warm & buzzing with excitement...in my fur hat...my pocket camera getting a workout...past icy moats...spires covered with snow...grandeur of the Emperors...heaven for me.
A late lunch in an arcade...soup tasting like washing up water...one of my mates producing a bottle of Beijing Water...white spirit 56%!.(MISSING).tasted like shit...better than the soup...but after a few swigs we all thought it was pretty funny.
On the way back to our hotel...approached by two girls
"We are Art students...our Professor is having an Art Exhibition...come with us." We managed to get away from them...into a building...just looking around...then there they were again
..."There you are. The Exhibition is down here"...my mates refusing and leaving...me intrigued and following the girls
..."I'll meet you back at the hotel." And so I met Lily from Harbin...the "ice city" and the diminutive Wang Zhi Hang (Sweet Caroline) from Quandong in Jilin...another frozen provence to the North...making a buck by enticing tourists to buy artworks...the first of many I met in China.
I bought a giant painting on silk roll of the advisors of Empress Cixi in chains...their faces lamenting the loss in the Opium Wars in the 19th Century...and one of the Chinese Robin Hood...presume I paid too much...but a hell of a lot less than their starting price!
Had tea with the girls...Caroline's English not bad...Lily oh so exotic...arranged for them to buy me 3 of the headpiece Caroline was wearing, of different colours for my daughter...me armed with shopping lists from my children...and gave them the money required.
Went back to find the girls 3 days later...went down the alley...but the building was gone...yep...but not just the building...the whole city block...looking through a crack in the corrugated perimeter...could see workers clearing away the last of the rubble...loading into trucks.
The whole of a city block...there one day...within 3 days demolished and bare...many hands make light work...and it's been snowing heavily all 3 days...extraordinary!!!
I was to see these girls again...after we returned to Beijing from Shangri-La in Yunnan Provence...but that's another story.
Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
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Maisondubonheur
Pierre-Alexandre
Time goes by...
Hi Dave...I still remember the few steps of Leslie on the Great Wall....back in November 2001...yeap...it was fun, he was cute...I went back since to Beijing few times afterwards...on day trip out of Shanghai, and few night crawls between flights...trust me, those were long days...Will bring back Leslie...and first time traveller Tiffany there in October 2013...Having been reading many blogs lately, it's kind of an hectic life, but nothing to complain about it...a busy day...is always (most of the time) a good day...