Beijing-Beijing-Beijing

Welcome to the home of the 2008 Olympics! You would never guess the Olympics are coming here with all of the construction and the advertisements at the Great Wall of China. This has been the absolute hardest city to communicate in but we have found the solution. Simply flag down the nearest 8-10 year old and voila you have a translator. If you want to find your favorite restaurant, find a 7 year old. Do you need help on the subway? Find a 10 year old. Wanna go to the Great Wall? Just ask a 9 year old how to get there. Under no circumstance should you ever try to get an actual adult to help you. All you will hear is a large, phlegm gurgling noise, followed by a giant spit ball flung in your vicinity. Yep, a few culture shocks for us in the capital of China. For some reason, it is either a health thing or a mark of distinction to hock the biggest phlegm ball you can muster, no matter where you are, no matter what time it is, and no matter if you are man or woman. It seems everyone just loves to spit here. Does anyone know the background of this? We were unable to find a 6 year old to explain this one. One thing we did notice on the menus, (that we could read) there was always some sort of elixir that guaranteed to reduce phlegm levels.
One lesson we have learned is if you are going to a tourist sight and you want to enjoy it, you must get there before the tour buses. We went to the Great Wall and we left at 6am. It paid off; we had it all to ourselves for about an hour and a half. The Forbidden City was another highlight but we didn’t get there until noon so we paid the price in ruined pictures, shoving and hockamania. Maybe it was the Forbidden City because the Emperor didn’t want spit in his house???
We also visited Jingshan Park, Tiananmen Square (no tanks were stopped on this day), and the Temple of Heaven.
The sights were great and it was fun to realize that we can still go through a good round of culture shock after being in Asia for the last 3 months.

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