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Published: April 5th 2016
Monday April 4 Beijing China
Today was our first real day of touring and it was a killer! Anyone who says taking a tour is a great vacation has never been on a tour! Our day started at 6:30 AM with a wake up call from our tour guide Jo who ushered us down to a buffet breakfast at the hotel.
Buffet does not do this dining extravaganza justice. There was a wide varity of both Asian and Western foods from which to choose. The menu included: eggs prepared fresh or over easy, made to order omletts, Asian noodles and dumplings (both fresh and cooked before your eyes), a very wide variety of fresh baked breads, cold cuts of every kind, cheeses for you to cut yourself, waffles with various toppings and on and on. There was also a do it yourself coffee machine that made Latte, Cappucino, Espresso and coffee with milk. To top it all there was orange, pineapple and grapefruit juices. Add to this a variety of cereals and fresh fruits. If you left the table hungry, you didn’t try.
We departed the hotel on our tour bus, a full 26
strong, ready for our first day in Beijing. We learned that “bei” means north and “jing” means capitol, so together we have Northern Capitol. Our first stop was Tieneman Square.
Now before I left Toledo one of my goals was to buy a Chairman Mao hat in Tieneman Square. Soon as we exited the bus, we were bararged by vendors anxious to get some of our vacation money.
My first encounter with a vendor was not successful. She had the hat I wanted, but she wanted 30 CYN (about $4.60) way too much. I tried to bargain a little, as is the custom, but I could not budge her below 20 CYN, so I moved on. My next encounter, I hit it big when I offered 10 CYN ($1.53) and she said yes. I had my new hat. Now everyone wanted to know what I paid for my new prize and when I said 10 CYN, I BECAME THE BARGAIN KING.
Mike wanted a hat as did Ricky, so I had to find another vendor willing to allow me to beat them down to my price, with a slight struggle, I
was successful, and now we all had our hat. I was well pleased.
Tieneman Square is the largest public square in the world, able to easily hold over a million people. As some of you may recall, it was also the location of political confrontations that led to the famous photo of a lone citizen facing off a tank. Surprisingly to me, this photo, or the event, was never publicized in China, so our guide could not tell us where the event took place. This is, after all, a communist country and political dissidents are not well liked.
The location is wide open, spotless and filled with various flora and statuary recognizing the birth, by Chapman Mao, of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). It was from this very spot in October many years ago that Chapman Mao announced the new Republic. His picture is prominently displayed for all to see.
Here also is the location of the tomb of Chairman Mao. We chose not to visit the tomb; but we're told that the body lies in repose in a solid glass coffin and is so well preserved that he appears
Tienanmen Square
Me with my FIRST purchasesleeping. So we let sleeping dogs lie.
The square is patrolled by a variety of security forces. First we had the PRC solders, dressed in fine tailored emerald green uniforms. The young men were all spit and polish strutting around in formal march as they patrolled the area. They were somewhat friendly, would allow you to photograph them, but they seem to be all business.
Next came the black clad local police. Neither the soldiers nor the police seemed to be armed with guns, but the police at least had a baton attached to their belt. They were more casual than the soldiers but seems to be watching for any trouble.
Finally came a non-uniforned, uniform guard. These young men were dressed in fine tailored business suits, white shirts and black ties. They were strategically placed along a path leading to the Palace of the Emperor, what Westerners call the Forbidden City.
After some free time at Tieneman Square we traveled under the busy street by way of a tunnel and emerged at the gate to the Forbidden City. Here 24 Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasty
Tienanmen Square
The largest public square in the world lived and worked.
The palace was built over 600 years ago and was the prime residence of the Emperor until the death of the last Emperor in 1964. The last Emperor was a 3 year old child who “ruled” for 3 years before he was deposed. Eventually he became a private citizen and finished his career as a lowly gardener. How far he had fallen.
The Palace was amazing. First there are 9999.5 rooms. You see in China it is believed that heaven has a palace of 10,000 rooms, so the first Emperor did not want to insult God, so he made sure his Palace was a little smaller.
The place went on and on and on. Courtyard after courtyard. Beautiful red buildings with yellow roofs. Only the Emperor was allowed a yellow roof. Here the Emperor lived and worked, setting law, meeting dignitaries and providing general rule (often with an iron fist) over his subjects.
Life was not all work, however as the Emperor was allowed only one wife but any number of concubines. One Emperor had 3000 of them! Busy guy, right?
Anyway,
Forbidden City
Picture of Mao
He created modern China in October 1949 the structures were amazing, adorned with art work, carvings and beautiful motif everywhere. Guess it’s good to be the Emperor.
Unfortunately, many of the buildings are not open to public view. Either they are falling down inside, are used for storage or are undergoing renovation. We mostly viewed them from the outside, but it was beautiful just the same.
The crowds were not very large, given the size of the Palace, a great any people can quite easily be accomodated. I did learn, however, that some Chinese folks can be a bit pushy. Ok, real pushy. When I got to the building that housed the throne room, I waited at the side for people to take a picture and then planned to slip in and get my shot. No way. Chinese people are on a mission to get to the head of the line and get there fast. I was pushed, shoved and generally tossed around to the point that I failed to get a good shot. That was the first and only time we saw any locals behaving badly.
We spent a few good hours walking around, but soon it
Forbidden City
Rick and I heading toward the Forbidden City was time to go. Our next stop was the Hatung Village and lunch at a private home.
The Hatung area is a government protected area not far from the Forbidden City. It got its name from a sound that a bucket makes when it hits water. Let me explain. When they were digging wells to start the village, they would drop a bucket down the well to fetch water. The falling bucket was said to make a sound that sounded like “HA TUNG” hence the name. This was 400 years ago.
About 40 years, ago this area was confiscated by the Communist government. What was once large stately estates, modeled after the Palace with buildings and courtyards, passed on from generation to generation, was converted to tiny homesteads.
Our bus took us to the village area, but had to park outside the village. Not choosing to walk, we had a chance to sample some local transportation, a rickshaw. Our rickshaw held two people and was not pulled on foot, but instead was powered by a bicycle. Fortunately for our driver, the ride was on relatively flat ground and was not more
Forbidden City
One of the many inner court buildings for the Emperor
that two miles.
We were peddled through the back roads until we finally came to the center of the village area where there are many stores and shops all dedicated to separating you from your money. Fortunately, (unfortunately?) there was no time for shopping, so we headed to the home of Mrs. Fong and our local dining experience.
Mrs. Fong lived here before the confiscation and enjoyed a large scale home with garden and privacy. She was allowed to remain after the confiscation but her home was divided now to accommodate ten families. Now she and her family are relegated to about 750 square feet of space, consisting of a kitchen, dining room, tiny sitting room and two small rooms that she recently built upstairs. For all this, she pays the government a rent of 500 CYN a year ($76.80). If she had not owned the property before the confiscation, the new rent would be equivalent to $1000 per month!
Mrs. Fong retired at the age of 50 and decided to go into the tourism business, opening her modest home, with the permission of the government, to tourists. She serves one
Forbidden City
Emperor's Chair group a day, sometime two during the busy season. Today our group of 26 were invited to sit around 4 small table to enjoy the fruits of her labors.
Mrs. Fong and her daughter make everything fresh, no frozen foods for the Fongs. We had dumplings, pork balls, shredded potatoes, chicken wings, chicken and vegetables and a variety of other delicacies served family style.
We were also treated to a Tea Ceremony, of sorts. I was seated at the table with Dick on my left and Ricky on my right. Dick ordered some hot tea, which was kindly poured and delivered by our ever vigilant guide Jo. Unfortunately, during the delivery process one hand went up and another hand went down and the two colloided, pouring a delicious hot blend of tea onto my arm and lap. I did not get to fully enjoy this tea ceremony but I can say the tea was indeed hot!
After our slight mishap we laughed it off and enjoyed the company of new friends. All too soon it was time to go. We each had our fill and enjoyed and endless bounty of local
Forbidden City
Palace of Genghis Khan as seen from the Forbidden City beer. The food was excellent, the beer was cold and all this was included in our tour. You could not ask for more, but there was more to come.
Back to the ricksaw, our drivers waited for us, we were once again peddled back to the bus. We had been advised it was customers to tip the driver 30 CYN ($4.06) but we gave him a little extra at 40 CYN ($6.14) for doing an excellent job of getting us safely from and to the bus.
Back on the bus and next stop: the Summer Palace of the Dragon Lady. Now the Dragon Lady was not a very nice person, she seems to gain her power by being the voice behind the Emperor, Let me explain.
When the previous Emperor died his heir was only 6. So his mother, the future Dragon Lady, was “behind the curtain” at all functions telling her child what to do. Hence she had all the power and was able to get what she wanted. One thing she wanted was a Summer Palace with a lake, so she built a 450 acre lake.
Big John
Are those Horns?
About 40 km from the Forbidden City, she had the workers build a lake under the pretense that she was going to use the lake to train the Navy. So she got her lake built, then promptly told the Navy to take a hike!
Around the lake she had built a series of courtyards and buildings which became a much smaller version of the Forbidden City, but had more that enough room for several thousand people to live comfortably. She was one wicked lady.
One example Jo gave us was that each meal consisted of 250 courses or plates. Some for beauty, some for small and some, I was told very little, was to be eaten, after all a girl has to watch her figure right? The cost of each meal was enough to feed 5000 locals twice a day. What a waste. Soon the servents, mostly eunuchs learned that the Dragon Lady never ate anything past a certain point on the table. In order to save money, they soon replaced this distant food with fake versions of the same plate, so that the Empress could still enjoy her visual portion of the feast.
Forbidden City
Gardens for the Emperor As we walked through this beautiful excess, tragedy struck. One of our group, a mother traveling with her adult child, lost her purse. She had gone to the lavatory and left it on the sink. It was about 20 minutes later she realized her tragic mistake and notified Jo, who rushed back to learn that the purse was gone.
The hope was that someone had turned it into the security staff. After much discussion with security, we learned that no one had turned it in. The problem was not the money or the personal effects a woman may carry, but the loss of her passport, which may prove to be a significant issue.
Getting a replacement passport is not impossible, but close. She must report the loss to the American Embassy, meet with the consulate, prove her identity using a copy of her passport left at the hotel and hope she will get a new one in time to leave Beijing. Another issue is that she had a visa to enter China in the passport, which is lost also. This is issues weeks in advance and is required to enter China
Forbidden City
Emperor Gardens
and travel within. Getting that may be a huge problem, and possibly flying within China may not be allowed. Let’s all pray she can resolve this issue before we leave Beijing in two days.
So for all you travelers planning to go abroad learn THIS LESSON. Never, never and I mean never, carry your passport in any way that it can be lost or stolen. Buy a money belt, hang it around your neck under your shirt or leave it in the safe in your room, but DO NOT lose it. This is a quick was to turn a beautiful vacation into a hideous situation.
One last event, dinner. Tonight we dined at a restaurant located on the top floor of a shopping mall. Up three escalators, we arrive at a fine dining location where we are going to feast on a local delicacy; Peking Duck.
Again, this is served family style with the plates placed on a large glass lazy Susan in the center of the table. The food is passed around and you take your portion, leaving some for all to enjoy. Water, coke, and
Forbidden City
A Chinese garden must have Trees and Flowers, Water and Rocks of course beer are served a plenty. Our table really enjoyed beer so I bought another round for 60 CYN ($9.21)
We were served a wide variety of dishes which included: Duck soup, a noodle with vegatables, Sichuan pork, various other vegatables and a plate of something with shrimp. All delicious. As we filled our hunger we noticed, no duck!
Our Chief brought out several beautifully cooked ducks and carved them for our enjoyment. Placed on the table, we were instructed how to prepared the meal.
There is this flat pancake base, to which you add a brown sweet sauce, a few vegatables, some pieces of duck and fold it all into a tiny square and enjoy. I preferred my duck straight up, so I enjoyed the duck without embellishment.
Well, tomorrow we head off to the GREAT Wall and the Jade factory. I promised my beautiful bride a gift so tomorrow may be her lucky day. Safe travels.
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