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Published: June 19th 2012
The first official day of touring! The remaining folks got in late last night, and had to be up and ready to go by 9 AM. The first stop was Tianmen Square, and then through the tunnel to the Forbidden City. The scale truly is amazing. The Forbidden City was tremendous--amazing what 1 million workers over 14 years can do! Pretty incredible to understand how very elite this area was, and to think that only 3 individuals, once every three years, could expect to be added to the group (unless born into it) via the Imperial Examinations. I asked our guide about the fact that there were no fireplaces or stoves in sight--how did they keep warm? They actually used radiant floor heat--the stone had channels running through it, and strategically placed fires pumped heat through the them to warm the stone floor. And if the emperor was still cold, there were plenty of servants to hold warming irons under his feet! The Chinese culture believed(s) that China is the center of the earth/universe--that's the literal meaning of the Chinese word for China--Zhongguo--center earth. The Forbidden City highlights this with a stone path running down the center of it, from gate to throne. The whole impact of the place is such that it would be easy to believe if you had lived there.
Lots of walking, and although hot today (high of 37 or 38 degrees celsius--about 100 degrees, and very humid), it still doesn't feel 'China hot'--yet. Maybe the 'Bijing blue sky' (sunny, but you wouldn't know it because of the smog) has something to do with it?
After the Forbidden City, we went to lunch at a nearby restaurant. On the way, we passed the 'Pearl Market', a place we had learned about from G's Chinese teacher. We had done some reading about it and were interested in maybe going there, but had no idea we would pass by it. The itinerary called for 'on your own' time after lunch, so we asked our guide if the bus could drop us at the market on its way back to the hotel, and wondered whether anyone else would be interested in going. There were some other folks who wanted to go, and so the arrangements were made. The bus drove to the corner of the block and opened the doors (this tour bus has both a front and a rear-side door). One parent's child got out the rear door, and as I tried to follow, the bus started moving and doors closed! I yelled 'Stop' and thankfully, the bus did, opened the doors, and the girl was standing safely by the side of the bus. The rest of the group got out, and as the bus pulled away, we realized that in all the commotion, we hadn't gotten the guide to write out the hotel name in Chinese for us--which meant we wouldn't be able to tell a taxi-driver where we needed to go! Then we realized that two other folks from our tour group had missed all this, and were about to enter the Market building--if we could catch them, we could see if they had that info. I sprinted ahead and was able to catch them just inside the door. Yes, they each had a hotel info card, and so were able to share one. These same folks also indicated that they were going to take the subway back (most of the way) to the hotel, and that we could join them if we'd like. By that time, the others had joined us, and we all agreed to meet back at this entrance at 4:30 PM to get to the subway.
We had a great time in the Pearl Market--it is a large building of individual vendors/'booths', from which they call out to you to buy whatever it is they are selling. This was a great opportunity to practice our Chinese, and it went really well! G LOVED bargaining and thought it was the greatest thing. She stepped right up and asked 'Dou shou qian (how much is this)? and we engaged in bargaining in mixed Chinese and English. It really did help us, and we were able to pay less than half-price on many items. G particularly wanted to find Pokemon cards that were in Chinese characters, and after some diligent searching and disappointments, she found them! It was a lot of fun, and she and her friend came out with some fun items that were won through hard-fought negotiation. A really great time.
At 4:30, we met up with the other folks to get to the subway. They had done this before on a previous trip, and so were familiar with the system. It went very smoothly, and it was a great relief from the heat--the whole subway, not just the cars, is air-conditioned, and so we enjoyed our ride to the end of the line. At that point, we split up into two groups of four, and managed to finally get a cab back to the hotel at about 5:45 PM. We had gotten word that our Chinese cell phones had finally come in (they had not come in the day before as indicated), and so we picked those up before going back to the room. We did a quick turn-around, and back downstairs at 6:30 PM to meet the group. Our guide was taking us to the fifth floor of the nearby mall where all the restaurants are located. She was going to help the group pick a restaurant and order food. We ended up deciding on a spot she thought we'd like, and she helped K and I order two different kinds of dumplings, as well as a dumpling soup--we figured G would like one of them. We were right, and G had her fill of dumplings--I have to say, they were extremely close to Imperial Garden, and were pork and bok choy. Very good, and I also had no problem eating until I was full.
We got back to the hotel about 9:15 PM, and managed to get to bed about 10:30 PM. We'll try to do better tonight so G doesn't get too behind on sleep!
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Anne
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Enjoy
Wow, this trip sounds amazing. The forbidden City sounds so beautiful. I'm totally amazed by the pictures that I have seen. I'm glad you are there and it sounds like you are having a good time,,even when trying to eat! Stay safe, and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys when you get home. Love you