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Published: March 19th 2007
"Do NOT touch this button"
Rachel pushing the Forbidden Button in the Forbidden City. Luckily, nothing blew up or melted. We woke up to slightly colder weather and much greyer skies. The original plan was to go to the Great Wall, but for various reasons we decided we weren't up for a long bus ride and hike to the Wall, so we headed to Lama Temple, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square instead.
I looked at the map of Beijing hanging in the hotel lobby and I said, "See Rachel, we can walk to the Lama Temple. It isn't that far, only a centimeter or so on the map." So, we bundled up in our big coats, scarves, and gloves, and set out. And we walked. And we walked. And we walked. I'm not sure that map was really drawn to scale. Finally we asked a nice shop owner for directions. She said (in Chinese), "Keep walking straight to the big "X" and then turn left." At least, I think that was what she said. I actually wasn't sure, but I didn't want Rachel to know that my Chinese was failing. But the woman definitely kept saying, "Walk straight...'X'...turn left...." And she also kept drawing a big "X" in the air as she explained. I had no idea what
Info about Lama Temple
I particularly like the part at the end where it talks about "so-called cultural revolution." she meant, but I didn't want to seem lost, so I nodded knowingly and we took off. I couldn't stand it and confessed to Rachel that I wasn't really sure what the lady had said, but Rachel said she also caught the part about the big "X," so we figured we'd give it a shot and keep our eyes peeled. A few minutes later, we saw a sign with a big "X" straight ahead of us. I think it was a "do not enter" sign, but I really don't know. So, we turned left and shortly thereafter, we found Lama Temple. We also found a subway stop which we could have used, since there was also a subway stop very close to our hotel. Ah, well. So it goes.
Lama Temple was originally built as an imperial residence in 1694 and was converted into a Buddhist temple in 1744. It is still a functioning temple today, with monks in residence. The highlight of the tour is an 18-meter high Buddha carved out of one single trunk of a Sandalwood tree. It's huge. It's in the Guinness Book of World Records. We were not allowed to take pictures of it,
Rachel at Lama Temple
The smoke that appears to be coming out of her head is actually from burning incense in front of one of the temple buildings. so you'll just have to take my word for it: it's cool. The head of the Buddha seems to be holding up the roof of the building it's housed in, giving the impression that the tree was carved first and then the building was built around it.
Next, we hopped in a taxi and went to the Forbidden City - the former imperial palace situated in the very center of Beijing, just north of Tiananmen Square. Built in the early 1400's the Forbidden City was used up until the end of the imperial system in China in 1924. The palace became knows in English as "Forbidden City" because entry was by invitation only for anyone outside the imperial family. It was built to impress, and anyone seeking an audience with the emperor had approach through a series of gates, down a long path, with huge buildings rising up in front. Basically, they felt like an ant. Really a brilliant idea by the imperial family.
When we arrived at the Forbidden City, I recommended that Rachel rent the audio guide so that she could hear interesting facts while we wandered around. I didn't feel the need to get the
Lama Temple wishing well
The woman on the right in yellow is throwing coins onto the big metal thing in the middle. I don't know the exact reason, but I assume it is to ensure luck or blessings. audio guide, because I've been to "the most popular tourist site in Beijing" about 8 times. I was interested to note that they've changed the audio guide from a cassette tape to an automated broadcast system. As you walk past certain sensors around the palace, the guide automatically starts talking about whatever you are looking at. There's even a map on the box they give you that lights up where you are and where you've already been. Very cool. As Rachel was getting hers all set up, the woman pointed to a small button and said, "Do not touch push this button" with enough gravity to make us think the unit would self-destruct if we did. Got it. Ok.
Our first order of business was to walk half-way through the palace to Starbucks and get some hot chocolate. It was cold, we were thirsty, and I really wanted Rachel to experience the bizarreness of drinking Starbucks in the middle of a Chinese cultural relic. To her amusement, as we quickly walked through the palace, her audio guide kept flipping between descriptions of the buildings. We got to Starbucks and had to wait in a huge crush of people for
our drinks. It was a bit cold, and every foreigner visiting the Forbidden City that day had the same idea we did. There is a heated debate ensuing right now in China about whether or not to kick Starbucks out of the Forbidden City. Many Chinese people feel that having a Western mega-corporation in a historical site is an affront to the country - and I can understand why they'd feel that way. On the other hand, the Forbidden City gets a cut of the profits from the coffee shop and one can imagine the profits are significant and will be even more so next year during the Olympics. The current compromise is that all signage has been removed from the exterior of the Starbucks, with just a small sign with an arrow and "coffee shop" pointing out where it is. If you didn't know it was there, you could walk right by without suspecting. The hilarious consequence of this is that as Rachel and I were walking around with our Starbucks cups, people would stop us and ask (with desperation in their voices), "Where did you get that?? Where's Starbucks??" I'm not joking.
After getting our sugar fix
for the morning, we walked back to the palace entrance to begin our real tour. At this point, Rachel looks down and notes something printed in very small letters on the back of her audio guide box: "The information for each building will only be played one time." Well, shoot. That meant that all those places we sped by on our way to coffee-mecca weren't going to play again. So, we did what any resourceful Iowan would do in this situation: we pushed the button. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Rachel and I pushed the Forbidden Button in the Forbidden City. The lights on her box went crazy and for a second it seemed like the box might indeed self-destruct, but in the end nothing happened. So, we pushed the button again. The third time we pushed it, the system seemed to reset itself and we were good to go again. My feelings were summed up by Rachel when she said, "I can't believe we just beat the system." After that, the audio guide worked pretty well, except occasionally it would play information about the building behind us instead of the one in front of us. Whenever this happened, we
Seeking an Audience with the Emperor
Looking down at the path one had to travel to see the emperor. The building is the front gate of the palace. The yellow speck in the middle of the gate is someone pretending to be emperor. (Photo by Rachel - taken from the top of Tiananmen.) just pushed the button again. We must have pushed that button ten or fifteen times over the course of the day. When we turned the box in after our tour to get the deposit back, they didn't scold us for playing with the Forbidden Button, so I guess our secret was safe.
When we finally finished with the Forbidden City, it was way after lunch time, so we quickly saw Tiananmen (the gate to the north of Tiananmen Square with the enormous picture of Mao Zedong) and Tiananmen Square. I had planned to take Rachel to the top of Tiananmen, because you can get some great pictures of the Square, but they don't allow any bags up at the top and I don't like the idea of using a bag-check in China, so I stayed at the bottom holding the bags while Rachel went to the top. This caused a moment of panic for Rachel who was thinking, "Oh, my goodness! Dawn's sending me off by myself in a country where I don't speak the language! I don't know what to do!" And then reason re-asserted itself as I explained that she was simply going to walk up the
stairs on the right, take a few pictures, and then walk down the stairs on the left. I'm happy to report that she successfully completed this mission without any mishaps.
After "lunch" (at 4:00, can you still call it lunch?) we returned to the hotel for a much-needed nap. Then, it was time to go meet my friend Marsha for dinner. I wanted Rachel to try the famous Beijing Duck (sometimes called Peking Duck) but as a vegetarian, I don't eat it. Luckily, Marsha was quite happy to share the experience with Rachel. We met Marsha in sanlitun, a popular restaurant/bar area of town and went into a restaurant she had picked out. Right away we suspected that this restaurant was much more expensive than desired. Luckily, we were saved from having to say, "Excuse us, this is too expensive, we're going to leave," when we noticed there was no Beijing Duck on the menu. So, we took a cab to Marsha's area of town to a restaurant she knew had Beijing Duck, because just the week previous she had eaten there with another one of our friends. Imagine our confusion and dismay when we arrived and discovered the
Time to Push the Button Again
Confusion reigns as the audio guide talks about every building except the one we are looking at. restaurant was closed and in the midst of conversion to an Indian restaurant. So, we hopped in another cab and went to Marsha's former university, where she assured us there MUST be a restaurant with Beijing Duck. We walked around for a bit and finally found exactly what we were looking for. The restaurant was fabulous and the food was delicious. I made Rachel describe the Beijing Duck to me and she said, "The outside is crispy like the perfect fried chicken; the inside is tender like the perfect Thanksgiving turkey." Yummmm, sounds delicious!
After dinner it was back to the hotel to rest up for our early start to the Great Wall the next morning. After all the walking and all the good food, we slept like rocks.
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Nancy
non-member comment
Great blog
As two folk who have worked in China too we like your blog. You are getting good pictures. My husband says save all the digital images and when you have time use Photoshop or Paintshop pro and all your images will be even nicer (like the one of your friend taken by a random Chinese helper). With the one click enhancer you will be able to see her face, etc. We are now home after working in Prague again. 4 times in China and now 4 times in Prague. We are 66 and 67 and still enjoying other cultures. We are so glad you are doing it when young and can have all the rest of your life full of good memories.