beijing part 2: great wall, duck and deal-making

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Friday (3/27/09)

Great Wall day! I had done some research and sought out advice and we agreed to go to Mutianyu -- a village with an entrance to the Great Wall--rather than a more popular but very crowded entrance. Mark had been to the other (Badaling) and said it was crowded, full of vendors all along the wall and just not as peaceful sounding as Mutianyu. Instead of buying a package tour, I just rented the car and hired a guide, and told the tour company we wanted to set our own agenda. The deal was I had a place I wanted to go for lunch that had been recommended to me. If you buy these packaged tours, you often end up on tours of factory outlets and you eat at pre-arranged restaurants. It worked out great.

First, we drove about an hour to Mutianyu. We passed the Schoolhouse on our way up to the cable car station. That was our lunch destination for later. We walked up a steep incline to reach the cable car station. Lots of vendors selling t-shirts, Great Wall souvenirs, food and water. The cable car ride took us across to the Great Wall entrance. And there we were. Climbing the steps and instantly standing on the Great Wall of China. It was pretty magical. The wall itself is an engineering wonder. It's length, construction and location in the mountains blew my mind. How could this have been conceived and then accomplished? All by human power. We had such amazing weather too. Blue skies again, a little cool, but great for walking. The air felt cleaner up high, which I am sure it was.

We all walked along together for a while and then Nathan and Mark went much farther while the rest of us enjoyed the views. Nathan, it is reported, ran the last leg of their journey to this really high point on the wall. Then Nathan ran back and Mark followed at a bit slower pace.

After we let the boys catch their breath from their extended journey, we headed back down to the village and to the Schoolhouse restaurant for lunch. This was a cool experience. Not only was it a super nice atmosphere, good food which the kids really enjoyed (chicken, amazing fries for them, all sorts of other good dishes for the adults) we got to meet one of the partners of this group of businesses and he was a really interesting, nice man. I had corresponded with Jim about staying at one of the properties his company manages. We ended up not booking it due to logistical issues with our trip and not wanting to move hotels, but I was so interested in seeing this place that I figured we'd go for lunch and a visit. I'm so glad we did. We all enjoyed hearing about Jim's time in China (something like 25 years!) and the group of houses he's designed and built using local resources (both natural and human). Jim went to Cal Berkeley, so my dad and he bonded over that fact and it also helped confirm he was as cool as we had suspected originally. I love meeting other foreigners and hearing their stories about the why and how they came to China.

On the way back from the Great Wall, we stopped in the city at the Olympic area and saw the famous Birds Nest building and the Water Cube swimming building. You can buy tickets to go inside, but we did not. We just walked around outside, saw vendors STILL selling Olympic souvenirs from last year, and then headed back to the hotel.

Friday Night we went to have duck. When in Beijing, it's all about the duck. I did a bunch of duck research since Mark and my dad are big duck lovers. Lovers of duck, not necessarily big ducks. You know what I mean. I am not usually a fan, but when in Beijing--gotta try it. I chose Da Dong, a well known and longstanding Beijing restaurant. I made a reservation after reading about the terrible lines if you just show up. The food and the duck were really good. We also had a variety of other interesting dishes including a spicy shrimp and some really yummy asparagus.

After dinner, my dad, Emily and I took 1 taxi and the rest of our crew took the other. We split up like this on purpose so that Mark and I were not in the same taxi--just in case of trouble. Well, sure enough, we had some trouble. Mark's cab was heading back at the same time we were being tossed out of ours. The driver of our first taxi refused to take us because he would have to cross over 2 lanes and turn left. So, I returned to the guy hailing taxis from the restaurant and he tried unsuccessfully to get us another taxi. So there we were on a really busy street and we just had to wait it out. It was a classic example for my dad to see the reason my attitude had to change in order to live happily in China. So much is out of my control, so much is just illogical and confusing at times, but it just is. We got a taxi after about 10 minutes. We chalked it up to the experience it was and went on with our evening. The interesting thing to me is knowing that this would make me crazy if it had happened in Chicago. I would have gotten really mad. I might have yelled at the driver. I was just not affected. That's a huge thing for me.

Saturday
Saturday we did some more exploring by foot. We walked back to the Forbidden City but this time just stayed on the outside and stopped at the very famous picture of Chairman Mao. Once again tourist groups swarmed the streets and we wondered what these sights and monuments meant to the visitors from other parts of China. I'm imaging coming to Beijing from a rural village to witness these historical places was very significant. Especially when I saw the older Chinese dressed up and looking quite serious and having their pictures taken. Tienanmen Square has no monument or mention of the events of 1989. It's just a square located across the street from the Forbidden City.

We decided to venture on, and found a market street not too far away. Eventually we stopped for lunch, but not before Eileen and I did some shopping. I bargained hard for some kids pajamas. It helped that I had bought this same item in Shanghai. I stood firm and was eventually victorious. Later, we grabbed lunch (more duck) and were heading back to the hotel when we wandered into a store selling brushes for traditional Chinese writing.

Eileen wanted to have her grandchildren's names written in Chinese. I asked the man at the brush store if he did name writing. Or that's what I tried to ask. He said no, and we headed back out to the street. I felt a little defeated since I wasn't sure he understood me, but then he came out of the store and motioned for us to follow him. He led us to another store with Chinese scrolls with writing on them hanging on the wall. We went downstairs and he told the shopkeeper we wanted names written. Such a nice man! Negotiations began and it was a long session. We finally reached a good price and ended up spending about 40 minutes at the shop. The woman we had been talking to wasn't going to create our scrolls. She called someone else and he arrived later to do the names. We had a great time watching him work and creating the Chinese names out of the sounds from the American names. We ended up getting one for Nathan and Emily and we left with 4 beatiful scrolls and another memory from this great trip.

The rest of our time was spent wandering, eating, and just hanging out together. We had a very relaxing Sunday with a sprinkle of snow flakes to mix it up a bit. After lunch on Sunday, we saw some guys from the restaurant playing pingpong outside. I tried to get Mark to play, but he turned it around and next thing I knew I was playing with one of the guys. We didn't play a real game, but I think I was better than he expected. Or, he let me win. No matter, I had fun and can now check "play ping pong in China" off my list. Bonus points for playing with a Chinese person in a completely random way. I have a list of things I want to do while in China. Ping pong made the list.

That's pretty much the "best of" our time in Beijing. It was so great to share all that we have learned and hear how Dad and Eileen felt being in China for the first time. I am happy to report that after we left them alone in Beijing for 3 days, they did all sorts of sightseeing, bargaining and dining all by themselves. We are very proud of our students.

As always, Mark gets photo credits for many of these shots.

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Photos

flying in Beijing
we're working on a series of flying Nathan shots.

Comments

[Mike G]

Student Evaluation
Yes, students Eileen and Mike did well after their teachers, Mark and Suzanne left us in Beijing. We felt very comfortable wandering all over Beijing. We took a couple of cabs (bigger deal than you think). We crossed the street without out guides. This is easy in Bejing once you realize the motor bikes have no rules what-so-ever - Shanghai is definitely life-threatening until you become familiar with the chaos that is Shanghai traffic. One piece of advice we received in advanace of the trip (from an earlier visitor to Shanghai) was: "Never cross the street!" We understood,but did learn how to do it. - In Bejing, Xian and Shanghai - we loved the way Chinese people enjoy their public parks. They dance, sing and do0 tai chi, play cards, visit and have a good time. We felt welcome at all times.

[Linda]

cabs
As someone who was immersed in the New York City cab culture for three decades I always find myself nodding in recognition whenever you write about taxis. More than once a cab driver refused to cross two lanes of traffic and I had to get right back out. And a 15-min. wait was par-for-the-course at popular corners and out-of-the-way spots. So many drivers are from foreign countries now, I wonder if they haven't just become interchangeable. Thanks to Mike G. for his fun post...my favorite line: "We were able to cross the streets without guides." Great picture of the Flying Nathan...can't wait for the whole series.