Christmas in Beijing

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This is a long story, if you make it through thanks, would love your feedback, if not enjoy the pictures.

Christmas is only two weeks away and I have no idea what I will do, the other two project managers are on vacation back in the states. I stop by the local travel agency here on base see a weekend trip to Beijing, China over Christmas weekend, so I sign up to go to communist China during the holiday weekend.

Beijing will soon be the host for the 2008 summer Olympics. I recently read were the government is getting collage students to go on the streets and start to smile at strangers, something the Asians don’t do, they are also trying to enforce the “P.D.O.S.” or public display of spitting.

I will make a few movie references, hopefully everybody has seen those movies, if not you should rent them.

22 December Day 1 of 4

I’m at the airport about to start my 4 day tour of Beijing. My first impression is it’s going to be like drinking a case of Jolt cola followed by a case of Red Bull….but drunken trough “Pixie Styx Straws” (you know the ones filled with ground up Sweet Tarts)….well I will soon find out.

Arrived in the capital city of Beijing and went right to lunch, not bad was kind of touristy, the deep fried carrot Styx’s was different. After lunch we went to the “Temple of Heaven” This is were you get your first experience of the “Street Vendor” industry here, as soon as you step off the bus there on you like vultures, or ants to humming bird water trying to sell you anything they can, they stay with you for blocks, reminded me of the movie “Airplane” when Charleston Heston was walking through the airport terminal fighting off all the religious groups. The Temple of Heaven is where tablets of different gods are kept and one would go and pray to a different god.

Tiananmen Square was our next stop, Tiananmen square is just one huge concrete gathering place and with its vast size meant more room/quantity of P.D.O.S. But, there is still history here, with the Peoples Freedom monument, (not sure if that is the actual name) along with Chairman Mao’s mausoleum were his coffin rises at dawn and sets at dusk, just like the sun. When we arrived we had only about 30-40 minutes to look around, all the people were gathering around the flag at sunset when they have the lowing of the national flag and changing of the guard.

A Chinese acrobat show was next, this was to take place in an old theater which was under renovation, no heat and the inside had a lovely perfume of fresh paint and microwave popcorn, once you got “Sensory Adaptation”, (I still remember some of that class) the show was good, typical acrobatic stuff.

After the show our tour group and about 8-10 street vendors took a 2-3 block walk for a Peking duck diner. Well we sat down and I was facing the open cooking area and saw the cooked ducks hanging on hooks and just started laughing to myself. Because yet again, I was reminded of another classic movie seen, the movie is “A Christmas Story”, the scene is after the dogs come in and eat their Christmas turkey, they all go out for Peking duck at a Chinese restaurant and the waiters are trying to sing Christmas carols….”deck the halls with rows and hary…fa ra ra….” Any way I digress, the food was very good here.

We checked into our hotel, which was the “Best Western”, I paid about $75 more for the trip because I requested a single room, and well my single room was huge, king-size bed. About the bed, more specifically the mattress, I thought the Koreans liked a hard bed; they have nothing on the Chinese. My bathroom also had two showers?

Well we have a 06:30 wake-up call every morning.

23 December Day 2 of 4

The hotel had a nice breakfast buffet, from western to Asian food.

First stop today is a Jade carving factory. Which it was more of a museum filled with 4-5 different tour groups with their group leaders explaining about jade at the top of their lungs in 4-5 different languages? We did get to see a couple of people cutting/carving jade with less than the bare minimum safety equipment. Than you walk into the conveniently located sales floor, where I did buy a jade carving of a dragon.

Next stop…The Great Wall of China. The Great wall…wow what can I say, I mean so much history, walking the same steps that along time ago the contestants of the “Amazing Race” climbed, it was so moving. But seriously, this place was amazing, the shear elevation gain where we were was something, I cannot imagine what people went through to build this. The steps are so old and worn down that most have a saddle shape, if not worn completely away. All the steps are not the same height; there will be a few at 12”-18”, than they tossed in that 2”-3” step just to trip you up. So after you have climbed thousands of different size and shaped steps for almost 2 hours, to the fifth and last guard tower on this section, (each guard tower is about ¼ mile between) I sit for a while a reflect on the vastness of the “Wall” when it was 100% standing, and how the guards who patrolled between guard towers must have been in great shape…..than it hits me….I have to walk down thousands different size and shaped steps. UGH!!!!! Final thoughts of the wall 1) It was very amusing to see the Asian women go up all those steps in their leather-stiletto 3” spiked boots. 2) I have mentioned to some dear and close friends that there is a marathon that covers portions of the “Wall”, I also thought that it would be, and get this, “Fun”, well let me just say “Don’t do it”. There you’ve been warned. Go to China and see the wall, but DON”T do a marathon on it.

Lunch, than the “Summer Palace” this is where the empress would stay for some get-away-time from the emperor, also the worlds longest corridor is here. The palace is located on a lake, which canals finger out of the lake. Some go to the “Forbidden City” and this is how the empress would get there. One empress had a very large white marble boat made and it is at this lake.

Next stop was a fresh water pearl factory; the highlight here was that I won a small pearl because I knew how to tell a real pear from a fake, thanks to many nights helping my mother set up her “Pearl Diving” parties. FYI, rub them on your teeth, real pearl is rough, fake is smooth.

Diner was a nice spicy verity of dishes, after which was a nice relaxing night at the Chinese Opera. The opening number sounded like all the instruments were way out of tune and no ware near being in beat with each other. But once the actors got out there and did their thing it was….interesting. They had two screens on either side of the screen which had English sub-text.

24 December Day 3 of 4

Today is a half day, our first stop is “The Forbidden City” this is where the movie “The Last Emperor” takes place, kind of. This place is huge is area, unfortunately it is also under major renovation for the Olympics. But none the less, we did get to see very interesting things. The empress palace was one of the big buildings being renovated, we did see the emperor’s palace, his dressing palace, and the best was his concubine area where he kept all his wives. We were told that when the emperor wanted a concubine, he was presented with a book, like a menu I guess, which would have a family history of each woman and how much status their family had, he would than give a number to his Eunuch and this would be “The lucky woman” tonight. The eunuch would have the lady remove all her clothes, lay her on a blanket and roll her up with just her head exposed, this kept her warm in the winter. Now, the reason for getting undressed before she arrived at the emperor’s palace was for? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? To make sure that his date for the night did not have any weapons and try to assassinate the great emperor. This happened before the disrobing, and the emperor’s date did not have a “Happy” ending, he lost his head, no pun intended. Since then the women were to disrobe. The Forbidden City also had the starts of a fire suppression system, around the city were large pots to collect rain water, and incase of a fire they would set up the “bucket brigade”.

This was followed by a trip to a silk quilt factory, which of the three factories we visited this was the most interesting. We were shown different uses they have for the cocoons; one is to un-wind the cocoon and use the thread for silk stuff, another way they would use the cocoon’s are, they would be soaked in water, remove the silk worm, stretch the cocoon over an upside-down “ U” thing, the official term, until about 5-6 cocoons put on this thing. Next four girls would take a corner of the dried cocoon’s and pull them out until the size bed they were for, twin, queen or king, this would continue until the proper weight/height was met, they were than put into a cotton liner and sewn shut. The finish product was a silk comforter for about $35-45 dollars.

Lunch, the final meal provided by the travel agent, which was not a great meal, but our table did get three free bottles of a decent red wine “The Great Wall Wine” and a bottle of Chinese beer. After lunch we’re dropped of in the shopping district were me and three others found a convenient store and bought another bottle of “Great Wall Wine” and I introduced them to Lemonchello. Once we got our refreshments we found a bar called Jennies, they were cool and let us drink our liquor there, we also ordered four pints of beer. Now this bar is really a front to get to a good DVD store. You go into this jewelry store witch is connected to the bar, out the back door of the jewelry store, into an ally, second black door on your left. When I went in it was like DVD heaven, there also was a Chinese woman breast feeding her baby, so it’s like a drink and a show. Well I did not buy as much as I wanted, only 4 movies and season’s 1 &2 of House M.D. for $6. They are all new, and play on my player with no problem, gotta love the Chinese for that. After that we spent the rest of the day drinking wine and people watching.

25 December Day 4 of 4

Departure day, final thoughts of Beijing, this city has the same things that Seoul has, lots of cars and lots of people, but it also has no motorcycles, but makes up for it 5 fold in the number of bicycles, also Beijing does not have (yet) the flashy neon lights over/on every building like Seoul. The people of Beijing don’t smile, spit constantly and cross the roads where and whenever they want regardless of the current traffic condition.

If any of ya’ll get the opportunity to see this city with tons of history, and despite what I said above, very friendly people….do it.

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Photos

Temple of Heaven 5
This has 6 Gargoyles, the higher the number the more important the building, 11 is the highest. You don't count the last one?

Temple of Heaven 8
This is the oldest tree in Beijing

Temple of Heaven 13
Locals playing music and singing, and a street vendor trying to sell hats

Peking Duck
Peking duck resturant and a "Christmas Story" flash-back

The Great Wall 3
Notice the wear on the stairs

Comments

[Leighanna]

i have one word for ya dad--jealous. i am so jealous. i remember when i went to london and you were jealous of me, now you are seeing more of the world than i have!! anyway i'm glad you had a blast. love ya--leighanna

[Mom]

The Man
Son, we are so impressed. As you translate to us what your eyes were able to see and pass it on to us in writing, is very impressive. We are very proud of you. You saw so much of history going to China and seeing the life of another culture. You must have been emotional when you saw The Wall. Can you imagine the hours and lives it took to build it.!!You really did a great job with the photos. We have learned so much through you....Thanks!!!!

[Casey]

Huh, no marathon?!
So you don't think it would be a good idea to run the Great Wall marathon, eh? I think my orthopedic surgen would suggest differently. I'm sure he would have a blast working on my knees after that. I'm glad you are enjoying your down time over seas. We'll have to get together again next time you are in the States and we can exchange stories. I'm sure you have plenty more yet to be told...