Beijing

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Ahhh... China. How can I begin to describe this place. Let's start by confirming that the East is DEFINITELY the exact opposite of the West! I sometimes feel like we're on another planet. I look back and laugh at myself for thinking South East Asia could be difficult. Ha! Nothing compares to China. Let's begin with some initial and LASTING impressions: The entire country has an ABHORRENT fixation on hacking lugees, blowing snot rockets, spitting and burping. These are executed CONSTANTLY. Anyone who knows me can just imagine my knee jerk reactions that include an exclamation of "Oh Jesus, not again!", my incredulous expression of disgust and my hands raised into the air as if to ask, "Why me, God, why me?" These are performed many times daily as the Chinese are obsessed with their own mucus.

What else? The food is not that good. In fact, in many places iit's been downright gross. We learned quickly to either have an expensive meal (it's worth it) or stick to street food which is decent and cheap. Middle of the road restaurants suck. Pollution: a huge problem in every city we've visited. Very, very sad. An impenetrable, grey haze hovers over each city. Manners and GENERAL civility: DO NOT EXIST. Let me put this into perspective. I am NOT talking about individuals. As a society, the Chinese have zero consideration for one another. They bump, shove, push, cut in lines, SCREAM (more on this later), and seem to try desperately to run each other over with their cars/ bikes/ or any other make-shift vehicle they may be madly driving.

However, on a personal level, we have found the people to be overwhelmingly nice. There aren't many foreign tourists in China so, we are quite a sensation here. They LOVE us! We are constantly approached by shy, giggling men, women and children who practice their English or more often, ask to have a picture taken with us! We feel downright famous! Tall, fair haired and devastatingly gorgeous- who can blame them? The next time we watch interviews of pretentious movie stars who complain about the perils of celebrity, we can nod our heads sagely with FULL understanding of their predicament😊 Seriously, we are quite an attraction and it's still funny to have people double, triple and quadruple take when they watch us walking by.

BEIJING:
We arrived at a so so hotel which we picked for it's very good location (near the Forbidden City). Unfortunately, no one spoke English even though it was advertised on line as having an English speaking staff. This was extremely frustrating because the first night they placed us in a nice room and then the second morning requested we pay for the balance of our days. We consented and they promptly mimed that we had to change rooms and tried to put us in a filthy room right across the karaoke area of the hotel! (The other major reason we didn't want the room was because it was next to the incredibly noisy front desk. Even though, this was a small area, the Chinese have a tendency to SCREAM if there are more than two people in the room. So the area was always an absolute zoo because everyone would yell back and forth at all hours!!) After refusing to move for a good ten minutes we finally were put in touch, via phone, with "Henry" who supposedly spoke English. As Dave explained our predicament about 100 TIMES, it became clear that Henry really didn't speak or understand English. After ANOTHER 20 minutes we were put in touch with a woman who DID speak English. She understood our predicament, apologized and said they would let us stay in our room two more nights and then would move us to another room on a different floor. Sounds good, right? Well, two days go by and the staff mime that it's time to move. With smiles on our faces, we agree. They proceed to lead us BACK to the dirty room across from the Karaoke hall !!!!! It was unbelievable. What we quickly learned is that in most Chinese operations (hotel, store, restaurant) that we encountered, there is absolutely NO connection between the brain and the limbs. It is INCREDIBLY mind numbing after you go through these incidents 500 times!! Which really makes me wonder about the current predictions of China's future boom.

*Side note: China has a very poor sewer system and every hotel we stayed in (cheap or mid-range) eventually had an odor situation in the bathroom. To quote Sarah, "These toilets smell like stir fried bowels!!")

FORBIDDEN CITY/ TIANAMEN SQUARE:
Day one, we headed to the Forbidden City. Right in the center of Beijing, it is a huge complex of palaces and alley ways. As a big fan of "The Last Emperor", I was very excited to experience ancient China. Unfortunately, it was a little disappointing. Most of the palaces were not well maintained and half the city is under construction. Two theories. One: most of the people who visit the Forbidden City are Chinese (it is one of the few pieces of their heritage that survived the Cultural Revolution) so, the government really doesn't care what shape it is in. This is further proved by the fact that you can't enter any of the palaces. You can only look through Plexiglas windows which to quote Dave, "look like a child who has just eaten ice cream has licked the windows from top to bottom". So, they're not so clean! Two: Since Beijing is hosting the Olympics in 2008, the Powers That Be are realizing that this is one of their greatest assets and are renovating like crazy!!! On a brighter note, it was still fun to roam the alley ways and imagine the past. The palaces are beautiful and thankfully they are getting the face lift they deserve!

We then headed to Tianeman Square and were NOT disappointed! A huge portrait of Mao hangs on the entrance to the square. Very eerie. Since recent leaders have refused to acknowledge the atrocities committed by Mao, he has strangely turned into a cult, heroic figure. Super bizarre. You can buy anything Mao! Watches, T-shirts, dishes etc... The square was teaming with people and it was fun to walk around and soak up the energy. The first week of our stay in China coincided with one of their national holidays so, Beijing was inundated with people. Although this was annoying, it was also really interesting to observe the masses on vacation. Let's just say, there were some very funny outfits! Clothing in China is particularly fascinating. The older generation (men and women) all look like Chairman Mao; utilitarian top and functional pants. So, basically the men and women look alike. Since China has introduced (a little bit) the free market society, shopping is BIG. The young people all wear western clothes and in VERY interesting combinations! They love color and lots of detail. Some favorite combinations for my fashion friends: black lace leggings, black dress to the knee with huge ruffles from top to bottom and orange sneakers with yellow socks to match the bright yellow bag with orange polka dots!! There was also one lady who wore black nylons, WHITE TENNIS SOCKS, and strappy black stiletto heels!! Hmmm... Also, all the men here, regardless of age, wear trousers that are too big for them. They cinch the pants very high on the waist with a big belt. So, as a result, many of them walk around with serious wedgies!!

GREAT WALL OF CHINA:
This was absolutely my China highlight. We hired a driver and set off for Jinshanling (about 3 hours from Beijing) to hike 10km on the Great Wall to Simatai, which is known for it's amazing views. We picked this because tourists generally avoid it. Our driver thought we were nuts to hike the Wall for that long. (It's funny, we've noticed that physical exertion is not considered a good thing here. I guess it's linked with manual labor... Anyway, its pretty clear physical education is not part of the mandated curriculum in the Chinese school system, proof can be found in all of our visits to various temple when stumbling men and hyperventilating women failed to surmount even the smallest of staircases. Kind of wacky...) The Great Wall did not disappoint at all! It is truly one of the seven wonders of the world. Totally and utterly breathtaking. It's hard to wrap your brain around the fact that it was built over 2,000 years ago and covers much of the country. Just spectacular. But, let me tell you, it was NOT an easy hike. (Dave, of course, called it a nice 'walk'...jerk). The wall follows the landscape which is mountainous. Weaving up and down, up and down, much of the structure is crumbling and the steps are very high and steep. But, it was absolutely one of the best days of our trip. The weather was gorgeous and we kept pinching ourselves that we were ACTUALLY on the Great Wall of China. On a funny note: our attempt to avoid masses of tourists failed. A Beijing high school decided to take their student body (2,000 kids!) on a day trip to the Great Wall and thought the hike would be good for them. This was definitely the most exercise these kids have ever had because girls were fainting, tripping, whimpering and having full blown panic attacks. It definitely wasn't an easy hike but, I don't know if it warranted all that!!!

HUTONG TOUR:
Another wonderful experience we had in Beijing was the Hutong tour. This was recommended by the Lonely Planet. Hutongs are the last bastion of old China. They are a complicated series of alleys that enclose traditional Chinese courtyard homes. (Many of these have been divided over the years to accommodate China's growing population). They are very communal and date back many hundreds of years. What fun to ride in a pedi-cab and tour the alleys and glimpse a slice of traditional Beijing life. Part of the tour was a visit to a Palace that lies within the Hutong where we were presented with a Chinese tea ceremony- so cool!!! Unfortunately, the Chinese government is doing their best to wipe the hutongs out. It is so depressing because Beijing is a big, ugly city and the government doesn't seem to understand that preserving the Hutongs would add culturally to Beijing. But, for some ungodly reason, they prefer to erect large, soulless concrete apartment buildings utterly devoid of beauty or character. One of the saddest things about visiting China is knowing what a rich history it had; a culture known for it's amazing art, architecture, dress etc.. and so much of this has been erased!! Of course, there are the palaces, temples etc..but, on average they are poorly maintained. But, I do believe, the Olympics will change some of this.... I hope.

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Photos

Great Walk
Sarah and Vanessa on a 10Km walk to the Great Wall of China.