China, Day 2: Tiananmen Square, shopping, and Chinese Acrobatics

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We woke up, and headed towards Tiananmen Square. We had ideas of seeing the Chairman. As we were walking towards Tiananmen Square, we realized that we needed some food, so we headed in to a shopping center to find food. We decided on Pizza Hut again, still having not made up for bad Japanese pizza for the last 2 years. We checked the floor guide, to locate the Hut, and I headed for the lift. It was only when I was inside the lift that I realized no one was with me. The others were taking the opportunity to have a photo stop, and watch the tea ceremony that was in the basement floor. I was stuck in the lift. Bear in mind that I'd lost my voice by this point, therefore couldn't really make people move so that I could rejoin my friends. I headed up to the third floor, to find Pizza Hut. Whilst I was in the lift, my absence was noticed by my friends, who started to search semi-frantically for me. Michael noticed me crammed in the lift with strangers, trying to catch his attention. When it was my floor, I had to try to exit the lift. I was pressed against the glass, and had to fight my way out before the doors closed. This was made difficult by my inability to express vocally my desire to exit the elevator! I had to fight my way out, tooth and claw, making use of my elbows and butt, giving the Chinese people a chance to cement their stereotype of rude westerners.

A made it out of the lift, just as the doors were starting to close. Then I found Pizza Hut. It wasn't difficult! Allie then came up the escalator to find me. The others were all watching the tea ceremony. Allie decided he'd seen the tea ceremony plenty of times in Japan, and that he'd keep me company. We went to Pizza Hut and got a table for seven, assuming that we'd all be eating together. Brandi and Josh decided not to eat with us in the end, so it was just the fabulous five again. The other two went shopping.

At our meal, we ordered two different pizzas, one deep pan, and one stuffed crust. I believe that we ordered one supreme and one hawaiin? What we got was one stuffed crust hawaiin with meat and mushrooms, and the same pizza in deep pan. We still ate them, since they looked soooooooo good!　And, true to expectations, they were delicious! Josh and Brandi, who by this point we were calling "BJ", rejoined us towards the end of our meal. We were already in a shopping mall, so people got distracted. Allie and I were impatient to get to Tiananmen Square, but the clothes were too nice for Brandi, Josh and Stef to resist. Allie and I walked up and down the "street", Gabe and Michael went to the loo, and the others went shopping. I decided to stay visible as a locator for everyone, while Allie went to telephone his friend Andy, who lives in China, and was heading, at that moment, to Beijing to that we could meet up.

While I was visibly sitting on my bench outside the shop that Brandi and Stef were in, Josh came nervously out of a men's clothes shop a few doors down. I was greatly amused to see him wearing a nice shirt with the security tag still attached. A salesman was following a very sheepish looking Josh, while Josh looked in each shop he passed to see where Brandi was. I figured that he was trying on the shirt, and wanted his girlfriend's opinion. Unfortunately, Brandi was in a different shop, so Josh walked out of the men's shop, wearing the shirt, in search of his beloved! This, of course, made the mens' boutique staff very nervous and uncomfortable! I'll never forget the priceless look of relief from the sales man when Josh went back to the shop and bought the shirt: it having had Brandi's nod of approval. Perhaps the worry that Josh put the staff through is the reason they gave him a season catalogue and a broken bag…payback! It was a very nice shirt, I must note, and Josh did look very good in it!

Once we had reassembled the group, we headed off to Tiananmen Square. There weren't any other particularly memorable moments on our walk. We spent the time marveling at the number of watch shops abounding the shopping areas of Beijing, and noted the large inflatable rabbit and man advertising something or other in the middle of the street, and map read our way towards Tiananmen.

I was the designated map reader, and Michael was the map carrier. We were all allocated roles, including the vital positions of motivator and complainer. We made it to the Square without incident, other than me having a moment of madness, and almost sending us the wrong way. I ignored this moment of insanity, and proceeded to successfully navigate us to Tiananmen. Square.

It must be noted that Tiananmen Square is the largest Public Square in the world. It must also be noted that it is the place where, in 1989, Chinese students were protesting here against communism. On June 4th, 1989, after about seven weeks of protests, the Chinese government sent in tanks to quell the protests. The Lonely Planet Guide to Beijing notes that cycling in the square is prohibited, yet the driving of tanks is not.

When we were in Tiananmen Square, there was an overwhelming military presence. It took us only moments to realize that many of the uniformed men were new recruits, either just about to start, or having just completed their training. They were sightseeing. We watched with interest as the young men (there were no women) lined up to have their photographs taken in front of the oversized photograph of the current Chinese leader, and in front of the Chairman Mao Mausoleum. Minutes later, and my friends were taking advantage of this great photo opportunity, having photographs taken of them "with" the Chinese military. Some of the recruits found this amusing, as did their superiors, while some were less than impressed!

We wandered around the Square for a while, before heading further south to look at the gates. These were extremely impressive, and immense. We rested in the welcome shade thrown by the gates while we discussed our next move, then started to head back towards our hostel, as we had plans that evening.

On our way back to the hostel, those of us with digital cameras downloaded their memory cards onto a CD to give them more available space for the next round of photographs. We also went into a shop looking for a memory card for Michael's camera. We lost part of our group in the shop. Brandi and Stef took the offered opportunity to go shoe shopping, and we all looked at things. I drifted outside after two circuits of the shop, having no desire to shop, and waited for the others to emerge. Allie wandered out, later followed by Michael and his new memory card, Gabe, who was keeping a tight rein on Josh's wallet, and Josh. Josh is likely to pay far too much for the goods on offer, and Gabe had stopped Josh making a slightly bad purchase that he had no need for. When, after a while, Josh went back into the shop to "rescue" the girls, Gabe accompanied him as Josh's own personal bank manager! After a while, another rescue mission was about to be deployed to rescue the rescuers, but Josh and Gabe returned just as the newest set of rescuers were standing up and preparing themselves. We waited again, for the girls to emerge, and when the finally did, we walked back to the hostel. Or tried to.

I had discovered a Sony exhibition center, and Allie really wanted to play with the gadgets. All of us went, to find that we'd have to play entrance fees. We declined. We were inside another mall… We set a meeting time, and then broke down into smaller groups. Brandi, Gabe, Stef and Michael wanted yoghurt. Allie, Josh and I went in search of toys. We ended up in an Apple shop, where I noticed Allie drooling a little. He changed the colour settings on the display mac, and we left. We wandered for a few more minutes, until we left Josh with Allie's phone clock, and reminded him of the meeting time and place. Then Allie and I wandered off on our own, for the first time since we arrived in Beijing. Allie smokes clove cigarettes, so we tried finding some for him, then we found a Watsons Chemist, where I bought a few much needed items, such as sun block and deodorant, me having retardedly left mine in Japan (I do NOT like using Allie's!)

After this, we headed back to the meeting place, and found everyone except Josh in the yoghurt shop.. We waited until the designated time, then went to the exact meeting place, to await Josh's return. Gabe and Michael took great pleasure in the fact that there was a shop called "Oregan Scientific": both of them are from Oregan, in the States. Everyone else, bar myself (British!), is from Arizona.

We arrived back at the hostel with enough time for me to take a quick shower before we headed to the Chinese Acrobatics show that I had wanted to see for months! There isn't much that I can say about the acrobatics, except that it was spectacular. The colours, the lighting, and the pure bendiness and agility of the acrobats were astounding. I am so pleased that I went to see an acrobatics show while I was in Beijing. I also wanted to see an opera, but time was against me!

After the acrobatics, we went out for dinner. We decided to go to a Chinese restaurant near our hostel. It was, to say the least, an interesting meal. I ordered chilly pork, having a fair idea of what I would get, as I usually order chilly beef in the UK. Brandi and Josh ordered from the short English menu. Allie and Stef ordered using pictures, and Stef, being vegetarian, had to check contents with the staff. All of our dishes were both safe, and tasty. The two people who read the most kanji made the interesting choices, however. Michael, being rushed by everyone, chose what he thought were noodles. This was a pure "Lost Boys" moment, as it turned out that they were probably baby snakes (they didn't taste like eel). Gabe, reading the menu to the best of his ability, chose the "chicken"…at least, that was what he'd read it as. We were all merrily digging in with out chopsticks, when conversation became stilted, and chopstick movement towards the dish stilled. There, staring up at us from the edge of the dish, was a beak. We're not talking about a "Crank Yankers" kind of beak, either. This beak was still attached to the head, complete with beady little bird eyes. Josh totally lost his appetite, and the rest of us found ourselves somewhat less hungry than we were. I still ate a little of the dish, but it was a little too spicy and bony for me taste, so after about my fifth mouthful, I conceded defeat. Gabe read the kanji for the beak dish as "chicken or other bird"…it most certainly was bird…most of one.

In all, it was a good meal, and it's just as well that we each ordered a dish, having to two duds that we ordered. Chinese dishes are meant to be shared by two or more people, so despite having a couple of less than appealing (though still tasty) dishes, we still all had plenty to eat. A very good, very memorable meal!

We went back to the hostel, where we all went to sleep fairly early. I moved back up into the girls ' room, as I had a very early morning the next day, and I was looking forward to it.

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