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Published: September 13th 2006
Forbidden City
gigantic main gate Anywho, next morning after 6 hours of sleep we bounded out of bed (actually I think we managed to roll ourselves out: plop) & started in search of a bank. We tried ATM machine after ATM machine with no luck. You know, when Colleen told us it would be hard to get money...she wasn't joking (she has the same bank card as I do). About 10 ATM machines later we decided to head back to the Bank of China & try there again. I just kept praying & praying. I was getting scared because we needed money each night for our hotel & money to get a train out of there! (it's not like we were thinking of insignificant little things like needing to buy food or anything like that) After pushing random buttons a few more times (the instructions were in Chinese characters)we were able to withdraw 1000 Y each there, we don't know why because Colleen said that her card has never worked in that bank...someone up there looking out for us? I truly think so. We were practically jumping up & down with the money on our hands, man it felt good to have cash again! We
Forbidden City
looking back at the main gate ran past a fruit stand & bought some breakfast & darted back to the hotel. We instructed the front desk to buy our train tickets with our cash if the agent were to return to the hotel. By 8:30 am we were safely in the van for our tour. I looked sceptically out of the side of my eye at the two Italian couples relaxing in the back seat of our van, both delighted with the adventures that the city has to offer. I just snarfed (ok so I couldn't think of a real word, sorry) "ahhhh, you baby travelers! you know nothing about this vicious world. it is plain to see that you have absolutely no traveling experience due to the fact that every little thing amazes & entertains you...we'll just wait & see what your attitude will be after a few months of spending every moment of every day trying to figure out where you can eat, what you can eat, how you can eat it, where you should go, how you can get back, etc... psht, you have a lot to learn my dear friends". (the contrast is me: the well seasoned traveler that I am) They
Forbidden City
the dragon & the pheonix. the emperor only was permited to walk here actually turned out to be really cool people. The day was excessively hot, standing stationary was cause enough to make us sweat & then of course we had to walk around... I am sure that our English guided tour was the best thing for that day because I am positive that we would never had the energy/courage/determination/enthusiasm necessary to set foot out of our hotel room door if we knew we would have to spend another day struggling to figure things out. Lily, our tour guide, took us to the Forbidden City. I couldn't get over how vast a place it was...but then again that's what everyone says so I'll see if there are some other things that I can say about it. A lot of Beijing is under construction for 2008 & the Forbidden City was no exception. I wondered a lot about how much of the place was original & of course our guide assured me that everything was completely original, unfortunately for her I'm not that gullible of a person. There were large portions of the walk ways that I am sure were completely original so I think that filled me with the most awe. I also
found it interesting when Lily pointed out the areas that only the emperor had been qualified to walk on. The symbol of the dragon signifies the emperor, the Phoenix (a rather vicious/elegant looking bird) signifies the empress. It was strange to think that originally the entrance fee for a common person into the Forbidden City was death & now there are hoards of us common folk walking on the sacred places, touching significant articles & snapping pictures faster then I can say cheese. I saw, for the first time, the babies with cracks in their pants (for when they need to go you know what) it was very surprising to me for some reason, Colleen had warned me about it but I guess I had forgot. It seems, to me anyways, to be a very unsanitary method of dealing with a mess that nobody wants to deal with. I would have liked to have the place all to myself to wander around in & around to explore but as it was: there was a lot of pushing & shoving in order to see anything of interest. I just have to laugh when I think of our tour guides accent, every
time she said "area" she would say something like: "this is the residential arear", so now I can hardly say "area" properly anymore. Then Lily took us to the Temple of Heaven. It is a large temple where the emperor went to worship the heavens (& the earth, before that segment was moved to a different temple). There is an extensive set up for the sacrifices to be prepared & carried through for the ceremony. There is a long corridor that the sacrifices are carried through so that they will be protected on the way to the temple. Now along that corridor there were people playing some traditional instruments, & some not so traditional, as we walked by they were playing jingle bells with Chinese words. It was so funny because everybody thought that us foreigners would be very impressed by the song selection, we just laughed & laughed. The time that the emperor spent worshiping there at the temple was very important & everything was done with much ceremony & tradition. I think the most interesting part was reading some information on how the ceremony was carried out. Lily took us to lunch & although the food was not
Forbidden City
The Dragon Throne, & the yellow screen. I waited all day to see this. spectacular Megan & I were more then happy to be fed without having to brave a menu again. The couples that were with us started to make nuisances of themselves for Lily because they wanted to stay longer watching the local people & move along at their own pace which was certainly a logical thing to want but not really possible with this tour. Megan & I still carry strong memories of our job as team leaders at camp only a short time ago & so we were very very obedient followers sticking close to Lily & following her instructions to the letter. Next we went to the Summer Palace, the place where the empress went near the lakes to escape the heat. It was also a vast area, very beautiful & I could imagine that it would be very peaceful without all the people there. I could just imagine the stately empress walking around her gardens, her ladies waiting silently in the background if she should call for them. We saw people playing a type of badminton there, if they are good at it, it looks like a dance as they play: turning a circle each time they throw
the bird, all their movements very fluid. We saw a huge stone boat in the water. I asked Lily "how does this boat float & move?" ahahah, she looked at me more then a little shocked: "can't float, can't float, this a stone boat, cannot be use, oh no, this a stone boat.....you know stone?" (doubtless she was stewing in her mind about how stupid & dumb tourists are, but then again that's the only natural conclusion) Lily then took us to an official's house which had been transformed into a tea house. We were taken past a girl playing an instrument like a harp which lay parallel to the floor, to a private room & there we were given a lovely demonstration of 5 teas. The girl had wonderful English. She showed us how to make each tea, how to hold the tiny cups & then how to drink it. It was interesting, we did wonder how much was for show though. She demonstrated how to use a smelling cup & I immediately got my heart set on only getting a tea set if it has smelling cups to go with it. (so I still don't have ANY tea
Forbidden City
the pheonix is on the left & the dragon on the right set at all, & it's all this girl's fault) Of course it turned out to be only a selling exercise but we didn't buy anything. Of some interest however... was the bathroom. It was clean! It never crossed my mind that they might even supply toilet paper, so a lady that was standing at the door (I wonder how you would explain that job "oh yes I work as a bathroom assistant") opened my stall door & gave me some paper...very convenient though a little alarming. (she also turned on & off the water faucet & pumped the soap for me)
We decided that it would only be proper for us to have Beijing Duck, because a person should not go to Beijing without eating it. We took a long look at our map & discovered that there was a good restaurant near the Tiananmen Square. We started to walk down our street, but only had been walking for a few minutes before determining to eat at one of the little places that line the road. I know, we gave up pretty easily but that is because we are starting to be a little bit gun shy. We had
one plate of disgusting bitter squash & one sizzling dish of some stuff that was actually eatable. I think we need some lessons on how to order food. We went to the internet across the street & I was inundated for 45 min by people that were amazed to hear that I was still alive & unharmed. It turns out that we hadn't contacted anybody about our whereabouts for so long that it was just assumed that we had disappeared. The reports were that we had been missing for 48 hours. Everybody had heard about the bad weather & that our flight was re routed & then when our hotel had been contacted they said "no they aren't checked in" because we weren't in our room at that moment. Colleen spent a fortune on her cell phone trying to contact us but we were completely clued out to it because we were running to & fro like heads with their chickens cut off. It is actually a pretty elementary fact that we should have contacted somebody at some point but it actually never crossed my mind when issues like finding food & sleep (& money!!!) seemed more pressing at the
Forbidden City
in the gardens moment. Lesson # 1,256,719 learned on this trip: every once in a while let someone know that you are alive. I think we also finally learned that it is advisable to look at least a day in advance instead of fighting time limits constantly.
The next day we relaxed until check out time & then put our packs into storage. We walked down our little street & randomly chose a restaurant. It was a lot of fun because everything came in small amounts so we just ordered a few things & then later a few more & so we got to try quite a few things. We got peanuts in the shell, perhaps they were steamed because they were grey in color, soft, slimy & tasted a bit beany. We got potatoes on a stick "with fruit flavour". We tasted potato noodles with bean sauce. Then we ate a pigeon on a stick, it was very delicious but it was really sad because the little head was still on it so that put a damper on the festivities. Then Megan & I decided that it would be great fun to rent a bicycle & join the packs out on
Forbidden City
in the gardens- longevity rock the road. We only had a couple hours before we needed to be back to pick up our packs so we decided to just rent one bike: Megan would pedal & I would sit on the back (sounds fare doesn't it????). Off we careened, dodging people & bikes all along. Megan got right into the swing of using the bell so if our laughter & exclamations didn't for tell our dangerous proximity then the bell was warning enough. It wouldn't have been half so bad except that I was trying to sit side saddle & I definitely set the balance off badly & I really wasn't in an position to improve the situation because I was laughing hard that I was weak. Eventually we got practiced up enough so that after stopping at a red light in the bicycle lane, Megan would say "1,2,3...go" & at that moment I would jump on & off we would zoom with a minimum of zig zagging. I had talked to Colleen on the phone the day before & she assured me that the Tianniman Square was quite near by so I sat on the back of the bike & navigated. I had no
Temple of Heaven
Beijing 2008 Olypmics idea where we were but I did a good job of pretending. We just kept looking back at where we had come from & tried to memorize how things looked so that we would be able to retrace our steps. The sky looked even lower then the previous days if that is possible so we assumed rain was on it's way unfortunately. We finally did find the square & by that point a wind had picked up & was blowing dust into our eyes & giving me goose bumps. Once at the square I took a few pictures, looked around quickly & ran back to the bike to head home as it had already started to spit. We decided that we would try to get home by the main road rather then brave the crazy winding streets that we had come on. Soon it began to rain & then it began to pour. We tip toed from under one tree to an over hang, to another tree...but it was no use. We knew that we had to get back to the hotel soon to pick up our packs, then walk to the subway station & from there to the train
station, so we couldn't just wait out the storm. It poured soo hard. After a while we didn't even walk around puddles, just sloshed through the ankle deep water. Megan pondered how dirty the water must be, although I truly wished that she didn't have to bring that point up. The looks people gave us! We made a couple turns & located a duck restaurant that we recognized so on & on we peddled (actually SHE peddled), eventually we gave our selves up as lost & studied our wet map once again. Our hearts were sick as we thought about our passports that we were wearing, we knew they would be wet again, & also our cameras & diaries that we had brought along. We retraced our steps & discovered that it wasn't the duck restaurant after all, just some hotel that had the same red lanterns & decorations out front. I was so cold that I could hardly control my chattering teeth (what an extreme from the day before!). I felt so sorry for myself, the rain pouring down my face so fast that it made a trickle off my lip into my mouth. When we finally brought the
Temple of Heaven
inside the building bike back the lady made a big fuss about needing the receipt that we had paid for renting it. Megan managed to peel it out of the inside of her pocket & set the blob of wet paper on the desk, the lady spent quite a deal of time trying to open it & read it but it was a waste of time & we were leaving big puddles on her floor. I squeezed the water out of the bottom of my crops & shirt, put Heffalump's rain jacket on him & we started to hike once more. Finally at the train station we just kept showing our ticket to people to have them direct us to the right place. There was one guy who took picture after picture of us. At first I was like "sooo you've never seen someone who got stuck in a rain storm? you're a rather inexperienced person" but after the 3rd & 4th lens stuck in my face I was not so impressed. Numerous people laughed to see us, I like to laugh with someone, but I don't care at all to be laughed at. Sometimes I don't understand these people, actually most of
Temple of Heaven
in the long corridor the time I don't understand them. We found a bathroom & started to get changed right there where we were. Megan & I had hand washed some underwear & socks in the hotel 2 days before but they weren't dry yet so I had no choice but to put on some dry but not so clean underwear, some dry stinky socks...you get the picture. I had been sweating the last couple days so that didn't help the clothes situation. We dumped all our wet stuff in a black garbage bag & lugged it along with us.
We had soft sleeper beds in the night train for 411 Y each. That meant that we were in private rooms of only 4 people & so I relaxed a bit regarding Heffalump's safety. The beds were so comfy & there was even a TV at the foot of my bed for me to watch more Chinese opera type stuff. At 6:30 am soft music woke us up & we were in the Harbin train station by 7am! So effortless!!!
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Laura
non-member comment
Should have seen mom!!!!!
I really liked it! It was sooooo pretty! I think you will all most laugh when you get back "out of it" It was REALLY good! why sould have you seen mom? 48 hours! she was alnost planing your funerall!!!!! (not quite!) thank goodness!