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Published: June 19th 2007
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Starting the day off with breakfast
The breakfast buffet at the Presidental Palace was superb. Best breakfast we have had to date on the trip.l Can you say "culture shock"!?!
We have been preparing for this day for many months and felt we were ready. We had the great fortune of meeting Lisa and Mr. Dong, our personal tour guide and driver while in Beijing.
The weather was warm, about 88 degrees F and fairly humid. The city was shrouded in a haze, but we were on our way.
We started with a breakfast in the hotel which was a great buffet and probably the best breakfast we have had since the tour began. It didn't take more than a few minutes looking around to realize that everyone in the cafe was english (Aussie, Kiwi, Brit, Scottish, Irish, Canadian or American). This made for a pleasant exchange between tables.
Punctuality matters in China, so we moved to the lobby to meet Lisa right on time, jumped into the car with Mr. Dong and headed into the Beijing morning rush hour. This is were the culture shock started for us. We found ourselves staring at the traffic flow - nice cars, many bicyles in the right hand lane (out of 6 lanes each direction - driving on the right side with left side
Chinese Flag
Red flag representing blood spilled to this point, one large star depicting the Communist Party and several smaller stars representing democratic parties that do not prevail. steering wheels, just like in the States). The buses were very crowded, motorcycles, motorscooters, electric bikes, bikes and pedistrians were everywhere. They have large street signs (with English on most of them) that show a 2 or 3 block roadmap where the road segments are lit up green, yellow or red based on traffic. Rush hour starts at 7:30 and goes to 9am.
Mr. Dong dropped us at the edge of Tienamen Square. Lisa, Ginny and I set out on our first adventure. Lots of street vendors who are aggressive, you need to pick up the Manderin phrase for "no thank you" quickly, plus hand signals to get through the vendors. You need to be prepared for them to be persistent and be ready and calm when they touch you as a last resort to get your attention.
We moved into the Square where Chairman Mao Tse Tung lies in state, the War Memorial that honors the Veterans and the Forbidden City where Chairman Mao had proclaimed the beginning of the new China in 1949 and the start of the Cultural Revolution. We walked through the area where the students protested in 1989 and where the tanks encountered
Ginny & John
Photo taken in Tienamen Square looking south to the gates of the Forbidden City. that one brave soul.
Lisa was very good and talked openly about "The Event" as she called it. She was much younger and a student herself at the time. We talked about it later in more detail as well.
It became clear to us almost instantly that the overwhelming majority of Chinese People were very proud and excited to be visiting the Square. It is huge, we are not sure exactly how big, but it took us 3 hours to walk forward through Tienamen Square into the Forbidden City and out the other side.
There were many Dragon images (dragons are associated with the Emperor), Lions, water filled moats, over 800 pots that were coated with gold and filled with water as a form of fire fighting system back in the day before we exited and headed for lunch.
Lunch was great. Traditional Chinese food with impeccable service. Funny, before the trip we were somewhat worried about the food in China and how we would respond to it. After trekking across New Zealand and Australia with it's UK based culinary offerings, it was refreshing that everything we have had in China has been wonderful and we
The Forbidden City
The entrance to the The Forbidden City opened to the public in 1920 approximately 12 years after the end of feudalism in China. love it all!
We have added many of our pictures to this entry, but it is important to note one specific incident and it's outcome. On every significant trip it comes down to what you forgot, how you adapt to adversity or how you handle the surprises that inevitably come with a trip of this duration, complexity and logistics. It doesn't make it any easier even when the incident is "self inflicted".
We toured for three hours, exiting the Forbidden City and preparing to head on to our lunch engagement. The three of us; John, Ginny and Lisa, sat down on a bench in a public area and engaged in a profound conversation on some of the most curious topics of the day - how does it feel to be limited to having only one child by the Communist Party, what were the emotions and feelings in the aftermath of the Tienamen Square "event" of 1989, what is the impact of people becoming "richer" than others under the new economic reforms, what are the Chinese viewpoints associated with copyright and intellectual property right violations, what does the impact of the Internet mean to the average Chinese citizen and
The Olympics are very much on their mind!
Renovations, new construction, preparations are everywhere. China will deliver a stunning 2008 Olympics. other topics that define the cultural and political gaps between America and China today.
We needed to move on so we got up and continued our conversation to the lunch spot which served great food with great service. We finished, got in the car to head to the Summer Palace when, after about 5 or 6 blocks John realized that he did not have the video camera. This isn't just any video camera as you know if you have been following the blog, it was a Hi Def video camera.
John had sat down on the bench in the public area and set the camera to his left. When we got up to leave we were still engaged in conversation and John unintentionally left the camera on the bench. It wasn't until after lunch, some 90 minutes later when he realized the mistake he had made.
Mr. Dong did a quick U-turn and headed back to the Forbidden City. John and Lisa jumped out of the car. Lisa convinced the guards to let them back in (good thing she had kept the ticket receipts). They walked quickly down the path that led to the public benches where
Cute kids in Tianeman Square
Kids are kids wherever you go! the camera had been left. No camera in sight.
John was resigned that it was gone - so many tourists and foot traffic that a device of that value would be long gone if left unattended...but Lisa said no, let's go 100 meters further to the Police Station.
They walked into the Police Station where Lisa explained the situation to the officer at the desk. While Lisa was explaining what appeared to be a hopeless situation, John looked past the officer into the office to see the camera sitting on a desk. John told Lisa the camera was here. The officer asked that the tape be rewound to show either John or Lisa to prove ownership. One quick rewind saw (and heard) John and Lisa. The officer smiled, asked for some paperwork to be filled out and returned the camera. John asked Lisa if rewards were appropriate, she communicated John's request to the officer. The officer explained that a State Employee working the grounds of the Forbidden City had found the camera and turned it into the Police and, further, rewards were not necessary. Returning the camera was reward enough as it does not happen very often. Lisa
The Chinese military presence
Although not oppressive, the military is present everywhere. took a picture of John and the Officer and they headed back to meet up with Ginny and Mr. Dong. A celebration all around commenced and we headed off to the Summer Palace, camera in hand with everyone making fun of John the rest of the day to be sure he had his camera, his wallet, his passport and his head!
We caught a huge break in China with the video camera. We finished touring the Summer Palace and headed back to the hotel for a quiet dinner and prepared for another big day - the tour of the Great Wall of China 70 kilometers north of Beijing.
For now, all is good and we were left with Lisa's comment, "it is not the first time a tourist has misplaced an important item, but it is the first time that he got it back!".
The Chinese are very superstitous where the number "8" is very good luck - John said to everyone that he knows why he got his camera back...Ginny was born on August 8, 8/8...VERY good luck in China!
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Frank
non-member comment
The "Event"
What a fantastic story and experience! Improvise, adapt, overcome! Great pictures! Frank