The Big Beijing/Xi'An Trip Day 3
Trip Start
Aug 23, 2008
1
23
41
Trip End
May 11, 2009
Beijing,
China
Sunday, November 9, 2008
At 9 we all headed for the tour bus that was to drive us out to Tiananmen Square, which was like a five minute bus ride away. We crossed the street on the convenient pedestrian walks that go under busy roadways and were in the famous square. Honestly I thought it would be larger, but it was such a clear day that I could see everything and that was good.
There were thousands of people there too since this day was 星期六（Saturday） and tourism is a big thing in 中国（China）. We had about 20 minutes to walk across the square and meet at the entrance to 紫禁城 （the Forbidden City）. It didn't take long for me to get there and I had a little bit of a freak－out that I had lost everyone but it was really I was there before everyone else. We definitely had a problem with people meeting up on time on this trip. We walked over to the Forbidden City and were given a meeting point for later in the day. I headed off by myself because I found that I enjoy these places the best when I am away from all of the tourists and can think about the people who used to lived there, or who built the place, or protected it.
I found that really fast in the Forbidden City, and then was never to find it again due to the large beyond measure volume of tourists. I saw the thrones the emperor sat on after fighting my way to the top to look in. This is where I had my first foot in the mouth experience in China.
I was super frustrated by the pushiness going on and went into my normal let's speak my rude thoughts that I would never say if people could understand me. And I said to this lovely man in my way "Get your camera out of my shot" in a horrid rude stereotypical American way. And of course he understands English and apologizes. I promptly feel like the worst sort of ass (and my friend who was near me starts to laugh), mumble an apology (but really how do you word that. Oh sorry I didnt know you would understand my rude comment. Sorry!) and then ran away. That is one thing I am going to have to get used to when I am back in America, people understanding my speech when eating-out.
I walked around for a little longer by myself and then was joined by a couple of my friends to see the 皇帝和皇后们（emperors and empresses） chambers. They were pretty cool to look at but again it was super crowded and I didn't feel like fighting my way to take pictures through the glass.
I wanted to see the Imperial Garden because surely a garden described as "imperial" would be awesome. Well I was let down. It was super crowded (surprise!) and pretty much just rocks. No flowers, no solace, nothing. Oh, but we can't forget the imperial gift shop!
I had a bit more time to kill before meeting everyone so I explored some guest rooms and found there were less visitors there so that was a nice relief. I exited the palace to meet with everyone and was met with an onslaught of wind. Luckily I had my handy-dandy scarf. We crossed the street to meet the bus and ended up waiting no less than 45 minutes. It was horrid.
We had lunch at a nice restaurant (I lol'd when our bus parked in front of a 24 hour sex－toy store). I sat with some Shanghai students who were less impressed with the fare than I was and complained the whole time with looks of disgust on their face while I ate the food presented to me. That's one thing about being far away from Sichuan food for so long made me really appreciate how good it really is. I am lucky to live in this provence.
After eating (and after the complainers headed to 麦当劳（McDonalds） for a fix) we headed to the 天坛（Temple of Heaven） which is where the emperors would go to pay homage to the gods. This was not as crowded as the Forbidden City but was still a bit packed. The sucky thing about this was that we had to stay together the whole time because there were three different gates you had to pay a fee to be allowed to go further.
I stood on the cool rock to take a picture that is suppose to bring you luck (they built everything in this place based on luck. For example, the stairs are all in nines). It was super windy here, but also super beautiful with the awesome sky and skyline visible.
After this we headed toward the pearl market which was walking distance away. We exited out the East gate where we saw many a singers lined up on the walkway performing 卡拉OK (karaoke), singing Chairman Mao songs, and in some cases full choirs doing four part harmonies to songs I didn't know (though I think one may have been from the sound of music).
The Pearl Market was not what I was expecting. For some reason I was under the impression that there would only be pearls. haha. Funny. There were so many things to buy! And all the sales people were very aggressive as well as the bargaining. I warmed up by purchasing a charger for my iPod. 100 yuan off the asking price. Then I got some wool gloves for an amount I cannot remember (I have it written down somewhere because I wanted to keep track of where my money was going in this expensive city).
Then I headed up the escalator to look for a T-shirt for Rosie, my younger sister. I was thinking lime green with a nice big love character， 爱. But alas they only had lime green in dragon， 拢! I almost bought some cheap knockoff Convers shoes, but I didn't like how they looked on me. I got a few other christmas gifts while I was there. Overall I didn't get taken advantage of too much.
That was the end of our group day, so when we got back to the hotel we dropped our stuff off and then Scott, Genna and I headed out to the place the Genna had found the night before. It was a good walk away, but it was nice. We got there around 8:30 and I was immediately drawn to the large bookstore, but we were all super hungry, so we vowed to hit it up on the way back. We looked at a couple of restaurants and decided they were (too expensive), and then we saw it. The international bookstore. I looked at the closing time and it closed at 9:30 (like everything in China. I just don't understand how in a large city like Beijing nothing stays open past 9:30). We popped inside and they didn't have the book I was looking for or the travel guide I wanted.
So we continued our quest for food and stumbled upon a night market, the kind of place where they fry random weird food on a stick and serve it to you. It starts off all nice with noodles and dumplings (which I had). Then there is some fruit on a stick, but wait what did that sign say, Ostrich? Then you see scorpions on a stick next to the maggots.
At one point I was offered a sheep penis. "Buy one get two free. No three free!" Buy one get three free penises, I had to pass. I was not in the adventurous eating mood. We were all super tired but had promised ourselves a ice cream from McDonalds. I got some nuggets instead then we hired a cab (a private one accidentally, but only overpaid a little) who talked to us in Chinese the whole way back to our hotel.
Thats the thing about Beijing. They are always shocked and happy to find foreigners who actually can speak the language. That is another reason I am glad for Chengdu. I would fall back on English way to much if I had the option, but here I don't. After that we called in a night. I think this is long enough for one entry.
Next up: The Great Wall, Ming Tombs, the Circus and the Olympic Stadiums.
Comments
Step Aside Samantha Brown!
Awesome Jules! Love Mom
PS: Remember the rules you learned in kindergarten. Ha! Ha!
LOL
Jule, You didn't want to try the sheep penis? WOW!
LOL!!!!!!!!! I don't blame you at all! I would definetely starve in that place!
Take care and keep writing,
Love ya, Aunt Karen
Random
The cat we are dissecting in Anatomy? I named it Chairman Meow.
>.> Good thing you are enjoying China! Your Chinese is probably 1000x better than my Japanese. I also extremely respect how hard it is to learn that language now that I had some of the International Students at Martin teach me how to say their names. I was like Ok, never mind, I can't say it.
Much Better
Glad to see you took my earlier advice to heart.
FFU