Beginning in Beijing...
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2005
1
2
24
Trip End
Aug 02, 2005
Beijing,
China
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
March 10-11
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The highlights of our Air China flight include the 15 minute exercise session in the middle of the flight where EVERYONE on board simultaneously performed headrolls and the great sushi in the San Francisco airport. Saw some icebergs from the air while over Alaska.
We were greeted at the Beijing Airport by Tony, our longtime friend, who is now working at the Department of Commerce office in Beijing. Tony whisked us off to his amazing apartment and then to a local street market that featured skewers of everything from baby birds, scorpions, snakes (and just their skin), sea horses, grasshoppers, beetles, as well as lamb and chicken
Alex and Amy Conquer the Great Wall
. Tony made friends with one of the vendors who gave him a boiled silkworm to try. The verdict: "mushy."March 12
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Our on first full day of the trip, we decided to "go big or go home" -- we climbed the Great Wall! Tony arranged for us to rent a van with his friend Sarah, who is pursuing her PhD studying the migrant labor market in construction. She brought her friend, who lived near her in the migrant community, with us. He didn't speak any English, but was very excited to see the Wall for the first time. Hoofing up the wall is not for the faint of heart. The views were breathtaking and the history fascinating. We also checked out the nearby Ming Tombs, which could be missed.
We made it back to Beijing for a feast of Beijing Duck. Getting there was, of course, half the adventure, as we wove our way through the narrow alleyways (called hutongs) and followed our noses to the duck. These hutongs were what remains of "old Beijing," before the massive development of modern buildings. We ordered two ducks for four of us and they seated us right next to the large glass locker that stored all of the dead ducks, literally hanging out ready for the fire
Alex picks Mao
. Tony asked for them to bring out the duck heads, and we took a bite. When in Rome...March 13
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We spent our second full day touring the sights of Beijing. We started our day at this enormous outdoor flea market called Panjiayuan. It features thousands of stalls selling jade, calligraphy scrolls, antiques and pseudo-antiques. It was Ming vases as far as the eye could see. Tony acted as our translator as we bargained for some gifts. It is a must see when in Beijing.
For lunch we found a restaurant that specialized in dumplings and ordered a feast. We made friends with the women preparing the dumplings behind a glass wall. We ordered lamb and coriander, pork and carrot, and a few other varieties. Someone at a table near us ordered fish, and the waitress proceeded over to a fish tank that held some orange and grey carp and scooped one up for the meal!
Full of dumplings, we headed over to the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), where the Emperor would pray for bumper crops each year. This imperial shrine was constructed in 1420 and was opened to the public by Mao. The architecture and elaborate painting made this one of our favorite sights so far.
We ended up getting lost in the hutong nearby the massive Bell Tower, and stumbled upon a kite maker's workshop. He entertained us for 45 minutes, showing us how he handcrafts each kite by bending bamboo and painting designs on silk
Beijing Night Market
. He took us outside his workshop to unfurl a 100-foot-long dragon kite that took him 28 days to make! We bought a miniature version of the dragon kite and a more typical Chinese kite of a swallow. Chatting with this kite-maker was one of those experiences that makes us glad that we are taking this trip independently, as a more organized tour would not have afforded us the opportunity to spontaneously come across such friendly, gracious, and talkative locals.To top off the evening, we went to a tourist-friendly production of Beijing opera that highlighted a few famous scenes. Everything you heard about it is true -- it actually did sound like cats being strangled. The brightly-colored make-up and costumes were amusing, as were the caged birds that chirped throughout the production.
March 14
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Since Tony had to work on Monday, we were off on our own to conquer Beijing. We took the subway to Tian'anmen Square and walked straight to the picture of Chairman Mao and under the gate to the Forbidden City (as seen in The Last Emperor). The 800 buildings (with 9000 chambers) of this 500-year-old palace were completely off limits to all but the 24 emperors who lived there with their courts
Temple of Heaven
. We took the audio tour narrated by Roger Moore (James Bond) -- if you go, it was worth it, though we thought Roger was a bit brief in his explanations. While much of the relics inside the Forbidden City were taken to Taiwan by the Nationalists, the grandeur and magnificence of the palace were spectacular.Walking out the back of the Forbidden City, we entered Jingshan Park, an imperial garden with a hill made of dirt from the Forbidden City's moat. From the top pavilion we could see the entire Forbidden City and all of Beijing. You can see how the buildings were laid out to illustrate that all power emanated from the Emperor's throne.
After checking out the Emperor's city digs, we took a taxi out to the Summer Palace, that the Emperess Ci Xi built with money she siphoned away from the Imperial Navy in the 1700s. The palace, especially the "Long Corridor," was decorated with thousands of paintings that depicted scenes of nature. We rushed "off-road" to try to get to some of the pavilions and halls before they closed and then meandered down the hill and around the picturesque lake.
After our day's trek, we had a major bout of palace fatigue, which could only be cured by an hour-long Chinese reflexology foot massage.
For dinner - hotpot - essentially Chinese fondue.
Our top 3 for Beijing (this was tough!)
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1) Great Wall (Heck, it's a Wonder of the World!)
2) Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven (Equally beautiful and impressive)
3) Scorpions on skewers (we'll bring you back some)
Thanks again to Tony for his hospitality -- acting as tourguide, translator, and food-tester!
Next stop...Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Warriors.
