Staring, spitting and a Chinese manicure
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
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55
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Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Beijing,
China
Friday, May 29, 2009
Meeting up with my friend from Manchester, Cat, I was shown an alternative side to Beijing. It turns out, there are a lot of ex-pats here, and I was taken to a pub quiz in an American bar. To say the bar was full, would be a slight understatement, but it was certainly worth it for the food. Cat also introduced me to the ever popular dumplings, purchasable from just about every street. I was going to be seeing a lot more of these in the next few weeks. They are actually pretty tasty, and its nice to once again be in a country where street food is clean, safe and delicious. And ridiculously cheap! You can be full for 20p!
The next day it was time to hit the shops. It was one of those shopping trips where two people, who don't particularly enjoy going shopping, end up getting manicures instead, as you do! As most of you know, I'm not very into the whole girly make-up thing, so it probably won't surprise you that it was my first one. I wasn't going to argue though as it cost about 2 quid! I did find the bit when she cut all the dead skin off from around my nails pretty gross, but I couldn't deny that I quite liked the end result.
We then headed on to see the Chinese acrobatics, but not before squeezing in time to get some ice cream. But not just any ice cream. Here you pick all the bits you want to put in it, and they mash it all together for you. On reflection, buying a hot panini at the same time, possibly wasn't the wisest idea as I was left with the dilemma of do I let the food go cold, or the ice cream melt. In the end, I pretty much ate both at the same time. I couldn't wait for either. The acrobatics themselves were certainly impressive. I couldn't help feeling bad for the act that totally wiped out, and then was cut short when the person throwing props up kept missing. Opps!
The rain came to clear the smog from the air, and so we visited the Summer Palace, which is more of a huge garden/field than a palace. It was a beautiful day for it, and the crowds were there in force, throat demons and all. You don't have to be in China for long before you encounter the spitting. Men, women, children, everyone and anyone believe that if you cough you should spit up to get rid of the throat demons. It can be rather disconcerting when someone does it beside you when you're not expecting. There were also plenty of babies bottoms on display, it seems that Chinese parents don't really believe in nappies, training their youngsters to alert them when nature calls, so they can be held in a corner. It certainly reduces waste, you have to give them that, though it does take a little while to get used to, you certainly don't want to be accidentally standing in any wet patches here. And of course, this being China, the kites were also visible, flying in the breeze.
It was soon time for the official start to the tour. I'd joined an informal one, glad that I didn't have to try to negotiate around myself whilst not being able to speak a word of Chinese. We made sure to take in the Forbidden City and Mao's Mausoleum, which was lit, interestingly shall we say. The florescent light shining on Mao's face gave him a slight pumpkin with a candle in it effect. There was a lot of debating as to whether it really was him, or whether it was a wax copy. Would they really leave his body on display, or his he in a vault somewhere? Apparently he had wanted to be cremated.
Of course we trekked the Great Wall. Traveling away from the hugely popular areas, mobbed by tourists, we had the wall practically to ourselves, sharing it with the group of hawkers that joined us as soon as we started walking in that direction. Although some small parts of the wall in this area had been restored, most of it was still in its original state, in various states of repair. It was certainly steep, and of course, each step was a different height, one would be the height of the top of your foot, and the next above your knee. It made for hard trekking, but it was so worth it, the views were fantastic, and it was amazing to be on such a world icon. In addition to the group of hawkers who followed us, all claiming one of us as their own, we were bombarded by people selling water and drinks to us in each tower. To be honest, they could actually be pretty handy, as it meant that we didn't have to carry much water with us. Shame there were no toilets...
After an hour or two, it was time for our group of hawkers to head home, so they tried to sell us countless pieces of souvenirs, before heading off home undoubtedly for the next group of tourists. It was quite nice having them along in a way, We chatted to them as much as the language barrier would allow. After a few more tiring but satisfying hours of hiking, we reached our final destination, where the bus was waiting to pick us up in a nearby car park, but only we crossed a beautiful turquoise river, who's colour looked like it was straight out of New Zealand. We did ponder at why they had built the bridge so low down though, meaning we have to walk all the way down the steep banks, and then all the way back up the other side. The fact it was a steel suspension type bridge freaked a few of the group out, but not as much as the tourists behind Vicki who scared them by walking very heavily causing the bridge to bounce quite dramatically. It was a satisfying day, and I was tired, and so decided to join a few of the group who were sitting on a low step. Unfortunately I managed to completely rip the back of my trousers in doing so, full on comedy style. Thankfully, I had my pashmina in my bag to tie round and cover the gaping hole, but not before the locals had copped an eyeful and been given a good giggle. And so it was clothes shopping for me the next day!
