September 25 - China: Beijing
Our train arrived in Beijing at 7:30ish AM. While we're getting used to sleeping on trains, it just doesn't feel like we ever get a full night's sleep. We checked into the Harmony Hotel in Beijing which is a nice hotel and relatively new. This is good, because it means we can carelessly walk around the carpet with no shoes on.
Tienamen Square
At 10:00, we met our guide Stanley for a tour of the Tienamen Square and the Forbidden City. We hopped on the subway and went 3 stops to Tienamen Square. Tienamen is really a large concrete rectangle with buildings strewn about it. In the middle of the Square is a building which houses Chairman Mao's body (which is available for viewing, providing it isn't in Russia for preservation). On the west side of the Square is the People's Congress, to the East is the Beijing Museum of History, and to the North is the Forbidden City. Stanley gave us 15 minutes to wander about the Square, and said we would meet at the gate to the Forbidden City just beneath the infamous portrait of Chairman Mao.
It was a glorious day and the square was packed with people taking pictures, walking around, and flying kites. China's "National Day" is on Monday, October 1 so Beijing will be even more crowded as the week goes on as all of China has the week of Oct 1-7 off.
I think I've neglected to mention this country's excitement for the Olympics in 2008. While it was just announced last month that Beijing would be the host city, China had already launched its internal publicity campaign. As soon as we got to China - in Guilin in early September - we saw Olympic signs, t-shirts, and statues. I wonder what would have happened if Toronto had been granted host city status? What would China have done with all the neon signs and statues? Beijing of course has even more than the rest of the country. All of the taxicabs in Beijing have a decal in the back window that reads "Build New Beijing. Hold Great Olympics". In Tienamen Square there are HUGE floral monuments erected to celebrate the Olympics. I think that - if I lived here - I would get really sick of it by 2008.
Forbidden City
We met the group at the gate of the Forbidden City beneath the huge portrait of Chairman Mao in front of which every Chinese person poses for pictures. We walked inside and waited for Stanley to get us tickets and were bombarded by the usual throng of touts. They were selling "Forbidden City" books and memorabilia in all different languages, and we teased them to get them to go away. One women wanted to sell Laurel a book in her language so Laurel said, "I speak Australian, don't you have that?". The woman looked terribly confused. Another one asked me how much I would pay for his book and I said, "One Jiao", which is about $.01. He didn't think that was as funny as I did.
Finally, we got into the city and started our tour. The Forbidden City was fantastic. I didn't realize that the movie "The Last Emperor" was filmed here, but you can tell the moment you walk into the main area. (If you haven't seen that movie, you really should rent it this weekend.)
The official Chinese name of the estate is "Palace Museum", but everyone knows it as The Forbidden City. It was Forbidden because no one but the emperor's eunuchs, wives, and concubines could enter the palace, despite the fact that it's a small city. One ancient emperor (in the Qing Dynasty, I think) had 3000 concubines living here. 3000! That's a busy emperor! One has to wonder how he had any time to eat.
There are no trees in the Forbidden City except the back garden for three reasons:
We walked through most of the city, looking in the different halls and battling the crowds of Chinese tourists (as always). The garden in the back was very lovely as well. There were many large rocks from the bottom of oceans/lakes/rivers situated around the gardens. Supposedly, the larger and more porous the rock, the better the luck for the owner. So most of the rocks were large and holey. The garden also had many trees, some of which were 300+ years old. So lovely!
It was pretty late in the afternoon when we finished, around 2:00. We were starving for lunch so Stanley took around the corner to yummy Cantonese restaurant. Then we went back to the Forbidden City to catch a city bus back to the hotel.
Beijing City Bus Ride
The bus ride back to hotel was quite an experience. When bus #103 stopped for us it was already incredibly crowded. But for whatever reason, the bus driver was determined to get us all on. We could see her urging the passengers to sardine themselves further into the bus and - little by little - we could squeeze ourselves on. Jon, Mel and I got in the front of the bus and (we thought) Ken, Laurel, and Stanley got into the back. I say "we thought" because we couldn't actually see them on the bus, but we didn't see them running after it either.
After about 15 minutes and a few more stops, the bus began to empty out and we reunited with the rest of the group. We decided that there were probably about 175 people on the bus when we got on and were amazed that Chinese law would allow it. After all, we were standing on the wrong side of the all-important "Yellow Line" in the front of the bus for most of the ride. Bus drivers in Manhattan would NEVER stand for this type of infraction. Actually, they would never let the bus get that crowded to begin with and would avoid the problem by just bypassing bus stops. I guess this is yet another example of how the Chinese get by with all these people in one place.
Traffic was pretty bad and we were running a bit late. This wasn't a problem for us, but poor Stanley had to catch the 5:10 overnight train to Xi'an to meet another tour group tomorrow. We didn't get to our stop until 4:10 and his train station was on the other side of town. But he was such a dutiful guide that he speed-walked us to our corner and - as he was running to catch another bus - made sure we knew where we were going.
So we went back to the hotel to rest for a while and Jon went to the grocery store in Henderson Hall to get some snacks and water.
Jon Goes for a Run Along Tienamen Square (special appearance by Jon: run #6)
So it's been about a week or so since I last went for a run. Eight days to be exact; so much for my grand plan for running two or three times a week! I decided that it was time for me to get out and see the city a bit from a runner's point of view so I headed out toward Tienamen Square. The nice thing about being in a city is that running is relatively common so you can run on the sidewalk and not attract the stares one gets in the small towns.
The major event for this run (there has to be something for me to write about, doesn't there?) was the lowering of the Chinese flag on Tienamen Square directly opposite the big Chairman Mao portrait on the gate to the Forbidden City. It seems that the raising and lowering of the flag is quite an event to see, with people staking out their spot to watch the event at least an hour beforehand. People are lined up three and four deep to see the lowering of the flag and I see the crowds and all of the police (nobody wants to tangle with the Chinese police) and start to wonder whether I should reconsider my course a bit. Then I realize I'm in the bike lane and as long as I keep moving I should be alright. So I just kept running right past the whole honorguard and police and crowds and everything with one of the best views of the whole spectacle from right up close--the only people closer were the flag-bearers themselves! I continued along my merry way, went around the People's Congress and went right past the flag lowering again with the policemen waving at me as I went. It was like having my own parade!
Dinner at Li Qun Restaurant
For dinner, Grant made reservations for us at a good place that serves the infamous "Peking Duck". But we can't call it "Peking Duck" because Peking is now Beijing so they are now called "Beijing Duck". It doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but we'll make due.
We took the subway to Tienamen Square and walked 10 minutes to the hutongs (small, narrow alleyways that we might call "the slums") where the restaurant was located. The route was a bit circuitous and the streets were dark and somewhat sketchy. We would never found it on our own and were glad that Grant had found the way this afternoon.
Finally, we made it to Li Qun Restaurant which is a serious dive but was packed with westerners and locals. Jon and I knew right away that it would be good - dive restaurants always have the best food so we were excited. They led our party to a separate room in the back that was separated by thin walls and a doorway with love-beads. Grant had pre-ordered 3 ducks and we also chose some other things from the menu. This was probably the best food we've had in China. It was so good!
The ducks were served one by one and brought into our room and carved in front of us. It's eaten fajita style with thin, white pancakes. We each had a small dish of scallions and dark, thick sauce to spread on the pancake with the duck. Then we wrapped the duck and scallions up in the pancake and ate it. So good! The restaurant had a little pamphlet with information about the correct duck-preparation procedures. I've typed it up here - grammatical errors included!
We also had some fabulous sweet and sour chicken with huge pieces of white meat. I'd forgotten what white chicken meat was like! The vegetables were so good and the broccoli was amazing. I seem to be craving broccoli and vegetables lately. Grant and I have a running joke about who eats more broccoli - him or me. So whenever it's served and the plate is almost finished, I tease him that he'll have to fight me for the last piece. But of course he's the selfless group leader so he always says he doesn't want anymore.
Walk through Beijing
By the end of dinner, we could barely walk out of the restaurant. So we decided that we should walk off the big dinner and most of the group headed back to Tienamen Square. It was a lovely night and the Square was packed. We all bought little plastic flags - some Chinese flags, and some "Beijing 2008" flags. After the loss of the digital camera, Grant gave me his disposable camera again, because he forgets to use it. This is good because Grant says his Mom complains that he doesn't send enough pictures of himself. Grant wanted a picture of himself with the flags in front of a Chinese guard, but the guard was having none of that. Jon and Grant schemed for a few minutes to see if they could maneuver a sneaky photo, but gave up. So we continued on our walk.
I find it interesting that so many countries have city arrangements like NY and DC. What I mean is that there exists a distinct separation between the "financial city" and the "political city" within the country. In India, for example, Mumbai was the financial city and Delhi was the political city. Here in China, it's Shanghai and Beijing. Shanghai had the skyscrapers, western brand names, and fast paced lifestyle. Beijing has the government, memorials, and monuments. Beijing is also similar to DC in that the buildings are not allowed to be taller than a certain height. In DC, the limit is less than the Capitol (I believe). Here, the limit is less than the Forbidden City. The result is that - at night - the main street through Beijing looks much like Connecticut Avenue.
The walk took about 30 minutes to the hotel, but it was a very nice walk. And I think we felt a bit better after having burned some calories.