I woke up at 5:00AM (Beijing time) which would be 9:00PM in Tucson. I decided to combat jet lag by getting up and hopping in the shower right then. The shower was really very nice; I just had to be conscious not to drink the water, because I often do that in the shower. Anyway, when I got out of the shower, I was surprised to see that the mirror had a (heated?) spot on it where there was no steam! Heh.
Ignore my stellar physique and instead note the mirror!
Just one of the interesting features of our room. Then I awakened my mom at 5:45 and took a panoramic picture of the view out the window.
The
view from our hotel in Beijing
(click for an expanded view)
While editing my narrative for "Day 1" just now, our power converter exploded. Well, not really, but it made a loud "POP" noise and began to smoke. I unplugged it but the smoking did not stop, so I have placed it in a plastic bag in hopes of starving the burning plastic of air. It seems to be working, although the inner bag has melted a little bit. 8P Fortunately both this computer’s power supply as well as the battery charger for the cameras will take 240v input, so we don’t really need the converter to keep going. LOL so there’s $43 down the drain for the power converter. 8P
Anyway, so now it’s 6:30AM (or 10:30PM our time) and I’m gonna get dressed
and prepare to go to breakfast downstairs.
--------------------------
Breakfast was tasty. I started out with a bowl of cereal, some lychees, and some other fruit. Then I went back for eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes. Very satisfying. Aaanyway, then we jumped on the bus and took off for the Forbidden City.
Back gate of the Forbidden City
John seems to know what’s up and took us in the back gate because there are fewer people there. Then he handed me his Tour Guide flag while he went to buy us tickets.
Tour Guide Jim
Something else across the street & behind the Forbidden
City
We didn't go there for some reason.
A map & writeup on the City at the Back
Gate
Unfortunately you can't read the text in this pic.
The first thing we really saw was a little garden; which was complete with a small 'mountain' for the Emperor to symbolically climb each year. It also had a very old tree.
The Aforementioned "Mountain"
The Aforementioned Old Tree
Another pretty rock formation in the garden
Just one of the City's many attractive gates through which we
would pass
A look down the long side walkway, towards the "Front" of
the
Forbidden City.
Then we went into the Jade Exhibition Room, which used to be concubines’ quarters, but now it displays 1% of the Forbidden City’s 1,000,000 pieces of jade. Interesting stuff, but not interesting enough to spend more time writing about. Most noteworthy: intricate carvings of leaves & birds in the wooden rafters, and a note to dial "119" in the event of an emergency.
Akoom! This guy looks almost *exactly* like my boss'
father,
whom we also call "Akoom," so I immediately started calling
this
guy Akoom too. Really nice guy on our trip.
A map which seems to indicate the locations of China's Jade
Mines
(At least in Imperial times)
Pretty view of the Courtyard in the
Concubines'
Quarters
(All these pictures are being owned by a spot of dust on the
lens! GRRRR!!)
Mom and I in the gate of the Concubines' Quarters
Then we went forward, and forward, and forward, stopping to inspect the Emperor’s quarters; or his "bedroom" I guess you could call it.
The Emperor's Quarters
His "Personal" Throne
(As opposed to the Official one for
receiving guests)
Ornamentation of the walls
One courtyard forward of the
Emperor's Quarters
We also saw the "Rest Room" where he would relax, sort of like your living room, I guess, (which was pointed out to us but we couldn’t look inside), the main throne room, the huge courtyard with which you’re familiar when you think of the Forbidden City, and of course the front gate which opens onto Tiananmen Square. Stupid me, I only brought one floppy disk for the digital camera and one roll of film for my 35mm. I figured it would be plenty, but then I wound up having to go back through the pictures I had taken earlier and deleting the ones that I thought were less interesting. 8(
The Main Courtyard
(This is the view of which most people
think when they hear "Forbidden City")
The Front Gate of the Forbidden City
While standing in front of the Forbidden City, these two extremely attractive strawberry blonde girls come up to me and ask if I know where the Forbidden City is. I tell them it’s right behind us, there. (pointing) They thank me profusely and explain that they’re KLM stewardesses on layover. we talk for about 60 seconds about nothing. Then they go. Everybody chides me for not finding out what hotel they’re in, etc. Of course I was out of pictures on both cameras so I couldn't snap any... At least I got them on video. 8)
Tiananmen Square was pretty big, but I don’t think it was anything special. We had to walk through an underpass from the front of the Forbidden City to get there. The Square is bordered on one side by the Forbidden City, and on the other by Mao’s tomb; which requires a 1 hour wait in line if you want to see in. We skipped that. It is also bordered by the National Museum and the Great Hall of the People. I have no idea what those are, aside from the obvious mental images delivered by their names.
We hopped on the bus and I reloaded the camera & changed floppies in the digital camera.
Part of the ancient City Wall
(Seen behind the ratty old
houses)
One of the ancient City Wall Corner Guard Posts.
Or
something.
Modern Beijing Architecture
(Pre-existing &
in-progress)
The bus took us to lunch at a restaurant called "Chinatown in Beijing." The food was quite tasty. Perhaps the highlight of the meal was my trip to the bathroom, where, after using the urinal, I was greeted by a smiling boy who turned on the faucet for me, squirted soap in my hands, gave me a brief massage while I was scrubbing, handed me a neatly-folded towel with a pair of tongs, and then cleaned my shoes! I gave him a dollar and took his picture.
This brings me to the subject of bathrooms all over China. Although the "toilet" as we know it is not particularly common, (perhaps present in just 10% of bathrooms) nearly all bathrooms in public places had Automatic Flush! Automatic sinks were in say, 40% of bathrooms, and Automatic Hand Driers were in 98% of all bathrooms! Prior to visiting China I had only seen Automatic Everything (flush, sink, drier) in THREE places. In China that combination was experienced perhaps a dozen times? I was impressed. Comparatively speaking, the USA seems backwards with regards to Bathroom Technology. Anyway...
The food at Chinatown in Beijing was quite good, and further amusement was gained by trying to attract the attention of a midget who was wandering around.
The nearly ubiquitous Attractive Girls At the Front Door of the
Restaurant
The Midget: Boy or Girl? You decide!
Lobsters in the tank. Mmmm Lobster
Then we headed to the Temple of Heaven, but stopped along the way at a pearl shop. There they kill oysters, extract the pearls, and then make them into jewelry. Some of it is quite nice. Mom wound up buying a necklace that came with a ring and earrings. They wanted $550 and I said that was too expensive. They said "make an offer," so my mom thought for a minute, said $375, and they said "Mmm okay." I said "Jeez… should’ve started lower." Shortly thereafter we found out you should offer half and bargain from there. lol Anyway… then we went to the Temple of Heaven. Really nice, although I still can’t figure out why they don’t keep those monuments in better condition. The paint is all peeling & stuff.
The Temple of Heaven
Ornamentation in the ceiling of a corridor at the Temple
We
would grow used to such fancies.
Upon departure from the Temple of Heaven Jefferson told us that we would have approximately 40 minutes’ drive to the Summer Palace, so we could nap if we wanted. Everybody kinda spread out on the bus, although I watched the city go by and talked to Tony & Michel (2 brothers on this trip with their parents.) We noted a night club as we were driving and asked Jefferson about it. He said there is a street near our hotel with like, 20 bars on it; so we might hit that tomorrow night.
"Just one thing though," Jefferson said, "the clubs are quite expensive."
"Oh," I said, disappointed, "how expensive?"
"Well, just one beer can cost as much as $4.00USD."
"Oooooh!" I said, smiling, "That’s okay. That’s how much we pay in the US sometimes."
Jefferson seemed mildly awed. "Remember how much you make vs. how much we make." 8/
Otherwise attractive buildings in China are often marred by
large numbers
of air conditioners mounted outside each window.
The Summer Palace is really big!!! John said the grounds are twice as big as the Forbidden City, and I believe it. The lake is frickin’ huge! Okay, it’s only like 6 feet deep, but it is a sizeable body of water. We took a boat across the lake to see the buildings on the other side, then took it back to the Dragon Island (? or something?) in the middle of the lake, and walked over the bridge back to the part near the parking lot. There’s not much to describe because we didn’t really do much. I took pictures though. Also, while we were there, I paid $4 (which in retrospect I suppose was too much) to put on Emperor's Robes and take a picture on a simulated throne.
This lake is actually man-made and only about 6 feet deep.
I
wanted to water ski.
Then back on the bus and off to dinner.
People on the bus! Back to front & left to right:
Steve,
Cecelia, then 6 people I can't tell who they are, mom, 4 people
I didn't
really talk to so I dunno their names, Akoom, Sam, two more
people who I
dunno their names, Tina, Julie, and John (our guide.)
We had dinner early at a diner-like restaurant. Nice staff, good food. We had 3 bottles of beer at our table! That’s funny because we only get 1 (big) bottle of Coke, 1 (24ish oz) bottle of beer, and then 1 16oz bottle of water for each meal. If we want more than that, then we have to pay for it. Fortunately, the beers were only 4RMB each. (About $0.50)
When is an Altima not an Altima? When it's a Bluebird, of
course.
After dinner we drove to a theatre where an acrobatic exhibition was taking place, although John mentioned that there was a foot massage parlor next door for those of us interested in that. He emphasized that it was a massage parlor and not a "massage parlor." Since they were only $11 + $1 tip, I decided to go for the foot massage along with an older (in their 60s) couple.
The girl doing my feet. She was funny. 8)
What can I say but "Mmmm…felt good." When we were finished we still caught the end of the acrobatics. Some really amazing stuff that I got on video. Then we jumped back on the bus and returned to the hotel, where I sat to write this. All in all a full and interesting day. 8)