Posts from the Road…
April 6, 2001 – Beijing, China
A power outage on the campus last night made sending an update a little difficult. However, I am happy to say that we had enough flashlights to share and meet the needs of the darkened floor.
Last night, some of the students let us accompany them for a Mongolian hot pot dinner. This quickly became the best food I have tried on this trip. Dinner was a lot of fun. It was especially interesting to talk with other people interested in travel and to hear their views of living in Beijing.
Went to the Great Wall yesterday, the same section that we passed thorough by train. A lot of climbing. Of course we went as far up as that part of the wall will allow. Although the views were hindered by haze, the scenery was still interesting. The mountains on which the Wall is built are really interesting and can compare with nothing in the States.
Today, we went back to the Forbidden City and let the recorded voice of Roger Moore fill in the gaps left from our previous visit. Spent almost the entire afternoon wandering around, exploring on our own. The guide thing hasn’t worked out as well as we hoped in this case. We had hoped for a little more information as part of our touring and that did not happen as we expected. We have learned a few things and have a chance to try again in Xi’an.
Dinner tonight was an experience as well. Anyone who complains they are left hungry after eating Chinese food needs to come to China. Again we ventured out to a restaurant with no English on the menu. And we managed to get food – a lot of food – without having to resort to charades or sound effects, so we were able to maintain some degree of dignity. Our dictionaries were helpful and it was gratifying when the food appeared on the table and looked as we had expected – for the most part anyway. It all tasted really good which is what really matters. We are not really sure who was more satisfied when the communication “clicked”, the waiters or us. We are fairly certain that this particular restaurant does not have too many English-speaking guests. It was a good challenge for both of us! Fortunately there was always a waiter “standing guard” near our table in the eventuality that we misunderstood and attempted to devour what was supposed to be the centerpiece.
April 6, 2001 (Day 30): Beijing – 11.30pm
Morale: Good. It is spring in Beijing. Hard to imagine how cold we were a couple weeks ago.
Health: Good. Despite all the climbing yesterday, I was not sore. I guess all that pacing helps keep one in shape.
It was an easy day today. Since we did not have Vinh waiting for us at 8.30, we enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in. Eventually, we stumbled out the door and caught a cab to Tiananmen Square and hiked to a French bakery, Deli France, for a spot of breakfast.
Our goal was to revisit the Forbidden City and rent the audio guide to fill in the gaps from our previous trip. Our host was the disembodied voice of 007, Roger Moore. I was certain that if I listened closely enough, I would be able to hear the clinking of ice in his gin and tonic. Despite his evident joy when regaling the sleeping arrangements of members of the Imperial Household, there was a lot of good information. I left with a better understanding of some of the sites in the City. As with most things in the City, everything had a purpose. The buildings in the southern half reflected the male aspect, fire, yin. The northern buildings were female: water, yang. The courtyards were intentionally featureless to balance the large buildings surrounding them.
Roger also shared a story about the origin of paper money and the tradition of burning it at funerals. The person who came up with the concept did not get much positive recognition for his invention. So he faked his death and had friends burn paper money at his “funeral”. A few days later, he began wandering the streets of his village, much to the shock of the locals. The tradition caught on.
Even though 007 gave us a lot of information, there is a lot to be seen striking off on your own. We found the room where Pu Yi’s English teacher lived. Some of the items from his study are still there. There was also a colorful painted bas-relief of dragons and phoenixes playing in the heavens.
Then we went to Jingshan Park, just north of the Forbidden City. Prospect Hill – a mound built from earth and rubble during the construction of the Forbidden City – lies within this park. We climbed up, of course, and enjoyed the view over the Forbidden City and Beijing, as the Emperors had done before us. It was nice to walk along and unwind. Others shared the same interest. The groundskeepers are preparing the gardens for spring. It should be quite something in a couple weeks.
We had another interesting dining experience this evening – again without the use of an English menu. We wanted to eat Beijing Duck, being in Beijing and all, and got a recommendation from one of the students as to a good place to go. While the place we went did not have Beijing Duck, it more than made up for it in character. A “theme restaurant” would be perhaps the best way to describe this place, but one fortunately devoid of Western tourists. The staff wore 19th Century Chinese costume, complete with cap with a long pigtail hanging out back. They shouted greetings at the clientele when they arrived and guided them to their seats, cleaning the chairs with snaps of their towels. All arrivals of food from the kitchen were greeted with similar enthusiasm. One of the staff constantly patrolled the restaurant with a pot of hot water reminiscent of a watering can. He used this to refill the teacups, which were full of fragrant (and tasty) dried flowers. The pot had a spout which was about three-quarters of a meter long and very narrow. He would pour from quite a distance from the cup with the water leaping accurately from the end of the spout to the cup. Not a drop was spilled.
The lack of Beijing Duck on the menu threw a bit of a wrench into the works. But we picked up our phrase book and wordless dictionary and determined what food they did have – or more accurately, types of food. Our repeated pointing to the picture of the duck elicited nothing other than shakes of the head. We settled on the picture of the chicken, the picture of the lamb, and a vegetable dish. The lamb and tofu-vegetable dish arrived rather rapidly. The lamb was superbly seasoned with a mix of cilantro, onion, and, I think, fennel. After filling ourselves on these dishes, we hoped they had forgotten about the chicken. Then it arrived. All of it. Our waiters, giggling with excitement, presented us with an entire cooked bird, complete with the comb atop its head. It was coated with a sweet almond sauce, and garnished with a grape on a toothpick secured in its open beak.
Faced with this divine-smelling marvel and armed only with chopsticks, we were unsure how to proceed with its consumption. It was so tender we did not have to worry about cutting pieces. It was more a question of proper manners. Should we eat it straight from the center plate, pull pieces off and eat from our own plate? I could not help but think of the story of Khrushchev attempting to drink from the finger bowls at a White House dinner, even though the water in the bowls had been colored blue. Fortunately, there was a waiter standing guard at our table who we presumed would intervene should we attempt to devour what was meant as table decoration. This feast – complete with large beers, tip, atmosphere, and more food than we could consume – was under $20.
There is some excitement in the dorm this evening. The sound of English being spoken by the students leads me to think that they may get the weekend off from the Chinese-only rules. It seems that one of the girls has lost her passport. By the sounds of it, this is not the first time it has happened. She is not happy about having to have her mother help to sort this out again. Some of the other students are trying to convince her to go out with them (being as it is a Friday night) to take her mind off it, but she cannot or will not be consoled. Some notable quotes from this exchange:
“I lost my fucking passport, now give me an orgasm.”
“I’m going to find a happy room where I can drink my beer and giggle.”
Not quite sure what tomorrow holds. CITS has arranged some tour for us tomorrow prior to catching our train to Xi’an – but we are not sure what. I suspect this change of plans may be related to emails I sent to our CITS contact in the US with our concerns about our itinerary. In a potentially related note, we will have a new chaperon. Bonnie, our new guide, called us tonight saying Vinh broke his ankle playing soccer. She mentioned going to the Beijing zoo. I guess tomorrow we get to see pandas.
Excerpts from Anna’s journal included.
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