We had a busy schedule the next day so Kelly and company picked us up at 8:30 and we started our tour of Beijing and the outskirt areas.
First stop, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is supposedly (according to Tom) the largest public square (anyone may debate this) in the world. It was huge.
The Forbidden City is directly across from T square and behind the large portrait of Chairman Mao. Seems like they still haven't given up on this guy yet!
The Forbidden City was opened up to the common man after the People's Revolution (somewhere around 1949). It was where the Emperors lived, governed and bred. They lived kind of nice. Opulence on top of opulence. This place is just enormous. It just keeps going and going thru gates and palaces and gates and palaces. It never seems to end.
That afternoon we drove to the portion of the Great Wall known as Mutianyo which was about an hour and a half outside of town.
We took a cable car to the top and proceeded to walk for a mile or so along the top. Unfortunately, it was not a very clear day but the rain held off and we really got to enjoy the sights. What can you say about it, it's the Great Wall of China! It just seemed like it goes for thousands of miles and it does. The enormity of what it took to build it, is quite impressive. At the end of the section we walked, there is actually a luge ride down. Tom went and purchased the tickets and they actually sold him insurance also. We think they were worried about the old people. Needless to say, about half way down, we were being screamed at in Chinese to slow down. We just pretended they were telling us to go faster!
On the way back home, we stopped to look at the new Olympic Stadium. These guys are definitely working very hard to get everything done in time. In some areas it looked like they were behind schedule but we think they will probably just throw a couple hundred thousand people at the project; there are plenty of people!
They are very excited about having the Olympics, and as with every other place we have been, they are very proud of their city.
The next day we woke up to rain but stayed with the schedule anyway. It is nice to have personal escorts and driver to take you around. It's all good!
That morning we went to the Lama Temple, which is a Buddhist Temple, and according to Kelly we were "very lucky" because we got to witness the monks (lamas) in the middle of a prayer ceremony. This is a series of readings and prayers done in a chant to drums and cymbals. It was actually very hypnotic and somewhat trance like. Tom almost converted! Even though it was raining there were hundreds of people there lighting incense sticks in huge handfuls praying to all of the different Buddha's.
From what we understand, the more incense and the hotter the flame, the more likely your prayers are to be answered. It was a very interesting ritual to see.
We even got to pay 10Y and bang the gong. Not sure what we get for that......
On to the Temple of Heaven where everything was built in order to honor heaven and the relationship between heaven and earth. The number 9 is symbolic and, on the outside temple the number of steps going up to each section and the circular rows of stones at each level are all done in 9 or some multiplier of nine. In the center of the highest level there is a stone you stand on and the acoustics are such so that when you speak you hear your voice amplified, but to everyone else you sound normal.
Afterwards, dripping wet from the rain, Kelly took us to a famous local noodle shop for lunch. Even though we had gone to traditional Chinese restaurants for everything up to this point, this place was nuts. All the waiters were yelling, it was loud, food was flying in all directions and the place was packed. It was a great meal and was a place we would never have found on our own. For those of you who are wondering, Pat had a fork and knife with every meal. No chopsticks for her!
That afternoon we sent Kelly and Michael home because they had work the next day and had already given up most of their weekend to tour us around. They arranged for Chong to pick us up the next day to take us to the Summer Palace and to the airport the following day and we spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging at the hotel and going to the Silk Market. We lasted at the Market about 20 minutes before we wigged out from all the people trying to hawk their goods. Not our thing.
The next morning, Chong came as arranged to take us to the Summer Palace. This was getting interesting because Chong spoke no English and our limited Chinese did not fare well. The most important phrase we learned from Kelly was Boo Yo, cia cia (definitely not spelled correctly). This meant "No, I don't need any, thank you". As soon as we would say this to the hawkers, they would usually just laugh and walk away. It was a phrase we used the whole time in Beijing. One or two guys would laugh and actually correct our pronunciation but they got the drift and left us alone. But we got through the morning with Chong and were able to figure out where he was picking us up when we were done sightseeing at the Palace.
The Summer Palace is where the emperors would go in the summertime to escape the Beijing heat. It is a collection of palaces, temples and theaters built around a lake and takes the opulence we spoke about earlier to new heights. By this time, however, we realized these people needed a new architect and interior designer (Deb, where were you?). Everything was traditional imperial dynasty chic. All red, yellow and blue. Didn't anyone ever hear of mauve????
That afternoon Chong left us and we were on our own in Beijing. We walked around for a couple of hours, visited some hutongs (local neighborhoods) and walked to a lake area on the other side of town. The rain had stopped so it was a pleasant walk around the city.
Chong picked us up in the morning and it was Goodbye Beijing, Hello Greece.
Things Beijing:
Honking horns
Street sweepers
Olympics
Lots and lots of people and traffic
Red, yellow and blue
Smog
Bicycles
The Great Wall
Incense
Buddhas
No Chicken Chow Mein
Very clean highways and roads
Kelly and Michael
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