Being a Tourist Part II: After Dark

We ventured out one night in Beijing to see what happens after dark on Wangfujing Street. Usually nothing good happens after a certain time at night, and Beijing is no different. We chose to avoid trouble and had a good time.

About $4 gets you a taste. Pictures are free...if you're quick.

Mom pretended she didn't want to shop, but then she saw this alley and Dad's wallet came out.

If you don't like the price, walk away. They got the same stuff next door.

This was her first taste of bargaining, and she did pretty good but maybe left some money on the table. By the end of their visit she had it all figured out though. After she had her fill of China souvenirs, we found a street specializing in street food. They had everything from scorpion on a stick to simple dumplings. Truly something for everyone, but we were all stuffed full of Beijing duck from earlier in the night.

Near the hotel was a church, and in front of that church everyone was gathered doing everything. There was a choir singing hymns, a soloist singing opera, ballroom dancers and some hooligans practicing their break dancing. Unfortunately, none of those pictures turned out due to low light. You'll just have to use your imagination about a place where those things are all happening in close quarters.

Being a Tourist Part I: First Stop Beijing

We have been in China for over a year and had yet to do much touring outside of Suzhou, so when our first visitors arrived we crammed as much site-seeing in as we could.  Our adventure started out on the high-speed train to Beijing.

China is crowded. You have to catch a ride anyway you can.

Our first stop in Beijing was The Windy Forbidden City. If you are looking to read a plethora of interesting facts you may be disappointed to know I, Shayne, have decide to write this post and I am not always the best listener. The way I remember it our tour guide spent most of her time talking about the Emperor's concubines, so you may want to set your expectations low in regards to how much you are going to learn about this imperial palace built by the Han Dynasty. No.  Qing? No that wasn't it either. Qin? Ming. It was definitely the Ming Dynasty (I barely made it through US history, I have no idea how the Chinese do it).

The Palace was pretty impressive. We came no where near viewing the entire site. Our guide suggested spending two to three days there if you want to see it all. The complex is made up of 980 buildings and 8,886 rooms. Though if you ask the emperor he believed there to be 9,999 rooms. Shh....don't tell.

 

The view of the first courtyard after entering through the south gate.

Most of the roofs were painted gold. We were told the original paint was made with actual gold. Fancy.

The Palace consisted of multiple courtyards. In the centers were structures that each served a specific function. Some of these include a building for conducting business and ceremonies, the Emperor's living quarters, the Empress's living quarters (Evidently they are only friendly once a month to make babies, otherwise the Emperor is all about his concubines. Interesting, no?), the Empress's birthday building and, of course, the living quarters of the concubines. The courtyards were surrounded by much smaller rooms that were used for various officers for conducting daily life.

I'm on a moat.

 All around the courtyard were these huge vats. They were used to collect rain water.  The rain water could then be used to douse any fires in the all wood palace.

In one ear. Out the other.

The Palace had an interesting drainage system. These dragons each had a spout. The water would pour out, seep into the ground, and hopefully help keep the moat full.

The Empress and her iPad.

This didn't have to do with the concubines, so I can't remember much other than I believe we were told it was carved from one solid piece of stone.

There is no evidence Clif attended this outing according all the pictures we he took. Oops.

 Important people liked odd numbers. In many places you will find these little animals on the roofs. If there are nine, the person living inside must be important. However, the number ten was used only for the divine.

  

These lions were also guarding important buildings. We were told if they had five toes they were guarding an important person. These have four toes and also the ears are turned down. If I recall correctly, the turned down ears had to do with them being in front of structure for the Empress. It made them less furious. 

Restored and beautiful.

A view of the outer structure.

There were many kinds of incenses burners. There were large ones burned during ceremonies and smaller ones, which I am assuming were more for every day use. Interest fact: sometimes a concubine might try to add poison to an incenses burner like pictured below in an attempt to kill another concubine.

What I also found interesting that the last man chosen to be Emperor during the Qing Dynasty was actually a three year old boy. The guide told us at his coronation he was escorted by his father. The young boy was frightened by the noise of the ceremony and crying unconsolably. His father was over heard telling him not to worry because it would all be over soon. Ironically, that was true. Four years after he became ruler the Qing Dynasty was over thrown. I am also pretty sure she told us this story because M may have been have a little fit in the baby-backpack.

The Gerke's meeting the last living nephew of the last emperor. He now sells his calligraphy to benefit the City, they bought one like you see hanging in the rear.

The final time I will mention them, we were also told each night the emperor would choose which concubine to spend the night with. His eunuch would then go to retrieve her. She would be required to take off all her clothes and be covered with a sheet. She would then be escorted to the emperor and he would know that she was not hiding any sort of weapon that could be used to kill him.

After our tour ended we walked back through the City only to realize what a maze of buildings we had not seen, including a four star bathroom.  It is truly an impressive site.

Stay tuned for more Beijing adventure!

Happy Easter

On Easter morning, the sun rose and a seaward breeze blew the smog away. It was a perfect day to take M out in her Easter outfit for some pictures under a blue bird sky. Spring is underway in Suzhou!

Advanced warning: if you get sick of seeing other people's babies this post isn't for you. Maybe you'd like some content oriented towards adults.

This Ain't No Cuban

I've been hosting some US based coworkers this week, and doing so always involves a trip into old town to shop for cheap souvenirs the expats call "China junk." It's the same stuff everywhere: silk, bags, watches, green tea, embroidery and these things:

When it comes to China junk, bargaining is half the fun and sometimes it's all the fun. The value really isn't high but they are the sort of goods that are unique enough to bring back to the states to prove you really went.

The seller noticed our honest uncertainty about buying shady looking cigars and sweetened the deal without even asking. She threw in a free smoke to make it 4 for a buck-fifty. SOLD!

Upon closer inspection, I found some sort of light colored material wrapped in a leaf - presumably a tobacco leaf. The smell wasn't like a cigarette and certainly wasn't anything like a cigar. The label featured an elephant and some writing that wasn't Chinese or English. A true mystery!

At home on the balcony I wasn't sure if I'd get high or worse. Nonetheless, I blazed one and saw no hallucinations but I did find a harsh taste. It wasn't entirely unpleasant and not really very good at the same time. An earthy taste, something like tobacco with a hint of burning paper. I doused it after a few puffs, went inside and ripped one apart - starting at the mouthpiece.

Under the leaf wrapper I found a layer of newspaper surrounding a substance that resembles the stuff you peal off corn cobs and tamales. It looked like they wrapped corn husk with paper, then covered it with a tobacco leaf. Intrigued, I investigated further.

The portion I burned didn't include any newspaper or corn husk. I was happy about that. Apparently, the paper and corn husk act as a filter of sorts - while not actually a filter, it's something too keep the finely shredded filling in place. The portion I smoked include bits of shredded tobacco leaf and.....wait for it.....wood. Little pieces of wood. That explained the flavor.

And such is the story of my most recent cultural experience. Will I do it again? No. Do I regret it? Not at all.

A return to "The Way Up North Province"

You may remember my trip to Changchun last year, in which I hoped to never return in winter. Such thinking has a way of afflicting affecting your life, perhaps I sealed my fate with that wish. As it became apparent I'd be visiting again for a week in January and February, I nervously eyeballed the weather forecast. The weather-guesser told me to plan for days topping out around -10F and nights down around -33F...good thing I brought long-johns to China.

Snow Minnie Mouse and that other character I'm too old to recognize...as photographed from the taxi.

 
The extended forecast steeled my will as I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. Lady luck was on my side and extended forecasts maintained their reputation as notoriously inaccurate. Nature dealt me weather with highs closer to freezing and lows bearably close to zero...and visibilities near zero as well.

China's air pollution has been in the news lately because Beijing has had troubles. My experience has been the problem is bigger than Beijing, Changchun being another particularly bad city. My habit of taking pictures from every hotel I visit finally paid dividends, as seen in the following comparison.

Two pictures taken from the same hotel, looking the same direction

The first day temps were high enough to melt some snow, which left a layer of filth all over the city. My theory is that snow grabs the air pollution from the sky as it falls. This is just a theory based on one day's experience, but have a look at the black stuff we were walking in.

Wipe your feet!

The cars did an even better job of displaying the filth.

A nice white Lexus

Eventually, the air returned to the "cucking fold" range on my thermometer and all the black schmuck refroze so we didn't track it indoors. I found the cold weather agreeable, as it was a good reason to warm up with coworkers around a delicious hot pot. Hot pot is similar to fondue, but instead of oil or cheese you use boiling soup to cook. Very delicious, even though it tested the limit of our expense book.

Hot pot!

Not every meal was high cost, as I again visited the dirtiest restaurant I have ever seen. It's the one located in an alley behind the place that has an English sign. It was still serving the best Chinese food I've had and the waitress was still in the mood to shamelessly flirt with a laowai. Visiting again for dinner gave me a chance to interact with a drunken Korean who held his nose like a pig after finding out I'm American.

Easily avoid eye contact thanks to this bathroom "door"

Again we finished up work a smidge early and had time to recreate. After spotting some ice skaters on TV, I asked Carl if he'd ever done any skating. He's from the south of China and had little experience with cold weather and ice skating wasn't available. He even had to buy a warm hat for this trip. We asked for some advice on where to go and found out the lake we toured last year offers skating. Back at the hotel, I put on all the clothes I brought and met Carl in the lobby for some cold outdoor skating

This is when I found out the Chinese word for "ice skating" sounds similar to the word for "snow skiing" and the concierge told us the lake had skiing...not skating. To skate we'd have to go to a mall, a place I later learned was the largest indoor mall in Asia. Seriously, it was huge.

In China, the Christmas season lasts well into Summer.

We paid 50RMB for an hour and rented skates. My big white guy feet pushed the limits of their rental skate inventory - settling of one size too small turned out to be OK. It had been a long time since my last skate session, so things started a little wobbly but it didn't take long to remember enough to have fun.

I look fat because I'm overdressed for indoor exercise.

Having worn too much clothing for indoor skating due to the communication error, an hour proved to be too long for me. I was really sweating by the end but Carl had a hoot. He started out with a few laps hugging the rail and by the end was brave enough to stumble around in the middle.

Carl having a life experience, not pictured is a huge smile

A young girl slid up next to me and asked in perfect English "Where do you come from?" I replied in Chinese "I am an American," and she ran to her mom yelling the Chinese words for "AMERICAN! AMERICAN! AMERICAN!" In my Chinese textbook "Where do you come from" is one of the first chapters, so I imagine English lessons here have a similar curriculum. Later she tried talking to me in Chinese and I had no idea what she said.

Still smiling

Another time I was run into by a young woman who had lost control. I saw her coming with just enough time to reach out and soften the impact. However, in reaching out I accidentally touching her breast - it happened so fast and I felt bad. She embarrassingly skated to her group of friends where they whispered and laughed.

Still smiling?

Skating was a spectacular end to what should be my final trip to Changchun. My company should have no reason to do business here in the future. It was great to provide Carl a chance to do something he should never have a chance to do again.

I shouldn't tempt fate again by saying I won't be back, but maybe next time will be warmer.