China Chapter 4

Today was the first free day that we’ve had since we arrived in China. I think it also was the first night where I actually slept normally and am adjusting to the time difference. After all, here, it’s 13 hours ahead. So as I write this at 4:33 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, it’s 3:33 a.m. Thursday morning.

Anyhow, I think the hardest thing to do was to decide what we wanted to do. After putting the kibosh on the hutong tour, we needed to come up with an alternative plan. So we decided to talk at breakfast (which again was wonderful) and decided that seeing the Temple of Heaven was a must. We also decided to visit the famous Wangfujing Street market. Well, it’s not so much a market as much as it is a shopping mecca in general.

The first thing that was a little stressful was the fact that we don’t speak Chinese. This is kind of a problem, especially if you have to take a cab to go where you need to. I will say this: the service that we have had from everyone here in China has been FANTASTIC. Everyone that we have come in contact with has been spectacularly helpful. I sure hope that Americans can have a chance to see how to treat out of town guests.

Anyhow, the hotel that we’re staying at has little cards that help guests tell cabbies where they need to be taken. The porter outside, Rack, always smiles, and is always helpful, and made sure that the cab driver knew where we needed to go.

So, we arrived at the Temple of Heaven. I also learned how to say, “how much is it?” in Chinese. And, surprisingly, they know what I’m saying! Whoau, what a more practical thing to say than “the little boy is sitting on the left wing of the yellow airplane.” Once we were at the Temple of Heaven, what a cool park it’s situated in! There are ALL kinds of Beijingers that go there to play cards, learn music lessons, do karaoke, play dominoes, do tai chi, do line dancing, tango dancing, and this really cool ribbon dance thing. What was truly remarkable was the fact that it was a mesh of all generations of people doing things together: and having a good time and enjoying the company.

We were asked many times if we wanted to join in, but because I didn’t want to make a COMPLETE ass of myself, I passed. I was afraid I might show them up. Or be the butt of ALL of the conversation.

The Temple of Heaven is quite a monument. It was made without a single nail. It’s round, very tall, and very blue. I wish it was more of a sunny day today to really show how spectacular it is, but today is the first day since we’ve been here where the smog is really REALLY heavy. It stings your eyes, and makes it very difficult to breathe.

We were at the Temple of Heaven all morning, and ran into our compatriots while mom stopped to use the loo. Apparently without her notice, Margaret, the Empress (as we now call her) had a tampon stuck to her woolen coat. Tim (her travel companion) noticed it, pulled it off her jacket (without the Empress knowing) and later said, “are you saving this for later?”

I just about wet myself.

Anyhow, after touring the Temple of Heaven, we then ventured to Wangfujing Dajie (Wangfujing Street). It was very nice. There was a HUGE mall, very upscale there, and then a walking street where there were lots of Chinese shops where you could buy tea, apothecary herbal medicines, clothing, silk (mom bought some there), and musical instruments. I had my first opportunity to look over several guzhengs today. It was fun!!!! However, the only models they had were the Dunhuang cheaper model, but no Tianyi’s or Scarlet Birds (Zhuque). So we’ll keep looking. Although the guy in the music store started playing it, and it was really cool.

We stopped off for some coffee, and did some people watching, we then went to a cool bread shop where we had an inside out hot dog thingy on a stick. Everything cool to eat is on a stick apparently. After doing a lot of walking, we decided to go back to the hotel, put our feet up, have our late lunch things (as it’s now about 5 p.m.), and then venture out tonight if it stops raining. Right now, though, it’s pretty overcast, and it was raining earlier.

We venture off to Shanghai tomorrow morning early. We have to leave for the airport at 6:30 a.m. to make our flight at 9 a.m. We’re taking China Southern Airlines and the flight should take just short of 2 hours. Then tomorrow, we have the afternoon off before going out for dinner and seeing a Shanghai Acrobat show.

Should be interesting!