Beijing Day 1; Part 1

First of all, I added a link on the top right margin that should take you to a link of our travel pics. However, since I can't view my blog after adding it, I have no idea if the link works. If not, click here to go to my album of Beijing pics so far. Shawn took another 150 pics, but those are not at my immediate disposal to add to a master album. My pics are not cleverly labeled yet and I have not dumped those that I'll determine "shot 15 of the same building" unnecessary. Bear with me! We're busy!

On with our day:

Shawn and I were both wide awake before the sun was up, despite getting no sleep on the plane ride in. I was personally on a full 24 hour cycle with about 1 hour of sleep in me… Needless to say, a very full day of sightseeing sounded a little more than overwhelming. I was feeling a bit queasy, which probably stemmed from excitement and a bit of dehydration.

We headed for breakfast at about 7am and had some of the best coffee east of Rome, at the buffet. I was thrilled to get some quality caffeine in my system at the beginning of a long trip that I had predetermined to be coffee free. The buffet wasn't large, but the selection was a good balance of east and west…and was included in our package, so no complaints.

Our guide Anna (who fessed up with some prying that her Chinese name is Mao Nai…or something like that) met us in the lobby at 9:30am and we were off to start day 1 of Beijing. On the way out, we found out that she is a student finishing her double major in Politics and English. She became a tour guide 6 months ago to help pay her way through school. She is a licensed Beijing tour guide and explained to us a bit about what it takes to get the badge. It sounds astonishingly difficult, including memorizing many, many books word for word. She knows her stuff, but don't interrupt her or she'll have to back up a page or two and start over!

She explained that she was required to take English beginning in middle school, but is only one of few schoolmates to pursue it as a degree. Upon further asking, she moved here from further north in China in order to get a guide job in time for the 2008 Olympics as a way to pay for school. I almost slipped and asked if she has any brothers or sisters…and then I remembered why we're here. Of course she doesn't. I caught myself just in time.

One thing we did notice is that there are LOTS of females here in the 20 to 30 age group and then almost none out and about younger than that. Every single child we saw today under the age of about 10 were boys. Another sobering reminder. As I looked around at the boys we saw, I wondered if he was that parent's first child or if he would be with them if he had a special need.

Another thing we've realized is that there are many things that don't translate well in China, even to those who speak fairly good English. We use words like 'stuff' and 'ya know' and 'kinda'… sentence fillers have no place in English to Chinese, and we confused her more than once by saying 'you know'… no she didn't know. There is also no sarcasm. Shawn and I are emperor and empress of sarcasm, but when our teeth were chattering from the cold and Shawn said "Man, it's warm out here"… She looked at him oddly as if to say "I'm not a man, and it is definitely not warm". We also realized that in our everyday life, we talk through things out loud to ourselves all the time, which is not done here. Shawn was trying to phrase something and was bargaining with himself about how to say it… she became more and more bewildered by the minute.

So, off to our first stops: Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. I guess I was expecting Tiananmen Square to be something more than it was. It's vast, but not as grand as I thought it would be.

We crossed underground to The Forbidden City and it just immediately hits you that you are in China. I guess we knew that this place was big (9,999 rooms takes up a lot of space after all), however it just keeps going and going and going. Anna was at a full sprint through that place, and well, she's a petite Chinese girl…as if she doesn't get lost in a crowd there… We had to keep up with her or risk getting hopelessly lost. It was also absolutely freezing, which we were not prepared for at all. I'm not talking brisk or crisp (as weather.com stated), it was windy and extremely cold. Somehow, this fortress creates it's own wind force and Shawn and I, who are very used to high wind gusts where we live, almost couldn't handle it. If you are reading this and getting ready to travel through Beijing to your child… Pack for the weather report and then add one more layer for good measure. You'll need it!

Anyway, I won't give a Forbidden City history lesson here, but it really is something that we'll need to come back again to see at a slower (and warmer) pace. It was awe inspiring, not to mention a sobering view at how vain emperors can be!

After the obligatory stop at a trinket shop that spiffs the guides, we were on to lunch. I have no idea where we ate or what we ate, but Anna disappeared and food started coming…and coming. Thank goodness we have good chopstick skills or we would be hungry right now. I feel for anyone that comes here without this valuable skill. It ain't just for sushi anymore!

After lunch, we were whisked away to Temple of Heaven. How cool. Again, how much can you say about the biggest park in China? Except for the sub zero wind chill and no jacket, it was amazing. What struck me the most was that everything was built with color, numerology and the relationship of heaven and earth. I would have liked to stay here longer also, had it not been for gale force gusts of icy wind mixed with dust in my eyes.

To fill the time, Anna wanted to take us to the Pearl Factory, but something government related was going on, so she dropped us back at the hotel for a bit and will be back in an hour to pick us up for our Peking Duck dinner and Acrobat show. We may not post another update this evening, but if the duck is especially tasty, we might have something to say.

Tomorrow we brave The Great Wall, see Ming's Tomb, hunt for jade, and have a traditional Cantonese dinner.

A handful of today's pics in no particular order. See the link at the top of the post or in the right margin for the whole she-bang...