May 13, 2010 – Beijing

We have a whole new respect for our friends who fly to Asia for business. The jet lag is incredible. Struggling to stay awake until 8:30 and wide awake before 5 a.m.

A quick note to thank Bobbi (Robin’s sister) for posting our blog entries. Apparently blogspot.com, along with Facebook, is banned in China, so we are emailing our posts to her.

On Tuesday we ventured out to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Took a cab which dropped us off on a side street just a block from the square, where we had our first “art student” approach us. We had read on Lonely Planet and the US State Department’s sites that one of the common scams here was to be approached by art students, speaking very good English, and then be invited to their studio where you are highly pressured to purchase something. This guy was standing there as we got out of the cab and immediately started talking to us and giving us directions to the Forbidden City, and “gasp”—we just happened to be going by his studio if we would like to stop in!

After fending him off, which we are getting really good at, we finally found our way to the Square. Unbelievable numbers of people everywhere—mostly Chinese tours with matching caps, vests or shirts and a guide with a flag.

As we were getting our bearings we were approached by a man, about our age I guess, who offered to be our guide. Professor Adam, as he said to call him, was a former Chinese history professor. That seemed like a handy skill set, considering where we were, plus his English was the best we had heard since arriving. We were sold, and it was certainly money well spent. (We have his number, if anybody is going to China in the near future…)

We walked around Tiananmen Square, with Prof. Adam providing a running commentary on the buildings and monuments, their history and significance, and we even talked some politics. (That was a bit surprising!) After making a loop of the square, we headed for the Forbidden City.

As we approached the entrance, three off-duty guards approached me (Tom) wanting to take their picture with me. I agreed, no problem there. No sooner had they finished, though, when a young couple came up and wanted to do the same. Then two young girls wanted a photo, too. Hmm, OK, I thought, what’s another photo?

But Robin sensed a business opportunity. Next thing you know, she’s charging 5 yuan a pop for people to pose with us to take their picture. I was skeptical, but they started lining up and pretty soon she had enough to pay our entrance fee to the Forbidden City…

OK, so not really (about the getting them to pay part). It was a bit strange, but we’re taking pictures of them so I guess it’s fair. I can’t quite figure out why they singled us out for photos. There were other Westerners around (though not many, for sure).

Following Adam into the City, we were again amazed at the sheer number of people. We were rushed, or pushed by the crowd, to glance in each of the main buildings of the City until we were at the opposite end in the Imperial Garden. For anyone who may venture over to the City, the best places are off on the sides away from the main section. The entire place is pretty amazing, and built in just 14 years. Surprising what you can do when you have 1 million people working on something.

Our favorite place though was the Garden. We found a quiet spot where we could watch the crowd, had a beer and caught our breath. Of course we still seemed to be a popular tourist attraction ourselves—we thought one couple wanted us to take a picture of them and their toddler son, but no, they wanted a picture with us. So mom and son scrambled up onto the pavilion where we were sitting and posed. Wouldn’t be the last time.

The Forbidden City is spectacular and enormous. You don’t really see how big it is until you go to the park next to it to the north, walk up a hill and see it from above. All of the rooftops are made from a gold colored ceramic tile, used only by the emperor during his day, and it stands out among all of the gray of Beijing.

We tried to get a cab back to the hotel, but that was not to be. First guy couldn’t figure out where we needed to go and the second made us get out after somebody fussed at him. Well, to be clear he didn’t make us get out, he just pulled over and sat there until we got out on our own. So another long walk home and early to bed.

Just a couple of other quick notes: the restaurant we ate in by the hotel seemed to have all of the “nasty bits” of animals, but none of the meaty parts. Chicken heads, chicken feet, beef phallus (yes, that’s what it was)—where are the chicken legs or breasts? And there are public toilets everywhere (which deserve an entire post all to themselves) and we have finally figured out that in the hutongs, most homes, businesses and even restaurants don’t have toilets, so everyone uses the publics.