The Great Forbidden Capital

We arrived in Beijing knowing we needed to catch a bus to our hostel, which was right across from the train station, just not the one we had arrived at.  With no Metro service out this far, the hostel had recommended taking a bus.  After a half hour of fruitless searching for the right bus, we swallowed pride and headed to the Taxi stand.  Only to find that the line stretched on forever.  Over an hour latter we finally got into a cab.  The cab then became hopeless locked in gridlock and we sat and watched Beijing crawl by outside the window.  Nearly 4 hours after our train had arrived, we finally made it to our hostel.  Welcome to Beijing!

After a shower to recoup some strength we headed out to find food.  Much of Beijing has been modernized, but there is an area that has been left with older buildings, which have been converted into tourist shops, restaurants and cafes called the Hutongs.  Sounds like a great place for lunch, except when hungry you can never find food.  So our hostel provided a little cheat sheet of how to use the public transportation in order to get to sights around town.  There was a Bell and Drum tower in the heart of the norther Hutong area.  So we took the subway then followed the signs.  We walked for almost a mile from the subway stop down a street that had nothing in the way of food to offer, while bus after bus drove by.  When we finally saw two restaurants we quickly crossed the street for a French Vietnamese Cafe.  We entered starving, but the menu was lacking and chief spent more time working on the presentation than the preparation.  For an extremely expensive meal we got very little to eat and not of very high quality.  When we walked out of the restaurant we immediately saw the Bell and Drum Towers a block away and as we walked to them of course here were the cafes and restaurants.

With thousands of miles of wall you would not think that they all when to the same place.

The Bell and Drum towers did not live up to the ones in Xi'an and the drum performance left a lot to be desired playing only one song.  But they did contain some useful information.  Apparently all Chinese cities used towers like these, and in fact many temples also had a pair of towers to serve as Clock/Defense warning.

The next morning we went to the south side of Tiananmen Square to try and get some breakfast on a new pedestrian street that had been set up for the Olympics.  When we got there the street was crowded with people and the buildings all looked very nice, but walking down the street there were no shops open as construction on the inside was still ongoing.  I guess they did not make it in time for the Olympics three months ago.  So we wandered around the side streets until we found another youth hostel that was serving breakfast.

After breakfast we headed to the Temple of Heaven which is a large temple complex set inside a park.  It was one of five temples dedicated to the five elements in Beijing, but it is the one in the best condition now.  The circular temples were very interesting, though it was extremely crowded.  There were a number of interesting design features including the number of paver stones used on one of the platforms.  It had nine rings of stones, with nine stones in the first ring, 18 in the second, etc.

After a good walk around the park and temples we headed back to the hostel where Michelle rested to try and prevent the oncoming cold.  I on the other hand headed out to explore.  I walked along the moat of the Forbidden City to Jingshan Park which is a large hill directly behind the Forbidden City that provides a view out over the entire complex.  After climbing the hill and checking out the various pavilions that line the crest of the hill I walked to the White Pagoda hoping to climb to the top.  However, as I got closer I decided that the Chinese use the term Pagoda rather liberally as this was actually a very Tibetian looking stupah.  I decided to check it out anyways and walked around the island where it stood.  There was huge temple complex built up all the sides of the hill, and I wandered around these until the sun started to go down and I headed back to Michelle.

For dinner that night I went out to get some pizza and not being familiar with the area went to the restaurant in the same building as our hostel.  The pizza had to be made twice as the butchered the toppings the first time.  Michelle was happy until the next night when she realized that across the street at the other end of the block was a Papa John's her favorite pizza chain.

The next day Michelle decided to sleep in until she started to feel a little guilty about not having seen much in Beijing yet and decided we should head out to the Forbidden City.  However, while at lunch we discovered that the forbidden city was only open for a few more hours as it closed quite early.  We decided instead to head to the Summer Palace.  According to the flier from our hostel we needed to take the subway to a bus to get there.  The subway was easy, but the bus did not stop at the station, so after getting some directions we walked nearly a half mile to find the correct bus stop.  We got on the bus and proceeded to take a 2 hour tour of all the side streets of Beijing.  Trying to follow our route on the map, I realized we had recently turned away from our destination.  When we asked they said get off now and walk.  So another mile of walking and we finally arrived at the gate of the Summer Palace.  Of course the entire time we were walking city bus after city bus passed us, all stopping in the parking lot, not 6 blocks away.

The Summer Palace is situation on a hill overlooking a lake.  There is a small palace with a long corridor along the water providing nice views out across the lake.  However, the heart of the palace is up the hill so that is where we headed.  It was a series of temples with small courtyards and a lot of steps offering fantastic views over the lower levels.  When we finally reached the squat looking pagoda at the top, we were told it was closing and quickly scurried out the back door so we could explore more of the area around the temple.  The back side of the hill was a large garden and was a pleasant walk as the day came to an end.  Right by the gate we left from was a canal with a row of small shops that was called Shouzhou Street after the famous town near Shanghai.  Apparently the Empress was so impressed by the Grand Canal in Shouzhou that she had a replica build in her "summer" home.

Since we did not want to repeat our 3 hour tour of Beijing public transport to get back to our hostel (plus we did not have the time as we were meeting someone), I asked directions from another tourist.  He told us to just follow him as he was going to a subway station and would help us.  With his advice we were back in just over 1 hour and just in time to meet Michelle's friend Daniel's friend Hong.  She had previously worked int the area where our hostel was and was very familiar with it.  She took us to a small restaurant where we could sample some of the traditional cuisine.  The food was fantastic and we spent the rest of the night picking her brain for the best things to go see and do.

The next morning we woke up to take our tour to the Great Wall.  These are opportunities to get tourist together and take them shopping, or so Lonely Planet said.  So when negotiating our tour, I brought this up.  After a half our of negotiation I was told that we would have only two 15 minute stops for shopping trips.  Down significantly from the three 45 minute trips that they had started with.  So when the tour guide told us that we would have a shopping stop, we were like OK especially since we were the only two people on the tour.

Our fist stop was at a Jade factory.  It was not a very interesting "tour" of the factory as they had a group of people working behind a glass wall for us to watch.  They also had a 5 minute pitch about why jade is important to China, then onto the shop.  After 10 minutes I went looking for the guide to get on the road.  This is when I was told that we still had 35 minutes left as it was a 50 minute stop.  I really lost my cool at this point and start questioning the guide as to what the rest of our day held.  She then told us that we had another 40 minute stop and a 50 minute stop for tea later in the day.  I was pissed and let her know how I felt.  But at this point we were prisoners so there was not much we could really do.

The next shopping trip was a Cloisonne Copper Ware, which is the copper pots with the enamel covering.  At least this tour was more interesting as they showed us all the steps in making the pots.  After forming the shape of the piece of copper (pot, pan, dish, vase, etc.) they glue a series of small wires across the surface to make the desired designs.  Then they use enamel powder mixed with a glue to fill in the small pockets formed on the surface of the ware.  This process is done twice to make sure there is plenty of enamel on the surface.  The piece is then fired to melt the enamel.  It is then polished twice, once to remove the high spots of wire and enamel, and the second to give it a polished surface.  Unfortunately, once again after the tour was completed we were hostage in the store looking at super inflated prices for heavy souvenirs.

Our third stop we visited the an actual tourist attraction, the Ming tombs.  And our tour guide actually came through and explained some of the things we saw, though on many it consisted of reading the sign that was there to us.  The area was kind of like valley of the Kings in Egypt.  Almost all the emperors for the entire Ming Dynasty had their funeral temple build here.  We only toured one temple, of the first Ming Emperor.  The temple was rather plain compared to the other Chinese temples we had seen.  But it was built in a very scenic location.

Next it was time for lunch, where I learned that in order to get lunch we needed to "trick" another Jade shop.  So we took the tour, then sat in the store while our lunch was being prepared.  Apparently our tour guide did not place the order correctly, so we waited a little longer then got our lunch.  However, when we sat down we realized we had been had as our lunch was the same as everyone else who had been suckered into coming here.  I sure it was specially prepared for us.

So now after a half a day of things other than the Great Wall it is finally the point where we get to go.  She asks us if it is OK to go to a closer location, after our experience so far I say I want the one I paid for.  She warns me that it will take an extra hour to get there.  Not ten minutes past the one she wanted to take us too, we were being hustled out of the van to go to the Great Wall.  When we get past the gate she tells us we have an hour and a half and she is going to sit here and wait for us.  Some tour guide.

It is a truly impressive sight to see this wall snake along the top of the mountains as far as the eye can see in both directions.  The look out towers stand out like spikes at regular distance and give the wall a very intimidating look.  When you get to the top of the wall you can see how massive it really is.  It is more like a road than a wall you could easily drive a car along it in the places it has been restored.  However each tower is its own kind of maze to get through often allowing the throng of people to only pass through single file.  Despite the bitter cold and wind there were a ton of people here.  At times it felt like standing in a long line for something that you are not sure you want.

The only thing that takes away from the scene is the fact that it is slowly being turned into a circus.  There is a cable car to the top of one of the mountains for those to lazy to walk.  There is even mini train that brings people up and down from one of the remote car parks.  But I guess this is a huge attraction and everyone wants to see it, but with thousands of miles of wall you would not think that they all when to the same place.  Next time I come I think I am going to try and do one of the walks where you spend a day walking 10 miles along the top and get away from the crowds, but it will also be in summer.

I think our tour guide was basically there to shepard us through the shopping trips and with three already in and no actually guiding I think she thought she was pressing her luck and just skipped the afternoon tea stop.  To make up for the not fill our day as promised we took the frontage road home instead of the tollway.  Essentially we were on an on/off ramp for 70 km.  We would speed up an on ramp to run down the exit ramp and stop at the light to do it all over again.  So our 45 minute drive home lasted nearly 2.5 hours.  Maybe shopping would have been better.

Once Michelle got to the hostel and hopped in bed, there was no chance of moving her for food.  So I got some Papa John's and delivered it to her in bed.

After all the cold at the Great Wall the previous day, Michelle was not leaving the bed.  She called in sick, or the traveller's equivalent.  So after making sure she had coffee and food for the day I headed out to see some of the other sights in Beijing.

First I stopped at the Lama Temple.  This is a large temple complex dedicated to the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect of Buddism.  It was structured like most Chinese Temples.  The unique features it had where an absolutely massive standing Budda statue.  This was apparently carved from one tree.  To hide it during many of the invasions China has suffered it has been buried up to its neck.    The other interesting part, was the main building of the complex was joined to the two neighboring buildings by a covered bridge one story above the ground.  It was something that I have not seen in any of the other temples I have visited.

Next I went to go see the Confucian Temple which was nearby.  This was a monument that has grown and expanded over the years as a testament to the influence of Confucius. Since the primary focus of Confucius' teachings were education it is connected to a school that has become a museum to his teaches and famous people who have implemented them.  The most interesting part was the large rock memorials to previous students.  Apparently the graduation results were kept on large stones in the courtyard as a permanent record for all to see.

When I came back, Michelle wanted to try to go out and get some of the most famous Beijing dish for Dinner.  So we went to the Roast Duck Restaurant to get some Peking Duck.  It was a very popular spot as there was quite a wait for a table, but they did have a portion of the kitchen open to show the process of roasting the duck.  When we got a table we realized it was impossible to order anything but duck.  The appetizers, soup, everything had duck.  I am surprised that we even got vegetables without having some duck.  However, after having the duck I see why they are very good at what they do.  It was fantastic.  My only complaint was that the pot of tea we got was almost as expensive as the duck.  There is something wrong with that!.

On our last day we headed off to see the Forbidden City.  We went to Tiananmen Square to walk through it, apparently we were not the only ones for being as large as it is there were a lot of people walking around.  They seemed to be making loops almost like it was a track.  As we made our way to the gate with the large picture of Chairman Mao the crowd started to thin out.

As we walked through the gate we thought we were getting to the Forbidden City.  However this is just the three courtyard and gates that lead up to the moat and main gate.  So across these courtyards we set off, only to enter the Forbidden City and realize that it has the same layout.  The center is essentially a set of three court yards meant to entertain visitors, and then another set of three courtyards for ceremonies and other private functions.  Each of these courtyards have a raised temple dominating one end.  The walk through was very interesting, but disappointing as you can go in very few of the buildings.  Mostly you just push your way to a railing to have some one take a picture of the back of your head as you try to see what everyone behind you is trying to see.

Off to either side of this mad rush in the center is a complex of houses for the people who lived here.  There are 12 palaces that were for the direct members of the royal family and then a large series of apartments.  Today these all hold various small collections, however due to the fact China has been plundered numerous times very little of it speaks to the grandeur that once was the palace.

That night we caught a train back to Shanghai to go put the finishing touches on Michelle's wedding dress.  But I will let her tell that story.

Bill