Adoption Trip: Touring Beijing

Today, after a hard night's sleep (first time horizontal since Tuesday) we toured Bejing. This was nice, because it got our minds off the wait for our daughters. Besides, we got to see the Great Wall, Tia Nan Men Square (replete with opportunities to practice our Chinese) and the Forbidden City.

Kenny woke up first (5:45) to find himself - where else! - chatting on the Internet with friends and family. Our wake-up call came in at 6:30, breakfast at the hotel at 7:20, and hit the tour bus by 8am.

"Cindy" our guide, watches over us like a mother hen - every ten minutes she pauses to take a count of the group. After yesterday's experience at the Guangzhou airport, we walk worshipfully behind her little green flag wherever she leads us. She is a true angel.

Beijing is huge — at 13 million people and growing, it's only the third largest city in China, behind Chongqing (30M) and Shanghai (22M). Everywhere in Beijing, and we're told, in cities all over China, there is a tremendous boom in construction. Our tour bus took us through an area of town that ten years ago didn't exist. It is now a mini-city of 70,000 people. Cindy says there is a joke circulating that the new National Bird of China is the crane.

The Chinese standard of living has also exploded. In 1970, there were three measures of whether or not a person was considered well-to-do: a bicycle, a radio, and a watch. By 1980, these had morphed into a car, a house, and a passport.

Our first stop: Tian Nan Men Square. The very famous picture of Chairman Mao stands watch over everything, like a Ghost. Cindy told us that Mao's portrait has to be repainted every year, because the terrible Beijing air polution ruins it.

Chairman Mao's Portrait in Tian Nan Men Square

Street vendors follow you ceaselessly, hawking everything from umbrellas (we bought two, since it was raining) to Moa's Little Red Book of Quotations (we pass on that one). We got lots of opportunities to practice some of the little Chinese we've learned, saying "Bu Yao" every 10 seconds to another persistent salesperson. Jason made the mistake of telling one fellow that his goods were nice, but "No thanks". Notice, he did not say "Bu Yao" first. As a result, Jason made a new friend: this guy followed us for an extra block, and across the street.

Jason and his Chinese language practice partner. "Bu Yao!"

Mao's picture hangs at the North end of Tia Nan Men Square is the South Gate of the Forbidden City. In the Emperor's day, the only woman ever allowed through the Empress, and then only on her wedding day.

We knew that the Forbidden City was big — but we never realized just how massive it really is. There are over 13,000 "rooms" (the Chinese word for room encompasses not only spaces enclosed by four walls, but also those delimited by four columns). Inside the outer walls lie courtyard after courtyard, each with a distinct purpose.

The Moat inside the Forbidden City's Courtyard of Eternal Unity

Deep within the bowels of this labyrinthine structure, after walking for (literally) miles, we came across the most important courtyard of all: the one that housed a Starbucks! The staff even know how to take a real live order, responding correctly to Kenny's request for a "double, grande, skinny iced mocha with whip". Sadly enough, the prices are the same as in the States: $4.00 for the coffe, $0.25 for a skiff of whipped cream.

You can't get one in Kalispell

The Imperial Garden, Forbidden City

After Tia Nan Men Square and the Forbidden City, we went to lunch at the State owned and operated Friendship Store. There are several Friendship Stores around the country. The Beijing store specializes in art works including: blued copper and enamel plated vases; hand-woven rugs of the highest quality; articles of carved jade ranging from chopsticks to gigantic statues (for only $25,000, they'll have one shipped "dole to dole"); hand embroidered wall hangings; exceedingly ornate grandfather clocks (you can pick one up for the same $25k) and sundry other curios.

A young artisan applies enamel to a blued copper vase. The copper is used to create the design into which the enamel can be set. The next step is firing.

After touring the artisans' exhibits, we were taken upstairs for lunch. We have quickly come to expect the out-of-the-ordinary in our Chinese cuisine, which has led to the creation of the blog's first regular feature.

Near Miss

Today's Fear Factor ™ Near Misses include such delicacies as "Jellyfish Head", "Deep Fried Pork Stomachs", "Fried Duck Webs" (yes, the toe-jam of ducks!) and one which technically doesn't qualify as a near miss, since one of us (Jason) sampled it: "Sweet and Sour Fish".

The head and tail are almost perfectly preserved

Most of the rest of the meal was prepared with American tastes in mind. Cindy (our guide) joined the other guides and bus drivers downstairs for "authentic" Chinese food, including the chicken feet mentioned in yesterday's post.

After eating, we continued on to the highlight of the day: the Great Wall of China. It was an incredible workout getting to the third rampart - that's where Ken, Kimberly, and Michelle stopped to rest and talk with the others about our families, or babies and to get out of the way the requisite "where are y'all froms". Jason, however, went on to demonstrate his manhood by quickly climbing to the top and meeting us back down at Rampart #3.

Jason's triumphal entry, the pride before the fall.

At the bottom, we found tucked away along side the other tourist traps at the wall, the Temple of Cheng Huang, which houses various idols, including the "Patron God" (that is, the patron god of the temple) and "The King of Hell" (and who could that be...let's see...perhaps it's...?). We were not permitted to photograph the interior of the temple, so we can't show you the scary stuff. Outside, gigantic sticks of incense, 6 inches across and 7 feet tall, were burning in a great big censure. Although it was quiet, we're told that visitors kowtow to the gods in the courtyard before entering the temple in search of their guidance. Inside, we witnessed people consulting with fortune tellers and meditating. The whole time Kimberly was having her own down-home, pentecostal prayer meeting.

The temple which houses the graven image of "The King of Hell"

I leave you all with some more images of the Great Wall...less than 15 hours till we get the babies. Tomorrow's post will be the highlight of the trip, so tune in!