Five Days in Beijing - Part Damn This is Long
On Friday, we went to the blah blah blah Jade "factory", then the Ming tombs, then the enamel "factory" then the Great Wall, and then finished off with blah blah blah Peking Duck.
I think I peaked too soon with that ginormous post yesterday. It's true that the first day was a fucking whirlwind and I was cream crackered at 9:30 when we finally got back to the hotel. And day two was another day of Dead Emporer Sites galore.
Can you believe I've only been back for three days and I'm already this jaded? Standby while I slap myself and then climb out of my Hole O' Pity.
Right then. Where was I? Yes, day two in Beijing. The "factories" were government-owned shops where a girl (always a girl, lower to mid-20's) would rattle off a brief history of the intricacies of whichever factory we were at. At various points during the guided tour, we went to the jade factory, the enamel factory (where they make cloisonne trinkets and vases and jewelry),and a silk factory (which is fascinating by the way...I was so enthralled that I neglected to snap a single photo). Oh and a tea shop where we got the history of farming and drinking tea along with a brewing and drinking technique tutorial. Another interesting note from these factories is that the employees, of which there seemed to be an excess, had name tags but instead of names, they had numbers. Some Chinese characters and then No. 012 told us about the different varieties of jade and where each is mined. I think it was No. 182 that explained which tea to slurp and which to chew. Same thing at all of the restaurants.
The Ming tombs were...interesting in a Dead Emporer sort of way. Seriously, I love things that capital O-L-D, but the coup de grace was a bunch of big red metal boxes - sanitary and hard to make a connection with - for me anyway. I can't speak for anyone else's experience and I think I quite likely missed an opportunity for feeling something deep. But I think I might have been saving that up for the next stop of the day - the Great Wall at Bada Ling.
First, I will readily admit that when given the choice of walking up or riding up to the top of a section of the Wall in a gondola, I never hesitated that I'd rather go gondola. For one, the part of the wall accessible via the gondola was further away from the city and therefore less crowded. And more importantly, after walking up the tiny piece I did, I can tell you that it's not like climbing any old staircase or walking along a sidewalk. Hell NAH. That thing was steep. And the steps varied in height and depth - some risers were 6 inches high and others were more like 24 inches high. I am not exaggerating. You had to pay attention or you'd end up on your face - or worse, falling backwards. There were parts that were flat too and if it was less than a 20 % grade, I'd be shocked. Did I mention the steep part?
It was foggy/smoggy that day (who can tell which it is? Beijing is an enormous city), but the views of the wall were breathtaking. It snaked around hills and up impossible inclines and vanished in the distance. The scale is intense. The crowds, even at the more remote location, were intense as well. We passed a gentleman laying on the ground at the bottom of one set of stairs, chanting, and bowing - maybe kissing the stairs? - while tourist after tourist walked past him on either side. At the top of the section I went to, an Asian couple excitedly pointed at their camera and at me and I said "You want me to take your picture?" and they shook their heads NO! Via pointing, I realized they wanted their picture taken with me. Wha? Um, okay? Sure! I'm an oddity!
There was a glitch in the guide's plan though and we ended up only having about thirty minutes on the Great Wall of China. The gondola stopped at 4:00 (we got to the top about 3:30) and the guide didn't want us to split up - and my boss said she didn't think she'd make it walking down to where the bus was parked. She'd have to ride the gondola and therefore, we'd have to ride down with them. I might have been a little bit shattered, but I soon realized that I'd had more there than most people will ever have and I should be grateful for whatever it turned out to be. I have a picture of myself at the Great Wall. I get a little verklempt thinking about that.
Can you believe how long this day was? And we weren't done there. We went to a restaurant that specializes in Peking/Beijing Duck - apparently their big claim to fame is that former President Nixon ate there. Picture a way-too-big table and a lazy susan filled with a ludicrous amount of food. The duck was the highlight, at least for our guide. I thought the sauce they dipped it in tasted like reduced french onion soup and just way too onion-y and the duck soup (broth really), looked like dishwater and smelled like dirty socks. I tried to like it, I swear I did. And I did eat a generous portion so as not to make my hosts lose face. Sadly, the one item I kept going back for more of was the warm beer. Oh, and the multidinous mushrooms. Loads of mushrooms.
Another long and in some ways, emotional day. I did my best to remember an earlier promise to try and be half as happy as one of the happiest people I know. When I got back to the hotel, I fell into bed and had some of the most bizarre but realistic dreams I've had in a long time.
I think I peaked too soon with that ginormous post yesterday. It's true that the first day was a fucking whirlwind and I was cream crackered at 9:30 when we finally got back to the hotel. And day two was another day of Dead Emporer Sites galore.
Can you believe I've only been back for three days and I'm already this jaded? Standby while I slap myself and then climb out of my Hole O' Pity.
Right then. Where was I? Yes, day two in Beijing. The "factories" were government-owned shops where a girl (always a girl, lower to mid-20's) would rattle off a brief history of the intricacies of whichever factory we were at. At various points during the guided tour, we went to the jade factory, the enamel factory (where they make cloisonne trinkets and vases and jewelry),and a silk factory (which is fascinating by the way...I was so enthralled that I neglected to snap a single photo). Oh and a tea shop where we got the history of farming and drinking tea along with a brewing and drinking technique tutorial. Another interesting note from these factories is that the employees, of which there seemed to be an excess, had name tags but instead of names, they had numbers. Some Chinese characters and then No. 012 told us about the different varieties of jade and where each is mined. I think it was No. 182 that explained which tea to slurp and which to chew. Same thing at all of the restaurants.
The Ming tombs were...interesting in a Dead Emporer sort of way. Seriously, I love things that capital O-L-D, but the coup de grace was a bunch of big red metal boxes - sanitary and hard to make a connection with - for me anyway. I can't speak for anyone else's experience and I think I quite likely missed an opportunity for feeling something deep. But I think I might have been saving that up for the next stop of the day - the Great Wall at Bada Ling.
First, I will readily admit that when given the choice of walking up or riding up to the top of a section of the Wall in a gondola, I never hesitated that I'd rather go gondola. For one, the part of the wall accessible via the gondola was further away from the city and therefore less crowded. And more importantly, after walking up the tiny piece I did, I can tell you that it's not like climbing any old staircase or walking along a sidewalk. Hell NAH. That thing was steep. And the steps varied in height and depth - some risers were 6 inches high and others were more like 24 inches high. I am not exaggerating. You had to pay attention or you'd end up on your face - or worse, falling backwards. There were parts that were flat too and if it was less than a 20 % grade, I'd be shocked. Did I mention the steep part?
It was foggy/smoggy that day (who can tell which it is? Beijing is an enormous city), but the views of the wall were breathtaking. It snaked around hills and up impossible inclines and vanished in the distance. The scale is intense. The crowds, even at the more remote location, were intense as well. We passed a gentleman laying on the ground at the bottom of one set of stairs, chanting, and bowing - maybe kissing the stairs? - while tourist after tourist walked past him on either side. At the top of the section I went to, an Asian couple excitedly pointed at their camera and at me and I said "You want me to take your picture?" and they shook their heads NO! Via pointing, I realized they wanted their picture taken with me. Wha? Um, okay? Sure! I'm an oddity!
There was a glitch in the guide's plan though and we ended up only having about thirty minutes on the Great Wall of China. The gondola stopped at 4:00 (we got to the top about 3:30) and the guide didn't want us to split up - and my boss said she didn't think she'd make it walking down to where the bus was parked. She'd have to ride the gondola and therefore, we'd have to ride down with them. I might have been a little bit shattered, but I soon realized that I'd had more there than most people will ever have and I should be grateful for whatever it turned out to be. I have a picture of myself at the Great Wall. I get a little verklempt thinking about that.
Can you believe how long this day was? And we weren't done there. We went to a restaurant that specializes in Peking/Beijing Duck - apparently their big claim to fame is that former President Nixon ate there. Picture a way-too-big table and a lazy susan filled with a ludicrous amount of food. The duck was the highlight, at least for our guide. I thought the sauce they dipped it in tasted like reduced french onion soup and just way too onion-y and the duck soup (broth really), looked like dishwater and smelled like dirty socks. I tried to like it, I swear I did. And I did eat a generous portion so as not to make my hosts lose face. Sadly, the one item I kept going back for more of was the warm beer. Oh, and the multidinous mushrooms. Loads of mushrooms.
Another long and in some ways, emotional day. I did my best to remember an earlier promise to try and be half as happy as one of the happiest people I know. When I got back to the hotel, I fell into bed and had some of the most bizarre but realistic dreams I've had in a long time.
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