china 2006: part 1

Our stay in Peking was brief but very fast-paced. On the first day we went to the Imperial Palace. Started at the south gate of Tienamen Square and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked north to the north gate of the Forbidden City. You really cannot imagine how big that place is until you walk, and walk, and walk it yourself.

The front yard.

The south gate is where people would enter the palace grounds. Guests would then walk and walk until they got through four other gates, and then got to see the emperor in the throne room. We didn’t actually get to see the throne room because of a little thing coming up called BEIJING 2008 renovations. So, that was part one of our day.

Then we were rewarded for our walk by the world’s greatest korow.

Part two of our day was the Summer Palace. After part one, you kind of get the feeling why communism was a great idea in China. Part two seals the deal for brother Mao. The Summer Palace is over 4x bigger than the Imperial Palace. It’s a huge, gigantic man-made lake. The dirt from digging the lake was enough to build a huge, gigantic hill where they built the palace. This is where the big dudes hung out when they got tired of the same old same old in the city.

The difference between the common people and the royalty was as big to them as heaven and earth, with the common people scratching out an existence in the dirt, while the royalty lived in these two beyond description abodes. No wonder Mao’s cause won the day.

To reward Lucy for making the long walk, we went to a pearl factory. We learned that Central Command actually requires tour guides to take vulnerable, but not poor, tourists to places like this to “see how cultured pearls are made.” As if this was purely educational. After learning how cultured pearls are made, and how each oyster can make up to 30 pearls, and how really big pearls take 8-10 years of growth, we were ushered into their “showroom” to see why all those poor oysters died. Admittedly, the stuff was CHEAP compared with jewelry stores in the US. So, we could not get out of there until after they closed.

That night we ate at a small Taiwanese cafe next door to the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe. All ten of us ate for about 20 bucks. I mean ATE. The kids were like those evil creatures that the emperor spent so much of his time warding off. We got back to the hotel at about midnight and literally dropped dead.

If the walking on the first day was not enough, day 2 was the Great Wall. Ah, but before we could get to the Great Wall, we had an “educational” stop at a jade factory. Really incredible stuff, including hollowed out multi-layered orbs, and a 20-foot long warship.

When we finally got to the Wall, some dignitary was there so they blocked off the easy side and we had to walk the hard side.

They talk about the Great Wall being so big that horses could ride four breast on the wall. It’s actually impossible to walk horses four abreast because they would be sliding down the wall and quickly becoming food for the Peking zoo animals. There is no way animals with hooves could walk that thing. It was so steep in parts that I had to walk on all fours to stay alive. I could not believe it.

The Great Wall

So, after the Great Wall, we had another “educational” stop at a handcraft factory where they made all sorts of handcrafted stuff. Luckily we got out of there with a long time of shopping, but just a few token contributions to the national armory.

Then we went to the Ming Tombs. There was one truly exceptional structure there. It’s 600 years old, standing some 100 feet tall, and there are was not a single nail in the entire thing. Big lincoln log tomb. Very, very impressive. Makes one proud to be Chinese. We did a modest amount of walking there, but then we did ourselves in.

On our way out of the Ming Tombs complex, our guide asked if we wanted to walk the Sacred Walk. Everybody knew that this walk had a series of about 40 stone statues and was very nice, but they did not hear the part where she said that the walk was 3.3 kilometers. That’s about 2 miles. That’s actually farther than I walked on the Great Wall and got me almost to the throne room in the Forbidden City. No one remembered that it was 40 degrees outside with a wind blowing at 20 mph. No big deal, we did the walk. It was nice.

After that we went to see a very nice Kung Fu show. Ian hid under my seat half of the time, and I could hardly keep Kyle awake. But, it was very high quality and very entertaining.

I was so tired that night, I didn’t eat dinner. Simply slept until morning. Woke up when Lucy was telling me that it was 7:45 a.m. However, after investigating that claim fully by looking out the window and check the clock, I discovered that it was actually 2:15 a.m. That would ordinarily be not such a bad thing, but Ian and Kyle were already in third gear and dressed for the day. I finally got back to sleep at 4 a.m. and was able to sleep until 7 a.m.

Our last day in Peking was a religious experience. We went to the Temple of Heaven. The emperors thought that they were sent by God to rule the entire world, so they went three to four times each year to connect with heaven. It’s funny how times change. We walked on a strip of marble in the middle of another long walkway in 2006. If we did it in 1400, we would have been shot by a thousand archers before we took three steps because only the emperor could touch that strip of marble. Times sure change.

You know, if Galileo, Capernicus and the Chinese got together, China would not be called the “Center Country.” Some emperor would have called it the “Center of the Universe.” The rest of the world needs to be able to wrap their minds around this mentality in order to really understand how to deal with the Chinese government.

The Temple of Heaven

The actual Temple of Heaven was blocked off because they are renovating for the 2008 Olympics. It and the rest of the buildings actually look like they are hundreds of years old. I guess that would not be acceptable for the world to see. I think that it would be more authentic.

After the Temple we went to another “educational” stop where we learned how…SILK was made. They actually walked us with live examples of how moths mate, lay eggs, eggs become larvae and worms, and then cocoons. Then they take the cocoons and take the silk threads from them. We hung out there for a long time.

Then we went to the greatest noodle shop in the world, or as some emperor would have it, the greatest noodle shop in the universe. We ate until we couldn’t anymore for about 20 bucks for 10 people. This noodle shop is purportedly as old as Texas.

Our next stop was rickshaw rides in a area known as “Narrow Streets.” This is an example of why it’s good not to know that there grows grass on the other side. These people were very happy, but living in pretty rundown homes. It’s a very historical area, but I am not sure why this area is such a must see tourist spot.

Then came the acrobats. Great show.

Then came Beijing Duck at a restaurant that is also as old as Texas. Unbelievable duck. Luckily the kids all slept through dinner, so we got extra.

Then we flew 45 minutes to Jinan in Shandong Provence. I was curious as to why we flew the distance from Dallas to Waco. That was explained to me that we would have needed to hire body guards for the car ride to be safe. Ok. Plane tickets are cheaper than EDS ex-pats from the Perot days.

We ate McDonalds and went on a tour of the city. Then we went to a little house in the suburbs to eat “home cooking” Shandong food. It was great food, but it was a some dude’s house that was being renovated into a little restaurant. There is obviously nothing in China similar to food inspectors. We were assured by our guide that it was clean, as he would lose his job if any of us got sick from it.

Would you eat here? We did.

That finds me in the hotel room writing this story. I have taken 1450 pictures, and we are only 4 days into this trip.