More Beijing Sites

The Beijing Trip was so enjoyable even though it was very cold and snowy. We got to watch the changing of the guard at Tianenmen Square. It was snowy and cloudy and lots of people, but we still were able to get some pictures. We were just moseying along afterwards and not paying any attention to others when the Red Guard came and insisted that we get out of the square - Kicked out of Tianenmen Square! :-) So we decided to go to the Forbidden City and take a look since it was only about 6:30. After wandering around and looking at the sites a bit, our other teacher was doing some shopping at one of the stands when here came the Red Guard again. They kept saying something in Chinese which we couldn't understand. Finally we were surrounded by eight soldiers and one of them was urging us to leave the premises "quickly! quickly!". We were being kicked out - again! I guess that is a record to be kicked out of two places by the Red Guard in one night! :-) (Really they were wanting to close the place). Here are two little kids that we saw with their dad at the Forbidden City.
We had a great hotpot dinner in Beijing where one side is spicy and the other is mild. You order the meats and vegetables that you want and the pot has a burner under it. You put the meats and veggies in and cook them. Yum-yum!

We also had the famous Peking Duck meal while in Beijing. I had to take a picture of one of the dishes on the menu. Of course we couldn't imagine eating these critters, but it is apparently considered a delicacy here.

And then we had to find the local steak house called McDonalds. That sure made Jim happy. After tackling the silk market we decided we had gone through the gauntlet of people grabbing us and trying to get us into their stalls to buy something that it was time to call it a night. We decided we like the Tian Yi market much better since we could look without being hassled although there were still hordes of people and it was very difficult to get through the isles. Even though they don't celebrate Christmas, there were plenty of Christmas decorations around.

I got fairly decent at bargaining with the sellers at the markets. Although I am sure I got the worst end of the deal several times. :-) You have to think quick and convert the Renmimbi into US dollars in your head while you are trying to bargain.

Jim was able to get a beautiful wool overcoat tailor made for him while we were there too. The proprietor was so honest that he made a special trip to our Hutong to return a hundred yuan that he thought Jim had overpaid. (He could have easily said oh well it was his mistake).

Finally Back

Wow - seems like a long time since we were able to get on the net to post or get emails. Since the earthquake in Tiawan we haven't had any luck getting access to the internet. We have had lots of exciting happenings around here.Just to mention a few:

Our electricity was turned off one evening for work downstairs at the apartment. We didn't have light or heat until after 2:30 the next day. I was able to go to school and have some warmth, but Jim had to just try to keep warm until all was back to "normal".

Ever since we have been here we have had a problem with the main bathroom door not being able to open from the inside. We have had three people get locked in...but no problem, we just let them out. (You can see where this is going) Since we were going to Beijing over the New Year break Jim wanted me to trim up his hair (in the bathroom). I trimmed his hair and shaved his neck and said "I'll go to the other bathroom for a mirror..." Uh-oh, ...the door had swung shut when we went in and...you guessed it...we were locked in. There certainly wasn't anyone to let us out and we had the heat lamps on drying our clothes. (all 4 of them).

We had nothing to use to try to pry the door open. We spent almost an hour trying to use the metal piece from the floor drain , take the hinges off, pry the trim off the facing, and trying to loosen the heat lamps...all to no avail. Finally Jim said he would just have to try to break the door. After repeated attempts he kicked a hole in the door, but we still couldn't get out. Finally he kicked the door handle off and we still couldn't get out. I eventually was able to get hold of the little pin with my fingernails and get it out. We decided we better call the Waiban and let him know we had broken the door. His response to me was "Call someone and have them let you out"....only in China!(Who do you know that takes their cell phone with them to the bathroom?!) Oh well, all's well that ends well.

So we were off to Beijing on the overnight train. The next morning when we woke up and looked out the window there was snow everywhere. It was so pretty and reminded us of home. When we finally arrived at our destination (another teacher had made the reservations), we were staying at a Hutong which is a traditional home which housed up to four families around an outside patio. When we were taken inside, the hosts were having a hotpot lunch in the portico while it was snowing. Our room is the one you can see on the left through the gourd vines.

We found that the toilets were outside and we must put our clothes on and walk across the portico and around a trail to go to the restroom or take a shower during the night. The first night I took a cold shower in about 20-25 degree weather and then walked back to the room. We also had a little space heater which knocked off the chill in the room. We finally got some hot water the next night and it was great. Since we only had 4 days in Beijing we had to pack a lot of things in every day. It was pretty awesome standing on top of the Great Wall of China on New Year's Day. This lil guy had quite a time having a snowball fight with me. It was a gorgeous day even though the wind was very sharp and the steps were quite slippery. We had begun our day by trying to see the changing of the guard at Tianenmen Square, but couldn't get close enough so went on to the Wall at 6:30 am. We finally got back to the Hutong about 8:30 that night, very tired, but it had been a good day.

I'll quit rambling for now since it is 11:30 pm and I have to teach tomorrow. More later.