So here’s the post of the Great Wall. Hey, did you know this is one of the great architectural wonders of the world? Heehee. I think the most impressive view of the wall was from the bus, my very first view. The first view was the most exciting, but also, from a distance you can see a few miles of wall. Up close, the wall was…a wall. It undulates along the high point of the ridge, sometimes ascending and descending very steeply. Of course, all along the wall are the vendors selling custom stamps made of soft jade, hats, t-shirts, and so on. The section we were on was the most visited and it was quite crowded, but not so crowded where you couldn’t enjoy it. I was hoping that we’d go beyond the popular point, up along a steep rise to a high tower, but, with a tour, that wasn’t an option. No huge loss.

Cool Panorama of the wall:

“Summon not storms with thine magical horn!”:

After the Wall, we went back to Beijing to check out one of the residences of the infamous “Dragon Lady”, the Summer Palace. There’s a cool temple here (that is off limits) and huge lake, Kunming Lake, that was dug out…a long time ago. This is where the Marble Boat is too.

One of nine sons of some dragon (he’s pretty cool lookin’):

But, my memory from here were the really aggressive street vendors selling the knock-off Gucci and Louis Vuitton bags. I helped one rich lady buy a black Gucci bag for about $3.50. They look nice, no telling how long they last though. Heck, for one night it would be worth it. I think the experience is worth it…especially watching the other Americans try to deal with them. They don’t realize that “It’s very nice! No thank you.” emboldens them. You can tell who are the worst at this. I’d look back and see some American turning and talking to them (no doubt telling them how nice the merchandise looked), then the vendor would simply increase the aggression. As the American would continue to smile and say “No” (though still complimenting the merchandise), more would appear eventually encircling the poor sap. Some people would just give in and buy others would try to talk their way out of it. But, eventually, we all learn how best to do it. Otherwise, your stay in China could be frustrating.

Being on a real touristy tour means we’re hitting all the classic touristy stuff, and they’re touristy for a reason – ’cause obviously they’re the most famous historical sites in China. Today was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I don’t really know what constitutes a “square” but Tiananmen claims to be the biggest in the world. Here are a cupla shots both during the day and at night.

The tanks rolled in to the square just off to the left of the picture on the right. The fate of the citizen who stood in front of the tanks is unknown. He might very well be languishing in some miserable prison right now, unaware of his influence on history. Scary.

To enter the Forbidden City, you pass under the famous portrait of Chairman Mao. Beyond that is part of the Imperial City and beyond that even further through a couple of more gates to the Forbidden City. Now, I’m not about to give a history lesson. For one, you can read it anywhere and two, it’s probably quite boring for me to write it. Instead, I’ll just give basic impressions.

The entrance:

I’m writing this a few days later and so far my favorite thing is watching the people and the behaviors (for example, walking through the old town of Chongqing was my favorite so far). Still, the Forbidden City was quite impressive. I’m not sure how to describe the size, far bigger than I was expecting, mostly consisting of huge plazas surrounded by ornate buildings. The thing was that we passed through many of these gates to different sections. Most of the sections are quite wide open but we did get to some cozy residential areas for the emperor and his various concubines.

Unfortunately, some of the structures were covered in scaffolding, getting ready for the 2008 Olympics.

In the evening, after coming back from Tiananmen Square, we hit this night market for food. Lots of quality chow was available, freaky things like centipedes on a stick. I got some of these nice fried banana fritter things:

When I made the decision to come to China about 4 months ago, that cemented the idea of my parents taking a tour of China. Today, we met up in Beijing (along with some family friends of ours) to begin the 17-day odyssey. I’m only going to be participating in about half of the trip, but, regardless, it will certainly be a journey to be remembered. Yes, there will soon be “touristy” posts on this site, but the touristy stuff is touristy for a reason and I’m very excited to see it all. Also, what better way to enjoy it? China is a very tough place to get around without knowing the language. Even beyond the language, there rest of the system is almost as puzzling. So, a tour was welcome. Well, my parents and our friends endured nearly a 2-day trip to get here, whereas all I did was wake up at 6am to catch a ride to the Shenzhen airport. The comfortable flight was three hours, but now three hours feels like a simple taxi ride.

Beijing looks much different from Shenzhen. For one, it reminds me a lot of Denver, without the mountains in the distance. It’s a wide expanse of brown buildings, not picturesque at all. There are few tall buildings, at least few compared to Shenzhen or Hong Kong. To me, so far, it’s felt like a very large small town. The architecture is quite different. Whereas Shenzhen has virtually none of the classic Chinese architecture, it’s quite common in Beijing, though I’m sure most of it is a cheap knock-off of the real thing (for example the district toll booths).

Beijing rooftops:

While some folks took a well-deserved rest, we decided to head out and see at least one site. We went to Honhai Lake and the Drum and Bell Tower nearby. The lake is surrounded with small bars and restaurants. Private tour guides aggressively hawk their wares and stopping to look at a map or a sign will have them all around you. I explained to my folks, the best way to deal with them (assuming you’re not interested in hiring them) is not to speak to them, not even to make eye contact. Of course, this is hard to get used to as an American or a westerner and so we had a few tailing us for a while.

At the constriction point of the Honhai Lake:

We actually bought tickets to go inside the Drum Tower, an old building built back in the 1200′s to announce the time across the ancient city. It’s not really a tower, but really just a tall, but squat building that houses a bunch of drums in the upper part. There’s one long, steep, dark staircase to get you into the drum room. Here’s a shot of the stairs:

I had to take a short movie of them playing the drums, announcing that it was 2:30 in Beijing, China.

During the week I was in the US, I didn’t think about going to McDonald’s.   One of my least favorite restaurants of all time, the only recent time that I can remember going is after a climb, maybe it was the Torment-Forbidden Traverse, when, as usual, we were coming out at 1 in the morning or so.   Of course, McDonald’s is always welcome then.

In China, I go more frequently.   My reasons:   1) It’s quick; many of the restaurants that I go to here either involve a lot of talking with people that I’ve met (sometimes I just don’t have the time) or I don’t know how to order a particular dish.   The latter is the more common one; I usually don’t want to trust the various weird food without it having been vouched for by someone I trust.   The other reason is that it does taste American and it’s nice to have the change.

Here are some “cool” McDonald’s pictures.   These were taken in Dong Men at, apparently, the very first McDonald’s to come to mainland China way back in 1990, back when China was a much more different place and even more wild.   This is a huge fast food joint:   three stories.   However, looking at the pictures now, they don’t seem to convey just how busy the place was.   McDonald’s is very popular with the kids, of course, as are the other popular US fast food places:   KFC and the elegant dining experience of Pizza Hut.

The good news about China being full of McDonald’s restaurants is Thomas Friedman‘s curious theory, from his book Lexus and the Olive Tree:   “…no two countries that both had a McDonald’s had fought a war against each other, since each got its McDonald’s.”

I’m on a real vacation now…2.5 weeks. Even though I’m actually doing some work today, I have been able to catch up on a lot of unfinished business. I got up early this morning (still trying to adjust to the time) and spent sometime finally cranking through this simple little movie of rafting down the Li Jiang River about halfway between Guilin and Yangsuo. Of course, I was in this region back in February, so it’s two months overdue. Enjoy!

Along the Li Jiang River