The Road Goes Ever On: In China

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

In China

September 4, 2008. Beijing, Thursday

We arrived Tuesday afternoon at Narita in fine form, all things accounted for, in good spirits. After immigration, customs, etc., we found the shuttle to the Narita Skycourt, a modest but affordable airport-vicinity hotel, and, after a couple vending-machine Asahi's, crashed. Meals on the United SFO/Narita flight were edible. We taught one of the flight attendants to say “Bring out your trash! Clink! Bring out your trash!”

Wednesday morning we were up before the crack of dawn, jet-lagged as expected, but had ample time to have breakfast and repack. The shuttle got us to Narita, check-in, security, and pre-flight gelatos and Starbucks. My, how Japan has changed since our visit 25 years ago.

The ANA flight to Beijing was great, especially the Asian lunch (smoked seafoods), the snappy attendants, some sort of film about a conquering princess (Mongols?). The approach to Beijing was interesting, conveying a bit of the scale. The metro area is said to be about the size of Belgium. The international building was the largest airport facility I have ever seen. And it was only one of many. Immigration, customs, etc., were fine. Olympics stuff everywhere, Parolympics people and signage everywhere. The English signage was great—until leaving the main building.

We knew all this was going to happen...our experiences in Japan two decades ago were preparation enough. We did not have the name of our Beijing hotel (Sheraton Four Points in Haidian) in Chinese, nor its address, nor anything else. We took a shuttle bus into central Beijing (not really knowing where it was going), got off at the end-stop, found a clerk in an electronics shop who spoke and read enough English to get us a taxi, and, after a bit of a ride and further consultations, arrived at the Sheraton. All this took about two hours, which is probably not much more than it would have taken had we known what we were doing. I am pleased to say we did all this in relatively good spirits, having agreed months ago that we were to regard such vicissitudes as interesting and beneficial adventures.

The manager of the Sheraton (brand-new for all I can tell), met us at the door, apologizing profusely for the fact that our original reservation, at the Beijing Lofts, had to be canceled (it's not open yet). English-speaking staff everywhere. Our 10th-floor room is palatial. We are not worthy.

The one unsettling aspect of the day was discovering that our possessions are more than we can readily carry. And so we spent much of the evening reprioritizing, resorting, repacking, etc. But very happy to be in Beijing.

Our shuttle into the city brought us past all the Olympics sites, the Birds' Nest, the Cube, etc. They are even more impressive up close. We hope to see more. No surprise: the scale of Beijing is overwhelming.Even the Ikea was bigger than the ones we have seen in MD and CA.

Again, we crashed early.

Today, Thursday, I awoke very early, jet-lagged, went downstairs in search of free wifi, chatted on skype and gmail with Rachel and Rebecca, and had coffee in the restaurant. As always, I enjoyed dawn, watching a great city awake. After a bit more reorganizing (we must be very organized by now) and repacking, we set forth for the Summer Palace, a site we chose (judging from the map) for its relative proximity. We are learning that in Beijing this means a harrowing ride on the expressway, perhaps 2-3 miles away.

So we spent the afternoon at the Summer Palace, which turns out to be many palaces, state, and other buildings, on a grounds large enough to include lakes and forests. We walked a bit arojund Kunming Lake, took the dragon ferry aross the lake to the Corridor (decorated with 14,000 scenes, landscape, cultural, etc.), the Temple of Buddha's Fragrance, quite a few other temples, the Wengshan Gallery, Cixi's theatre, the Seventeen Arch Bridge, the Temple of Embracing the Universe, etc. (Merely hugging trees would not be enough here....). The artefacts, relics, etc., were pretty overwhelming, and this is a site that is pretty young by Chinese standards...built originally in 1750, expanded in the late 1800's, pafrtially renovated in 2005. Often the renovated portions stand side by side with the 1905 additions, and it is interesting to compare what a century can do. People often spend a day at the summer palace, so we may have to go back if we have time. Pix later.

The taxi ride back to the hotel took us past a gigantic shopping center just two blocks from the Sheraton. After a celebratory martini and pina colada at the bar, we resolved to walk to the shopping center to look for dinner and explore. The Lotus Superstore was impressive—kind of a giant Super Walmart. American products everywhere, labeled in Chinese (generally); plus all the traditional stuff. (“Made by America in China”). The seafood section was like a trip to the wharf. And everything very inexpensive. More of this later.

McDonald's, Starbuck's, KFC, Papajohn's, etc., were in evidence here, so, being in a hurry to eat and get back to the hotel to crash, we opted for KFC (how do you say “white meat only” in Mandarin?). One shouldn't jump into a new culture too quickly. Besides, McDonald's is the new culture.