September 6, 2008, Beijing, Saturday
Yesterday, after the obligatory reorganization, travel research, etc., we adventuresomely set forth for the inner city, taking the taxi to the Wukesong station and then the Metro downtown.The Metro is very fast and travels long distances between stops. It's not as plush as the DC Metro, but then it carries many more people. Security and baggage checks at the stations. 2 yuan (about 28 cents) will take you great distances.We emerged at Tienanmen Square (from the Tienanmen east station) and began walking around it, in trhe mid-day sun, taking in the scale, the sites...the Heavenly Gate and the likeness of the Great Helmsman, the Great Hall of the People, the Maosoleum, the National Museum, the Shrine to Fallen Heroes. Frowny-faced, fit-looking but unarmed soldiers, standing at attention, all around all the public buildings. But even they could crack a laugh at some of Vicki's antics.In the neighborhoods later, there were many yellow arm-banded "public security volunteers," older women mostly, keeping a watchful eye on everything. But everyone was nice, friendly, helpful...especially the touts (!).
Our secondary mission for the day was to look into cheaper downtown hotels, so we walked and pedicabbed the neighborhoods east of the Forbidden City. OK, we were royally fleeced with the pedicab, but it was another "experience." Much of our exploration was in the hutongs, old Beijing, very interesting, but very sub-standard housing and conditions. The highlight was a tea-tasting, mostly green and oolong, most memorable of which was a "flowering fairy." (Pix later when I have the time and camera). Also many sites, temples, and street-scenes of interest and rather few Euro-American tourists. Toward the end of the day we strolled a beautiful garden near the Heavenly Gate, then got on the Metro back to Wukesong. On the Metro one of the day's more amusing incidents (apart from our "negotiating" with the pedicab guy) occurred. We could not remember the name of the station we were to go to; we had it written down on a card only in Chinese (by the hotel concierge ("My husband used to be the concierge, but he's dead; now I'm the concierge")). So there we were, holding the card up to the Metro car's map, trying to match its Chinese characters with the ones on the card, with scores of young Chinese intently watching and helping. We crashed upon return to the hotel, ordering-in the 2-for-1 pizza special from the hotel's Italian restaurant, with Nanjing beer for me. The rest of the evening was spent making further hotel and flight reservations, etc. And washing 1/3 of our entire wardrobe. And reorganizing.Travel is hard work.
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| Flowering Fairy |
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| Vicki at tea degustation, east of Forbidden City |
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| The storekeeper's son studying outside |
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| Chinese signs crack us up |
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