Sat.11-17&18-07 Beijing, China

CHINA, NOVEMBER 16-24 2008
with EXPLORICA

Our first stop in China was the capital, Beijing. It was exciting to see all the signs in Chinese in the airport. In front of the security lines, was a mural of the Chinese mountains.

The first evening we met our tour director, Solomon. He lives in Beijing and usually does city tours, but he stayed with us through the whole trip. We ate our first meal with chopsticks, no silverware! Then we went to our hotel. He Ping Li .

...Our first hotel was the best of the trip. It was clean and the personnel were helpful. They always seemed to have at least one person who could speak as well as understand English. They provided a beautiful breakfast that would appeal to an international clientel. There was always cold cereal and hot rice cereal, several kinds of breads and the chefs were there with their hats fixing our eggs to order. Many kinds of ingredients to add to omlets were available as well as meats on the side. They also had salad ingredients and baked beans like I saw in Scotland every morning!






This is my friend, Ruby, and I. Our group met here at 7am every morning to meet and get ready for the day. This miniature chef met us every morning at the entrance to the hotel restaurant.










Sunday morning we were back on the bus and headed for the Forbidden City.This is our bus for the tours of Beijing. It was very comfortable with room above the seats for our coats and "extras." Although in Beijing the temperature and wind made our coats a necessity.






The Forbidden City was where the Emperor and Empress lived with their servants (no males except for eunuchs) and the Emperor's concubines. Common people and even aristocrats were not allowed into the city. It is a very ancient city that has had problems with fires, so the buildings are of different ages. The beautiful enamel work and porcelin tiles contrast with the old flaking paint on some of the buildings.
The curved corners on the buildings are called fish tails because the fish is revered. The number of animals on the corner relates to the importance of the building-much like our 4 star hotels today. In the past, the owner could be killed if the building had more animals than it should have. Today, they are not that strict. There are several white marble bridges over the Golden River that runs through the Forbidden City. The posts are carved beautifully.

Because of the Olympics in the summer of 2008, they are trying to put English on the signs and to make the walkways easier to navigate. Here is an example of the old stone and the new stone walk. New is much better walking!




This is a huge stone carving- all one piece of stone weighing more than 200 tons! It has beautiful interlocking lotus patterns all around, curling waves at the bottom with 9 dragons and clouds in the middle. Nine is a favorite number for the royalty, and the dragon is a symbol for power, so it is also a symbol for the emperor. The Large Stone Carving ( that is its name.) was brought to the city in the winter when they could pour water on the road and slide it to the city.








These are throne rooms inside two of the buildings. We could not go inside the buildings, so these pictures were taken through windows. I tried to get close-ups of interesting items.

Left is the back of the throne. Above and to the right is a brazier for heat or for incense. I think on the right is a teapot over a burner. We moved through several large red doors. There were nine rows of nail heads across and nine rows down. There's that nine again!

I see Ruby and Mike in the picture below. We saw a great deal of scaffolding up in front of the buildings getting ready for the Olympics.

Below is one of the street cleaners who work constantly to keep the public areas immaculate. They often wear face masks because of the dust. Solomon said that during parts of the spring and summer there are dust storms from the desert areas to the west . During those times the dust is very bad. We saw street cleaners all through the city when riding on the bus. Also older women who must be paid by what they can accumulate in their trash bags. They met us as we got off the bus and would reach for any empty cans or bottles we had in our hands. They smiled and were very eager to take them. This hard working lady was our last vision as we left the ancient and beautiful Forbidden City.

Fri & Sat 11-17&18-08 Departure and arrival

TO CHINA
NOVEMBER 16-24, 2008

Our trip began from Preston High School at 2:00AM. We loaded ourselves and our luggage into a van and traveled to Pittsburgh Airport. We were able to get through the line quickly before the long lines began. Our trip to Chicago was pleasant, and I was seated beside Ruby, thanks to Dottie Stewart, who changed her seat for us.

We had a little time in O'Hare before our departure to Beijing and enjoyed seeing the light show above the moving track.

We had a long flight to Bejing, China. It was 13 hours, and because we crossed the International Dateline, we zoomed into the next day, November 18! I had called United Airlines and requested the diabetic menu and was pleased that it was not loaded with sauces and sweets.
When we arrived in Beijing, it was exciting to see all the signs in Chinese characters, but also with English words below.

For our first meal in China, we were not given any silverware! We all laughed as we tried to get food into our mouths. We were tired and hungry, but still laughing as some threatened "I know that fingers were made before silverware or chopsticks!"

There was a glass turntable in the middle of the table. The serving dishes, with 8 to 10 or more different foods were placed on the turntable. There was usually enough for each person to have a small serving of each food. In Beijing we were served rice. In Xi'an, since they are noted for their wheat, we were served noodles and dumplings. In Shanghai, we had both. Once in a while, rolls or fried bread was served.

Our food in China was always Chinese. We were seated at a large round table; one time 12 people were seated at our table. We saw that they used a large wooden round top over a small square table. We were served a one liter bottle of Coke and one of Sprite. We could have one glass of soda, water, or beer. There was an extra charge for any liquid beyond the one glass. Our place settings were always: a small soup bowl, small plate, teacup, glass, and chopsticks.

We did see American fast food restaurants, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, but did not go to any of them until Saturday, our last day in Shanghai. That ice cream at McDonald's was very welcome!