| Submitted by: Jim Chambers , United States |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
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It was okay, but it paled in comparison to the thrill of walking on the Great Wall. All in all, the Ming Tombs aren't that big a deal, but the Great Wall tours generally go here as well, since they are on the way. On the way back to Beijing, we stopped at a jade factory. It was really interesting seeing how jade is cut and polished into an incredible variety of shapes, but the merchandise was horribly expensive, and, as we learned later, was much cheaper in the Beijing markets. That evening, Carla came to the hotel. I called Ann and Roula (they both live in Toledo, Ohio, but Ann lived in New York for some time, and her accent gives her away), and they came to my room to meet Carla, too. Carla said that she could get off work for three days a month and that she would be able to be with me on Monday through Wednesday. Ann and Roula asked Carla endless questions about Chinese medicine, and she very patiently answered them all. Carla had a real workout on her English, with my southern drawl, Ann's New York accent, and Roula's Greek-American speech! We were so fascinated with Carla that we could have stayed up talking for hours, but finally I pointed out that it was getting late and that we should let Carla go home. Before leaving, Carla agreed to take Ann, Roula, and me to her clinic on Monday afternoon.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6. This morning I walked up the street a couple of blocks to the famous Silk Market, a long alley so narrow that it would be terribly claustrophobic when crowded with shoppers in the warmer months. If you want clothes, this is the place. They have many name brands, but some of it is possibly counterfeit. I bought a couple of really nice gold Rolex watches for US$14 each, which the vendor assured me were genuine. I guess it's the low overhead that explains why Rolexes that cost thousands of dollars in the US only cost a few dollars in China. I was also offered CD ROM software and music several times. I followed one of the shills to an alley, where her associate showed me everything that Microsoft makes for the low low price of only US$10. Discounts are available, however, and you can actually get this stuff for a mere US$5 with any sales resistance at all. I declined to buy any when I was informed that they did not give receipts or registration cards. I did give the girl US$2 to take a picture of the stack of CD ROMs, although she refused to pose with them. After leaving the Silk Market, I walked back toward the hotel and went on down another block to the China World Trade Center, a spectacular new high-rise building with a shopping mall on the lower floors that is as upscale and modern as any place I have ever seen. I went up to the second floor and found the Internet Café, one of several in Beijing. For about US$2, I got Internet access and sent several emails to friends back home. While I was there, I looked out a window and saw that it had started snowing heavily. When the snow stopped falling about an hour later, there was about an inch of the stuff on the ground. After lunch, I went on a hutong tour. The bus took us to a suburban neighborhood, where we got into pedicabs and went on a tour of the hutongs, which are like narrow alleys, where many Beijingers live. We actually visited one family (six people of three generations) in their tiny one-room home (plus a kitchen). Our first impression was that everything was pretty primitive, but they actually had a color TV, air conditioner, boombox, and a washing machine. We asked questions (the guide Judy interpreted), and they didn't mind if we took photographs. After that we went to a neighborhood community center, where several older men taught the younger people the art of painting and calligraphy. I bought a pretty water color on silk for about US$10. We also visited a beautiful garden that was formerly owned by a Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately for us, it was Sunday, when kids are not in school, or we would have visited a local kindergarten. That evening, I went with Delores and Mona to the Beijing Hard Rock Café, where we dined and bought souvenir hats and shirts. The manager of the favorite restaurant of my wife and I had asked me to get a Beijing Hard Rock Café hat for his Hard Rock hat collection (he was absolutely thrilled when I gave it to him after returning home - apparently, Beijing is one of the toughest ones for a collector).
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7. Carla arrived at 9:00 AM, and we set off for the Yonghegong Buddhist Lamasery. This is a real working Buddhist Temple. You pass through a series of courtyards and buildings, with one or more Buddhas in each building. The highlight is a gigantic 18-meter-high Buddha. Outside of each building you can get incense sticks and burn them while gazing on Buddha inside the building. There were a number of Japanese tourists here, and many of them were apparently Buddhists, because they looked really serious about kneeling and burning the incense. In the gift shop, one of Carla's friends who works here demonstrated an ancient Chinese musical instrument called a xun. It looks like a clay pot which tapers to a small hole at the top, with small holes in the sides for your fingers. Carla's friend makes it sound like heavenly music when she blows across the top. I bought one for US$30 (I never could make it sound even remotely like the girl in the gift shop, but at least it looks cute on a stand). After leaving the lamasery, we walked a couple of blocks to the Confucius Temple, which was also very interesting. You can easily do both of these places in a couple of hours. Carla and I then returned to the hotel for a quick lunch, and we met Ann and Roula at 1:30 to go to Carla's clinic. We got to the clinic at about 2:00. Carla first showed us the pharmacy, where you can buy almost any of the herbs, pills, and other elements of Chinese medicine. They had exotic stuff like snake wine (it's a bottle of wine with a big snake in it), dried seahorses, and lots of other weird stuff. Then Carla took us into an examining room and showed us drawings of the human body and the accupressure points and the so-called meridians, and she explained the Qi energy principles. When she had finished, the doctor came in and began to examine Ann. He did this by putting his hands on her wrists and feeling her pulse for several minutes. During this time, he asked Ann several questions about her medical history and how she was feeling. Periodically, he would make comments about his findings. Carla was translating all this. When he was finished, he prescribed some Chinese herbs for Ann. These were pretty expensive, but Ann bought a month's supply to take home and try. The doctor then examined Roula, but she declined to buy the prescribed herbs. Afterward, Ann decided to have a Chinese accupressure massage. She got a full hour for about US$16. She said that it felt great and was a bargain for the price. After the clinic, we went to the Hongqiao Market, across the street from Tiantin Park. If you go shopping only one time in Beijing, this may be the best choice. It's a big building with three floors and a basement. There are hundreds of individual vendors inside. One entire floor is a pearl market, and the prices are stupendously low (this is where I found the same pearl earrings that I paid US$15 at the factory for only US$2.50). You can find just about everything here, including clothes, shoes, watches (more Rolexes!), electronics, cameras, and every kind of knickknack in the world. The best part by far, for me, was the meat and seafood market in the basement. I could have shot a whole roll of film here. If it walks, swims, flies, or slithers, they have it here, and a lot of the meat is still alive. Some of the stuff was so bizarre that even Carla didn't recognize it, but she asked the vendors and they told her, then she translated for me. I worried at first if the vendors might resent a 'lao wai' like me perusing their wares and taking a lot of photographs, but they were all very friendly and didn't seem to mind a bit. Suffice to say that if you really want to be grossed out, this is the place. It's also a great place for weight-watchers, because I certainly had no appetite the rest of the day! On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the main Beijing railway station and bought tickets for a train trip to Tianjin the next day.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8. At 8:15 AM, Carla met Ann, Roula, Delores, Mona, and me at the hotel, and we headed off for the railroad station. With Carla leading the way, we boarded the right passenger car and found our reserved seats ('soft seat') on the 9:00 express train to Tianjin. I had really wanted to ride a Chinese train, but I have to tell you that unless you speak Chinese, this could be difficult. Although Beijing is gradually becoming easier for English-speaking foreigners (newer street signs are bilingual and public toilets are labeled 'WC'), I did not see any signs in English in the station. I have been told that there is a ticket window for foreigners, but I did not see one, and I don't know how you would find it. With Carla checking the schedule and buying the tickets, it was a snap. The train itself was as comfortable and modern as anything that I have ever seen, and we enjoyed the ninety-minute trip. The landscape on the north China plain was nothing spectacular, consisting mostly of farms, but the ride was smooth and hostesses went through the cars selling snacks and magazines, and each car had a western-style toilet (however, don't use the toilet in the station - you'll understand why when you see it). During the trip, Carla and I did English 101, which we both enjoyed tremendously. Tianjin is one of China's largest cities, with seven million people. Luckily for us, Carla had been to Tianjin for the first time only a month before, with my Australian Internet friends, so she knew where to take us. As soon as we arrived, we went to the ticket windows and Carla bought our return tickets to Beijing (for some reason, they don't sell round-trip tickets). We then exited to the large plaza in front of the station, where we got a couple of taxis to take us to one of the shopping streets. The street, which was really a pedestrian-only alley, was a shopper's paradise, with all kinds of antiques (probably as authentic as the Rolexes) and other stuff. I bought some Yin Yang balls for about US$1.50 - they make great little gifts, but they're heavy and you have to lug them around with you all day. It was pretty cold today, around 25 degrees F (-4 C) and poor Carla was shivering and stamping her feet, so after about an hour, we quit shopping and went by taxi to a food market inside a huge cross-shaped building. The lower floor was full of vendors selling every kind of food imaginable and then some. They had brightly colored dried fruits, nuts, candies and confections, pastries, plus meats and seafood. After buying some nuts and pastries, we went upstairs, which was a series of restaurants. Carla chose one and we went in and ordered several dishes, including sweet and sour shrimp, steamed shrimp and rice, and a small mountain of pork dumplings. It was all delicious, and the check was a miniscule US$11 for the six of us (actually, only four - Delores and Mona are vegetarians, and I think they were grossed out by some of the unmentionable stuff in the meat market on the lower floor - let's just say that we saw no stray dogs in China and let it go at that). The highlight of the meal was when someone at another table ordered snake and a fellow from the meat market on the lower level entered the restaurant with a very large live snake wrapped around his arm. Roula looked up and saw the snake hissing at her from about two feet away. I thought we were going to have to give her CPR, she was so terrified. Even now, I laugh when I think about the look on Roula's face when she saw that snake (sorry, Roula). After this gut-busting feast, we returned to the station and went back to Beijing on the train. Tianjin was a real treat. Unlike Beijing, where western tourists seem to be common enough nowadays, I don't think that Tianjin has many westerner tourists. Everywhere we went, people looked at us, and anyone who knew even a few words of English came up to us and spoke. Also, in the restaurant, they only had chopsticks and those ceramic Oriental spoons, a sure sign that western tourists don't come here very often. |
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| Copyright © - "Jim Chambers" |
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