4.19.7-Thursday

Beijing Day 4
Fragrance Hill Park, Summer Palace and Gaobeidian Village [Maybe]

This might take 2 parts as we know not what the day will bring

“Are you sure this is the right spot Teng?”
“Yes, Zhang Yong was right, not so I.”
“And what are we supposed to do here?”
“We will just break here and walk around to experience Local peoples and later they will dance to the honor of those returning to their homes who have traveled away.”
“And what are we to see here that we haven’t already seen driving through the poor area just now?”
“I dont know,” he says… “to tell you the truth, I have never been here before.”

Thus we were about to conclude the tour portion of our day... but lets rewind to the morning.

After the usual “Dance of the Tiny Bathroom [here after referred to as the “DOTTB”] a quick email check and even quicker breakfast, we meet Zhang and Teng for our trip to Fragrance Hill Park, the Summer Palace and points beyond.

First stop, Fragrance Hill park, one of the loveliest and most serene parks I have ever set foot in. And now… [to please the factoidaly anal Dragon Chick] the facts. There are three reasons the Chinese believe it's necessary to build parks, one for enjoyment, secondly for entertaining and to maintain peaceful political conditions, a most important reason for building so many parks. And third but most important…the Ming’s built so much that the Qing's had no other way to spend their wealth, so they built parks.

Fragrance Hill was first built in 1155 by the Qin Dynasty as a hunting park originally for higher officials and the imperial family. Later in the Ming dynasty a contemporary palace was built.

Within the park is some of the most Exquisite floral and tree arrangements with winding paths along with “little cable cars that climb half way to the stars”...[with apologies to Tony Bennett] …these actually do on their way to the top 554 meters above the entrance.

Boy I'm getting my exercise now… this reminds me of "Ballad of Barcelona:"

Up the Hill and Down the Hill
and all around town of Beijing Chiiiiiiina.
Our boy Teng, marched us up
and marched us down
and marched us up just one hill more.

[ENOUGH already!!!!]

As we wandered around and up and down, [damn they love steps!] Teng kept a running commentary of the various Emperors that often came here to just stroll amongst the beauty and reach harmony with nature. Illy has instructed that the attached Photo must accompany this edition as it exemplifies the total serenity, and blending of all natures elements to create a scene that artists would kill to be able to sketch. You should be able to double click the image able to enlarge it to appreciate the total symmetry and serenity of the scene.
After one gentleman watched as I took great care to frame this scene, he requested to have his daughter take a picture of him with the Mei Guo Ren [Americans]. Teng got a kick out of this as he sees how easily I can interact with just about anyone... hence the load of kids pictures that we are bringing back… some of the cutest little buggers you have ever seen.

Just then, we heard singing… and spotted a lady in a traditional red jacket just standing amongst a stand of Pieone blossoms singing to no one in particular, just celebrating the surrounding nature.

The park was well kept and well used and the beauty was just astounding. We were planning to try a cable car to the top for what promised to be a spectacular view but time was running out for lunch [we must eat by a certain time at the contracted restaurants…they all close at 2pm to prepare for the evening meal.]

Soooooo off to this cute little hole in the wall with an interesting buffet. The food was plentiful with very good flavors and even had USA style Hotdogs in mini sandwich rolls. The usual chicken in some sweet sauce, an excellent pork loin in a tangy brown sauce, the obligatory rice and “one cup of soft drink or one cup of beer “. This one rates **+

While we’re eating this young man kept passing the table and practicing his English. As he would pass by, he would blurt out phrases that they must be teaching in preparation for the Olympics. It went something like this:
“Guuud Afternuuun!.”
“Hello, Sank You.”
“Where are you from?”
Each time he passed I would respond. This must have given him courage because all of as sudden he comes up behind me and says”
“Qwertr do lar?”… What? “ Qwertr Do lar”. He then spells it. I ask him what it is all about and he whips out a US Quarter and later a Susan B. Anthony Gold dollar.
And with this I wind up in an impromptu currency lesson that was joined by half the floor staff and a nervous manager when she saw the crowd around our table, I finally got him to understand the relationship between his money the Yuan or Renmenbi or RMB as its abbreviated and the $USD.

Now our driver is coming in for some water, spots the crowd and panics. He runs and gets Teng and must have told him we had a problem as he hurried over to solve whatever…Illy assured him I had it all under control.

So as we finally leave, the driver has already told the story to the other drivers outside waiting and we exited to applause and the chant: “Meng tzi”.. “Meng tzi”… “Meng tzi”
It appears he has also told them my Mandarin name which was given to me by my first Chinese Professor in college in honor of the great philosopher/teacher and disciple of Confucius [thrice removed]. Yeah I just can’t resist kids and love holding impromptu teaching sessions.

Our next stop was the Summer Palace, built by the 5th emperor of Qing dynasty for his mother as gift. It was 10 years in construction completed in 1750 and was burnt down and looted 3 times First by the British during the opium war of 1857- 1860, 2nd in 1890 by the so called 8 Powers [British, French, Russian, Netherlands, Australian, Japan, USA, Germany] prior to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 when the palace was looted and burnt for the 3rd time in 1902 The 9th Emperor fled to Xian for refuge. Upon his return they could not find enough money to rebuild it completely and only one third is restored which we will visit today. "Our purpose is threefold" [as Teng often says…he has three reasons for every visit, stop etc] First purpose: is to see how to build a typical Chinese garden and appreciate its beauty as the imperials have. The second, recalling the tour guide at the furniture workshop mentioning the Dragon Lady of the Qing Dynasty. She was the Aunt of the 7th, 8th and 9th emperors known at the time as the Empress Dowager who actually handled the affairs of state behind the screen which was behind the Emperor's Throne [hence our expression “Power Behind The Throne”] of each of the emperors up to the reign of the Pu Yi, the last emperor that ascended the throne at 4 years old in 1902]. She loved the summer palace residing there over 300 day a year making it the political center of China from 1860 -1902. Because she had become so powerful, she kept the 9th emperor prisoner at the Summer Palace as she could control him better until they both died on the same day to unexplained circumstances and Pu Yi became the 10th and final emperor of both the Qing Dynasty and China overall until his abdication in 1925 under the duress of General Feng Yui Xiang, commander of the Beijing Garrison who removed him from the Forbidden City.

The center of the Summer Palace is the 4 sq/km Kunming Lu [lake] where the Emperors once traveled to from the Forbidden City by dragon boat through the series of canals and inland “seas” to Yi He Yuan, through the Marco Polo Bridge or as it is more commonly known “The 17 Arch Bridge” and onto The Garden of Harmony which surrounds the lake,

It was an extremely smoggy day making long range pic of the palaces surrounding the lake impossible and the crowds for Dragon Boats was too long to wait to get to the far end of the Lake to the actual Main palace area.

Our next stop the Gaobeidian cultural Village was across town, so after another 2 rolls of film we head out to what should prove to be an interesting night.

On the way our boys got into a heated [very heated] discussion about the location and how to get to it. After stopping to ask a local cop, we find the Gaobeidian section and…

Are you sure this is the right spot Teng?”
“yes, Zhang Yong was right, not so I.”
“And what are we supposed to do here?”
“We will just break here and walk around to experience Local peoples and later they will dance to the honor of those returning to their homes who have traveled .way.”
“And what are we to see here that we haven’t already seen driving through the poor area just now?”
“I don’t know,” he says… “to tell you the truth, I have never been here before.”

With that tid bit of information and After a brief discussion about the condition of the area and not wanting to be there after sundown, we decide to scrap this part, find a cute bar, have some drinks and see about dinner.

We arrive at a cute South China restaurant that also had a dance show during dinner and of course Illy just had to pet the elephants outside.We got Teng to join us for a cocktail and the hostess lady misunderstood his instruction to check with us in 45 minutes about dinner but she understood that we wanted to eat in 45 minutes and started the food to roll out to our table. Teng got upset and proceeded to confront the manager who stood her ground, but grudgingly agreed to hold our Meal back until we signaled we were ready. The food was “OK”, more than enough for three but with a very boney fish and a nasty manager, overall it gets **+ The show was OK...

We head back to the hotel ready to crash but I had to get a NOWAT out and I was exhausted.

This is being written Xi'an as we are trying to catch up. Unlike our other adventures where we planned most of the trip and had lots of time to ourselves, we are kept busy from 9AM to 9PM and that makes it tough top get these written.
More tomorrow about the temple tours and a night at the circus.

再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the “swears we have both lost 10 pounds each with all this running" Dragon Lady.

4.20.7-Friday - Pt I

Beijing Day 5 – Pt I
Temples Galore… [listed in the order of the day]

1130PM
Our taxi makes a snappy U-turn and pulls up in front of a very dark 4 story building. The meter spits out a receipt and an English voice says, “11 Yuan please… Thank you for using Beijing Taxi.”
“Nin dong bu dong, zheige shi United Hospital Na?” I ask in my poor Mandarin. [do you understand, is this the United Hospital?]
“Zhege shi” he responds. [yes it is]
Not too sure about this… I trot over to a dark guard shack where the young fellow is apparently holding a meeting with two friends in the darken guard shack.
“Emergency???” I ask.
He motions down the poorly lit alley and to the left.
I trot back to the cab, hand over 11 Yuan and help the gimp from the back seat.


No so fast…thats the end of the day... Its Religion in Chinese History day and I still have to get us through a bunch of temples, a nifty lunch and dinner and an impromptu trip to a local acrobatic Circus. Sit back kiddies…. This will be a long ride today and requires 2 parts.

First stop was the Temple of Heaven built in 1420 where we will see the influences of the three major religions or philosophies: Llama Buddhism, Taoism and Feng Shui. Most temples in China are individually one of the above, but the Emperor commissioned the heads of the 3 religions to consult on the construction of the Temple of Heaven, [hereafter TOH] the first “design by committee” that actually worked.

Completed in 1420, there are 9 gates to the TOH because it was constructed by the emperor who was the Son of Heaven and 9 was the imperial number. It covers 764 acres. 4 times larger than the Forbidden City, it is the largest temple in China.

Every morning the temple grounds are filled with locals doing exercises [over 1000 doing Tai Chi alone] which includes using ball and paddle balancing act, then there is open hand while others do the silk ribbon dance, hollow ball, etc As we walk through the long cool corridors we find families enjoying the day together [Chucky cant stop from taking pics of the kids… they're so damn Cute!!!] groups of men playing Dominos, Chinese chess, kicking a feathered badminton style cock similar to the western hacky sack. There's group and solo singing, the playing of various musical instruments, dancing traditional dances as well as the classic waltz and even the Argentine Tango. The park is free to retirees and is alive with activity and harmony. Everyone is getting a kick out of the “Fengtzi Meiguo Ren” [Crazy American] who has a bandolier of film cartridges on his camera strap for easy film changes and is shooting pics with a digital in one hand and a 35mm in the other. Un-beknownst to him until the Dragon Lady clues him in, the Chinese are taking almost as many pictures of him as he is of them and they are having as good a time as he is. Now those that don’t know him well must understand, when Chucky is on a roll… “Get outta the way”! He will snap a pic of the most obscure thing for reasons known only to him and the spirits… The Dragon Lady has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA why he does it or what he plans to do with them all [he still hasn’t edited Spain and that was only 857 pics overall… yesterday the digital count alone in Beijing was 439]… she just smiles and says…”It’s Chuck…" no other explanation is necessary.

The Details tell us that the TOH roof weighs 290 tons and is an elaborate series of interlocking pieces [no nails] representing the three influences. Llama, Tao, Feng Shui. All doors particularly in the temple have curved tops representing the umbrella of sky or heaven and as people pass through each door they are between heaven & earth.
The steps surrounding the temple were never used by any other than the emperor or the eunuchs’ and even though the prime entrance was facing south in the center, the emperor used steps to the side rather than the center as customary in all there imperial buildings. He would ascend to the 2nd level and walk to the center, remaining one level below the main level and worshiped from there, with all other attendants and entourage in the lower courtyard. The emperor was surrounded on either side all along the middle level by the sacrifices and offerings.

All told there were 90 emperors of 8 Major dynasties however since its erection in 1420 only 23 of the 24 emperors worshiped here [one actually died after only a one month's reign].
The TOH has been repaired 3 times since its erection, 1935-1936, extensively from 1971 to 1976 and 2005-2006.

Next stop was a little shopping at what Teng referred to as a market but was really several floors of jewelry and trinket stores where the major claim to fame was that the Bush family has shopped there several times [Chucky isnot at all impressed with past clients but the quality of the Jade is good and Dragon Lady now has her Jade and Gold “FU” [Good Fortune] pendant. A stroll through the other side of teh same level that ironically was the same company and some more tchotchkies finished 90% of the Gotta buy list. Of course Chucky just had to go downstairs to the flea makrket style arraingement where he could really bargain and was getting the buy of the century on some really poor jade tchotchkies when again, by the tone of the dialogue his entourage again incorrectly sensed trouble and hustled him away before he made a great deal…Ohhhhh wellllll… [I had her down to 30 Yuan from 120… they just don’t understand!]

Lunch was at the Xian Hen restaurant, scene of our first programmed dinner and this lunch was as good as the first night. Nothing spectacular, good solid dishes, something chicken, something beef, veggies and that damn whole tea leaves in the glass. Beer good. Still ***+

On to the Llama Temple Yongghe Gong, built in 1694 as a residence for Prince Yong, 4th son of 3rd emperor of the Qing Dynasty [the first son of the Emperor is the Prince and all other sons are Kings]... in 1725 [Now Emperor] Yong Zheng made it a king’s palace where later his, Son Qian Long converted the palace to a "Lamasery" [or Llama Buddhist monastery] in 1744. It currently contains 6 major Buddha’s of the Tibetan Llama branch of Buddhism. Lots of Buddha’s and tough photo ops as flash photography is verboten inside the temples. We Spun all the prayer wheels on the way out [7 spins for good luck] and it was off to yet another temple.

The Confucius Temple & University built in1306 and is actually closed except the courtyards for massive renovations to prepare it for the 2008 Olympics. The university contains the 13 books of Confucius chiseled on over 190 giant stone tablets each of which is 16 feet tall, 4 feet wide and18 inches thick stored in a shed to one side while renovations of their normal resting place is restored. While in the process of reading the title block outside the temporary warehouse for the tablets, Chucky was able to find the tile for the Book of “Meng Zi” his Name sake and while trying to make a rubbing of the characters and seeing him struggle, a guide lady offered him a pencil and it is now in safekeeping to be framed at home.
For those who are uninformed… and why should you be unless a scholar of oriental philosophies, Meng Tzi was the student of the student of the student of Confucius and credited with co-founding the Confucian Taoist movement.

Finally being templed out we headed for some cocktails and to buy tickets to one of the 8 private family acrobatic circuses, [ala Cirque de Soliel]. We find a great parking spot right in front of the theatre and even though we have a reservation… [it is actually a spot on the waiting list] we have to come back 20 minutes before the show to see how many of the group blocks are no show, so we head down the street to a nifty restaurant for some cocktails and conversation.

I’ll end here for tnow and finish Day 5 tomorrow as this is already running long but the best part of the day is about to begin.

再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the draggin’ just a bit...
Dragon Lady

4.20.7-Friday Pt II

Beijing Day 5- Part II
Temples Galore…and a nifty Show

1130PM [redux]
Our taxi makes a snappy U-turn and pulls up in front of a very dark 4 story building. The meter spits out a receipt and an English voice says, “11 Yuan please… Thank you for using Beijing Taxi.”
“Nin dong bu dong, zheige shi United Hospital Na?” I ask in my poor Mandarin. [do you understand, is this the United Hospital?]
“Zhege shi” he responds. [yes it is]
Not too sure about this… I trot over to a dark guard shack where the young fellow is apparently holding a meeting with two friends in the darken guard shack.
“Emergency???” I ask.
He motions down the poorly lit alley and to the left.
I trot back to the cab, hand over 11 Yuan and help the gimp from the back seat.

Sound familiar? Yeah this is a continuation of yesterday.
Where we’re we… Oh yes… on the way for some cocktails while waiting for tickets to an acrobatic show.

We find a cute little spot a few blocks down from the theatre. This is one of those “you pick it while it’s still swimming and we cook it” spots with multi levels overlooking the street. Since we just want cocktails, we are hustled to the third floor corner table and we settle in for some relaxation.

Teng’s phone goes off at 20 Minutes to seven with King Fu driver panicking that were not in line for tickets so we head out at a brusque pace back to the theater. We are moving quite fast, and talking along the way and of course the Dragon Lady is trying to sightsee in the declining light… Of course walking and talking and looking elsewhere is not what the directionally and balance challenged should do... so of course as she is commenting on a nifty security gate, she misses spotting the stump of an ancient lamp post [smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk] and before Chucky and Teng can react she is face down on the side walk. We immediately grab her and help her vertical and try to asses the damages. She took the brunt of the fall on her right knee and left elbow but waves us off and insists on our hurrying, now at a more reasonable pace, to the ticket line.

The last time I remember her doing this was some 20+ years ago in San Francisco where we would be walking along and the next thing ya know I was talking to thin air because she had just sat down hard, again [the shoes she was wearing caused her and slip and fall all over San Francisco]. San Francisco was also the presumed sight of her left knee injury which resulted in knee surgery 6 months later. And since this incident reminded me of San Francisco… time for another song to the tune of “I left My Heart in San Francisco”. [Again, with apologies to Tony Bennett]

My wife fell down, In Beijing China
while we were off, to see a show.
she was chatting on the go
and Didn't see the bump,
she fell flat... with grace and style,
more in a while…
OK….OK….back to the tale. [Sorry Tony...]

We get to the theatre and Teng is only able to get 2 tickets and will try to sneak upstairs later, if not he will meet us outside when the 90 minute show concludes.
I send Illy to the ladies room to clean up a bit and go looking for some ice for the already swelling knee. Of course this is a theatre not a saloon so the best I can do is a frozen fruit bar. I also manage to get 600mg of ibuprofen in her to aid with the swelling.
We find our seats and spend the whole show holding the frozen fruit bar on the "Boo Boo", going for a replacement during intermission.
Medical emergency aside, the show was outstanding with those super flexible children doing unbelievable things with their bodies as well as the muscle men, hoop jumpers, dish spinners etc. the best acts in these shows usually wind up on the Chinese Olympic team or Cirqu de Soleil.

We find Teng after the show who had found a big band-aid for Illy and we head to a local restaurant near by for one of the noisiest meals yet and both the Kung Fu driver and Teng were able to join us this time. In spite of her objections, after what looked like a major united nations negotiation we were able to score some ice and a plastic bag that I could fashion as a sling to hold the ice on the knee through dinner.

We were seated right on the main aisle and were witness to an authentic “Chinese Fire Drill” [our guide did not understand the western humor but did understand the confusion behind him]. They were apparently trying to set up a “You Pick it, We cook it” buffet for the late night crowd right in the main aisle. First the tables… put together combos of rolling steel cabinets and table tops, next the glass sneeze guards… glass panels erected on stanchions vertically, 5 panels… 4 stands… everyone waits for someone to find the other 2 needed stands. Next the top shields… more glass panels… still not enough stands to catch them on the other side as they lay horizontally… ok… now the missing stands for the top arrive but some one forgot the pins to attach them to the vertical glass…. First there was 5 guys standing around holding the verticals… now we have 8 guys trying to figure out what to do with the tops… finally after 10 minutes someone arrives with all but one of the missing pins. And so on. What is comical is that they apparently do this every Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun… for the PAST 5 YEARS… you would think it would be better organized.

We all had a good laugh and enjoyed some very good food [at least they got that part right] Great noodles, VERY Excellent mushroom soup...very spicey curried chicken but good...beef dish with veggies good, beer VERY good… they get a ****+ rating.

Teng is very solicitous of Illy’s injury and on the way to the hotel offers to go with us to a hospital but she adamantly refuses. As they drop us at the hotel, he tries once more and we tell him if its still bad in the AM well call him early enough and he'll meet us at the Tongren Hospital next door.

1130PM
She is now agreeing to try and emergency room, and we call the Manager on Duty for Suggestions. He meets us in the Lobby and summons a cab to take us to The United Hospital that has an English Foreigner’s department in the emergency room.

Our taxi makes a snappy U-turn and pulls up in front of a very dark 4 story building. The meter spits out a receipt and an English voice says, “11 Yuan please… Thank you for using Beijing Taxi.”
“Nin dong bu dong, zheige shi United Hospital Na?” I ask in my poor Mandarin. [do you understand, is this the United Hospital?]
“Zhege shi” he responds. [yes it is]
Not too sure about this… I trot over to a dark guard shack where the young fellow is apparently holding a meeting with two friends in the darken guard shack.
“Emergency???” I ask.
He motions down the poorly lit alley and to the left.
I trot back to the cab, hand over 11 Yuan and help the gimp from the back seat.

We limp down the alley… of course they could have let him in the emergency entrance but no…the poor sap had to let us off in the darkened front of United Hospital Beijing.

We find the Emergency Entrance [“Just look for the ambulance,” she said].
I ask the cute receptionist if they have service for foreigners and she directs a guard to take us somewhere. Down the hall… right and down an even longer hall… close to the dark front door, up the elevator, and over to the desk where we fill out the paperwork for another cute little receptionist whose English is not as good as my Mandarin.
“You Pay Cashier, to see Doctor,” she says handing me a bill, [hmmmmm haven’t seen any one but already we’re paying… lets see how this goes]. We'll put it on plastic and try to collect from our medical plan when we get home.
The doctor comes quickly and her English is a bit better and after a poke and pull and twist, she writes out a radiology order and says, “Have the nurse call the radiologist.” The nurse in turn says…”go pay the cashier and I'll call. More plastic…
Fortunately the radiologist is already there and while I'm paying, Illy's on the table getting pictures of the Knee.
We have a seat while the film develops. I had brought the laptop just to record this while its all fresh. And maybe work on a NOWAT while waiting. [I should be finishing Ming Tombs but this is gonna be good fodder for the cannon].
The doctor comes back with a negative fracture report and deduces that she has a soft tissue injury, and I have to explain R.I.C.E. to her [Rest Ice Compression Elevation]
and she nods, “Yes”… “Do you have an elastic bandage for the compression?”
“No. You can buy in morning at pharmacy”, she says.
“Can she get some pain relief?
“Yes”.
“Something more that 100mg tylanol ?“
“No”
Well I'm glad we got that settled.
She writes a script and sends me back to the nurse... who sends me to the cashier before she'll dispense the drugs this is getting old fast] I ask miss “Pay the cashier please” to help me locate a taxi to get us back to the hotel. She sends the guard to round one up as I whip out the plastic and then she sends me around the corner to the in house pharmacy [that doesn’t have elastic bandages] and get some pills and ointment.
Back to the nurse for the films and the med certificate to take home for insurance and we're out the door.

The cab driver has no idea what hotel I'm talking about until I pull up the agenda on the Treo and remember the Chinese name and off we go.

The good news… the fastest E.R. trip ever…1 hour from door to door. The bad news… this is really gonna slow the trip down, but Hey… it could be worse and we’re still on track.

再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the injured and fading fast
Dragon Lady

4.21.7 Saturday - Pt I

Beijing Day 6 - Part I
Museums and Pandas and Hutong’s, Oh My!.

“Ahhhh S#!%”
“What did you do?
“I'm not sure but I think I just blew all of today’s pics!”
“YOU WHAT!!!, Tell me you're kidding!”
“Nope… I think there gone…”
“What did you do.”
“Well… I wanted to check how much memory was left considering all the videos we took at the TOH and this thing popped up and says ok or cancel so I said ok… I think I just reformatted the memory card… Oh welllllll, we'll just have to go back tomorrow early and I'll run through and retake what I need for reference and try to get some kids too”

That was yesterday… just before we went to Lunch and the Dragon Lady was breathing fire. I calmed her down as we entered Xian Hen restaurant for the second time for a lovely lunch, I whispered in her ear… “after the rude awakening last month and the upcoming radiation and chemo… this is just another speed bump in a truly blessed life… I have finally learned not to sweat the small stuff.”

Soooooo…. Today, after icing her knee all night, we head out to find an ace bandage for Illy’s swollen knee…Speaking of Ice…when in Beijing, and you ask the front desk to send a bucket of ice to your room, make sure they understand or you'll get what we did, a plate of ice cubes. When we tried to get the room service waiter to get a bucket full we got a firm, “we don’t have”. Of course at 1:00am I didn’t think we’re gonna get anywhere, I think it may be because potable water to make the ice is in a great shortage. Restaurants don’t serve it even if you ask for it and all water is bottled… so I tip him lightly [bad attitude] and begin to crush the ice with a walking shoe and refreeze the remains.

Before we head to the TOH to make up the missing pics we find a pharmacy, not your typical CVS or Walgreens, sort of a combination, Target, Walmart and Walgreens with independent holistic healers lining the aisles prepared to cure your every ill or write a prescription. We head upstairs to the medical supply dept and find they don’t have an ace bandage but do have an elastic knee brace… in or 5 or 6 styles. We choose the best one for her injury and ask if I can have her try it on, and were told only if she came up to do it. So back down to the car to bring her up the escalator and wonder of wonders… XL Chinese style is a tad too tight for her, understand the average Chinese leg is much slimmer that our Western beauties and we had to cut the top band in several spots so she could get blood flow.

With the knee brace in place we head to the TOH where I wear Teng out as I do the Chucky power walk though the park snapping pics as we go. We stop for a family who I had just snapped the kids pic who wants me to hold the little girl for a pic with them. They give us the peace sign and we’re off to finish pics in the temple display room that had most of my reference material and dates, and back to the car, stopping to film a fellow doing a solo Tai Chi paddle and ball routine.

We surprise the Kung Fu driver who apparently didn't expect us for another half hour, where as Illy thought we would have been back sooner… the stop for the kids and videos of feathered foot cock kickers [say that one fast three times after a couple tequila shots] slowed us down.

And we were off to the Capital Museum. Talk about a big place… multi floors of exhibits and artifacts and lots of pics with out flash… surprisingly the little cannon digital is putting out some good stuff…most better without flash than with… not much to say about the Museum… seen one - seen ‘em all… just the local cultural stuff changes.

From the Museum we headed to what our guide touted as the best dumpling place in mainland china.. which apparently is that good as it is now a small chain. He is right… best I've had in 7 continents... side dishes of chicken w/veggies very flavorful...soup a bit watery but good flavor but OMGawd those dumplings...good beer and a ****+ rating .

Then we're off to the Beijing zoo where Chucky shoots a roll on just the Panda’s that were quite active in the water spray as it was a warm day, making a very high gurgling sound, almost as if to say, “silly humans… look I'm cooling off and you are in the hot sun”, A stop for a tchotchke for my God-Daughter [can you guess what it might be?] and were off to the Hutong tour.

Next Stop,the “Beijing Number One Carpet Factory”
China’s top silk carpet factory, some of whose work is in the Forbidden City. We learned such facts as:
It takes one worm just one night to weave 1800Yds of silk thread in a tight cocoon that he slips in side and morph’s into an insect. 1800 yards in one night… very busy fellow.
All dyes are all natural vegetable dye. No chemicals and the colors are vibrant with the following showing where the colors come from.
Acorn = grey
Gardenia seeds= sky blue
Henna = black
Peppercorn = Violet
Cypress bark = light yellow
Lacquer tree = bright yellow
Feather Leaf = dark red
Saffron =orange
And of course the blending of the primaries to get the desired hues.
Silk on silk is the best rugs with the best having 2500 knot per/sq in and is more suitable for hanging displays but it is not as strong for heavy traffic as silk on cotton with 625 knot/sq in or very dense100 knot/s sq In. Again we avoided the Factory tour hustle as we looked at the nice silk rugs but declined to buy. so we're off to the Hutong Tour.

We start the Tour at the Drum tower built in 1272 and rebuilt in 1297 and was followed by the bell tower rebuilt by the Qing’s in 1746. We pick up an English speaking local guide, “Wang Jun” who calls himself David for the foreigners, who proceeds to take us up the 110 very steep steps [how steep was it? Like a 30 degree up incline] to the drum room and great balcony from where you can see the Forbidden City. [Did I tell you Chinese like walls… well they like steps too…talk about needing an elevator?] The drum tower and the bell tower are on the central axis of the city running from the Forbidden City north thru the drum and bell tower. The view was spectacular, a sharp contrast showing the blending of ancient China from the Hutong’s below, off to the modern high rises in the distance. We took pics of all of Beijing from the drum tower and then witnessed a drumming performance. Only 1 of 25 original drums survived decimation by various dynasties. Each drum head is made of ox hide. We didn't get into the Bell tower…she had had it with stairs and the knee was starting to bark. We did find out that the bell weighs 63 tons and is 5 meters tall. The bell was rung every 2 hours beginning in the morning and the drums beat in the evening to signal time that was determined by either, sundial or water clock, of which an elaborate one was displayed in the drum room.

We head down to the rickshaw ride [actually a pedi-cab] through the Hutong’s which originally meant “Water Well” but now means “small lanes” and walked with Huang to the gate marking the beginning of the Hutong area where pics galore began.

I'll leave it here and finish the Hutong Tour later. This is actually being written on the 2nd day in Xi'an and I need to crash. We must leave the hotel at 6AM since tomorrow's flight to Hangzhou has been moved up to 8AM.

再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the lame but still very game
Dragon Lady.

4.21.7 - Saturday-Pt II

Beijing Day 6 - Part II
Hutong Hike… Oh Boy.

“Watch Out…..oooooofffff…..eeeeeekkkkk.!”
“Relax honey… he’s done this before.”
“Eeeeekkkk… Ooooooofffff… EGAD!!!!”
“Illy… Chill… just keep your arms inside the bars and let him drive… he knows where he’s going”
“But he almost hit that other Pedicab and…..Eeeeeeeeekkkkkkk! that was close..,,”

Yes dear hearts… she’s "oooofffing and eeeeking" again. This time I'm not the driver, it’s Han Liu, our pedi-cab kamikaze who is whizzing past pedestrians and other cabs and just skimming past the walls on the corners. We’re on the “rickshaw” Hutong Tour and these Hutong’s are really narrow lanes. Originated during the Yuan dynasty, the Hutong’s were made uniform by the Ming’s as 6 steps wide… not a lot of room for more than two Pedicabs passing very carefully… which is in question every time one careens in our direction. Since all of Beijing is a Chess Board city, so is the Hutong area, with Hutong’s running East and West and Streets being double wide running North and South.

This all started with our walk from the Drum tower to the gate marking one of the many entrances to the Hutong’s. We entered a street that was lined with shops and bars and more shops and bars… and more… ok... ok... you get, hustling everything you could imagine. The two way traffic was like I-95 at Rush hour... impossible but fun. Our Guide Wang Jun tries to give us some running commentary while pushing his bicycle along to make a path for us to follow. Of course Chucky is going wild with the digital snapping pics of anything and everything… especially the Bars… [He IS a Saloon Aficionado ya know] so this tends to slow the parade a bit. We finally reach a bridge that divides the Front Lake from the Back Lake [really… that’s the names] and as we cross over to find our pedi-cab we see the entire street is one continuous bar… hence its name…”Bar Street” [Original Hunh?!?!] We are told that this Bar area is really HOT after sundown, alive with Tourists and Locals on the Prowl.

To the dismay of you Miller Lite fans… Budweiser and Carlsbad have taken a strong foothold here [as has Jack Daniels] and is proudly displayed everywhere, including in some of the individual bar’s names. One fun one on the way in was named “Shut Up-Just Drink”, another advertised “F…king Good Mojito’s ¥20RMB” and still another touted Thursday as “BEER ME ¥50RMB all you can drink “ [by the way… the Yuan Renmenbi is the basic monetary unit here] ¥1.00RMB = 13 cents USD which means all you can drink for $6.50USD. [Hey… sign me up!!!]

We finally find the right Pedi-Cab combination… one for Illy and I and one for Teng, We leave bar street and begin to dodge other cabs, people, dogs [hmmmm no cats…was that on the menu last night?] and motor scooters that whiz past as if they are on a 4 lane highway. Seems like we keep passing the same spot over and over as practically all the homes look the same… well almost…. And of course Chucky is working the Digital camera like there’s no tomorrow]. Every thing here is painted Grey, roofs, walls, door jambs… only the doors themselves are different. After some serious dodgem… we stop for some in-depth details about door design. Wang Jun points out the various features of a particular door which has a round door stone on either side of outside of the entrance, this denotes that the owner is some type of official, if the stones were square it might denote a teacher or scholar. He then pointed out the Lentils [what appear to be the ends of octagonal shaped rafters] jutting from above the door. Here there were 4 denoting a large family. If there were 2 it would be just a small family and none along with no door stone denoted a commoner. Thus by just looking at various features of any door you could tell a lot about the family within.

We then pulled up in front of a nondescript Hutong and dismounted for a visit to a typical Hutong family Quadrangle. Each home was traditionally arranged in a Square or Quadrangle with the Main House for the elder or head of the household built higher on the north side, the east and west for the children with the roofs at a lower level and on the south side storage, or cook shack or servants depending on the wealth of the owner with the center courtyard for trees, plants and gathering. Today we visited the “Wen family quadrangle” and were greeted by Wen Xiansheng [Mr. Wen] after ducking through a very low doorway and a brief summary of the Quadrangles particular features, we were ushered into the main building on the North to meet with Wen Tai Tai [Mrs Wen - or as she referred to herself using Her family name “Ju Tai Tai] a small grandmotherly woman who obviously has a shrewd business sense since all the tours to her home add to her monthly pension of ¥2,500 per month. She has lived here for the past 40 years with Mr Wen, having been given the house by her parents. The home is heated by coal in the winter and share a communal bathroom with several neighbors since the sewer system that dates back to the Ming dynasty could not handle a toilet in each home. In addition to their monthly retirement pension, the Wen’s have government sponsored medicare that pays 80%.

There are 4000 family’s in the Hutong area today and with the value of the property going up, the Wen’s little quadrangle, valued at less $4,000 USD when she received it from her parents, is now worth over $260,000USD and the developers would love to get their hands on it….but the Hutong’s are a protected area and no high rises allowed, only reproduction of the same style is allowed. While we were there a large tour group of Britons arrived and we sat with them as Ju Tai Tai did the Q&A through an interpreter. And all the while with a running commentary from her Mynah birds that speak Mandarin and English and who, now that they had a big audience, just had to chime in.

Some pics all around with Ju Tai Tai and we were off to our Pedi Cab which took us back to the Bar Street after playing dodgem again. Since our scheduled dinner was soon, Teng decided we should have happy hour there rather than on Bar Street. This turned out to NOT be a good idea… since he immediately got lost and we trekked all around the hutong’s doubling back on ourselves to finally reach the restaurant after dark. [This after several frantic calls from Kung Fu Driver Zhang who was already parked at the restaurant and afraid we would miss the appointed time for our arranged Sichuan Dinner. By now the Dragon Lady’s knee was really acting up but the Drugs the E.R. Doc gave her helped a bit.

Dinner was excellent except that it was definitely on the Spicy side. One Dish, a tofu in red pepper sauce set off the fire alarms [well almost]. The soup was good, a bit tangy, a sweet chicken dish was excellent and the usual Green Tea, Bok Choy and Rice along with fresh fruit rounded out the meal…Good Beer. We gave it a **** rating.

All during dinner, Chucky was trying to get the right number for the Ritz Carlton Beijing as we had intended to meet some friends of Fernando Gibaja, our friend from Spain who was now in Singapore [are you following this] but our Hutong tour precluded this and he wanted to apologize incase they were still expecting us. You won’t believe what it took to get a good # including Calling Cingular International Help Desk where he talked the nice lady there into Google’ing the Ritz and she was able to give him the correct #. He finally got through to the hotel manager and after apologizing profusely, we were off to our hotel and the end of an exhausting day. [up the Stairs… down the Stairs and all around the Hutong……] boy do these Chinese like Steps and Walls!!!!
Tomorrow we are flying to Xi'an for the next leg of our adventure, and since the Wake up call is for 6AM, time to crash…. Stay tuned for more of the Wacky American Tourist and the now limping profusely but still ever lovely Illy as they search for:

The Ancient Mystery’s of The Far East

A Walk upon The Great Wall

Some damn good Tchotchke bargains…

and a bottle of Fine Rice wine. 

[or Good Beer… whichever comes first]

再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the thoroughly Exhausted but satisfied with her tchotchke scores Dragon Lady.