It's not you; it's me.

So, Charlie and I hopped on our flight to come home on Saturday, only to land in Seoul and be told that there had been a misprint on our e-tickets and that our flight out of Seoul wasn't until Sunday.  Since the flight had been changed and we were never notified, they put us up for the night in a Best Western about 5 minutes from the airport, gave us a few free meal vouchers and even arranged our transportation.  Even though the flight mishap pissed me off and I will only have half a day to recover from my trip instead of a day and half, I am still loyal to Korean Air for their ability to smooth it over as well as they could for us.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late in the afternoon and woke up too late in the morning (following a late night of watching Korean TV) to do any sightseeing.  It's a shame, really.  This seems like an interesting place and I would love to check it out some time.

Anyway, since I have the time now and won't be able to blame being too busy in my real life to blog for another 24 hours, I might as well take the opportunity to sum up my experience in China the best I can. In short, I would describe my opinion of China as a love/hate type of thing.  Here are the lists of loves and hates:

Loves

1) Transportation - It's cheap and the methods are numerous.  We mostly took taxis, but there is also an extensive bus system and many car-for-hire agencies.  To give you an idea of the cost, the longest taxi ride we took (about 40 minutes) only cost $5 USD.  In the States such a trip would easily run $30 or more. We also hired a car to drive us to the Great Wall and take us wherever we wanted to go for about 7 hours.  I believe this cost less than $100.

Who needs a truck when you've got a trike?

The traffic is crazy, probably like nothing you've seen before, but the people driving in it seem to know how to navigate through the chaos.  Except for one speedy taxi ride and the one where the guy didn't know how to drive, I felt completely safe.  The only thing you really need to be careful about is crossing the street, as drivers do not stop or even slow down.  In fact, sometimes they seem to speed up to beat you through the crosswalk so that they don't have to wait for you.  It can be terrifying, but as long as you pay attention and follow the crowd you should be okay.

2) Prices - In addition to transportation, virtually everything else here seems cheap unless it caters specifically to a Western market.  Food costs pennies, especially if you buy locally at wet markets and street vendors. Clothing is cheap as long as you aren't buying "name brands" (usually rip-offs), and you can haggle for just about everything. 

3) Chinglish - This is one of the most charming aspects of China.  People say funny things, communicating as best they can, and usually much better than Charlie or me in Chinese.  But the signs and menus you see around have to be the most precious thing.  Sometimes there are just little grammatical errors, syntax problems, or slightly flawed vocabulary that obviously just came from picking the wrong definition out of a bilingual dictionary.  Much of this was cleaned up prior to the Beijing Olympics, but there is still plenty of it around.  The most bizarre thing I saw was in a public bathroom at the Ming Tombs.  The sign provided instructions on how to turn on the sink to wash your hands.  Beneath the Chinese characters, the English translation read, "Presses Water Namely". Here is an interesting article about this linguistic phenomenon in China and the people who are trying to preserve it: Shanghai is Trying to Untangle the Mangled English of Chinglish
And here are some fun examples of exactly the sort of thing I am talking about: A Sampling of Chinglish

Hates

1) Pollution - The first morning I stepped outside in Beijing, I was hit in the eyes by a burning, stinking air that tortured my respiratory system the entire time I was here.  We were very lucky and had several clear days, but the bad days were awful.  It smells like car exhaust and garbage and the air is so dense with brownness that you start to lose visibility of buildings that are a mere two blocks away from you.

But air pollution is not the only issue.  There is dust everywhere, and you must deal with the germs of the millions around you.  I found myself not wanting to touch banisters or doorknobs and washing my hands far more than I ever do.  And public bathrooms can be downright scary.  Since most of the toilets are squat toilets and people have poor aim, you have to be careful not to get piss all over yourself from the sopping wet floors.  And you have to have good balance because you DO NOT want to fall down in one of those stalls.  The worst bathroom I saw was actually at a Buddhist temple in Luoyang.  I couldn't understand it.  There was a river of dirt and piss trailing out the door, napkins and other toilet paper substitutes laying around everywhere, and when I walked in, I noticed that several women did not even close the door to pee, just squatting and baring all in front of anyone who happened to be standing around.  I realized it was only a public toilet, but I thought to myself, "This is a temple!  Where is the sanctity?  How would the Buddha pee?"

2) Rudeness - That is, what I perceive as rudeness, based on the norms of my own culture.  The staring was one thing and I started becoming less uptight about it.  I'm sure that if I spent enough time in China I could eventually tune it out the way Tony and Elena do.  Some of it was tolerable, especially if it came from children.  If I acknowledged it they would just smile shyly.  But as Tony pointed out, there are times that even if you politely acknowledge it, some people are just classless and will continue to gape at you.  Even this is not so bad.  It's the pointing and laughing that really gets to me.  It's like, what the fuck are you looking at?

Then there's the pushing.  People have no qualms about shoving in front of you in a line or pushing you out of the way, either on foot or with a car, to get to where they need to go faster than everyone around them.  A couple of times the pushers pushed the limits with Elena and she told them so, much to our delight.  It is surprising how quickly people back down when you call them out on their rudeness.

Undecided

The food - After my previous visit to Hong Kong where absolutely everything I sunk my teeth into tasted marvelous, I was expecting more of the same here.  Maybe I'm just not as keen on northern Chinese food as I was on Cantonese food.  Or maybe it was a matter of quality, Hong Kong being much more cosmopolitan and its restaurants having a more particular clientele to impress. It wasn't that I didn't like the food, but I was indifferent to a lot of it.  It was just okay.  The only Chinese meal I had that I can say was amazing was the one at DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant, but it's famous for being amazing.  I'm pretty open-minded about food and tried a lot of out-of-the-ordinary stuff.  The only thing I remember absolutely refusing to taste was sea slug.  I saw its slimy, rubbery looking skin floating in the broth, and I just could not do it.  My cats eat lots of bugs and even they won't touch the slugs that sometimes wander into the house.  Charlie tasted it and said I was not missing much.

Well, readers, that is all I have for you now.  I hope you have enjoyed this chapter of Expediccionado.  Stay tuned for more globetrotting adventures in the future!

How do you say "Stephen Hawking" in Chinese?

Today is Friday in Beijing and it is our last full day here.  We took the opportunity to finally see the much anticipated Beijing Ancient Observatory which is said to have been completed in 1442.  I have borrowed some information from Wikipedia for this post and linked to the original article as well, since I have no idea how to explain some of these instruments, or even what some of them were called.

Exiting the apartment building, we hailed a cab.  As the cab slowed and stopped in the middle of the street instead of pulling over to the side as appears to be the usual protocol, we realized the driver was a woman.  I had seen a couple of female cab drivers, but they are few and far between.  This particular woman was probably in her 40s and looked like a force to be reckoned with, as I imagine any woman employed as a cab driver would have to be.  She had a serious expression on her face and was smoking a cigarette when we got in, something I knew was more or less allowed but had not seen yet.  We showed her our taxi book and she seemed unsure about where the observatory was, but proceeded anyway.  After a few moments she said something to us in Mandarin that we didn't understand and did our best to let her know.  She asked us where we were from in English and we replied, "Mei gua ryen" (American).  She repeated our response and then nodded, smiling slightly.  About half way through the very calm cab ride through heavy traffic, she pulled out her pack of cigarettes and offered us a smoke.  We declined, so she asked via gestures whether it was okay with us if she smoked.  We said yes, of course.  I was surprised she asked, really.  She seemed like one tough cookie who wouldn't give a damn whether or not anyone minded if she smoked.  Her cab was a mess, the dirtiest one I have seen.  The seat covers were askew and her long jacket was thrown carelessly over the back of her seat, infringing on anyone sitting in the back.  She did not move her seat up to give us space when we got in either, as most drivers do.  I loved her.

Making some short cuts through a few side streets to get us through the heavy traffic, our cabbie got us to the observatory without any issues.  We paid her, thanked her and were on our way.  It was not immediately obvious where one would buy tickets because there was no long line as with many of the other attractions we had seen.  Charlie approached what appeared to be an uninhabited ticket window (there were no lights on inside), and an elderly woman waived from the other side of the dark glass to let us know she was there.  We bought our tickets and walked through the main archway.  We were a good 30-feet into the observatory grounds when an elderly man who was sweeping outside hollered something in Mandarin into the ticket office, after which a middle-aged man came running out to tear our ticket stubs.  The place was dead silent and appeared empty.

The observatory part of the site looks like a small fortress, tall and narrow, built with gray stone.

Rather than ascending the tower right away we took a stroll through a well-manicured garden area filled with many types of astronomical instruments made of bronze and stone, along with busts of the scientists credited with making advancements in astronomy (for example, coming up with the 365.2425 day-long year).

It was peaceful, pretty and interesting.

Shen Kuo or Shen Gua (Chinese: 沈括; pinyin: Shěn Kuò; Wade-Giles: Shen K'uo) (1031–1095), was the first to describe the magnetic needle compass, which would be used for navigation. Shen discovered the concept of true north in terms of magnetic declination towards the north pole.

Wikipedia says: An "armillary sphere is an instrument used to measure the coordinates of the celestial bodies. This instrument is constructed of two bronze disks--one being known as the ecliptic armillary (for tracking the sun), and the other deemed the equatorial armillary (tracks bodies that are not the sun)."

Um... I dunno.

Guo Shoujing (Chinese: 郭守敬; pinyin: Guō Shǒujìng; Wade-Giles: Kuo Shou-ching, 1231–1316), was a Chinese astronomer, engineer, and mathematician. The tools he invented for astronomy allowed him to calculate the near exact time of the year; 301 years before the Gregorian calendar. All of his work in hydraulics allowed communities throughout China to flourish and China moved forward as an economic power. Guo’s work in mathematics was regarded as the most highly knowledgeable mathematics in China for 400 years.

Batman saves the world. 

(This appeared to be some kind of celestial map, but all the descriptions on it were in Chinese.)

See?

"Nice knockers," says Charlie. (These were on a door behind the base of the globe)

A sundial that actually works and is accurate.

This thingy is like a calendar.  You can tell what time of year it is by how the shadow of the vertical piece is cast on the horizontal piece.

The observatory and its instruments can be seen in the distance.

My favorite kind of tree in China.

Nature was purty here today.

It was a warm, windy day.

I was sad that this place was empty, because by many standards, it was way cooler than a lot of the stuff I have seen here.  Sure, the big palaces are nice, but this stuff is way more important than some rich dead guy's house.  Charlie pointed out that the only Chinese people here were nerds, like us.

The instruments themselves and the landscaping were well-maintained, but some of the other buildings looked pretty broken down. 

After our little traipse around the garden, we made our way to the actual observatory and were greeted by these excellent statues:

Then we climbed the long-ass stairway.

That wasn't even the top.  It just turned right and kept going... well, okay, it wasn't really that bad.

When we got to the top, there was a man just closing and locking up a little building with a sign over the door that said "Information".  So we wandered around and looked at the small but impressive, intricate and beautiful collection of ancient astronomical instruments.

According to the sign below it: New Armilla - Made in 1744 for the purpose of determining true solar time as well as the right ascension difference and declination of celestial bodies.

Quadrant (left): Made in 1673, used for astronomical measurements, notably determining the altitude of celestial objects. It could be used to measure the angular distance between any two celestial objects. Off to the right is another armillary sphere.

Another celestial globe.

A sextant: Made in 1673 for the purpose of measuring the angular distance between any two stars less than 60º apart, as well as the angular diameters of the sun and the moon.

After we had finished looking at the collection, we peeked through the window of the "Information" building and saw what looked to be a dilapidated little gift shop.  As we stood there with our faces pressed to the window, coveting the little scientific objects inside, the man we had seen locking the door earlier came up behind us, keys in hand, eager to show us whatever we wanted to see.

If the lack of visitors wasn't enough to tell us that the observatory didn't get many visitors, the gift shop made it blatantly obvious.  Most of the shelves were empty, as there has not been much of a need to restock for a while. The little metal instruments in the glass case, along with everything else in the room, were dusty and some of them were starting to rust.  The man who opened the door for us, in charming broken English, excitedly demonstrated the various instruments and tried his best to explain what they were used for.  We were smitten.  We dropped $100 and left with a bag full of new treasures.

We descended back down the long stone stairway and found another pretty courtyard with a couple of dim, sad little exhibition halls. 

 

The exhibitions themselves were pretty interesting, as far as I could tell (a lot of the information was untranslated), but we were the only people in them.  The most activity in the whole place was the bustling going on to spruce up one of the other larger halls for what appeared to be some kind of watch-selling event.

As we walked around, I heard a familiar sound (MEOW!) and looked over to see a man leaning over a stocky orange and white kitty that seemed rather annoyed that he should try to pet her.  After he walked away, I approached to take her picture.  She was very dirty and had apparently just had kittens.  

This is the only kitty I have seen in China.

We left the little observatory, tummies grumbling, and caught a cab over to Wangfujing (where Charlie ate the scorpions) to have a cheap lunch.  This was the only time I have been in a car in China where I felt I might actually want to put on my seat belt.  The guy drove really fast, even if it was only for a short distance at a time until he hit more traffic, took corners at 30 mph and honked the horn every few seconds to tell others to get the hell out of his way.  It was frightening and fun and the fastest cab ride I have ever taken.

He let us out as close to the closed street as he could and we wandered in to find our food.  On the way there, Charlie had debated eating one of the big black scorpions, but later changed his mind.  Instead, we got some salty noodles, crabs on a stick and little battered friend prawns.  Charlie had also picked up a couple skewers of mystery meat, which I'm pretty sure was pork, but still had a hard time eating because it could have been dog, cat, or just about anything else.  At least with the whole animals/bugs on a stick you know what you're getting.

We sat on a curb and ate lunch, which cost us a measly $10, and then headed back home via the slowest, most lost cab driver in Beijing.  He consulted our taxi book and his map of Beijing several times, and then finally stopped, got out of his cab and consulted another cabbie for directions.  That guy didn't seem to be much help either, but at least steered him in the right direction until we knew where we were and could talk him through it.  Sheesh!

When Tony and Elena got home, we headed out to Chef Too: A New York Grill to have dinner because Tony knew the chef.  The food was great, although I was a little embarrassed about not knowing how to get the meat out of my semi-shelled lobster when it came.  After dinner, we caught the worst cab ever back to the apartment.  Not only did he have a bit of a 'tude, but this idiot started driving away before Charlie was all the way in the car, nearly drove into oncoming traffic twice and obviously didn't know how to drive a stick because the gears were grinding and the car nearly stalled at every turn.  Then, just as we pulled into the hotel's driveway, he came inches from colliding with a cyclist who had to try very hard to get out of his way.  We all held our breath for a moment and then thanked our lucky stars when we arrived in one piece.

Now Charlie and I are sitting on the balcony looking at the Beijing night skyline one last time before we head out tomorrow morning.  Goodnight.

Very good price!

I didn't take any pictures today (Wednesday), folks.  You'll just have to listen to me ramble.  And the title speaks the truth: You are getting two days of activity in one blog entry.  For free!  Just for you, my friend!

There are some things I love about China and there are some things I loath about China.  As I found out today, I have a love-hate relationship with shopping.  Elena, Charlie and I went to the Silk Market today, a giant complex similar to Lady's Street, filled with more silk than you could ever hope for, along with many other fabrics, clothes, trinkets, etc.  As I had seen previously around Beijing, shopping is an interactive animal.  You don't just go into a store and wander around, pick out what you want (or not) and then leave.  Usually there is someone at the door shouting "Hello, lady!" and waving at you to come in whether you have expressed interest in what the store has to offer or not - even a glance just to see what's in there can be taken as interest.  And even if you don't glance in, they will probably still call out to you, especially if you are not Chinese.

There was no exception to this at the Silk Market.  As with most things in China, the maximum number of stores were crammed into a minimal amount of space, so you could conceivably find six shops in a 20-foot square area. As you walk down the cramped isles, not only to merchants call out to you in much better English than I have heard anywhere else, but they will also grab you by the arm and pull you into a store, or come and try to steal you out of another merchant's store.  Once you are in the store, you are certainly not left to your own devices as far as decision making.  The vendor will try to up-sell by guessing or suggesting things you might want, often as part of their invitation into the shop.  For example, "Do you want silk table runners?"

Once you have decided on what you want, there is the matter of the price.  Usually they will tell you a price that is completely ludicrous as far as Chinese pricing standards are concerned (you may not realize this if you have never shopped in a place where bargaining is not only practiced, but encouraged).  Your first reaction should always be, "No, too much".  Then they will either suggest a new price or allow you to do so.  Whatever you suggest will inevitably be way too low.  They will tell you they are losing money if they sell whatever it is to you for that price.  Instead, you get the line, "Since you are my first customer today, I will give you this very special price..."  You either agree to it or suggest another or walk away.  Walking away seems to be the best way to get the price you want.  Twice we have been chased after while walking away from shops, the salesperson desperately conceding to what you have offered just to make the sale.  It kind of makes you feel guilty, but then you realize that even the final low price is inflated far above the price for which the vendor purchased the item.

Most of the salespeople are young women.  I would say the majority of them are under 25 and a good number of them are only around 18. They have great English (and I even heard one speak Spanish), as long as it relates to sales, and are very good at what they do.  It can be overwhelming and exhausting.  If you stand in one place too long you will find yourself surrounded by these somewhat charming girls tugging your arm and trying their hardest to get you to buy ANYTHING.  Even if you are an innocent bystander just hanging out while other people shop, they will strike up a conversation with you.  They like to ask personal questions about where you are from, how you are related to the people you are with. They pay you lots of compliments on your jewelry or your ability to communicate in Chinese (Charlie and I were both declared "very clever" by one girl).  It is in these situations that the cultural curiosity, even if it is mostly driven by a desire to sell something, can be fun and interesting.  While we were shopping I was wearing my green commie hat and one young woman came up to me, even through she knew I wasn't going to buy anything, and taught me how to say "star" in Mandarin.  It feels much better when the people who are curious about you actually approach you and want to talk and learn about you instead of just stare at you.  It also gives you a change to partake in a cultural exchange and learn about the people around you.

Following the chaos of the Silk Market, we stopped into a little French restaurant for a quiet and delicious lunch, then made another stop at the Davidoff store for cigars.  Our final destination before returning home was the wet market that Charlie and I visited a few days ago.  This time we were in search of the ingredients for Salade Niçoise which Chef Charles was to make for dinner.  Once again I was amazed at how fresh and cheap the food was.  We had a fishmonger carve up a whole small tuna into steaks and probably got 5 lbs. of fish for about $12.  In the states we would have been looking at upwards of $80 for the same thing.  We also got a huge grocery bag full of veggies for about $9.

Finally, we made it back home and all felt like taking a trip down to the spa.  If I haven't mentioned it before, there is a spa on the first floor of the building we're staying at.  If you go in before 5:00 massages are half price.  Elena, Charlie and I all made our way downstairs and were met with a very busy chaotic spa that had neither the rooms nor the staff for three unscheduled massages.  So Charlie and I scheduled our massages for the next day and I stuck around to get a facial instead.  After 90 minutes of what felt like dozens of facial cleansers, creams and toners, along with a head, shoulder and arm massage, I felt radiant!  Unfortunately, the mugginess and grime of Beijing has already burrowed itself back into my pores.  Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Then there was Thursday, mine and Charlie's 4-year anniversary, marking the start of our relationship from our first date.  Our day started off easy.  We sat around a drank coffee for a while and then made our way over to the U.S. Embassy where Tony was waiting to give us a tour.  But first we had to stop and share a jian bing for breakfast, cheating on our usual jian bing guy with the jian bing lady across the street (there were too many people waiting at his.  I had never been inside any embassy before, and our visit had to be pre-arranged.  We were told to enter through the south gate, which was on a street that was closed to traffic. The guard at the gate, a Chinese man in the standard pressed green uniform, knew we were coming and opened the gate as we approached, never making eye contact.  It was a little creepy.  Then we found the south entrance with a check-in window, where we were greeted by a young Chinese man in what looked like a standard blue U.S. State police uniform who said, "What's up?!" in almost perfect English as we approached.  He looked at Charlie and said, "Hutchinson?" and then took our passports and issued our visitor badges.  Then we were allowed in, where I had to surrender all of my electronics (a digital alarm clock), empty my purse and then proceed through a metal detector.

Having passed inspection, we were instructed to proceed across the adjacent courtyard and into another building with a bullet proof waiting area (actually, I think everywhere was bullet proof), where a marine directed us to the receptionist. We told her we were there to see Tony Hutchinson, so she told us to sit down and then rang someone up to arrange for our escort.  At one point she asked for Charlie's name and then said, "You daddy?" to which Charlie assented.  Finally, our escort arrive and lead us through what felt like a dozen doors before we arrived in the building where Tony works.  Right when we walked in we felt underdressed, having to pass through what was some kind of conference where people stood around schmoozing in nice business suits.  We were led to Tony's office where he treated us to tea and then showed us around the embassy, pointing out the various works of art stationed here and there.  He also informed us that the building was constructed according to green standards with local materials, energy efficiency and low-impact methods.  I have to say, I was really impressed by that.

Our visit to the embassy was short, and we were escorted out again, my alarm clock and our passports were returned and we headed back to the apartment for our massage appointment. We appeared to be the first people in the spa that morning and were able to negotiate 90-minute massages instead of the 60 minutes we had scheduled initially. There was also a two-hour option but that seemed like a bit much.  As I would find out later, 90 minutes was too. We were shown to our room, a tiny, dimly-lit space with two massage tables, and were given our "scrubs" to change into.  Unlike what I have had in the past, Chinese massage is not done naked.  You either wear these loose-fitting pajamas or are under a sheet the whole time, so no lotions or oils are required.  A young woman brought us tea, we changed and waited for our masseurs to come in.

After a few minutes there was a knock on the door and a very tall Chinese man and a very small Chinese woman entered.  The man asked me how we would pair up so I indicated that he would be with me and the lady would be with Charlie.  We were instructed to lie face down on the tables and covered from the waist down with a sheet.

Then the violence began.

I have never experienced a more painful 90 minutes in my life.  About 10 minutes into the massage I was wishing I had only asked for an hour, or maybe half an hour.  But noooo, I had to have the long one.  I have had several professional massages in the States and in Europe and have never experienced anything like this.  My main complaint is that they usually aren't hard enough.  I once had a "deep tissue" massage that was one of the gentlest I ever experienced.  Chinese massage is radically different and probably actually loosens those knots in your shoulders that never seem to go away.  They take their stiff thumbs and jam them between your vertebrae, grind their elbows into your larger muscles, and shake and twist your limbs to stretch and further loosen the muscles.  At one point, my masseur climbed onto the table, stood on the back of my thighs with his knees, and pulled my arms back behind me, lifting my entire upper body off of the table and into an intense yogic cobra pose... and that was my favorite part.  Every time he would work a muscle group on one side of my body, I would dread the moment that he moved to the other side, knowing that I would have to endure the prodding all over again.  I tried my hardest to just breathe through it, and I could hear Charlie doing the same (he later commented that he never thought that someone so small could cause so much pain).

After about 2/3 of the way through, what seemed like an eternity, we were turned over onto our backs and the intensity lessened considerably.  They massaged our faces, necks, arms and legs.  Just as we were starting to really relax they suddenly said, "Okay, finished," thanked us and left.  We reluctantly got off of the tables, moaning and groaning, feeling thoroughly battered and bruised, dressed and made our way to the front desk.  We paid a measly $35 for an hour and a half of torture for two and then tottered out the door and down the stairs, exhausted and loopy.

We had lunch at the restaurant in the building, too relaxed, despite the hour of anguish we had each experienced, to venture out further in search of food.  We had a spicy lunch of papaya salad, shrimp and tofu and then went out shopping for souvenirs, knowing that if we sat down to relax for more than a few minutes we would be asleep.

Later that evening we got all gussied up to go to the opening of the Beijing Modern Dance Festival.  The performance we saw was called Standing Before Darkness and was performed by BeijingDance / LDTX and choreographed by Sang Jijia.  The dancing was excellent, but I found the music unbearable and even painful at times, and was so distracted by the discomfort that this work produced in me that I could not really understand what it was about. Many people walked out.

A reception was held after the show at a restaurant called Capital M, an upscale place near Tienanmen Square overlooking a brightly lit plaza with multi-colored fountains.  Ok, fine you can have a picture or two:

 

The drinks were free-flowing and the waitstaff brought around exquisite little hors d'oeuvres like gazpacho, gravalax on crostini, creamy shrimp tartlets, fried risotto balls (my favorite!), pakoras and pea soup. We were glad that they served us a nice variety of foods because we were really tempted to blow a couple hundred dollars and just have dinner there. Thank Buddha for freebies.

Happy anniversary to us!

The end.

Charlie Eats Bugs

Ah, that's better.

I was sitting here a couple hours ago just staring at this screen and trying to find the motivation to blog.  Instead I said, "Screw it, I'm on vacation," and went downstairs to the spa for a foot massage.  80 minutes later I feel much better and am only $10 poorer.  Don't you love China?

...

Today (Tuesday), Elena had the day off thanks to the national holiday on May 1st which was Labor Day here.  We took a cab out to the Forbidden City.  This was the Imperial palace for about 500 years during the Ming and Qing dynasties.  This was their main residence and they hardly left except to go to the lovely aforementioned Summer Palace across town for a little getaway.  This place was freakin' huge, I tell you.  We spent a couple of hours in it and really only saw the main halls.  It just keeps going and going.  You could spend a couple of days there if you wanted to be really thorough. There were a b'zillion people out today and it was hot, so we endured only as much as we could. 

Here we are walking toward the front entrance, bearing the likeness of Chairman Mao above the door.

Four bridges carry us out of the main entrance building and into the first of many wide plazas.

Proceeding forward through the first plaza, you wind up at the Gate of Supreme Harmony.  I think the coolest thing about this structure was the ceiling.  There were big-screen T.V.s on the walls inside showing images of the Forbidden City, which I found to be annoying and ugly.

Once you pass through the gate you end up here:

This is probably the most ginormous effin' courtyard I have ever seen.  Unlike the Great Wall, you might actually be able to see this from space... if you have a telescope... and if you squint real hard. The big building in the center is the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony.  Pick a stairway.  Any stairway.

Inside the Hall of Preserved Harmony.

I have no idea what this is, but it's cool.

The concubine's quarters.  Doesn't look so bad to be a concubine.

Next we wandered into the Imperial Garden, which was my favorite part of the whole complex.

Neat gold dragon at the entrance to the Imperial Garden

Rock formation with a pagoda on top in the Imperial Garden.

A pagoda in the garden.

The ceiling of the pagoda

Another shot

A green pond with koi

One koi offers himself to the dragon as food.

Knotty tree

More rock sculptures

By the time we made it this far in the Forbidden City, our tummies were rumbling so we decided to call it good and head out in search of food. 

Before we left the complex, we stopped into a little bookstore where an artist who hand painted silk scrolls was selling his wares.  Charlie bought me this charming scroll depicting oxen because, well, I just really love cows.

Leaving through the rear exit of the complex we were met by half a dozen or so beggars, shaking their little plastic cups so that the coins in the bottom would jingle.  Up until now I had only seen a couple of beggars and was surprised that there were suddenly so many in one spot.

We caught a cab and drove to Wangfujing, a busy shopping area in the Doncheng district of Beijing.  Elena said it had an extensive local food vendor section but you wouldn't know it by looking at the area from the edges.  Traffic is blocked from entering this area and for blocks on all sides it is surrounded by schmancy upscale retailers like Armani and Gucci.  If you walk far enough, you find the goods, right at the heart of it all. There are a couple square blocks of food and souvenir vendors smashed right in next to one another.  There are even little hole in the wall establishments somehow carved out of the tiny space where you can sit and enjoy a bowl of noodles, which we did.

Charlie was particularly excited about this part of our adventure because the entire time we have been here he has been planning on eating scorpion on a stick.  We did indeed find scorpion on a stick, along with cicadas on a stick, starfish on a stick, seahorse on a stick, lizards on a stick, snakes on a stick, whole baby birds on a stick and the innocuous mystery meat on a stick.

The scorpions that Charlie intended to eat, as we saw just before he did, were still alive while skewered, thrashing their little claws around in vain as they waited to be seasoned and grilled.

 A boy and his bugs

Big black scorpions and grasshoppers, along with some unknown meats.

*Shudder*

Here are a few street shots where you can see hoards of people walking between rows of shops:

These guys are smashing the hell out of some nutty sweet treat.  You can see the finished product on display at the end:

Charlie also bought this new toy:

By the time we had found food and did a little souvenir shopping we were more than ready to go home.  We caught a cab back to the apartment and there Elena and Charlie took naps while I got a nice foot massage.

Later, when Tony got home, we hopped in a car and drove across town to the National Centre for the Performing Arts (also known as "The Egg") to see a performance of Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Ravel by the Philadelphia Orchestra.  I can see why this orchestra is famous because it was really good.

The Egg.

Inside the egg:

 

 

The auditorium:

Nice organ.

And thus, Tuesday faded into the night (or "The End")