Beijing ...Day 3

We got an early start again today at a little after 8am. Jane was a bit late because she could not find our hotel. LOL. No one can find it!!!! She pointed out that there is no hotel sign or number associated with it, so if you don't have a map, you are out of luck. The Hilton printed out a map, so we were lucky. We also have a map on our room key which we finally realized.

We met the famous Beijing Jane and headed up to the mountains and the Great Wall which was about 70 kilometers away. Again, we were met with a delightful day of sun and blue skies. There is a tremendous amount of traffic on the Beijing roads and it seems to take hours to get most places and we are from NYC. The countryside is lush with greenery, mostly fir trees that appear different from ours in shape.

Driving is another story here. I found myself gasping every so often. Folks just do U turns in the middle of highways. They cut one another off. It is like a free for all. Even at cross walks, when you have the green walk sign, cars and bikes have the right of way from turn lanes and you have to figure out how to dart in between them. A bike or two barely missed Doug and me. Each of us let out a scream over the past three days in Beijing and mortified the other.

There are a lot more bicycles than in the US but Doug and I are at odds as to whether or not there are more bicycles being used than in other European cities. Doug says yes and I say no. We agree with one another that there are more bicycles being used as delivery vehicles and all bicycles are quite old. I thought Basel had just as many bicycles in use. There are a fair number of Rickshaws in use as well.

Otherwise, it is a very modern city. I saw no areas of poverty. No slums. No beggers. No garbage. It is tremendously clean. Jane pointed out to one high rise area where she said a large number of Koreans have moved. Otherwise, we also saw areas where both wealthy and less wealthy seem to live together. Except for the Hutong areas, most are very, very tall high rise.

Sadly, the stores are McDonalds, KFC, and most American and European stores. Doug and I commented that we could be anywhere in the world. We did not feel alien. Jasmine had mentioned that people born during the 50's learned Russian as a second language. When she was growing up, it was changed that all children began learning English in middle school. Now, all children learn English beginning at 5. So, if one is lost, just look for a younger person and they will know English. Almost all signs are in English. Announcements at the airport were in English first and then in Chinese.

Since most of our clothes are made in China, almost all folks wear western clothes, except for older folks, who still wear the traditional Maoist clothing.

I asked Jane to tell us about their educational system. It is just like ours. They have day care until 3, kindergarten until 5, 6-12 is primary school, 3 years for middle school and 3 years for high school. They take exams for university. If their grades are high enough they are allowed to study abroad. University is 4 years, Post graduate 3 years, Doctorate 3 years.

Travel abroad is tougher for them. They are not allowed to travel without a travel group for fear that they will defect.

Making a living in Beijing is getting tougher. The US and European financial crisis has affected the world and China. Jane said that her tour business is way down. She now sells rabbit pelts as her business most of the time and fills in with the tour business. She only guides once per month now. It turns out Jasmine does not work for her, but is a colleague. We liked Jane very much and found her quite different from Jasmine. Jasmine is younger and full of eagerness to learn the business and Jane knows the ins and outs a bit more but is looking to exit the business and is not as excited about her trade. Both are equally knowledgeable about their history and culture. It is interesting to see the differences in these two women. At first I was disappointed that we didn't get Jane for the whole time. Now, I was glad I saw the two perspectives. The similarity was that both woman talked a lot about the marriage problem. Now, Jasmine complained about her parents worrying too much about it and getting in her business about it. Jane brought it up by herself and told us that this was a real problem in Beijing and said Jasmine's family are right to be concerned. Now, I don't know how old Jane is. I figure that she is in her thirties (maybe 40)---she is young but has a very different perspective from Jasmine. She is also highly educated, having studies pharmacy at university (she left as pharmacists do not make a good living in China). She feels young girls like Jasmine get an education and don't find a man there. Then they come to the city and focus too much on career and not finding a man. Also, they only want an older man. There are too many women than men and there aren't enough to go around in the cities and this is a real problem. She talked a great deal about this and wanted to know how much of a problem this was in the States. I found this very interesting. I asked if it had to do with the two girls/one boy government rule and she said, "no." She said it had to do with career and the focus on making a living.

I stayed awake for awhile to hear Jane tell me that houses of 2000 to 3000 square feet cost 2-3 million US dollars and were called villas and dropped off to sleep and awoke to find myself at a place that looked like a ski resort. There were green, sharply peaked mountains about 1500 meters high with two different ski lifts running to the top. On the way to the chair lifts, there were vendors selling souvenirs and fruits. It wasn't terribly crowded and Doug and I hopped on the chair lift. Beneath us, a toboggan run went to and fro carrying a passenger ever so often from the top of the mountain, and the Great Wall of China soon came into our vantage point. The wall is about 3000 miles long and has a castle like appearance at the top. She said it was even longer, but the entire expanse was not preserved. One side of the wall is Mongolia and the other, China. She shared that it took 100,000 people several people to build a section of about 10 kilometers. We arrived at the top and walked a few sections and took photos, marvelling that we were actually at the Great Wall of China and made our descent down ON A TABOGGAN sled!! Now, this was a track you see at park rides with wheels on a track, not something that is old fashioned in any way! I must say it was jarring to see a tabaggon and ski lifts at the great wall!

From here, we went to lunch in town. It was the best Chinese food I have EVER eaten. Simple, excellentm Sichuan food. The same string beans we had the day before because I love them. Then, we had tea smoked duck; Chopped egg plant and soy beans in some type of spicy sauce; and a spicy steamed pork dish that was excellent. We had fresh watermelon juice to drink.

Then, a LOOONG ride back to the city...north I believe...to go to the summer palace. The summer palace is 4 times as large as the Forbidden City and is the place some folks consider as the most beautiful spot in all of Beijing. Being north, it was built by one of the Emperor's to escape the heat of Beijing. A huge man made lake was built, complete with elaborate homes and gardens. Today, it is a park with boating and walking trails and a buddist temple. It is extremely lovely and we had a warm, gorgeous day. I would say that Beijing is about a month behind us in terms of the season. It feels more like the end of August-the beginning of September than the beginning of October. The mornings are light jacket weather, but it is quite warm during the afternoon and the summer flowers are still out and the trees are just starting to turn a bit yellow, but are still quite green.

I loved all the beautiful weather and the walking, but boy am I out of shape. I really could use a massage!! I ache everywhere. I think I have had my fill of buddist temples for awhile and will cross off tours that include buddist temples as the key attraction. They are beautiful, but you can't take pictures and, just like European churches, I have had my fill.

So, it was time for shopping. I have been ever so well behaved. Unfortunately, there was so much traffic, it took forever and a day to get there. We were finally going to the famous Silk Market. When Jane said it, it sounded like supermarket and Doug and I thought that was what she was saying. Silk Market sounds so elegant. I was so excited to go in and see all sorts of silks from around the world. I didn't understand why we were going to the supermarket. It turned out we misunderstood her -- we were going to the Silk Market. Well, the Silk Market is a supermarket....or more like a Flea Market!!! Inside a modern multi-level building there are toys, hand made suits, some silk, pashminas, clothes...anything that we seem to import from China. I don't know if these are things that are copies or things that fall off the truck or seconds, but they are very cheap and you bargain. For example, we bought two Columbia ski jackets for $38. However, I found leather jackets very expensive by US standards and walked away. We bought just these two jackets and tired and achy, decided to return tomorrow. So, our final day in Beijing will be shopping. Doug hates shopping. So, I will have to make sure he has taxi fare back to the hotel. He is a great negotiator though, so I hope he stays!

I think I have figured out some aspects of my new camera. My movies still seem to be horrid or of my feet. I think I finally got some good still photos, though!

All in all, my favorite spot in Beijing was the Temple of Heaven. I thought is was so unusual by US standards. The people were having such a wonderful time and it is so much fun to watch. I would spend more time there.

We'll also hit the Pearl Market before heading off to our flight for Hong Kong. We will be picked up at 2 today and our flight is at 5. We'll arrive at Hong Kong by 8 and our Hong Kong adventure will begin tonight!