Sightseeing in Beijing Part II
The next day we had to wake up earlier and leave for our tour at 8AM to beat the Monday morning traffic. Supposedly, we were only going 20 miles away to see the Ming tombs, and it would take almost 2 hours to arrive.
We didn't find the tombs all that interesting. It was all just a bunch of cement underground and a bunch of gigantic red coffins with a Ming emperor's remains, his empress, his favorite concubine and a bunch of red chests holding jewelry and other items to take into the afterlife. Before lunch, we stopped at a cloisonne factory where we saw how enamel art was made. The Boy and I each bought a pair of chopsticks made of ox-bone and decorated with cloisonne art.
The highlight of the day was climbing the Great Wall which was pretty amazing. We hiked through the less traveled South side for a little while and then turned back to see why the North side was so crowded with tourists. We liked the South side better because the views were unobstructed with a gazillion people in your way, and it was more peaceful. The North side may have been a bit of an easier climb, but there were just too many people. All along the Great Wall were local vendors selling t-shirts, marble carvings, hats and other souvenir items. I saw a cute red shirt with little pandas sprawled along the Great Wall and pointed it out to the Boy. With his wonderful bargaining power (he speaks Chinese), he was able to get us 2 t-shirts (he got a Mao shirt) for only 30 rmb (a little more than $2 each!). Later, at the base of the Wall, I saw a woman trying to sell her t-shirts to a man for 85 rmb each!
Out last stop before dinner was at a jade factory where we learned of the different types of jade and how to tell real jade from fake by the sound it make when "clinked". I thought the funniest thing was seeing huge jade pieces carved into the shape of napa cabbages. Supposedly, this was supposed to bring good luck, but I don't think I could bring myself to display a decorative jade vegetable on my mantle.
Since this would be our last night in Beijing, the Boy and I wanted to try and scout out a nightlife scene. We asked the tour guides for suggestions, and once again, they told us that there was nothing to see. No one went out at night in Beijing, so just wait for Shanghai where we would find what we were looking for. I was feeling pretty miserable by now with my cold, so I was fine staying in. But as we drove back to our hotel, the Boy and I noticed a tiny street nearby that looked like a night market, and with that we decided to go out and see how the real locals lived.
We walked down the street of our hotel and made an immediate left. A couple of nights before, the tourguide told us that if we really had to walk around, make a right out of the hotel and get a piece of cake at Starbucks. To the right of the hotel, there was nothing except a bunch of closed restaurants as we had seen before. But the left was a completely different story. There were very very few tourists here. It was all local people eating street food and skewered meats along a dimly lit corridor full of run down looking restaurants. Some vendors were out selling fruit or clothes. Because the Boy and I have Asian faces, we passed through under the radar, but somewhere along the way, a couple of tall, blonde German boys strolled through, turning heads and receiving stares from everyone.
At the end of the corridor, we made a right where there were a bunch of shops and people walking about. The shops weren't all shady-you'd see a very nice bakery, restaurant or clothing store in between massage parlors with scantily clad girls offering "happy endings" with their services.
The Boy and I walked around this area for about an hour checking out the scene before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.
We didn't find the tombs all that interesting. It was all just a bunch of cement underground and a bunch of gigantic red coffins with a Ming emperor's remains, his empress, his favorite concubine and a bunch of red chests holding jewelry and other items to take into the afterlife. Before lunch, we stopped at a cloisonne factory where we saw how enamel art was made. The Boy and I each bought a pair of chopsticks made of ox-bone and decorated with cloisonne art.
The highlight of the day was climbing the Great Wall which was pretty amazing. We hiked through the less traveled South side for a little while and then turned back to see why the North side was so crowded with tourists. We liked the South side better because the views were unobstructed with a gazillion people in your way, and it was more peaceful. The North side may have been a bit of an easier climb, but there were just too many people. All along the Great Wall were local vendors selling t-shirts, marble carvings, hats and other souvenir items. I saw a cute red shirt with little pandas sprawled along the Great Wall and pointed it out to the Boy. With his wonderful bargaining power (he speaks Chinese), he was able to get us 2 t-shirts (he got a Mao shirt) for only 30 rmb (a little more than $2 each!). Later, at the base of the Wall, I saw a woman trying to sell her t-shirts to a man for 85 rmb each!
Out last stop before dinner was at a jade factory where we learned of the different types of jade and how to tell real jade from fake by the sound it make when "clinked". I thought the funniest thing was seeing huge jade pieces carved into the shape of napa cabbages. Supposedly, this was supposed to bring good luck, but I don't think I could bring myself to display a decorative jade vegetable on my mantle.
Since this would be our last night in Beijing, the Boy and I wanted to try and scout out a nightlife scene. We asked the tour guides for suggestions, and once again, they told us that there was nothing to see. No one went out at night in Beijing, so just wait for Shanghai where we would find what we were looking for. I was feeling pretty miserable by now with my cold, so I was fine staying in. But as we drove back to our hotel, the Boy and I noticed a tiny street nearby that looked like a night market, and with that we decided to go out and see how the real locals lived.
We walked down the street of our hotel and made an immediate left. A couple of nights before, the tourguide told us that if we really had to walk around, make a right out of the hotel and get a piece of cake at Starbucks. To the right of the hotel, there was nothing except a bunch of closed restaurants as we had seen before. But the left was a completely different story. There were very very few tourists here. It was all local people eating street food and skewered meats along a dimly lit corridor full of run down looking restaurants. Some vendors were out selling fruit or clothes. Because the Boy and I have Asian faces, we passed through under the radar, but somewhere along the way, a couple of tall, blonde German boys strolled through, turning heads and receiving stares from everyone.
At the end of the corridor, we made a right where there were a bunch of shops and people walking about. The shops weren't all shady-you'd see a very nice bakery, restaurant or clothing store in between massage parlors with scantily clad girls offering "happy endings" with their services.
The Boy and I walked around this area for about an hour checking out the scene before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.
posted by LANYTransplant at 8:29 AM
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