Sightseeing in Beijing Part I
Yesterday was the first sightseeing day in Beijing, and by then my cold was full blown. When I left New York last Friday, I'd woken up with a sore throat and was hoping it was allergy related, but no. I'd caught a cold right before leaving for vacation. How miserable!
Anyway, the Boy woke up early at around 4AM because of jetlag, while I slept in till 7AM. With nothing to do, he wandered out onto the street to check out the early morning scene. It was really weird - before 6AM there were illegal makeshift markets set up with vendors selling used merchandise such as old shoes and clothes. As one fellow tour member stated, it looked like a bunch of poor Chinese people having a huge garage sale outside. By the time I got out to board the bus at 9AM, the entire scene had disappeared. According to the tour guide, it is illegal for these people to set up their markets, but they did it to cater to the poor construction workers nearby who sometimes need something but can't afford much.
The Boy and I met downstairs for breakfast at around 7:30AM. We were excited to have what we thought should have been an authentic Chinese breakfast, as previous tour-goers had told us. But we were shocked to see bacon, eggs, an omlet station, and salad bar. The Chinese food that we did see was Americanized with a veggie chow mein, fried rice, sauteed veggies, and steamed buns filled with either vegetables or a sweet mung bean paste which, to my amusement, was mislabeled as "red bean pasta." The only really authentic Chinese food was the congee.
After breakfast, we met in the lobby at 9AM to begin our first day of sightseeing. The first stop was Tiananmen Square where we walked around and took pictures. The place was full of tourists, both international and domestic. It was interesting to see the different Chinese faces. When I'd been to Hong Kong before, everyone looked very similar. The boys were lanky and mostly fair-skinned. The girls were generally thin, had skin the color and smoothness of milk and looked a bit more refined. Although the girls in China are generally thin and fine-boned (In America, I'm thin. In China, I'm a meaty girl), their skin tone varies from the smooth, milk-white skin that is so typical of all girls in Hong Kong to the weather beaten tan of peasants. Actually, a lot of people were tan and looked like they worked out in the sun. Another interesting thing to note is that people were relatively tall, especially the boys in the PLA (People's Liberation Army). There must be a height requirement to join the army in China because there wasn't one boy I saw where I went any higher than their shoulder. Northern Chinese people are taller, though. In Beijing, I'm still short as in America.
The next stop after Tiananmen Square was the Forbidden City which was huge with 9,999 1/2 rooms. The most interesting part of the Forbidden City was seeing the concubine's wing where the Empress Dowager (Cixi) lived, especially since I read Anchee Min's book, Empress Orchid, a little while ago. I saw her courtyard and peeked through the glass to see her living chambers. I was surprised to see how small her bed was. It was only the size of a twin bed.
The rest of the day was spent touring the summer palace a little while away and then seeing an acrobatics show before dinner, which I found very entertaining. They did some pretty amazing tricks, but I think everyone was tired because no one was clapping. One girl stood in split pose on one toe balanced on a guy's shoulder. Another guy was able to catch porcelain bowls on his head which he flipped in the air while standing on a board which was balanced on a cylinder rolling on a board balanced on the head of another boy who stood on another board balanced on a rolling cylinder while holding two girls on each arm. And everyone was too asleep to clap!
At the end of the day, the Boy and I ordered two masseuses to our room and had an hour and a half long massage for only 20 USD each!
Anyway, the Boy woke up early at around 4AM because of jetlag, while I slept in till 7AM. With nothing to do, he wandered out onto the street to check out the early morning scene. It was really weird - before 6AM there were illegal makeshift markets set up with vendors selling used merchandise such as old shoes and clothes. As one fellow tour member stated, it looked like a bunch of poor Chinese people having a huge garage sale outside. By the time I got out to board the bus at 9AM, the entire scene had disappeared. According to the tour guide, it is illegal for these people to set up their markets, but they did it to cater to the poor construction workers nearby who sometimes need something but can't afford much.
The Boy and I met downstairs for breakfast at around 7:30AM. We were excited to have what we thought should have been an authentic Chinese breakfast, as previous tour-goers had told us. But we were shocked to see bacon, eggs, an omlet station, and salad bar. The Chinese food that we did see was Americanized with a veggie chow mein, fried rice, sauteed veggies, and steamed buns filled with either vegetables or a sweet mung bean paste which, to my amusement, was mislabeled as "red bean pasta." The only really authentic Chinese food was the congee.
After breakfast, we met in the lobby at 9AM to begin our first day of sightseeing. The first stop was Tiananmen Square where we walked around and took pictures. The place was full of tourists, both international and domestic. It was interesting to see the different Chinese faces. When I'd been to Hong Kong before, everyone looked very similar. The boys were lanky and mostly fair-skinned. The girls were generally thin, had skin the color and smoothness of milk and looked a bit more refined. Although the girls in China are generally thin and fine-boned (In America, I'm thin. In China, I'm a meaty girl), their skin tone varies from the smooth, milk-white skin that is so typical of all girls in Hong Kong to the weather beaten tan of peasants. Actually, a lot of people were tan and looked like they worked out in the sun. Another interesting thing to note is that people were relatively tall, especially the boys in the PLA (People's Liberation Army). There must be a height requirement to join the army in China because there wasn't one boy I saw where I went any higher than their shoulder. Northern Chinese people are taller, though. In Beijing, I'm still short as in America.
The next stop after Tiananmen Square was the Forbidden City which was huge with 9,999 1/2 rooms. The most interesting part of the Forbidden City was seeing the concubine's wing where the Empress Dowager (Cixi) lived, especially since I read Anchee Min's book, Empress Orchid, a little while ago. I saw her courtyard and peeked through the glass to see her living chambers. I was surprised to see how small her bed was. It was only the size of a twin bed.
The rest of the day was spent touring the summer palace a little while away and then seeing an acrobatics show before dinner, which I found very entertaining. They did some pretty amazing tricks, but I think everyone was tired because no one was clapping. One girl stood in split pose on one toe balanced on a guy's shoulder. Another guy was able to catch porcelain bowls on his head which he flipped in the air while standing on a board which was balanced on a cylinder rolling on a board balanced on the head of another boy who stood on another board balanced on a rolling cylinder while holding two girls on each arm. And everyone was too asleep to clap!
At the end of the day, the Boy and I ordered two masseuses to our room and had an hour and a half long massage for only 20 USD each!
posted by LANYTransplant at 7:39 AM
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