niniane

10/28 – Beijing

After the delayed flight/eyeball incident, we all wanted to sleep in. So we got up around 10 am the next morning and made it to the Forbidden City. The last time I was there, there was literally no one (well, maybe 10 other people, but...you could wander almost alone...) there. This time there were fewer people than Golden Week, but still enough that it was crazy. So we spent an hour or so to climb the entirely unexciting gate that overlooks Tian'An Men, then spent another hour getting tickets to the city.

Tian'An Men Square is pretty amazing all in all. I'm sad that I couldn't spend longer here going through museums, monuments, etc. Someday I'll spend a month in Beijing. Promise.

(Someday I'll also spend a month in Washington DC. Bit by bit, y'know?)

The city is....well, the city. I mean, most of what was in it has vanished (much to Taipei's National Museum, which is fantastic, BTW), so it's mostly just an enormous complex of buildings. The buildings are very impressive, and we spent maybe 4 hours roaming through them. And...yeah. It's big and impressive. It was more fun last time, where I was practically alone and could envision what it must have felt like to live there. But eh...it was still impressive. I mean, it says something that five hundred years later, we're still like, “Woah, this place is amazing!” (all the while thinking, “can you imagine what this would have been like when red paint was insanely expensive and all the buildings LITERALLY WERE COVERED IN GOLD?”)

THE FORBIDDEN CITY!!!!!!! It's still pretty damned impressive, even if there are a lot of people.

An amazing ceiling in the Forbidden City. But like, everything is this amazing. The architecture is phenomenal.

Roofs of GOLD TILE and little animal processions. (The more there were, the more important the building. Since this is the Forbidden City, there are the full nine.)

THE IMPERIAL THRONE. This is some fancy stuff.

Another imperial throne, because when you're emperor, you need a LOT of them. Like, apparently a ton. (There were a crazy number, in case you were wondering, going from super ornate to just ornate.)

The Forbidden City had all these huge blocks of marble that were carved into intricate dragons and phoenixes and stuff. They're freaking gorgeous. 'Nuf said.

AMAZING tile work at the Forbidden City. Like, seriously, the place is covered in art. It's incredible.

Many of the buildings in the Forbidden City have been converted to mini-museums. One of them stores one of the awesome Tang dynasty screaming camels. (I'm not sure why I love these. I JUST DO.)

I also loved this Ming dynasty statue of a female scholar. This was a smart lady, y'all.

I don't know what this is, but I kind of want one.

Again, it was a lot of big buildings, growing smaller as you got to the residential quarters. Humans clearly like a certain scale. They may use one to impress, but use another to live in.

Where the Last Emperor (Puyi) actually lived - note that it's a very pleasant looking house and not crazy.

We went looking for duck, but no duck was to be found, so ended up going to an (expensive) Iranian restaurant with several belly dancers (well...at least two. One was a rather attractive white woman in a glittery costume who technically wasn't any better than I am, but was both sexy and well...about as good as I am, which I suppose is what it is, but pleasant to watch. The other of whom was a plump Asian woman who seemed decent, although again, not great) as well as very good food that was well...not weird chunks of meat and pigeon. I ate well.

10/29 – Beijing

Mom wanted to go to the Great Wall, so go we did! I was mostly impressed by the bus loading. They had a bus that went directly there from one station, and they lined us all up and funneled us into waiting buses, filling two at a time, then moving the next buses forward. It was a marvel of efficiency. (China does a lot of that. I really am impressed by their public transit to the extent that I'm awed every time I go there. Why can't we do this? Seriously? Seriously?!!!)

This is the Great Wall. (Interestingly it translates to "long city" in Chinese.)

The Great Wall itself was well...a wall. It was very steep in most places (in some cases using stairs, but in others using perilously steep inclines!) The scenery was lovely, but the wall itself was quite crowded and felt kind of silly to me. On the walk down there were a number of geology exhibits that explained all the rocks used in the area and how they helped to fortify the place. I suppose it was somewhat illuminating. (There was also a “Bear Garden” which I never found, boo! I wonder what that was! There was also a roller coaster that you could ride down the great wall, if you felt so inclined, since why not? Oh, and a golf putting green! Never say that the Chinese ever leave a single commercial enterprise unexploited!)

Quite scenic, no?

It is crazy packed, though. I think the best way to avoid this is to go to a less touristy section, but eh.

This is off season...

Once you walk a bit, though, of course the Great Wall is empty. Typical tourism site...

Of course you can do the Great Wall Roller Coaster version. Of course...

We got back in time to ask for directions to the Summer Palace and actually make it there. (Yay!) Of course, the original structure is gone, so instead it's a very lovely park (around a lake) with a rather gaudy reconstruction in the center. I feel like the park would take a full day to explore, which of course, we didn't have, so mostly it was a matter of looking at the shoddy reconstruction. There was a historical Chinese cosplayer running around who I got a picture of (she seemed so pleased...but then I knew she'd be, which was part of why I'd asked. I saw another one earlier at the Forbidden city who had a less cute costume and who ducked out of my way too fast for me to see her, which seems a shame. Cosplayers generally love having their pictures taken, so it is a tragedy for both of us. Just saying. And yes, of course the one I got a picture with had a friend who took a few dozen pictures of us, too. What do you think Chinese cosplayers are? Barbarians? Perish the thought.)

Recreation of Hangzhou or Suzhou street (I forget) at the Summer Palace. I'm not sure whether this is historically accurate (probably) or why it exists. (Maybe so the Riches can buy stuff from merchants who are willing to lug stuff to them? Unsure.)

Recreation of the Summer Palace. It's not bad, it's just...all reconstructed in the 50s. I can't even imagine what this place would have looked like in its prime. :(

A bridge to the island in the middle of the lake near the Summer Palace. It's pretty.

Cosplayers gonna cosplay. (Also, I LOVE that this happens. It's the best thing ever. I don't know why or how it happens, but it is AWESOME. Thank you Chinese cosplayers, you ARE THE BEST.)

Once we were done with the Summer Palace, we wandered off to the red pearl market (ah, cheap crappy night markets at their finest) Mom bought some candy for Chrit (not very good in my mind – come on, Mom, the convenience stores have far more interesting stuff! Ugh, she has no taste...) as well as some cheap knock offs (which I bartered them down to about a third of their asking price for. The woman kept saying, “Oh, your daughter, she is very smart, very smart” which was kind of hilarious, but also, like, come on lady, I know what real wallets cost at Marshalls, so you are NOT charging me more than that for cheapo knockoffs. I mean, she still clearly made money....I'm just not going to let my parents be utter idiots.)

Then we got Beijing duck (amazing, because, let's face it, someone who doesn't love Beijing duck clearly either lacks taste buds or is dead to all sensory pleasures. I felt a bit bad in that we didn't especially indulge in the duck liver portion of the menu – it was good, but rather rich, and I wanted the actual duck, which I prefer – we also didn't drink much of the soup for the same reason – but it was all divine. Oh, Beijing, I do not know how you came up with such a perfect food, but that alone is a credit to you! Also, I really loved the pancakes we had at the Great Wall – lots of luscious egg and crispy and salty and seasoned bits all mixed up into a delicious packet – as well as the pita bread with chunks of meat, onion, green bell pepper and seasoning inside. Seriously, Beijing street food is the best. I still have no idea why Cantonese and Sichuanese food rules in the US. Jiaozi, Baozi, those meat pita things, and the pancakes are freaking amazing. I might go to Beijing just to eat them.)

Artistic duck is artistic. Like, so pretty...and so TASTY!

So it was all in all a good day. I ate well, saw stuff, and was really wishing that I didn't have to leave – which is the attitude I wanted upon departing from China.