Slept very well even with the time difference, went down to the 2nd floor to a large restaurant for breakfast. Every vegetable and salad as well as eggs, soup, coffee, green and black tea - in my element I ate combinations of stir fry veg. Michael likes green tea and it now has pride of place beside Chinese beer.
Met our guide Coco in the lobby at 9:30 on Wednesday 12th of September 2018 to start our exploration of Beijing. We keep the same guide and driver for the 3 days in Beijing.
Our driver took us to the start of Tiananmen Square, traffic is crazy but it works, it just keeps moving. Very rarely have we experienced actual gridlock. The Chinese have crowd control mastered. Large areas to stand in, queues that always move forward. Everything is very modern and clean - people do not crowd you - no persistent hawkers. Even though in the middle of the city, the whole area around the square is very peaceful. We see the Mau Tze Tzung mausoleum from the outside, walk past the tower of independence and Memorial Day gardens. Many preparations in the various gardens for Memorial Day or it may be the day of independence, 1st October - with wire shaped constructions filled with plants and flowers. Works of art. We continued under the next road into the Forbidden City. The gate can be seen all the way from the start of our walk around Tiananmen Square, imposing in bright red.
The construction has 9999.5 rooms, as one of the emperor of one of the dynasties believed that god had 10000 rooms so out of respect..... so many colourful dynasties lasting different amount of years, for a foreigner you feel immersed in the history all around you. We can appreciate the relics and the amazing buildings but cannot keep the different families in order and give up trying. Every building entered had a threshold that did not open as ghosts cannot bend their legs, cannot jump so cannot get into the house.
Lunch at a local restaurant is an occasion - people here love food, order many dishes. A big discussion prior to ordering as to what each person wants after which one person places the whole order, that person also seems to be in control of dishing out the tea and soup. All of the dishes are shared. Whatever is not finished is taken home for the next meal. Dishes of vegetables that we know and others completely foreign, stir fried noodles with either tofu, beef, chicken or pork, lots of different mushrooms and fungi. Fungi is a type of mushroom that is rubbery yet tasty, seems to take on the taste of the dish with which it is mixed. Lots of spicy food with such a a variety of flavors that it is impossible to describe. I am in my element, definitely part Chinese.
We move onto the Hutong tour in the Dongsheng District in a rickshaw, with visit to a local house, very narrow streets with one family living in one room of a courtyard and their parents, brothers or sisters having other rooms in the same courtyard. There seems to be a communal kitchen for the whole courtyard with communal bathrooms for the whole Hutong like you would have in a caravan park in SA. I have used normal sitting toilets and squatting toilets all clean. Only bad experience was in a Starbucks. People’s policies seem to be strict but fair. Incredibly disciplined in their outlook on life. Long work hours leads to better income. Everyone believes in hard work, no beggars or people living on the street. Children are expected to study hard as it is their only responsibility. Government is cracking down on gaming addiction with 10Cent a large gaming company setting the standards on identifying young gamers and restricting their gaming time.
Next was the Temple of Heaven where all the emperors performed rituals for a good harvest and if they got it, they went back to give thanks and if they had a bad harvest, they went back to pray for rain. Again you are back in history with beautifully decorated structures all arranged in the Meridian line, East to West as China was the Centre of the world and all else radiated out...
That night we walked out of our hotel and 20minutes later we were at a night food market. We walked and experienced the night life of the locals, we always felt welcome and included, everyone smiled or stared. Being a tall largish woman with white bushy hair definitely is head turning for the average Chinese person, I often smiled at people, they stopped whatever they were busy with, just to stare. No worries from my side as usually the stare was quickly accompanied by a smile.
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