I have been to China!

The Great Wall

    I was talking to some friends last week and they said that there is a saying that 'if you haven't been to the great wall, then you haven't truly been to China'. If this saying is true, then I have truly been to China! The great wall is among my favorite places in China. There are many sections of the wall that remain, and some are better than others. We went to one of the better sections that aren't flooded with tourist called Mutianyu.

    What I enjoyed about the wall: it is in the country side away from the bigger city (even though it is still in Beijing), there is so much history both good and bad, and there are great pictures you can take there. If I ever come again I hope I can take the time and spend an entire day or two on the wall and possibly camp overnight in one of the watch towers!

    A quick history of the wall that I learned... The original wall was about 7 kilometers and built of wood and stone and the next emperor after the original builder added seven kilometers. As that decayed it was replace by brick which is still here today, although there are still some wooden parts too. To build the wall every male in ancient China was required to work for three years and if any of them, citizen or slave, died there they were buried, along with the work animals, inside of the wall. That is why the wall is also known as the longest grave in the world.

Humm... Subway at the wall?

    The construction fo the wall makes for some good times. The is because the wall follows the conture of the mountains and because it was build by hand the steps are not at all even. One step can be two inches high and the next one foot high. This means that people with big feet (like me) beware, the steps are not overly wide either and some of them leave half of my size 13 feet hanging off of the step.

    Conclusion, if you ever are able to come to China and can only see one place, go to the Great Wall.

Ming Tombs

     Honestly I wasn't too impressed by the Ming Dynasty tombs, because there wasn't much anything there... Side Note: There are many tombs from the Ming Dyansty, and they're all in the same mountain wen went to the Dingling Tomb. In 1959 when Guo Moruo and Wu Han found the tom, after two unsuccessful digs, they got into the tombs and took what they wanted to pay for the expedition. Also, when Mao did his whole cultural revolution thing many of the artifacts were destroyed, just like many other cultural sites.
    But, the construction of the tomb and what was left was very impressive. The tomb was built to look a bit like the palace, because they thought the emperor deserved to live like an emperor even after death. The initial doorway you go through was made of 'diamond rock' (guides called it that, not sure if it had diamonds in it). The entries to each of the three chambers had a roof over the marble door that was built of marble to look like the forbidden city roofs. It was amazing how high the ceilings were and they were all made with a smooth stone. Before it was looted the chambers were filled with everything the emperor would need in the after life like dishware, tea making things, wardrobe, a throne, and a well as his access to come back to this world; funny thing is that there was a huge three foot tall pile of money beside the well (no, I didn't give any in case you wondered).

    After you leave the tomb, which is in the underworld you must return to the human world. To return to our world you must pass through the double pillared gate. Girls step through right foot first and guys step through the left foot first.

Lama Temple, Hutong District Rickshaw, and Tiāntán

Lama Temple (Buddhist Temple)

    Just like every other day we met Deane in our hotel lobby at 8am, and we make our journey on the crowded streets of Beijing to the Lama Temple. It's not a temple for lamas, but actually for Buddhist. Side note: What about Confucius, he is like synonymous with China. Yep, his temple is down the road and just like the Lama Temple minus the incense and swap Buddha with Confucius.

See... Balance

   The first thing I noticed was that everything was in complete balance, like the gardens and the buildings. The second thing you will notice is the overwhelming scent of incense! So much incense... When people come to worship/pay homage/whatever they do all of them light  2-8 sticks of incense for each temple they go to. hundreds of people * 20'ish temples * 2-8 sticks = headaches caused by incense 

     Each one of the temples had a purpose. Most of the central temples had Buddhas in them. One of the temples had a Buddha 18 meters tall made of sandalwood, and his toe nail was bigger than my hand.

Rickshaw Tour (forever giving people the feel of royalty)

    Rickshaw? Yep, not only does it make you feel like royalty, but it is also a good way to see an area. We got to see people going about their daily lives, so many different construction techniques, regular 'non-touristy' markets and stores, experience the ever changing variety of smells of cramped China, and most importantly we got to eat at Mr. Wong's house!

TGI Friday's

 T.G.I. Friday's

    Hummm TGI Friday's? I think, yes. After class today, our professor from my university, Professor B. invited students in our class to supper tonight, and it was great. Of the ten students that came four of them were Chinese, and the rest were the international students. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to China was to meet and talk with people from other cultures and talk with them. This was defiantly my chance. We were having such a good time that I didn't notice that we were there for three and a half hours, until we got back to the hotel!

    Moral of the story... When you are in another country and have the chance to go and have a dinner with people from other countries do it! Not only will you have a meal, but you will have the chance to share a meal which for some is an invaluable way to meet with and learn about someone and where they come from.

Forbidden City

Mao, ever watching Water pot for extinguishing fires Carved rocks Our lunch

Just like every other place from the times of the emperors the Forbidden City is ginormous. When you come up to the outer wall the first thing you see is Chairmen Mao's portrait hanging on the wall (Talk about a wart on the Mona Lisa? Oh yea and Mao had a wart on his chin.) Once I got in I was blown away at how vast the compound is, how many buildings there were, and how many walls there are. I didn't really notice until our guide said it, but there are no trees inside the inner walls. That was so there was no place for assassins to hide. Another way they kept the emperor secure was for him to have 40 bedrooms for himself! How is that secure? Every night he would choose one of his bedrooms at random and not tell anybody. In that day the emperor slept alone, without his empress or his many concubines.     Earlier I mentioned that the Forbidden city was enormous, now add to that extravagant. Everything was over the top, but still beautiful (must be the ying yang thing). All of the ceilings had extremely detailed designs repeated over and over. Many of them depicted dragons facing phoenixes, because of ying and yang, to keep a balance. Also something I found funny were that there were metal balls hanging from the center of every ceiling. There were there so that if someone other than the emperor tried to sit in the chair it would fall on them. Other than living quarters the majority of the buildings were temples for worshiping the various gods, and between some of the temples there were 'resting buildings' for the emperor to rest while walking between buildings.     After the Forbidden City we went to this local restaurant for lunch where we had: pineapple deep fried chicken, tofu and egg in beef sauce, three mushroom surprise, and fried rice. Surprisingly the fried rice was very much like the fried rice in the United States.      The second to last picture is a bunch of rocks and carved stones held together by ancient glue made by egg whites and sticky rice, and here it has stood for hundreds of years.

Tienanmen Square

Monument to the people who fought

My Story

    Tienanmen Square in one word: ENORMOUS!!! The purpose of the square is, because every family had a square (or yard) so the emperor had to have one too. But, since he was the emperor his had to be massively larger than everyone else's.

More grandeur

Mao's tomb

    Connected to the square is Mao's tomb. And inside this huge building is his body encased in an all crystal casket so that the people can continue to view him, and remember his contribution, and the revolution he created. The good thing is that we went to the square on the right day, which is Monday by the way. When his tomb is open the line to go in averages three miles, give or take a family or two. So, if you ever decide to go, go on Monday...

National Museum of China

    When we arrived I was completely taken back at how vast it was, and compared to how many people were there and how not close we were, it was massive. Most of the square was stone, but there were a couple very long and slender gardens, a bell tower for something or other, and a couple monuments.
Side note: across the street was The Great Hall of People which is their 'congress' where they discuss issues of the people. There were vendors, like everywhere else, selling various momentous of your journey. The thing that made me laugh the most was the 'Mao watch' which depicted their previous revolutionary with his hand up as the background of the watch. In my opinion gaudy and probably just a tourist thing, because I have yet to see a local, or tourist, wearing one.

The Pictures

    Top picture is one of two monuments of the common people along side the military men charging to the future. Second picture is a small portrait of the garden at the square. The third picture is the tomb of the one and only Chairmen Mao, their title not mine. Last one is the National Museum of China that was connected to the square.

Where 'ya been? Glad you asked!

Let me know you where I've been.

Below is a map of most of the places I visit in Beijing, China. As I write posts about each place I will put a link to them here. Cool fact: All of these places are still in Beijing. Beijing is, like Washington D.C., not in a province, but is instead it's own area.

Tiananmen Square



View Visits in Beijing in a larger map

McDonald's!!! 麦当劳!!!

McDonalds!

    So, for some people McDonald's isn't such a big deal, but when you are craving something from home it comes pretty close. We, professor's niece and I, have been wanting something for lunch other than rice, and this defiantly hit the spot. Plus we had the chance to see an American franchise in another country, and for me that is one of the things I have been wanting to see.

    All three of us got a McDouble with fries and a coke. The people behind the counter were pretty quick for the number of people there, because just like the rest of China it was packed with people. The people at the register all had a few sodas sitting by the register for them to just grab and put on the tray instead of waiting. They fries tasted like they were fried in a different kind of oil, the beef had a different consistency, and the cheese tasted more like cheddar than american. Besides the minor inconsistencies everything was the same which was great. We were all craving something different and American, and this hit the spot.

    Yes the menus were in characters, but fortunately they had an English menu they could hand to us.

A Day of Firsts

My first time on a commercial airline, my first time in Las Angeles, CA, my first time in China, my first taxi ride, my first experience trying to buy from someone who doesn't know English, and right now my first Chinese game show!
     I have finally ridden on a commercial airline, but 12 hours was not as fun as 4. The flight from st. Louis to Las Angeles was perfectly smooth. While we were waiting on to taxi out to the runway I started talking to the guy sitting next to me who was kind enough to explain everything about the flight to me (i.e. all the strange sounds and what to expect). LAX was an interesting experience. We were delayed at the docking area because somebody forgot to go and flip the switch to move the hallway thing out to let us off the airplane. The terminal I landed at and the terminal I departed from were on nearly opposite sides of that huge place so I had to high tail it to the other side.

See You Later

Well its that day. I'm heading off to Beijing. Please say a prayer for me if you read this for my safe travel there, stay, and return. I plan on posting every few days while I'm there about my experiences, tips, and on culture stuff and things... (English teachers that read this, please don't harp on me for that one, it's a blog)

Anyway, so yea. See you later!