Being on Tienamen Square itself was really cool. We saw the People's Hall and joked that there weren't enough Chinese flags on it (see pic). We also took pictures with a giant image of Mao in front of the Forbidden City. There were Chinese military men marching around (seemingly randomly- which Joey and I found hilarious) in unison throughout the square. I liked the military men because they wore long green coats with fur trim that looked Russian and they didn't smile. If my Thai host mom were here she would say, "Why so serious!"Come on Chinese government, life is too short not to smile! I wouldn't dare try and take a picture with one of those guards.
Joey and I saw a huge line of people forming to enter one of the buildings on the West end of the square. Speaking, nor reading, any Chinese we got in line, only to be told we could not go in because we had to check our bags, and cameras weren't allowed. The mean guard was pulling all of the farang out of line and yelling, "No bag! No camera!!!" He was so rude! China needs to "Jai Yen Yen" (Thai for having a "cool heart"). Joey and I decided to take turns waiting while we each went to see where everyone was going. I went first. After going through yet another metal detector and being patted down and asked yet again if I had a camera on me, I followed the line up the stairs of the big building. People were selling yellow flowers on the way up, and many Chinese stopped to buy one flower. Inside was pretty fascinating: There was a large white sculpture of Chairman Mao sitting and looking into the distance, and in front of him were piles of those yellow flowers from outside. Parents carrying their children walked up to the piles of flowers, gently and quickly prayed to Mao, before resting their flower on the heaps of other flowers and hurrying back into line. Military men wearing white gloves pushed people by their shoulders along. It was fast. In the second room, a wax Madame-Toussaud looking figure of Mao lay resting in a coffin draped with the Chinese flag laying over his body. It was...interesting. It turns out that that was Mao's real body. This is the fun of travel when you don't speak or read the language: One minute you're in a line not knowing where you're going or what you're seeing and the next you're staring at Mao's dead body. I didn't tell Joey what it was, and when he came out he goes, "That's very interesting, kind of creepy."
However, my favorite part of Tienamen Square is the countless babies who shit everywhere. Do you remember that photo I posted from Yangshuo with a baby who had a "slit" down his pants so he could go whenever, wherever? I kid you not, in a span of 15 minutes Joey and I saw two little children pull their pants down and relieve themselves. Right in Tienamen Square. As his maybe 3 year old daughter pulled down her pants, and the military was marching around, we saw one father whisk his daughter behind a truck in the square. At the end of the day, there is still human poop in Tienamen Square- one of China's most revered government areas. Do you find that as funny as I do?
As I was waiting for Joey to return from the restroom outside of the Forbidden City, we saw the same thing happen. Interestingly, every Chinese person around the tinkling little girl was staring at her. I wonder if they were disgusted too. (I wonder if it's a class thing? Or if non-city Chinese people let their children go to the bathroom on the spot but Beijingers find it repulsive?) Joey returned from the bathroom right as the little girl was playfully stomping in her own pee. I couldn't stop, and didn't care, that I was staring. Joey was ready to go haha.
The Forbidden City was so magnificent. Based off of its sheer grand scale, it was impressively intimidating. (Apparently it was named "The Forbidden City" because you were beheaded on the spot if you trespassed). I was very impressed by the "depth" of the initial entrance gate, as well as how far you had to walk to reach the far end...It really was a "city!" After visiting the Summer Palace, it was neat to see where the emperor lived during the rest of the year. It was also interesting to compare the Forbidden City to other palaces and castles I've seen among my travels. The style was just so different. In the Forbidden City at the Palace Museum, you pass Throne Room after Throne Room. I enjoyed thinking about what it must have been like 250 or so years ago, and the emperors literally sitting on their golden thrones all day.
Joey and I spent the rest of the day walking around the city. The weather was "normal" autumn weather now- sunny, cool, and beautiful. I think that we just had uncharacteristically bad weather on our first few days in Beijing. Joey and I had plans to meet my friend Jaclyn's parents in Beijing for drinks at the Peninsula (not the way either of us have been used to living these past few weeks!) We stopped at a delicious bakery on the way over (unlike Thailand, China does baked goods right). I picked out and bought them two beautiful slices of chocolate and vanilla cake, and we were on our way. Joey and I both felt very underdressed with (his) hiking boots and (my) homeless person jacket. (It's not actually a homeless person's jacket, but I really think it looks like one). I was SO happy to spot Michael and Liz in a mirror. From Westport, Connecticut to Ithaca, New York to Beijing, China...I've traveled the world with Jac's parents! It's also amazing to me that the only way we realized her parents and I were both in Beijing at the exact same time was through the wonders of Facebook. It was an absolutely lovely evening with them and Joey. Actually, one of the highlights of my time in China. I drank wine and ate delicious hors d'ourves like CHEESE and olives and even prunes! When dinner was over, I had to head back to our hostel to pack up. My flight to Bali left from Beijing at 230am.
The "end" of our China trip all happened very quickly to me. (I still kind of can't believe I'm in Bali right now). I was so used to traveling with Joey, and I really enjoyed getting to know another person who I didn't know to well pretty intimately. I will always remember Joey trying to find a pool to exercise, hungry, and needing to find a bathroom. He will probably always remember me not making my bed and complaining about the lack of internet. He was good with maps and directions, and I was good at making Chinese friends. We were a good team for this China trip, but neither one of us realized what a huge undertaking it was haha.
At airport security, one of the guards took out my bag of tiny toiletries and actually smelled each container: contact solution, sun screen, and toothpaste. They were all in tiny containers. It was way weird. Way unnecessary. Story of my experience in China ha. He put them through the x-ray machine again, and then I was on my way. My two weeks of feeling like Helen Keller had come to an end. My 14 days of miming were no more...onto Bali, Indonesia, where I knew that almost everyone speaks English :)
Final China Thoughts: Smoking, Spitting, and Slurping.
Smoking: It seems like almost every man smokes. Incredibly, they smoke everywhere...in trains, riding buses, in restaurants, in your face.
Spitting: Probably the thing I miss the least about China right now. (Well, after the over-intense security and weird photography rules. Oh, and the lack of English). Men, and some women, in China spit disgustingly horrifying spit balls. It's not a quiet or polite experience: You can hear them from down the block "gathering" their spit and mucus in the back of their throats and then shooting it out. It's a disgusting sound. I've seen men spit inside. (That's the worst- when you're eating inside a restaurant and someone coughs up some spit). Ew.
Slurping: This one I don't mind so much. Actually, I took full advantage of it because I was always taught not to. When eating noodles (a Chinese food staple) it's completely acceptable to slurp them up and have noodles dangling from your mouth. Do you remember how your mother taught you to politely "twirl" your spaghetti onto your fork when you were little and eat it in one bite? That all goes to shit in China. Slurp 'em up!!!
While I felt like I was in China for a long time, and saw glimpses of both the North and the South, my final day ended quickly. One moment I was in Tienamen Square, and the next I was having a leisurely dinner with Joey and my friend Jaclyn's parents. Then BOOM it was time to say goodbye to Joey after 2 weeks of (intense) travel together and go to...BALI.
I am really grateful that I got to travel to China. I also think that, while it wasn't the easiest trip, it was a really important place to visit. China is a huge economic power (it owns more US securities than the Us...) and I think that China's influence will only continue to grow. Personally, I feel that the US and China have a complicated relationship, and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. Being from America and only speaking English for many years (and usually having an easy time traveling because every other country learns English!) it was a wake up call, and a slap in the face, visiting China and having so very few people speak English. I thought to myself, "This is a twisted sort of role reversal...this must be how other countries feel about Americans only speaking English!" China is so large, and so powerful, that its citizens don't need to learn English! China really is its own "planet."
I am currently relaxing at a friend's home in Bali, Indonesia. It is my third day here, and all I've been doing is sleeping in, eating, going for dips in their pool, and relaxing. I didn't do it on purpose at the time, but it's so important to plan "easy" travel breaks after more difficult trips.
A really cute octopus cake at Joey and my favorite
morning bakery stop
Some very serious, very official, very Russian looking military men.
Tienamen Square!
Planters outside of Tienamen Square.
(Mom- this one's for you!)
Guards and planters
The security queue to get into Tienamen Square
I don't remember what this memorial is for
Small troops of the official military men continuously
marched around the square. It was very funny, because
they would zig-zag in unison when there were tourists,
and they didn't seem to be going anywhere particularly.
Joey in front of The People's Hall
Are there enough flags up there? What country is this again?
Tienamen Square- in front of the Forbidden City
Me and Mao
The balcony where, in 1949, Mao declared China
The People's Republic of China
Joey and I liked the basketball hoops inside the Forbidden City.
We concluded that this area is a small military base, so they're
for the Russian looking military men to shoot some hoops.
Inside the first gate of the Forbidden City...so extensive!
Looking behind us...What a gate!!!
Such an intimidating building
When I first read this sign, I immediately thought it
had to do with a midget population in China. I was
impressed by the welfare! Joey pointed out that it
was probably for children...
Beautiful painted gate!
The Forbidden City just keeps going!
Joey- holding onto that bag!
Never to be pick-pocketed again!
One of the emperor's many thrones!
Baby on a tree!
An interesting, bulbous tree
We're almost at the far end of the Forbidden City
Another giant rock!
Joey wanted a picture with the rock
after I got one...
Look at that thing!
Alas, we are at the exit on the far end of the Forbidden City!
Moat
Final touristy pics in Beijing
KFC is very hi-so in China. But look, doesn't that man
in the circle on the right resemble a Chinese C. Sanders?!
A man playing his violin in a quiet park!
I really liked this image :)
1. We finally found The Peninsula
2. How brilliant are those "motorbike mittens"?!
Michael, Me, Liz, Joey
Oh happy day!
Election Day in USA.
Front page of a newspaper I saw...do you
see the "twist"? The article's all about Obama
calling China an "adversary," but okay if China
"plays by the rules." Having visited China now,
being straight-up (comically) cut in my subway line
multiple times, and generally people just wanting my
money, I have to say that I totally get what Obama means!
idk what type of bakery you were going to because the chinese do not know how to do bakerys, in my opinion. when there is pork floss in my cinnabun, i am not a happy camper.
ReplyDeletesplit pants is not a class thing. sometimes its weird because children (espeically very small infants) will have splits pants AND a diaper on, defeating hte purpose. they also whistle. heres an excerpt from my blog while i was in shanghai:
There’s a lot more I could mention, but since this post is getting long I’ll just describe one more thing. Oftentimes on the metro, Chinese people will hear us speaking Chinese and be VERY interested. They love to talk to us in Chinese and talk about differences between America and China. This last week, a very nice young guy was talking about all sorts of customs with us, when a little boy passed by wearing pants with a slit in the butt. I’ve mentioned this to most of you before, but very small children wear these type of pants so they can just shit whenever the fuck. It’s actually pretty cute with their naked butt hangin out. I dont see it often around my dorm but I saw it a lot more downtown. The Chinese guy continued to tell us how 方便(convenient) these pants were, and how when mothers want to help their children pee, they whistle, then the kid will go (whistling on the street for fun, by the way, is no bueno. He said only 坏人-bad people- do that. Perhaps its because all the kids in the area will shit their pants???). I really dont understand how convenient this could really be, particularly if youre indoors and youre trying to follow your kid around figuring out when hes going to make a poo. But then I was in a bathroom (at a VERY shnazzy hotel) later and a woman was holding her ~4 year old daughter in a sitting position with her arms underneath her knees, wearing NO pants, just walkin around for no reason. Then the little girl said one word (that i didnt catch), the mother said what??? and put her over a trashcan and started whistling. At first I was like, wtf is that noise? Then I was oddly delighted to realize that what i just learned was true–she was whistling to make her pee! LOL. Another one of those TIC (This is China!) moments.