Beijing

We are definitely in China now! I can not blog or use Facebook (both blocked by the government, amongst other things) and the only news we get is Censored. I am only able to post this with the assistance of friend (thank you Cindy) to who I am emailing the posts and pics, and she in turn is uploading them to blogger.

Despite this, we really like Beijing! Of course, the air is horribly polluted, but today we actually saw blue sky for the first time in well over a week. When we arrived the remnants of the sandstorm were still in the air. As soon as we stepped off the airplane I could feel the grit in my throat and my eyes and nose stung badly. That lasted for another day or so. It was awful and we felt bad for Elle and Liam. Exposing them to this pollution felt tantamount to child endangerment. Luckily, the sand has cleared and now we just have the normal pollution to contend with. Seeing blue sky today was incredible as apparently that doesn't happen often here.

Our immediate impression of Beijing (excepting the air quality) was positive. The airport, built for the 2008 Olympics, is enormous and gorgeous and sparking clean. Never have I seen such glistening floors in any public place. We moved through the airport quickly and efficiently, and at the exit stood the two most important people in all of Beijing (to us). Our guides, Liu Pei and Alex. Yes, we have guides in Beijing and thank god! We could not be doing this without them, and if we tried the results would not be good.

While booking apartments in each city, I stumbled across this apartment in Beijing that came with a car service and guide. The reviews from previous travellers sold me on the spot. Our guides are worth their weight in gold. Lucky for us China is very cheap! Liu Pei drives us everywhere we want to go from morning to night, waiting for us in the car, or joining us if we ask him. Alex comes along with us to guide us, educate us on what we are seeing, translate for us and negotiate prices, because in Beijing almost everything is negotiable. And always, there is a foreigner price and a Chinese price. She gets us the Chinese price. Of course, Elle has charmed Alex and now we also have an extra set of hands with Elle. I love Liu Pei and Alex and want them to drive us around and handle everything for the rest of our whole trip, I don't have to think anymore! And even luckier for us, Liu Pei has a brand new apartment and we are the first to stay in it. We have a view of the Bird's Nest from our window. It's even more beautiful than it looked on TV.

Liu Pei asked me in advance what we wanted to see in Beijing, and he also suggested a few things that we wouldn't have known about. There is an incredible amount to see here, so I narrowed it down as much as I could, which admittedly wasn't much. A few days before our arrival I got our schedule by email and from the looks of it, I could tell we were going to be very, very busy. The first day we were to visit the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square, break for lunch and then visit the hutong for a rickshaw tour and calligraphy class. We were all so exhausted that we decided just to concentrate on the FC and TS. It's a good thing too, I could've spent hours more in the FC, it is a most spectacular and enormous place! We first climbed a hill for a birds eye view, and what an impressive site it was!

The Forbidden Palace was built over 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. It was the residence of the Emperor, as well as many servants, eunuchs and concubines. Eunuchs were castrated men who worked in the palace. Apparently many men volunteered for this position. Surgeons used to stand outside the gates and castrate the men. The castrated men then had to present their goods to the emperor in order to secure their spot in the palace. The emperors wanted to be sure that he was the only "man" in the palace. This was to ensure that only the emperors offspring would be conceived within the palace confines. And there were 100's of concubines for the emperor to choose from in the palace. Alex told us many titillating stories, and interesting tidbits, along with the requisite history. Walking through the FC without a guide would've been a travesty, because although it is beautiful to look at it becomes even more rich with knowledge. The Forbidden Palace has over 9000 rooms in it, we saw maybe 100, only about 30% are open to the public. Much of the palace was restored in preparation for the Olympics and you can see the difference quite clearly, it's fantastic to see it both ways. The last emperor left the palace in the 1920's and soon after it was opened to tourists.

We very nearly did not get past the first garden in the palace because Elle was accosted by Chinese tourists eager for their picture with a "princess". I am not exaggerating when I say that she posed for at least 50 photos by the time we left the FC. Even Justin and I got called in on the picture now and then. Two clearly drunk Chinese men actually paid for a professional photo of them with Justin and I in Tian'anmen Square. It is so surreal. I asked Alex why... and she told me that the Chinese really do not see many white/American people, especially children in real life. They adore/idealize us and especially blond/blue eyed children. Over and over they called Elle, the princess. Trust me, this is not good for her ego. I half expect her to start signing autographs. Even Liam got in on the action, at one point I was buying something for Elle and when I turned back around a Chinese woman had picked him up out of his stroller and was taking a picture with him.

The FC is adjacent to Tian'anmen Square and so we walked on. Contrary to what we tend to feel about Tian'anmen in the US, the square is a source of great pride in China. I can only compare it what we may feel for The Mall in Washington DC. It's a place where many wonderful celebrations and good deeds have happened, it's where their congress sits, where the national museum is and where Chairman Mao is buried. And the fact that a few Chinese students were massacred there is just an unfortunate sidenote. Really, this is how most Chinese feel about the square. So, it was interesting to see it with Alex, who showed it to
us with pride whereas if we saw it alone we would feel only anger and sadness most likely. The square is bounded by Chairman Mao's burial site, Congress, the National Museum and the Forbidden City. It's a very important place indeed. Elle posed for a few more pictures and we made our way to our awaiting car. We hopped in eagerly as we'd been walking for hours.

We drove through the beautiful old part of the city, just absolutely lovely, Justin even called it idyllic, to a fabulous vegetarian restaurant. Liu Pei and Alex joined us and we had a feast! What a great meal, and so thoughtful of them to bring us there without me even asking.

We returned home and Liu Pei gave us a copy of The Last Emperor to watch, wonderful to see after being in the FC today. If you haven't seen it, do when you can.

All in all, an absolutely perfect day to start off our stay in Beijing. Tomorrow, the Great Wall!