Sunday

We set out this morning for Chaundixia, an old and well preserved Chinese city, free of most modern influences. It is said to be a gorgeous town in a gorgeous locale. I was anxious to see more of China. Unfortunately, Beijing traffic/construction interfered. It’s a 2 hour drive in good conditions, but after spending an hour to go just a few miles, we aborted our mission and returned to the old beautiful part of town to do some wandering. It was a good decision. We had a great time wandering in and out of shops and just observing Beijing life. We sampled some yummy street candy, fruit on sticks that had hard sugar caramelized on the outside. And we came across a guy that had trained his bird to pick up coins and deposit them in piggy banks. Elle giggled hysterically as she tossed coins to the bird.

We then headed to an early dinner for world famous Peking Duck. We asked our guides to join us and they were thrilled to do so. Peking Duck is the most special dish in Beijing, and our guides directed us to an excellent restaurant. Peking Duck was the Imperial Dish back in the day, and as such, only the Emperor could eat it. Now, anyone can indulge, and according to Justin, indulge is the right word. He and Alex and Liu Pei stuffed themselves with duck and proclaimed it’s excellence often. We also ordered five fresh and incredibly tasty vegetable dishes that were shared. Even Elle and Liam tried the duck, and both seemed to like it.

Upon returning to our hotel/apartment, I asked Alex to come in and translate for me. Our apartment was quite cold the night before and we couldn't figure out how to get the heat to work. After much Chinese discussion, she turned to me and said “Aha, there is no heat anymore. March 15, all of public Beijing buildings turn off the heat until Fall.” So, even though it is 35 degrees outside, there is no heat because of this arbitrary date. Every year the heat goes off until Fall. They very graciously brought us extra quilts.

So tomorrow we have to take a taxi to just outside city limits to meet Liu Pei because it’s Monday, and he can’t drive his car in the city on Mondays. To help with traffic issues, Beijing has designated one day of each week that you cannot drive your car within city limits. On Mondays, it’s cars that have a license plate ending in 2 or 7. Alex and Liu Pei said it does help quite a bit.

Which brings me to another thing I’ve noticed. I often hear or read that China is one of the biggest polluters in the world and that it is horribly polluted. Both of these things are true. What is also true though is that they ARE taking steps to help curb this. I see many more recycling initiatives here than I do in the US and there are many policies like the one above that are at least movements in the right direction. Maybe it’s not enough, but I am surprised at how much is being done.