Beijing

Having had almost four days in Beijing since our arrival (not including the Great Wall trek), we've seen, and walked, a great deal. In some regards, the sprawl of the city and even the pockets of wealth, tourism and poverty is not all that different then what is found in another city we visited, LA. Of course in Beijing prosperity is much less the norm.

Night Markets

They don't refridgerate their meat at the market!

Since I am the "normal" height here, they have extensions on the subways- unlike NY!

We spent our first true day here (Saturday, Sept 22) wandering through the Hutongs and lakefront area in the middle of the city. Hutongs are traditional neighborhood dwellings, walled in their own small blocks, for the "common" man. You see clothes hanging and see kids playing, like in so many places, but there is a rawness and simplicity to these Hutongs and families that Christy hasn't seen in other countries. Though very close by, the lakefront area is a dichotomy from this simple living. The tourist appeal has brought nice restaurants, clean walking paths and a sense of upscale charm. As Christy jokingly commented, "It looks just like Epcot!". The preciseness of everything from decorative flowers, to authentic music, and colorful paddle boats almost seemed artificial so close to the dilapidated hutong shelters.

That night we met our Intrepid Tour group, our friends for the next 3+ weeks, over a classic Peking Duck meal. We are the only Americans of the 16- the rest from England, Ireland and Australia. Looks like a fun and interesting group; three other couples similar in age to us are on long 5+ month trips as well!

Belhai park is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the bustling city, and where we spent much of our Sunday afternoon, simply reading, writing and people watching. Along the park lake there was a cluster of connected "pavillions", ornately designed and decorated. A group locals joined in a spontaneous operatic song and dance in the area right near where we sat. The joy and playfulness in their voices was almost identical to Italians doing the "tarantella" and gave Christy a sense of home, though indeed far away when she opened my eyes.


Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are iconic to Beijing and warranted an afternoon and English guide. While here, we are learning about the communist culture in China and the power Mao Zedong had during his reign, It was interesting to see how he is still everpresent in the Capital, 20 years after his death. Tiananmen Square, one of the biggest "plazas" in the world still has his stamp, as his picture boldly hangs on the entrance gate to the Forbidden City (where the Emperors lived during their Dynasties- completely "forbidden" "off limits" to anyone other than his family and concubines). This is considered the center of the Capital city and therefore symbolizing Mao as still the center of the people. What was most interesting to me, was that I first learned of Tiananmen Square because of the riots that took place in 1989. I will have to wait to learn more about that history when I am back in the states, as NO ONE speaks of this here and even Wikipedia is restricted. In fact, we are lucky we can still edit our blog. We cant open the website but still able to edit from the template page.

Forbidden City from above

Though I have never been to a Cirque de Soleil show, I would have to imagine they recruit from the young Chinese acrobat schools. We attended a show our last evening that was just amazing. A young boy, no more than 6 rode a unicycle on tight rope and then stood on it swinging as though he were riding a wave, and a young girl contortioned her body in all different ways while balancing on one hand. The grand finale involved more than 10 girls intertwined artistically one one bike while one continued riding it in circles. With far less resources then the renown acts back home this group of acrobats left us quite impressed with their blatant talent and creativity.

This is a long entry for our blog, but with less opportunities to post as we have become accustomed, we thought we would build on the posts we do make. Might help make the Beijing Olympics commentaries next summer more interesting too! There are countdowns everywhere and Olympics paraphernalia in every shop..can't avoid the anticipation here!