Tianamen Square, Forbidden City and Hutong Tour

Ni hao!

What a day!  We had an incredible and beautiful day of touring yesterday.  And we were all so tired at the end of it that an 8pm bedtime ended the day perfectly.  How funny is that?!  Right now it is 7am on Friday morning and Jim and the boys just left to go down to the pool.  That gives me a little moment of quiet time alone to chronicle yesterday before we head out for today.

The time here in Beijing is going quickly.  Yesterday we all agreed was our favorite day so far.  I am feeling MUCH better, which is really good.  And everyone else is feeling great, too.

The day began with the four of us strolling with Starbucks (yes, we know, shameless Americans) in hand around our hotel area.  We are in the Financial District in Beijing, and so around us is not regular Chinese life.  Many luxury hotels, huge bank buildings, a shopping area with stores we don't go in even back at home.  We all had a great laugh saying that we would go in one night to "shop" as tourists...touring Western stores in Asia since even in America they aren't our level of shop.  There were, however, two small groups of people doing tai chi in the small park across the street from our hotel (I can actually hear the music playing again right now!  It is piped over a loudspeaker).  We loved watching them.  It is so beautiful to see.

Cooper had ordered what we thought was an apple pastry item at Starbucks.  Imagine his surprise upon biting into it and tasting potatoes and sesame chicken!  He said it was really good, however, and proceeded to eat the entire thing.  I think it just startled him!  We are eating breakfast in our room, usually oatmeal and a breakfast bar.  We went downstairs for breakfast the first morning and enjoyed an incredible buffet that will not be repeated again on our credit card. :)  Our room meals are working really well.  And lunches with our guide and driver are substantial and heavenly.

After our jaunt, we Skyped the kids at home, which is so great.  I think it is helping me feel somewhat connected and we all aren't feeling as far away.  Hearing their voices and seeing their faces is good for the heart.  My parents are amazing and have been doing such a great job with them.  I did get the report that at bedtime, Dad sat down on Anna's bed to join Mom in reading the Betsy-Tacy chapter to/with Anna and there was a crack as the support board for the bedspring and mattress gave way.  Mercy!  My Dad just had hip replacement surgery two weeks ago, and it is a good thing he is in such incredible shape.  This is the man that ripped an oak stump out of the ground at the cabin with his bare hands.  Tough on the esteem of a son-in-saw!  Jim and I still laugh so hard about that memory.  It is becoming, over time, a bit of a tall tale, I think.  Dad is, to us, larger than life.  Suffice it to say, Mom repoted they all laughed really hard and it was all okay.  Phew!  

Our first stop yesterday was Tianamen Square.  It is HUGE and sits right across the street from the Forbidden City, which creates an interesting juxtaposition of statements.  Probably on purpose.  If the Forbidden City was just that, forbidden to everyone but the emperor and invited guests, Tianamen Square is meant for the "people" and is a place to gather, show the might of the military and stand for the opposite of the emperor and his rule.  The giant picture of Mao (he needs a new haircut) that hangs just over the entrance to the Forbidden City is, as a teenager might say, "speaking to the hand" of the emperor.  In other words (because I think I didn't say that correctly) the rule of the emperor is done.  The People's Republic is here and, in biblical lexicon, "we have conquered you and are raiding your temple of all the idols and goods and here is our god to worship".  The line of people waiting to see Mao's embalmed body stretched all the way around the park.  People wait hours upon hours and pilgrimage from all around China to see him.  Akin to our Washington DC, I suppose.  

While in the Square, we were quite popular.  Jeb especially!  Cooper had a hat on, which made him conspicuous as a Westerner, but his hair was a bit hidden.  Jeb's blond, blond hair had people mesmerized!  We ended up in a few pictures, and while we tried to charm the little kids that parents wanted us to take pictures with, the kids themselves were not so charmed.  I think we are spooky to them.  One little girl, later in the day, was saying, "They are scary.  I don't like them".  Oy.

The Forbidden City is beautiful.  Huge.  Imposing.  We walked form one end to the other through multiple courtyards and staging areas.  Everything has a meaning or symbolism.  It was so neat to begin to recognize much of the symbolism.  We all agreed the room that featured the weapons and uniforms of the guard and army was one of our favorite parts.  The room with the emperor's bed was interesting, but a bit creepy.  I think that because we had seen the reproduction of it on "The Last Emperor" we already had a sense of what it looked like in our heads.  As we stood on one of the balcony-type areas near the end of the tour, we were taking photos of an incense pot and a measuring device.  The emperor would decide how much something weighed and what it was worth.  It was huge and stone, inscribed and carved with many motifs.  One of them looked akin to a swastika, which had the boys aghast.  We were explaining why the Germans used the swastika originally, and then talking about how this wasn't meant as a swastika, etc. Suddenly this older gentleman started telling us (not asking us, mind you) that World War 2 was the War of Total Destruction, and at first we thought he was saying that we thought Hitler was good.  So we were explaining that we thoguht Hitler was bad and we were just talking to the boys about the symbols on the stone carving.  (I think sweat was starting to form at this point).  From there the man went on to say that this would be the century of the "Yellow Man" (his words, not ours) and he was so proud.  That America would be crushed (I"m paraphrasing) and he was so excited. That we are subservient to the Jews and because of that, and our weaknesses, we would lose power.  I could see Jim's ire rising.  He was very calm, and said things like, "I'm so glad that then we will be friends when you are the world power".  The man just laughed.  Then Jim said, "Well, once your dream happens, then China can take care of the world like American does".  The man just laughed again.  I know he is just one small faction of people.  We have those rabid sorts in America, too.  It just blew my mind that our guide had things to say that echoed his thoughts after.  I asked her if she knew what Xenophobia was and she said no.  I left it at that.  

The whole time the man was talking, his wife was talking to Cooper and Jeb.  The boys said she was very kind and nice.  I told them she was probably rolling her eyes at her husband on the inside and trying to be kind and shield them from what he was saying.  They heard both conversations, though, and it made for really good discussion between us all afterward.  There is so much to process!  Taking in another culture and history at the same time, and also sifting one from the other when often they are not separate in some ways, and doing it all in front of our guide, is interesting to say the least.  

The Forbidden City was highlight, nonetheless.  There was so much to see, and we only saw a fraction of it all.  We were there for 3 hours, though, I think.  Whew!

It is especially neat to see Cooper and Jeb engaging in what we are seeing.  They are loving learning about the history and seeing everything.  Perfect ages to do this trip.

From the Forbidden City we went to an incredible lunch!  IN the shutterfly photos you can see us eating shrimp in salt on sticks.  Heads, eyes and all!  They all convinced me it was good to eat it without peeling.  So I did. And they did.  And THEN I glance down at the end of the table and notice Mr. Wang was peeling the head, etc off.  Traitors!  :)  JennJenn, Jim said it was a bit like New Orleans crawfish.  Just bigger.  They were so good!  The food was incredible.  We had a spicy mushroom dish that was everyone's favorite.  I would make it in a heartbeat.  Another favorite was a savory leafy green vegetable that had a topping of something akin to seaweed on it.  Oh, man!  I could have eaten that all day.  My stomach was so happy!  We ate an enormous amount and had gallons of jasmine tea.  Heaven.  We ate near the Hutongs and were situated on a small lake in the city.  Very picturesque and charming.  We also encountered our first squatty potties.  Awards for bravery all around!

The Hutong tour (we rode in little buggy-type contraptions behind a bicycle ridden by a man in a tradition Beijing outfit.  Like a rickshaw) was charming, lovely, everything I'd hoped for!  We had so much fun.  The boys all rode in one, and I rode in another with our Guide, who now has us calling her by her real Chinese name, Lan.  Lan translated as the driver shared the history of the hutong.  At one point I finally said, "I think this man actually speaks very good English and can understand everything I am saying!". He started to laugh as he pedaled.  We drove around three small lakes, and through a series of small alleys with walled homes.  We toured one of the Hutong homes, and that was interesting, too.  

From the rickshaw we walked a shopping area and ended up having another highlight to our day.  We went (Mom stop reading this to Anna now) into a tea shop and bought two beautiful tea sets.  One for Anna and one for Emma.  They are so sweet, pretty and lovely.  Real sets for them.  The man invited us after a prolonged bartering time where we walked away twice (it was wild!) and i was sure he didn't like us (I do not like to barter as I don't want to hurt feelings or be rude, but I"m learning the fun of it with the boys along) to the back of his shop to taste all the tea.  It was so neat.  We tried different varieties of Jasmine and Oolong tea (the best tea, we were told, in China, and comes from Fujian, EMma's province).  He had closed up, dried Jasmine flowers.  He put one in a glass and poured hot water on it.  It opened!  Bloomed!  And was jasmine tea, right before our eyes.  So beautiful.  We were totally charmed. It was magical and we learned a lot about tea, and about the man.  ANd yes, we did end up buying a bit of tea, too. But not like the tea from ANna's province where I"m sure they laughed us all the way down the mountain for how much we bought.  Mom, Dad, Nana, Papa: we also learned we brewed all that tea the wrong way!  The guide was laughing when I described us drinking it WITH the loose tea still in the cup.  Also, the man taught us to only steep the tea for a few seconds, not for minutes like I have always (tea fool that I've been) done.  

Cooper and Jeb bargained for flashing t-shirts that light up to music.  I can't even describe them, but they were cool and perfect for the teenagers!  That was fun. Our hotel room rocked last night as they had them working.

I am having such a hard time finding words to describe the day!  It was so much to take in and do.  So much history to absorb (I'm glad we have read a lot already so had context and could absorb and categorize what we were seeing). I just loved it all!  We all loved it all.  What a magical time we are having.  It has been delightful, truly delightful.   The perfect beginning to our time in CHina.

There are tons of photos uploaded to SHutterfly.  I'll post the link next.  We can't get photos to load to the blog form the computer, although I did figure out yesterday that I can get them to load individually from my phone!  GOod news for Emma day!  

We love you all!  ANd we send you the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus to you from here to there.  

2 sleeps to Emma!

Bless the Lord, oh my soul!

We can't wait!

Signing off for this morning,

Sara