Today was going to be a long day of touring. Starting off our day we were greeting by our new tour guide named Angel. First stop was Tianemen Square which is the largest city center in the entire world. Arriving there I was easily able to believe it. The center contains some important buildings most notable the resting place of the Chairman Mao who founded New China in 1949.
Straight across from there a large Chinese gate stands entrance to the Forbidden City. The gate is painted red with large fountains lining either side. In the direct center a massive picture of the chairman is erected.
Passing through the gate we learned that all of the doors from this point on would have 81 gold knobs which symbolized the ultimate power of the emperor. The Forbidden City used to be home to the emperor, empress, and the emperor`s 3,000 concubines. Come on, really he needed that many?
The Forbidden City itself is nothing short of extraordinary. Every detail was accounted for when this magnificent place was built.
Some fun facts:
1. 81 gold knobs on every door for ultimate power of the emperor
2. Animals adorn the roofs. The more animals the more important the building
3. People carried the emperor everywhere
4. The main path down through the buildings is the Dragon Road
5. The number 4 is considered bad luck and death
6. The number 8 means money. People pay to have this number in their license plate.
7. Previously Chinese could only have 1 child. The law was changed in 2009 to allow couples who were both single children to have 2 children. Law was changed in 2014 to allow a family to have 2 children if one of the parents was a singe child growing up. Law was changed again recently to allow all people to have two children.
8. Every three years men were sent to find the most beautiful women to join the emperor living in the Forbidden City.
9. When the emperor dies all 3000 of his concubines are hung and buried with him.
10. There are too many crazy facts to remember them all!
Next stop was the mandatory shopping stop. These tours love to take you to a shopping stop to make you listen to a demonstration and then purchase things. Although they are indeed interesting they can get very tiresome and annoying. This stop was the Silk Factory. We witnessed buckets of silk worms eating, making cocoons, machines unwinding the cocoons to make thread, and finally the products being made. We served our mandatory time without purchasing anything and were able to leave.
After a nice one hour and a half nap we were outside of the city and standing at the foot of a nice small mountain range. Peering high up at the ridge I spotted for the first time the famous Great Wall of China! Yes! I was very excited to be able to mark another one of the Wonders of the World off my list.
My mom and I opted to take a cable car up to the top of one of the peaks. The cable car turned out to be a rickety old chairlift but made for beautiful views on the way up. The wall itself is not exactly the most breath taking sight. Do not get mean wrong, the view is gorgeous but compared to things like the Taj or Machu Picchu it could not compare. What did live up to the reputation was trying to conceptualize the fact that this wall itself was built long ago and spanned not just where I could see but for miles and miles. The wall itself is long enough to cross from LA to NYC. Now look at the rock that the wall is built out of and imagine every single stone having to be carried to that stop. Nothing short of amazing!
We decided to walk part of the wall and I choose to go to the very highest point at tower number 1. From Beijing there are five sections open to the public. This section was by far the most scenic according to our researched and I am sure that it paid off! If you get a chance to come here you need to visit the Mutyuani section.
On the way to down we got to take tabogan like the one we have back home at Seven Springs. This one however went down for a much longer distance and was ten times the fun. When we bought the tickets they tried to say anyone over 60 is too old. Ppppffff nothing is stopping my mom from the fun. Probably one of the best sights was seeing a group of Buddhist monks speeding down the slide laughing and hollering.
When we almost got back to our hotel at the end of the day Angel began to make her goodbye. She was a wonderful and helpful guide and we were planning to tip her. However, at the end of her goodbye she informed us that her tip is not included in the trip price and neither is the driver. She then went as far as to tell us the exact minimum amount she would accept as a tip.
I will keep my little rant short. Maybe this is a cultural thing or maybe it was a personal thing specific to her. Maybe her goal was to shame or make people feel awkward to get the tip she wanted. I do not know that answer but I was very put off. A wonderful trip with a great guide made my opinion change slightly. I was relieved to find out after we got out that my mom felt the same way. To us a tip is something that is earned and is at the discretion of the patron and not something that is forced or is a set amount. Rant over!
Without a minute to spare we decided since it was 6pm we should go straight out to explore a night market. Taking the subway was a breeze and before we knew it we were in the center of the business and modern area. Walking down the road everything was lit up light time square. But where is the night market? A little way down China`s Time Square I spotted the red lanterns hanging in an alleyway.
There is was! The ultimate Chinese night market. Most of you already know I love myself a good market whether it be food, souvenirs, junk, local things, etc. This market specialized in local crafts/souvenirs and more importantly..... Crazy food!
Stalls upon stalls offered up things from scorpions, grasshoppers, starfish, centipedes, and so much more. The coolest part is the the scorpions were not yet cooked so you could watch them fighting and stinging each other on the stick. Some other foods included the less interested like grilled full baby chicks, steaming juice, chips on a stick, and minion decorated eggs.
I could not help but continue to eye up the different insects on a stick. Could I possibly do it? Before I left I remember on of my bosses saying don't do anything to get hurt or sick this summer. Well Dr. Sardon I apologize but I just could not pass up some tasty looking grasshoppers. With a little salt and imagination they tasted just like some crunchy fried chicken skin.
As our fun filled night came to a close my mom decided she wanted to buy a funny looking splat pig. They are those little balls you can throw at the ground and watch it explode then slowly regain shape. After a quick little bargain I was able to get one for 5 yuan. I handed the lady a 10 and waited for my change.
Immediately she began to hand me another and tell me to buy two. No I only want one but thank you. I closed my hands so she couldn't leave it in my hand. Once again she started yelling "Two, two, two..." Politely but very firm I said no! She grabbed my arm and shoved the extra toy in my bag. Calmly I grabbed the ball put it in her box and pointed towards my money. She ripped the toy that I had purchased out of my hand and began to pack up with the toys and our money as we stood there empty handed. All during this she is continuing to grunt and yell at us. Calmly I pointed to the other Chinese standing around and said she took our money and gave us nothing. Quickly she got our change, gave us the toy, and walked away.
Quick rant number two. The money is not worth much. I would not have been worse without it. However, the principle of the matter is getting ripped off and treated that way. I feel bad many of these people selling things need to do so to survive. But if you make a deal you can not just steal money or try to force something else on someone. Those types of things make me feel poorly on humanity. The number of rip offs and scams are outrageous. If you allow people to get away with it then it will only continue and get worse. That is why I will not take for getting scammed because I do not want to promote it happening.
With that we decided to take our leave. We had purchased a plate of normal food to eat while walking home. On our way our we noticed a lady picking out all of the bugs, food, and anything edible to eat from the trash can. The lady had learned people waste and therefore could benefit and eat for free from it. We walked over and handed her our plate of clean food. The smile on her face will last for a good many days to come.
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