Day 2 of China Adventure

I am actually just finishing up day 3 but I did not get a chance to go over Day 2 so here is what I remember.

Woke up extremely tired but felt better than first day.  Hotel has a wonderful breakfast buffet which we all love.  Our guide, Joan, is a treasure.  She gets us everywhere with little or no fuss.  She takes changes in stride and is extremely organized.  She is working on her third degree (her masters) because she "just loves to study" which amazes all of us.  She says that any Chinese kid who wants to have a well-rounded life (not monetarily successful, mind-you) must enjoy educating oneself.  She is a little island of peace for me in the midst of a bunch of right-wing Obama haters.  They make a big deal about allowing me to be part of their group but said one democrat in 35 people pretty much fits in with Nebraska demographics, but they will only allow one.  What an honor.

Today we went to the Temple of Heaven, a large park and imperial place of worship.  The park was really great...lots of old retired people playing backgammon, dominos or some weird card game.  Dance and tai chi (yes, I took pictures) and a net-less badminton.  The Temple itself was lovely and newly painted blue (heaven), gold (the royal family) and green (all the rest of us, usually at the bottom.)

From there we went to another Lazy Susan lunch and rickshaw ride in the Hutong area which is like our old market except 700 years old.  Very picturesque.  We visited a courtyard home which was filled with bird cages with live birds.  The rooms were built around a courtyard and housed a multi-generational family (until the communist takeover when they then crammed 4 families into the same space.)  And then to Tianamen Square which is the largest public square in the world.  Lots of concrete.  Our guide was very circumspect about the 16 people who were killed in 1989 during the protests.  She said she would talk about it later but it has not come up yet. Then we went into the Forbidden City which actually makes the Square look normal.  In the afternoon alone, we walked 5.8 miles not counting the amount of time spent standing on cold concrete and stepping over 12" thresholds (they keep ghosts out apparently).  The Forbidden City was forbidden to anyone who was not part of the imperial family or invited in by the imperial family.  Many more blue, gold and green buildings, almost all newly repainted for the Olympics.  The government spent billions and billions of yuan making over the city and surrounding territory (also known as Beijing).  There are 6 yuan to the dollar.  That is a lot of any currency but it sure made for a very clean and very safe city.  If only we could read Chinese, I could feel very comfortable here.  Oh it would also help if more people spoke English but they don't AT ALL.

Last night we went for our Peking Duck dinner (yes, another Lazy Susan) and still no wine.  I could not even buy a glass.  They gave us two bottles of beer and a quart of Coke for 9 people and we could not get anymore.  There was an odd floor show that thankfully only lasted 10 minutes.  A Chinese Face-changer who danced...yes, it was as odd as it sounds; and a magician who had to shake all of our hands after the performance.  We all checked to make sure our watches were still there.  It took us an hour in the traffic to cross town.  I fell into bed (even though I had vowed to stop in the bar to get a glass of wine) and did not even remember to send out my daily musings.  Miss you all so much!  More tomorrow.