That is '午门, (middle gate)' the gate into the Forbidden City, which is just behind the big one we've all seen with Mao's portrait hanging on it. So, we got there, and I was thinking, "Is this it? What a disappointment." So some guy approached us and asked if we wanted to see his art exhibition, and I figured, why not? There's nothing else to do here. So we bought some art at half it's original price (bartering is fun). Then, we got talking to some con artists (I think) who were chatting to us and then asked if we wanted to go and have some tea with them. We had been warned about them, so we went to the ticket office they had pointed out. Then we went through the gate, and discovered the forbidden city. I think we spent around four hours there, and didn't see it all, by a long way. It's HUGE. Later that evening, 熙涵 and I discussed our day, and realised we had both thought "Is this it?" Which at the time, was pant-wettingly funny. You had to be there.
On Sunday, we went shopping. Very unsuccessful. And it was raining. Not much to say about that day really.
Monday, we went to the Summer Palace. Word of warning: only go there when you feel completely rested, and have good sturdy walking shoes, and it's the depths of winter. We both nearly died from the heat, and my muscles are still aching. It was really nice and all, but by the end of the day we were both so completely exhausted we had reached hysteria and no longer cared. So 熙涵 bought a pea flavoured ice lolly (yes, it was as revolting as it sounds), and we got the bus home. We had booked tickets to the Beijing Opera, and were due to be collected around six. However, the bus took over an hour to do the journey (something we're more than used to now) so we were late back to our hostel and therefore to the opera. Oops.
We also had to move hostel on Monday, because their booking system is quite useless. Anyway, the opera. Have you seen the film "Farewell my concubine?" Well, they did that one. I didn't realise how short each one was. So they did two. On big LCD displays at the sides of the stage, it subtitled what they were saying in Chinese and Chinglish. Apparently they sing in dialect, so the Chinese is necessary, and the Chinglish was hilarious. Good though, with some (what we considered) impressive acrobatics.
On Tuesday, after moving back to the first hostel we were in (although a different room), we went to Beihai park. Or at least, that was the plan. We then realised we had forgotten to book our trip to the Great Wall for Wednesday, and the acrobatics for that night. So we got the bus back, booked, then realised we had almost no time to get to a bank to change our Traveller's Cheques. So off to the bank we toddled. We took a number, filled out an "Exchange Memo" and sat down. For two hours. Then paced for a bit. After two and a half hours (HOURS), we left the bank, with our money changed. So, the moral of the story, if you're in Beijing and looking for a bank, avoid the branch on 西四路口北. When we left though, there was a lot of shouting going on and the atmosphere was very tense, I wouldn't be surprised if they had rioted.
So yes, by this point, it was half past one, and we had arranged to meet some people from our Chinese class at two, around an hour's journey away if the traffic is bad. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't, so we made it just about in time. We wandered about together, and got our photo taken by and with loads of Chinese people. We wandered to the Temple of Heaven (after having walked completely the wrong direction first, going right around it), which was really impressive. The smog was worse that day than any other, I wouldn't believe what the media is saying about it, it's not even noticeable most days. We did some China Poses (Chinese people always have bizarre poses when having their photos taken, we now copy this) and then 熙涵 and I had to go. We toddled back to the hostel, and went to the acrobatics. My God. If I had pearls, I would have been clutching them. Those children are terrifying. The things they do, that were referred to as "kids playing" by the woman in our hostel. Incredible, but tense. The oldest ones were around 14 as well, which makes it worse. However, they did fit 12 people on a bike, which was impressive.
On Wednesday, the Great Wall. We were picked up at 7am by a woman on crack who took us to another few hotels to pick more people up, then we went to the Ming Tombs. This woman was seriously scary. We RAN around the tombs, and if you wanted to stop for a photo, you basically got shouted at. And left behind. It was interesting to learn more about the things there than if we had gone on our own, including the gate to the tombs (when you leave, you have to pat your shoulders and stamp your feet to make sure no bad spirits are attached to you, then cross with your left or right leg (men/women) first while saying "我回来了" (I came back). Then we went to a jade factory. Some of the things these people can make from stone is incredible. Oh, and extortionate. They had a giant screen, 2.2m RMB (to be fair, that only about 145,000 GBP or 291,000 USD) We both bought jade chopsticks and stamps with our name on. Then lunch - she had told us we were going to get dog, cat and all sorts, and to be honest, I was looking forward to that, I want to try them all. But alas, we got pork and chicken.
The Great Wall next, which was not what I expected, I have to say. It was huge, and a wall, but it's not like in the movies. It has some seriously steep slopes with no steps, and is built on MOUNTAINS, so it's a lot of climbing. But we did learn that in the guard towers, if they saw the enemies coming, they would burn wolf droppings because it makes a lot of smoke, and alert the others. We got what looked a lot like a roller coaster around half way up the mountain, which was nice. And on the way back down, it could have been really fun, but the guy kept using the brakes. Rude. Then we went to a silk place (did you know that silkworm poo smells like tea leaves? And the Chinese put it in pillows to help them sleep), and nearly bought things. But it was completely impractical to buy what I wanted (a duvet and duvet cover (cheaper than you'd think, only around fifteen pounds for the duvet)) but realised my case was already heavy and full. Alas. So we booked tickets to see the Shaolin monks. Seriously, why would you ever want to be able to break three steel bars over your head? It's a bizarre thing to do. But impressive, nonetheless.
Because we had caught the early show, we decided to go to a 全聚得栲鸭店 (Quanjude Peking Duck Restaurant). Wow. We got half a duck between us, as that's what the guide from the tour had said was a good amount. I could have eaten a whole one myself. I don't normally eat skin, but it was so good. So now, we're not allowed to saw the words, "crunch," "goo," "crispy" or "duck." Because our mouths start automatically watering. It was brilliant. I will never eat it in the UK again. The two have absolutely nothing in common (except maybe pancakes).
Which takes us to yesterday (Thursday). I will write more once we get to our uni though, this post is already very long. Just wanted to say I'm not dead and all.
