Dec. 2nd, 2006 12:14 pm
beijing, china part II
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toastykittenWelcome to day 2 of my China trip. I forgot to mention that I'm making these notes based on a journal I kept while in China, but they're not very consistent or anything, so I'm elaborating on things as I go along. I make no guarantees for the facts that our tour guides imparted on us. I know these entries are really long, but I really need a way to remember as much as possible, and the only way I can do that is to write as much of it out as I can. Otherwise I'm going to be looking at my notes and thinking, "What the hell did I mean by Super8-Hotel Breakfast - bleh?"
Our hotel was called Super8 Beijing International Hotel. Before the trip, we were assured by our travel agents that all the hotels we were staying at would be four and five star hotels, and "better than American five-star hotels". Uh, well, they turned out to be better than Holiday Inn at least. The first night was spent sleeping on something that was about as soft as a rock, and about as comfortable. When we complained the next day, Alex laughed and replied, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. It's the way they like it here." Most of the hotels were equipped with HBO and BBCWorldNews, which made me laugh, because I couldn't get to the BBC website on the Internet in China. (I was able to do it in Hong Kong.)
Our pattern would be to wake up at 6:30, eat breakfast at the hotel, head to tourist site and take pictures, go to government-approved shop and get sold overpriced things, eat lunch at a restaurant, go to another tourist site, go to another government-approved shop (I soon learned to think of these stops as government-approved commercial breaks), eat dinner, go to hotel for the night. Occasionally there would be a show after dinner.
Our first morning, my sisters and I mostly stared at the breakfast buffet, wondering what the heck most of the stuff was. There was a bunch of Western-style food - an omelet station, cereal, milk (I didn't trust the milk), and there were a bunch of Chinese things - jook (rice porridge), chow mein, won ton, buns, etc. Most of it was okay, not great. I ended up taking a couple of Chinese things and fruit. I was saddened when I asked for tea, and it turned out to be Lipton tea. Goddammit, we're in China! I want real tea! I suppose I shouldn't expect too much from the hotels.
I decided to exchange some money downstairs. I don't know if the people behind the counter were deliberately misunderstanding me or not, but they kept refusing to give me small bills, which we had been advised to do. They gave small bills to the older black gentleman (who appeared to speak about as much Mandarin as I did, which is to say - none) who came after me, and to the older Chinese lady on our tour group. It left me a little miffed, but after pressing for a few minutes, I gave up.
Our first stop was the Summer Palace of one of the Empress Dowagers. It was very beautiful, and almost as big as an actual city. We only got to see the outside, though. Many of the rooms were closed off so that you could only see them through glass windows and doors. There were so many other tour groups, too. It was insane - we watched as other people practiced tai chi calmly around the massive mobs of people, and as one gentleman practiced his calligraphy with a giant brush, not caring whether or not his words got stepped on by the people around him. I can't tell you anything about the history, though. At the tourist shop I noticed that one of their snacks were chicken crackers, which I would see all over. I found a deck of cards that were entitled "Red Memory" - it was a deck of cards full of images from the Cultural Revolution. So I bought that for Mark.
Next we went to a pearl factory. This was our first government-sponsored commercial break. We were shown the difference between real and fake pearls, and then the saleslady opened up an oyster to show us the pearls. One person in the tour group yelled out, "Hey, is that good to eat?" After the little presentation, we were taken into another room in which the feeding frenzy began. At all these places, we were warned not to bargain, but that's what people did anyway. My mom got roped into buying a bunch of Real Pearl Face Cream, as did several of the women. Many of the men began to get weary looks on their faces, and retreated to the chairs.
Our next stop after lunch was the Forbidden City. It was where I decided that Chinese emperors, and people who have attained that kind of power are just fucking insane. The place was humongous, and most of it was under renovation, so we couldn't actually see most of it. What we did see was very pretty, intricate, and awesome. I only paid attention to the history when Kelvin announced that, "Most Chinese people are not actually familiar with Chinese history. What they do know is Chinese television history." We laughed because it's so true - I can't count the number of historical dramas based on various historical events, each version updated to reflect more and more modern thinking.
After we walked through the Forbidden City, we were led to Tianmen Square. So while we were on the bus, Kelvin begged us not to talk about 1989, because he didn't want us, or anyone else to get in trouble. I don't know if he was exaggerating or what, but he claimed there were a lot of policemen undercover listening for anything about it, and also there were microphones and videocameras that picked up stuff. The Square itself is just that - a giant square packed with people. I have no idea whether most of them were tourists or natives. It was built so that it could also be a small airplane runway in case of emergency. There were other monuments, but I forget what they were.
After the Square, we were led to some supposedly famous Chinese doctor who lectured us on the difference between Chinese and Western medicine. It was another government-sponsored commercial. Now here is where I got into a fight with my mom. I love her, but fuck is she gullible. After I threw up on the plane the day before, she kept worrying about me and my health and why I was "so weak". The lecture also came with a free consultation, and she insisted on me getting a consultation from the doctor. He wrote a prescription for me to take some pill each day for 30 days. I asked, "What's in the pills?" They replied, "Chinese medicine." I said, "Yeah, but what is in it?" "It's all Chinese medicine, don't worry." Uh... My sister said one of the aides started writing down what was in it, but gave up and said, "There's too many to write." My parents bought the fucking pills anyway.
One of the people on the tour mentioned that he had to go with his wife to the hospital after taking similar pills. They didn't know what was in it, either. I told my parents about it, and at first they didn't believe me, until I told them they could go ask the guy. Oh well, the pills were bought anyway. Waste of my parents' money.
That night we got to see the oddest acrobat show ever. At first I thought it was going to be some proletariat play, judging from the costumes, but it ended up going elsewhere. The kids wore strange costumes - one of them was what I can only describe as a green vest and green flower-patterned MC hammer pants, and on the side of those pants were giant hand cutouts, so it looked as if some giant were constantly feeling them up. Man, I wish we could have taken pictures of that.
Our pattern would be to wake up at 6:30, eat breakfast at the hotel, head to tourist site and take pictures, go to government-approved shop and get sold overpriced things, eat lunch at a restaurant, go to another tourist site, go to another government-approved shop (I soon learned to think of these stops as government-approved commercial breaks), eat dinner, go to hotel for the night. Occasionally there would be a show after dinner.
Our first morning, my sisters and I mostly stared at the breakfast buffet, wondering what the heck most of the stuff was. There was a bunch of Western-style food - an omelet station, cereal, milk (I didn't trust the milk), and there were a bunch of Chinese things - jook (rice porridge), chow mein, won ton, buns, etc. Most of it was okay, not great. I ended up taking a couple of Chinese things and fruit. I was saddened when I asked for tea, and it turned out to be Lipton tea. Goddammit, we're in China! I want real tea! I suppose I shouldn't expect too much from the hotels.
I decided to exchange some money downstairs. I don't know if the people behind the counter were deliberately misunderstanding me or not, but they kept refusing to give me small bills, which we had been advised to do. They gave small bills to the older black gentleman (who appeared to speak about as much Mandarin as I did, which is to say - none) who came after me, and to the older Chinese lady on our tour group. It left me a little miffed, but after pressing for a few minutes, I gave up.
Our first stop was the Summer Palace of one of the Empress Dowagers. It was very beautiful, and almost as big as an actual city. We only got to see the outside, though. Many of the rooms were closed off so that you could only see them through glass windows and doors. There were so many other tour groups, too. It was insane - we watched as other people practiced tai chi calmly around the massive mobs of people, and as one gentleman practiced his calligraphy with a giant brush, not caring whether or not his words got stepped on by the people around him. I can't tell you anything about the history, though. At the tourist shop I noticed that one of their snacks were chicken crackers, which I would see all over. I found a deck of cards that were entitled "Red Memory" - it was a deck of cards full of images from the Cultural Revolution. So I bought that for Mark.
Next we went to a pearl factory. This was our first government-sponsored commercial break. We were shown the difference between real and fake pearls, and then the saleslady opened up an oyster to show us the pearls. One person in the tour group yelled out, "Hey, is that good to eat?" After the little presentation, we were taken into another room in which the feeding frenzy began. At all these places, we were warned not to bargain, but that's what people did anyway. My mom got roped into buying a bunch of Real Pearl Face Cream, as did several of the women. Many of the men began to get weary looks on their faces, and retreated to the chairs.
Our next stop after lunch was the Forbidden City. It was where I decided that Chinese emperors, and people who have attained that kind of power are just fucking insane. The place was humongous, and most of it was under renovation, so we couldn't actually see most of it. What we did see was very pretty, intricate, and awesome. I only paid attention to the history when Kelvin announced that, "Most Chinese people are not actually familiar with Chinese history. What they do know is Chinese television history." We laughed because it's so true - I can't count the number of historical dramas based on various historical events, each version updated to reflect more and more modern thinking.
After we walked through the Forbidden City, we were led to Tianmen Square. So while we were on the bus, Kelvin begged us not to talk about 1989, because he didn't want us, or anyone else to get in trouble. I don't know if he was exaggerating or what, but he claimed there were a lot of policemen undercover listening for anything about it, and also there were microphones and videocameras that picked up stuff. The Square itself is just that - a giant square packed with people. I have no idea whether most of them were tourists or natives. It was built so that it could also be a small airplane runway in case of emergency. There were other monuments, but I forget what they were.
After the Square, we were led to some supposedly famous Chinese doctor who lectured us on the difference between Chinese and Western medicine. It was another government-sponsored commercial. Now here is where I got into a fight with my mom. I love her, but fuck is she gullible. After I threw up on the plane the day before, she kept worrying about me and my health and why I was "so weak". The lecture also came with a free consultation, and she insisted on me getting a consultation from the doctor. He wrote a prescription for me to take some pill each day for 30 days. I asked, "What's in the pills?" They replied, "Chinese medicine." I said, "Yeah, but what is in it?" "It's all Chinese medicine, don't worry." Uh... My sister said one of the aides started writing down what was in it, but gave up and said, "There's too many to write." My parents bought the fucking pills anyway.
One of the people on the tour mentioned that he had to go with his wife to the hospital after taking similar pills. They didn't know what was in it, either. I told my parents about it, and at first they didn't believe me, until I told them they could go ask the guy. Oh well, the pills were bought anyway. Waste of my parents' money.
That night we got to see the oddest acrobat show ever. At first I thought it was going to be some proletariat play, judging from the costumes, but it ended up going elsewhere. The kids wore strange costumes - one of them was what I can only describe as a green vest and green flower-patterned MC hammer pants, and on the side of those pants were giant hand cutouts, so it looked as if some giant were constantly feeling them up. Man, I wish we could have taken pictures of that.
