Beijing

On our list for Beijing were trips to the Pearl Market, Great Wall, and the Forbidden City. Though the Pearl Market was overwhelming, I was proud of my bargaining skills in getting a watch for my sister as well as some souvenirs, before we headed upstairs to the Pearl stalls, where we found a vendor we liked and tried to make a dent in their inventory. The pearls are largely lined on strings, displayed according to size, shape, color and quality. You choose a strand and a clasp, and watch as they restring the beads, tying small knots between each one. It was an interesting process, and I came away with a nice string of saltwater pearls and matching earrings.

I was a bit nervous about arranging transportation to the Great Wall: I knew I didn’t want a package tour that would include lunch in a greasy, warehouse type tourist restaurant plus unwanted shopping stops, and public transportation seemed a bit too inconvenient. The buses that ran from the central tour station were stripped of the extras but didn’t leave until late. Ultimately, I organized with a cab driver to meet us at our hotel and take us to the section of the wall at Mutianyu, less crowded than the slightly closer Badaling. As it turned out, we were among the first to arrive in the morning, and had a pleasant, quiet stroll along the wall, taking the requisite pictures of the distant towers and mountain ridges.

Unfortunately, the main buildings of the Forbidden City were under renovation in anticipation of the Olympics, but we were still able to tour through and get a sense of how it might have been as an Imperial Palace. After walking from South to North through the palace, we went out the back and into the hutong area behind (small old-style alleys with low-roofed gray houses and courtyards) to get a feel for old China, and found an area crowded with older people doing their shopping. There were huge lines of people outside two bakeries buying bags and bags of those crunchy fried noodles that are sometimes served with a meal at a Chinese Restaurant in the states, so we figured they must be especially good and bought half a bag of them. For dinner we had our requisite Beijing Duck, served with a good deal of pomp at a duck restaurant near our hotel.

One problem with Beijing is that it is very hard to get a cab to go where you want. It is a big city, street names change often and lots of businesses are in small back alleys. On a search for a Xinjiang Muslim restaurant, we got out of the cab and then proceeded to ask directions of at least 5 or 6 people before we found the right one. I’ve resorted to calling the place I want to go and letting the driver talk to them, but I still often end up driving around aimlessly for a while.

Tuesday afternoon I put my mom and sister in a cab to the airport, and later that day I went to a tiny college in the West part of town where some of my classmates are now studying, preparing for the spring term in Hangzhou. It was great to see them again, though I changed my mind about staying with Shushan in the dorm, opting to have my own place, and caught a cab to a centrally located hostel. I’m going back tonight, in theory, to participate in a cooking workshop.

Please keep looking for blog updates, and stay tuned for the possible launch of a new blog when I return to Middlebury.