March 4, 2007
Waking up to –7 and snowy weather came to a surprise to all of us. I guess the weather reports that aC was checking during the past 10 days meant absolutely nothing! We both packed some winter clothing, but never were we expecting to wear our scarves, toques and gloves.
Our 1st stop was the Summer Palace. Prior to leaving the bus, our guide Adam pre-warned us of the local street vendors, attacking all the tourists like vultures, seeking their money exchange for ‘goode pyce’. Within 20 seconds of departing our CITS bus, there were grandmas and grandpas chasing us, screaming for a sale. Uncle Harvey was the 1st to bite, claiming his 1st winter style military hat for 20 yuan or RNB if you prefer.
Ironically, listening to our guide and the taking in the sight was very challenging as we all felt like this was the damn WINTER palace! In all, a great sight with impressive architecture along with the nice lakes, canals and gardens.
Our next stop was Tiananmen Square, the city ‘center’ and home to the Grand Hall of the People and Chairman Mao’s Memorial Hall. (All I could remember were images of that brave Chinese dude, with the entire world watching, deciding to pose in front of a tank and stopping its forward progession with his face). It was hard not to notice the Chinese militia at its best; the area being well guarded by the many different orders of law enforcement (uniforms varying form grey, navy blue, army green). The ‘Gate of Heavenly Peace’ (large image of Chairman Mao) marks the beginning of The Forbidden City, our last stop of the day. After an hour of walking through this huge sight, we were ready for a break…no better place to enjoy a Starbucks soy-latte, in the middle of the ‘forbidden city’!….i was about to ask if they had wireless access too.
Our group made a quick stop at a fresh water Pearl Factory en route to lunch (yes, I now know the difference vs. sea or salt water pearls). I noticed that for every person in the store, there were about 5 young girls dressed in dark suits, hoping you’d ask them for help. After 45 minutes of arguing and haggling, the ‘section chief ’ would not budge on her price, giving auntie Susan her pearls at 20% off.
Buffet lunch was crappy, but highlighted by Uncle Harvey’s out-roar after being asked to pay 5.00US for a scoop of ice cream he thought was free. (buffet in China doesn’t always mean ‘help-yourself to everything’) This poor chubby Chinese chick looked scared and ready to cry as he raised his voice a few decibels (Uncle Harv. normally speaks with a very strong voice anyways). I wanted a picture, but she immediately stopped me with ‘no-no, no peekchah’!
Enroute to dinner, we stopped off for a ‘chinese tea presentation’. Highlight had to be the ‘WC’ I stepped into; a full-on straddle technique was definitely required to keep things moving in the right direction but also to stay away from the fecal remnants on the outer lip!…welcome to China!!
We concluded the evening at “Legends of Kung Fu”, basically a poor man’s version of cirque du soleil with Jackie Chan style acromatics.
Waking up to –7 and snowy weather came to a surprise to all of us. I guess the weather reports that aC was checking during the past 10 days meant absolutely nothing! We both packed some winter clothing, but never were we expecting to wear our scarves, toques and gloves.
Our 1st stop was the Summer Palace. Prior to leaving the bus, our guide Adam pre-warned us of the local street vendors, attacking all the tourists like vultures, seeking their money exchange for ‘goode pyce’. Within 20 seconds of departing our CITS bus, there were grandmas and grandpas chasing us, screaming for a sale. Uncle Harvey was the 1st to bite, claiming his 1st winter style military hat for 20 yuan or RNB if you prefer.
Ironically, listening to our guide and the taking in the sight was very challenging as we all felt like this was the damn WINTER palace! In all, a great sight with impressive architecture along with the nice lakes, canals and gardens.
Our next stop was Tiananmen Square, the city ‘center’ and home to the Grand Hall of the People and Chairman Mao’s Memorial Hall. (All I could remember were images of that brave Chinese dude, with the entire world watching, deciding to pose in front of a tank and stopping its forward progession with his face). It was hard not to notice the Chinese militia at its best; the area being well guarded by the many different orders of law enforcement (uniforms varying form grey, navy blue, army green). The ‘Gate of Heavenly Peace’ (large image of Chairman Mao) marks the beginning of The Forbidden City, our last stop of the day. After an hour of walking through this huge sight, we were ready for a break…no better place to enjoy a Starbucks soy-latte, in the middle of the ‘forbidden city’!….i was about to ask if they had wireless access too.
Our group made a quick stop at a fresh water Pearl Factory en route to lunch (yes, I now know the difference vs. sea or salt water pearls). I noticed that for every person in the store, there were about 5 young girls dressed in dark suits, hoping you’d ask them for help. After 45 minutes of arguing and haggling, the ‘section chief ’ would not budge on her price, giving auntie Susan her pearls at 20% off.
Buffet lunch was crappy, but highlighted by Uncle Harvey’s out-roar after being asked to pay 5.00US for a scoop of ice cream he thought was free. (buffet in China doesn’t always mean ‘help-yourself to everything’) This poor chubby Chinese chick looked scared and ready to cry as he raised his voice a few decibels (Uncle Harv. normally speaks with a very strong voice anyways). I wanted a picture, but she immediately stopped me with ‘no-no, no peekchah’!
Enroute to dinner, we stopped off for a ‘chinese tea presentation’. Highlight had to be the ‘WC’ I stepped into; a full-on straddle technique was definitely required to keep things moving in the right direction but also to stay away from the fecal remnants on the outer lip!…welcome to China!!
We concluded the evening at “Legends of Kung Fu”, basically a poor man’s version of cirque du soleil with Jackie Chan style acromatics.
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