A City with no Sun, lots of spit, and a ton of History

Preface: we are unable to blog directly from China (all blog sites are blocked) so we are emailing this to a friend to post for us, yay for big brother!

A  City with no Sun, lots of spit, and a ton of History.

After an easy 12 hour flight our journey in China began. Our taxi brought us to our guesthouse in the hutongs of Beijing (a tangle of minute residential passages throughout the city) at 5:30am in the morning and miraculously we were able to check in. We dumped all our luggage and set off for the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Along our walk to the metro station we saw people buying food out of an old couples’ home, it was like a to-go window on the side of an old Asian couples kitchen. Our meal only cost 90 cents! I was hesitant to try it but Kristen was adamant, she got me by saying, “it’s not like they’re scorpions.” I was pleasantly surprised by and egg biscuit and a large egg mixed with green onions, poppy seed, special Asian sauce, and crispy noodles. It was actually pretty tasty. After breakfast we hopped on the metro and arrived right in front of the famous Tiananmen Square. The first view you see is an enormous portrait of MaoZiDong. This famous portrait is an amazing display of China’s nationalistic views. It was intriguing that even through death he still has a powerful hold on the Chinese people. After walking with thousands of Chinese who came just to view this portrait, we started the trek into the Forbidden City. We quickly found ourselves partnered up with two Kiwis who had an English speaking guide who insisted that we walk though the Forbidden City with them. Peter, the Chinese guide, was more than informative about all of the buildings and history. He told stories of the emperors’ loves as we walked the path of the one mile City. We spent about an hour and a half walking around the City, talking a lot about where Mulan defeated the evil Hun army (this was mostly Kristen explaining to the Chinese guide) and how incredibly significant the smallest details in the buildings were (i.e. the number of tiny dragons on each roof represented where the emperor would be, if there were 9 dragons it was the emperors, if only 8 then just the elite). It was truly an amazing walk. Once we exited the City, we walked up a man-made mountain that sits directly behind the City.

It was built to show the previous dynasty that they were now more powerful.  We encountered great views, lots of stairs, and some aggressive picture takers on this mountain. The funny thing about Beijing is that there is no sun. It is like a constant state of twilight (all because of the intense smog). Peter told us that it was actually really clear today, most days you can’t see 100 meters in front of you! After sharing some tea with our new friends and enjoying some traveling stories we set off on separate ways and walked around the massive Tiananmen Plaza. It was pretty interesting that there is no reference to anything of its controversial past. We enjoyed watching soldiers march in sequence and seeing thousands of proud Chinese saluting the National Flag. Hunger struck us fast after walking for miles and we found a little Restaurant that was pretty interesting. Chinese food isn’t like what we are used to back home. But it was still good and we enjoyed trying the local food. Chopsticks are so slippery! After dinner we set out for a nearby lake that is surrounded by shops, restaurants, and bars with a younger crowd. About two hours of walking put us over the top and we quickly walked back to get a good night’s sleep. We had a great first day in Beijing; this country is an amazingly different one than the one we live in. China has been able to wave together its ancient past with new age technology in unique ways. From plasma screens in Tiananmen Square to skyscrapers towering over the narrow lanes of hutongs that line the city.

PS. Everyone hawks mad lougies over here! Like seriously every single man. All the time. In the street. And the metro.

Zai-Jian!

D & K