China and other thoughts

Whew! It's been a while. Water under the bridge.

I guess the biggest recent news is my trip to China, sandwiched in between 2 trips to California. (When I travel, I don't mess around!)

I kept a daily journal on the China trip, and I've got my photos on my computer, but I had some trouble with Kodak EasyShare, so I hope I'll be able to post them....(sound of teeth gnashing). Aha! I figured it out! So here we go with the journal entries in italics and my additional comments in regular script.

MARCH 17 TRAVEL DAY! Carol and I are busy doing last minute laundry and packing.

Carol Lesher Peterson is my friend from Solvang, CA who told me about the China trip. I'd been staying with her and her hubby Mike for 5 days.

My big suitcase weighs 27 lbs so I know the smaller one is OK, too. The weight limit is 40 lbs per bag. I expect most souvenirs I buy will be small and lightweight (Was I WRONG!) and I'll use up some items as we go, such as shampoo, soap, etc. We meet the bus to LAX at 5 pm and the plane is scheduled to leave at 1:40 am 3/18--a very long day. I hope I can sleep on the plane.

Thursday, March 19 7:30 am Beijing standard time. After a long wait at LAX and a 14-hour flight (during which I slept over half the time!) we have arrived at our hotel in Beijing at 8 am. The hotel is new and extremely nice. Barbara (my roommate, who is from San Diego--we met through Carol) is taking a shower while I fiddled with the wide screen TV and got CNN in English. Our room is very luxurious with all kinds of amenities. Time for a shower and a short nap and off to lunch.

This fella was in the lobby of the restaurant where we had lunch.

Lovely restaurant on the 7th floor in a ballroom-like setting. BTW, Wednesday got lost in the flight. (But the following week we got "2 Thursdays", so it works out.)

This was our lunch the first day, and is typical of most of the lunches and dinners on this trip. Breakfasts were all buffets, with many choices of Western or Asian food.

Friday, March 20. 2nd day in Beijing. Yesterday after lunch we went to the Forbidden Cioty and Tian'an Men Square. Impressive.

This is near the entrance to the Forbidden City, the former residence of Chinese emperors and their extensive families and court attendants. Completed in 1420 this huge palace complex was the ruling site for 24 emperors for over 500 years. Open to the public since 1949, it consists of a series of peripheral structures consisting of guard towers, living quarters, offices, storehouses, and gates all of which surround multiple other structures, including temples, bridges, and ornamental "halls" including the largest structure, The Hall of Supreme Harmony, which you can see rising on the hill over the crowd in the center.

Scattered throughout the interior of the Forbidden City are huge bronze cauldrons, which were filled with water in case of fire. The mostly wooden structures were extremely vulnerable to fire.

Considering that most of the structures are wooden, the Forbidden City is amazingly well preserved. This historical site is a national treasure and a source of pride at the heart of Beijing.

These unusual rock formations, found in most large Chinese ornamental gardens, come from the same lake, Tai Hu. These are inside the Forbidden City. We saw many others in other gardens we visited.

Typical of the many structures inside the Forbidden City, this illustrates classical Chinese architecture of platform, post-and-beam timber frames, and non-load-bearing walls. Often mistakenly referred to as "pagodas" these buildings often feature the upward curved "flying wings", which frequently are tipped in carved figures called "water dogs" (spirits to protect against fire).

Thresholds are elevated 4 to 8 inches to keep out evil spirits, who were apparently thought to travel close to the ground. I found it interesting that outside the parks and shrines and historical sites, we saw fewer of these archtypical Chinese structures than I expected. Beijing has been transformed into a modern city in many ways.

This is the Tian'an Men Gate, entrance to famed Tien'an Men Square, a huge open concrete space, familiar to most Westerners as the site of the bloody student protests in 1989. Chairman Mao's Mausoleum is a focal point within the square, and his portrait, also familiar to many Westerners, looms over the street opposite the gate.

Today's Chinese continue to respect Chairman Mao. However, political repression appears to be waning. One of our guides told us, "When I was young, my parents tell me no one can speak bad about the government. Now, today, no one much cares what we say." This is truly a revolution!!

The Great Hall of the People in Tian' an Men Square, the seat of the Chinese legislature, the National People's Congress.

Mao's Mausoleum is the low building at left center. Our tour passed through the middle of the square from one end to the other, so we were not closer than this to the tomb. Visitors are permitted, but we didn't have enough time.

My back hurt, so I stayed on the bus (after we left Tien'an Men Square) rather than do the final 50 minutes at the Temple of Heaven. (Carol's brother Bob told me, "You didn't miss much.")

Carving the Peking Duck. Yummy but very greasy!

Last night we ate at a lovely restaurant (on the 3rd floor--no elevators, thank you) and had Peking Duck, among many other delicious things. So far I have enjoyed all the foods I've tried.

Me with the "Peking Duck" who stands outside the restaurant where we ate some of his family.

After returning to the hotel at 7 pm we had a quick shower and then 2 massuses came to our room and Barbara and I each had a 90-minute massage for $30! OMG! It was wonderfl! Afterward we went right off to sleep. I got up to the bathroom at 4 am. Barbara got up, turned on the lights, etc. She'd thought she'd heard my alarm go off! We laughed and went back to sleep. Lovely buffet breakfast this morning with some of the best coffee I've ever tasted. In a half hour we'll be off to see the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall!

I'm stopping for now. To be continued on tomorrow's blog.