Blog 9
We went off to the Peking Opera with dinner. This in no way compares to the Met.
The Peking Opera is a combination of song, costume, mime, acrobatics, and martial arts.
It is colorful and brought to mind the Ed Sullivan Show of many years passed. I can just envision Ed Sullivan crossing his hands in front of him and announcing…”And now from Beijing, The Peking Opera performing…”
Jumping back to the Forbidden City. There were a lot of student tours going on there. The students would come up to us Caucasians and ask in English if they could take a picture with us. They made me feel like a celebrity as they encircled me and asked if I would comply. Then each one would stand next to me and the rest would photograph us. This went on for many minutes as I stood next to at least 20 students, one at a time. They were charming as they tried out their English. I asked our guide, Nan, why did they want their picture taken with me and she told me that some of the students come from remote towns where Caucasians have never been seen and this way they can go back and show their relatives and friends that they met a Caucasian and what they look like.
Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall and on the way visit a Jade Factory, then lunch and after Ming Tombs with Sacred Way.
We went to the Jade Factory. They were not giving anything away. In fact, nothing is inexpensive here. I have found very few bargains—nothing like my experience in Thailand.
We then went to the Great Wall. I climbed to Tower Three. It is a tough walk, very steep, but even harder to go down. Exhausting. It has been raining intermittently here. Seems mostly while we are traveling by bus. Traveling in this spread out city of Beijing is tough. The Chinese are a patient group. Never again will I complain when I’m stuck on 880. More and more people here are able to afford cars and thus, the traffic snarls are unbelievable.
The railroad system has been renovated in the last 20 years--from steam engine to diesel to electric and now monorail. It makes one reflect on what we Americans have neglected to do for our infrastructure. Here more farmers’ children are leaving the outlying areas to get better jobs in the big cities to improve their lot. The government, in order to encourage farmers has, for the last 3 years, lifted taxes. So farmers are doing much better, but that doesn’t stop the younger people to move into the big city. Now in the city, rather that the old hutong way of living, all these condos are going up. Average size is 800 to 1000 feet for family of 3. Remember the one child rule is still in effect. The costs of the condos are about $100 per foot and the condos are actually leased to the buyer for 77 years. They are between 12 and 18 stories with central heating and central air-conditioning. They are also expanding to the suburbs where rapid rail transit speeds close to 300 kilometers an hour. So commuting time is cut 2 ½ hours to 35 minutes. To think this new rail system was built in 3 year. One has to wonder about LA’s subway system that is a complete bust—both financially and rider ship—as well as not being completed these many years. BART system seemed to go up quickly, but nothing has expanded for years. I used to dismiss thinking about mass rail-- poo pooing the fuss made about it. Now, I have a new respect for the need for our country to expand and update our rail system. I can’t help comparing countries. This country is so old and yet so modern. Maybe it is better to first be communistic and then capitalistic—rather than the reverse. This trip furthers my beliefs that we are really living on our past laurels and we better wake up before it is too late. Our arrogance will be our downfall.
After the Great Wall we went to The Ming Tombs and after the gardens. I’ve added more pictures to my Shutterfly site
While driving along I saw a bumper sticker reading “Mama On Board”—so different than our perspective “Baby on Board”
I was also stopped at The Great Wall and became a celebrity again with school children asking to take a picture with me.
We had another Chinese Dinner tonight at a local restaurant. The food is getting better or else I’m getting used to it. I think one of the weaknesses of this tour is that we are not experiencing Chinese food of the difference provinces—one night Hunan, another Mongolian, etc.
Now I’m back at the hotel all tired out from the day.
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