Blog8

Blog 8

Went to bed last night at 8:45 and awakened at 5:30. Everyone is anxiously waiting for the solar eclipse. Left the hotel for the airport hoping to experience eclipse, but the cloud cover is too thick. There are so many people who traveled to Shanghai and other areas to view it—I wonder if they were able to experience it. Well, I guess we have to wait till 2132 for the next one.

Right now I am sitting in Xian airport. It is 9:55. Our plane departs for Beijing at 10:25.
One of our guides told a Chinese joke: The American, Russian and a Chinese Presidents were traveling along a Chinese highway each in their own chauffeured limo. When the American came to a crossroad the driver asked which way should he turn, the American President replied: right. When the Russian President reached the same crossroad, he told the driver to turn left. When the Chinese President reached the crossroad, he told the driver to signal left, but turn right.


We arrived in Beijing and taken to our hotel, The Feng Ze Yuan. It is well located, just a few blocks from Tiananmen Square, but it is nowhere as modern or large as our other two hotels. Beijing is very humid and it is raining intermittently. There is a dank smell in our hotel. One interesting thing about my room is that when you enter, the bathroom is on the left, there is only a shower, no bath, and the bedroom is much smaller than the other hotels. As I looked around the bedroom I noticed different buttons. Most were for turning on lights, adjusting the air conditioner, etc. There was one strange looking set of buttons on the left wall of the bedroom. (The wall adjacent to the bathroom.) I pushed the button and like a hidden panel, the wall, (which was not a wall, but a shade in the same color of the wall) started to electrically rise as a film screen would. Lo and behold, a total view of the shower and bathroom could be seen from the bedroom. How strange. I asked our guide, Nan, why there should be such a shade? She said she didn’t have it in her room. I asked other people in our tour, but no one else either noticed or it doesn’t exist. They were all going to see and tell me today. I could understand if the button was on the bathroom side and if someone was in the bathroom and wanted a wider view or was feeling claustrophobic, but can you imagine sharing a room, you would never feel privacy in the bathroom, because that privacy could be interrupted at any time without your okay. In a country that frowns down on porn, this is rather weird.

When we arrived in Beijing, we had about an hour before we went out to dinner of Peking duck. The dinner was okay. Getting used to the food. But I’ve had Peking duck before and love it; this version was too salty and not exciting at all.

We have three women here from Boyton Beach, Fla. They all know each other. Two are rooming together, Adele and Barbara and Selma, in her eighties, is rooming by herself. Adele is the leader of the group and they follow her every lead. It is very funny to watch. What Adele wants to do, they obediently follow. Barbara is very lovely and easygoing. Selma is a bit dotty but very friendly. She still hasn’t figured out the money and has continuously been taken. She paid 250 Yuan for something I paid 20 Yuan. Last night at dinner, “les girls” were oohing and aahing over the wine bottle cover in the restaurant. --something you can find in any Chinatown in the states for a couple of dollars. They were for sale. The waitress said $2.50 a piece or 100 Yuan for 5. When asked how much in Yuan, they were told by the waitress 30 Yuan. I said no, 20-Yuan (which is closer to $2.50) Selma hands the waitress a $20 American bill and was willing to pay $20 for it, until I stopped her. It is a good thing she was left enough money by her late husband, whom I sure handled all money matters. I have no idea how much she has been taken since she got here, but she told me that she is running out of cash and has to go to the ATM. She reminds me a little of Edith in All In The Family. But she is a trouper.

It was raining hard, when we left the restaurant, and so rather than go out last night, I stayed in and went to sleep even earlier than the night before. I find this trip more tiring than my others. I don’t know if it is because I’m getting older or because the group is not too stimulating. We are all still cordial, but no close associations have been formed.

Today we are seeing Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tonight the Peking Opera with Dinner.

More later.

Today, we walked our feet off on Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. Too much to take in. We saw the spot where the world famous picture of the student defying the tank just before the 1989 suppression.

It is very muggy out today, but not rain. It is now 2:45 and we will be leaving at 5 for dinner and the opera.