The Sacred Way, or Picking the Great Turtle's Nose

On our way back to Beijing we stopped at the Sacred Way.  The Sacred Way is where the emperors were buried.  When you enter the garden gate there is a long pathway lined with statues of 13 of the emperors.

After all of the emperors there were animal statues. I sat to rest on an elephant.

At the end of the line of animals there was a temple with a giant stone turtle in it.

 



The turtle was very big.  It is supposed to be good luck if you rub the turtle’s nose.  I not only rubbed the turtles nose, I picked it too for extra good luck.

Going to the Great Wall!

April 15, 2012

We drove out of Beijing and stopped at a jade factory.  There was a man sitting behind a glass wall making jade “happiness family balls”.  A “happiness family ball” is a jade ball inside a jade ball inside a jade ball. The ball represents the family with the mother (phoenix) and the father (dragon) surrounding and protecting the children and children’s children.

 

I wanted to buy a stone (jade) turtle. Noni said it was too expensive so we bought absolutely nothing.  Instead we had soda and waited for the other people who were buying expensive jade jewelry. Later we thought we should have bought a “happiness family ball” but it was too late.

Now, we drove a long way to the Great Wall of China! When we got near the wall we still had to wait as our bus tried to get closer. 

We still had to walk a long way and it smelled like bus “smog”.   There it was.  The Great Wall of China!

 We climbed up the gate to the path.  We took a picture to show us standing on the wall.

David, our guide, wanted me to go to the top of the wall with him.  I said, “Sure” and we headed down the path.  You can see me because I was wearing a bright blue shirt. 

As we went up the path David said, “Let’s go higher on the wall.”  So, we climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and climbed.  Once in a while we stopped and David took a picture on the wall.

Finally, we reached the top of the wall.

We were tired. We came back down the wall running!  Ya Ya thinks coming down is harder than going up. She is wrong!

 

When I got to the bottom of the Wall, Noni and Pop Pop bought me an ice cream and a Great Wall medal to celebrate.

The t-shirt says, “I have climbed up the Great Wall”!

While we waited for everyone to come down off of the wall I had a grape soda to cool off.

Olympic Park and the Silk Market, Beijing

Driving back to the hotel from the Summer Palace, we could see the stadium they call the “Bird’s Nest” stadium. You can see why.

After a nice lunch of white rice and special side of soy sauce on Wangfujing Street we went to shop in what they call the Silk Market.

You would think that the Silk Market would sell silk. The name Silk Market refers to the Silk Road.  The Silk Road was a trading route that was like a bridge between Europe and Asia.  Marco Polo traveled the Silk Road to trade silk and jewels and spices.  What is really important is that he also brought noodles to Italy!

The Silk Market in Beijing is a big store except it isn’t a normal store.  It is a place filled with many different stands.  Lots of things sold at the Silk Market are fancy watches and electronics but they are mostly counterfeit. Some stands sold shoes, some sold food, some sold kites and others sold toys. 

We wanted to buy a kite. The Chinese have great kites.  They are often very big and elaborate. They also have small kites that are tiny and cute. 

Pop Pop bargained for a kite.  He is really good at bargaining. 

The person asked for 1,800 yuan. That is nearly $300!!!

Pop Pop said that was too much. 

She showed him her calculator.  He said “No way will I pay that much!” 

She punched some numbers into her calculator.  She said, “This is my best kite.”  They went on, and on, and on.

A couple of times Pop Pop punched some numbers into the calculator and the clerk said, “Oh, no! We won’t be able to eat if you pay that little!”

Pop Pop said, “Well, I wouldn’t want you to be sad,” and he walked away. 

She said, “Oh, no, no, no.  We will just skip dessert!”

Eventually Pop Pop got a very good price.  He only paid 50 yuan for a large kite.

As he walked away from the booth the young man in the stand across the aisle said, “Good price. You are very, very cheap!”

I was proud of Pop Pop!

We left the Silk Market and I was really tired.  We went back to the hotel.  It was a “dinner on your own” night.  We were so tired that Pop Pop went down the street to Pizza Hut and bought a pepperoni pizza to bring back to the hotel.  The pizza was a pizza.  That was all.  It was not terrible but we couldn’t find the pepperoni and it wasn’t that flavorful. 

I crawled into bed and went to sleep.

The Summer Palace, Beijing

Next we drove on the bus to the Summer Palace.  It belonged to the Dragon Lady (Dowager).  She was the mother of the emperor’s only son.  When the boy was 5 years old his father, the emperor, died and the boy was the new emperor.  His mother told him what to do so she was really like the empress.  He died when he was 18 years old. Quickly the Dragon Lady named a new emperor.  He was only 4 years old so she told him what to do.  So she was really like the empress.  When he was 19 he decided to do what he wanted to do.  She locked him in a building with four sides and a courtyard in the middle. She could keep being like the empress. In fact she named herself the empress!

The Summer Palace was built on flat land BUT they dug a big lake with an island in the middle.  The dirt they dug to make the lake was used to make a mountain where they built the palace buildings.

 Near the building there was a very long walkway covered with a roof.  It was where the Dragon Lady would walk. 

 The Dragon Lady (Dowager) had a special boat. There was a belief that water (the people) floats the boat but if the boat (rulers) get too mean the water will capsize the boat.  This means that if you treat the people well you can continue to be their ruler but if you don’t you will be overthrown.

The Dragon Lady had the boat built out of marble.  She was afraid of the water so she had the boat built on a platform in the water with water moving around the boat. She would go and sit on the boat and pretend she was on the lake floating.

We bought tickets to go on a dragon boat across the lake, but not before getting an ice cream cone. I got tiramisu flavor and it was yummy!  Ice cream is always yummy. 

I finished my ice cream.  Now it was time to get on the dragon boat.  The front of the boat had a dragon’s head to see through the not so clear water. The back of the boat was shaped like a dragon’s rear end.  I walked on the boat and sat in the back near the dragon’s tail.

 When the boat took off the wind was cool.  It felt good after being really hot in the sun.

 We went past an island.  We could see a bridge that had many arches.  From the lake you could see the buildings of the Summer Palace behind us.

 We got back on the bus.

Beijing is Zeke's oyster

After we left the Temple of Heaven we stopped at a place where they sold fresh water pearls.  There was a women who showed us how to open an oyster to get the pearls.  She let me dip a net into the water and pick up a big oyster.

Saltwater pearls have one or two pearls in them. The woman asked us to guess how many pearls would be in the fresh water oyster.  People guessed 6 and 3 and 4.  Noni guessed 18.  She opened the oyster and we all knew Noni had won. 

The woman gave Noni two of the pearls. The pearls were whitish pink. The woman then told us to shop for pearls.  She said we would get a big discount.

Temple Of Heaven Park, Beijing

This morning we went to the Temple of Heaven Park.  It is over 700 acres and was used as a summer palace for the emperor. This place looked different than the Forbidden City because it had lots of trees and gardens.

Every morning people come to the park to dance and exercise.  They looked happy.  They were having fun.

Some people were doing Xi Gong.

Other people were doing exercise in a playground made for adults.  Some kids were playing on it too.  They did a workout while talking and laughing with their friends.

Around the park there was a long walkway with a roof where people played games, cards, dominos and talked. David told us that this used to be a park only for the imperial family.  Now it is a park for everyone.  People come to meet friends and enjoy themselves every day.

 People played instruments and some people sang together in a group. Some women were knitting and others just sat and read the newspaper. 

In the yard some people played games together with shuttlecocks where they were kicking a feathered shuttlecock back and forth.

The Temple of Heaven was just above the garden.  Climbing the stairs you walk through a gate and tunnel. 

When you come out you see a great big view.  The buildings did not have yellow roofs.  The roofs were blue and green.  This was to represent nature.  One building was round and looked like a bunch of UFOs stacked one on top of the other.  This was the Temple of Heaven.

 Many Chinese people pat me on the head and ask me to take pictures with them.  David says it is because they almost never see red hair and blue eyes.

Victoria's take on Beijing touring

April 15, 2012

This has been a wonderful trip.  BUT David, our guide, is keeping us really busy and walking our legs off.  Yesterday we walked between 4 and 5 miles and were busy from 6:45AM until 10PM at night!  Bruce went out and got a pizza and we just ate and dropped into bed. Today we go to the Great Wall, the tombs, then later to a big Kung Fu show.  We won't get back to the hotel until nearly 10PM.  

Tomorrow we leave Beijing and go to the airport and finally to board our riverboat.  We may not have a lot of time to write on Zeke's China Blog until tomorrow night and then we are unsure about our internet access on the boat.  For the next day or so, don't worry if we don't write a lot.  It is just because we don't have enough time.  

BTW, Zeke has been absolutely PERFECT!  He is a little trooper.  Never complains.  Is always polite.   

Also, here the people from outside of the big city don't see foreigners often.  They think Zeke's red hair and blue eyes are beautiful and they want to take a picture with him. Often in stores and on the street they touch his hair.  We will talk about this in the next blog.  He is very sweet and polite letting them touch him and pose for photos with them.  They say, "You are beautiful." Very sweet.

Love, Noni

On the streets of Beijing

Downtown Beijing is filled with modern buildings.

 They had lots of ads on the walls. Some of the ads were easy to “read” since they were for companies that we have. 

 There was a big street with no cars allowed so we could walk around.  The first thing I saw was a big “Foreign Languages Bookstore”!  That’s where I wanted to go! Since I finished the book I brought with me I am looking for something to read.

The bookstore was big and had quite a few books I have already read.  Finally I found one I had not read and Pop Pop bought it.

Now it was time for dinner.  We went to a very fancy place.  They had a huge statue of Buddha.  Everyone loved the food but I didn’t see anything to eat.  Finally they brought out a bowl of chow mein, and I was happy.  

The Forbidden City

There was a canal or little river running through the Forbidden City that had five bridges going across.  Each bridge was for a different virtue or good quality in a person. They were benevolence (kindness), righteousness (being truthful), rites, intelligence and fidelity (being faithful).

The water from the river came down through the area from the Summer Palace. The Emperor wanted to keep the river pure since it was his drinking water. If people went swimming in the water they would be killed.  If they even put their hand in the river their hand would be cut off! That was very mean of the Emperor but it probably kept people out of his drinking water.

 If someone had business with the Emperor they could come into the outer courtyard and wait. They stood on 14 layers of grey brick stones in the hot sun and couldn’t eat or drink anything.  This was to show how powerful the emperor was.

In the Forbidden City you walk through a building that is kind of like a gate.  Then you see another big square with buildings all around.  Then when you got to the other side there was another building like a gate!  Then another one.  Then another one. 

 

In each of the buildings when you walk through the doorway you went over a threshold that's taller than a normal threshold.  It would be 6 inches tall or even 1 foot tall. 

This was for two reasons.  First, it kept out the dirt from outside.  More important it kept out evil ghosts.  The Chinese believed a lot in ghosts.  Some ghosts were good and some were evil.  Ghosts had no legs so they could only either glide on the floor or fly through the air.  The threshold kept the evil ghosts out since they could only slide on the floor and they could not jump so they could not get into the house.

The tourists were all rubbing the brass knobs on the doors when they walked by.  They were doing this for good luck.  I tried it.

I rubbed a ton of knobs.  Then I looked down and found a coin on the ground so it must work!


At the gate some people were dressed in ancient Chinese costumes.  They were made out of silk and they were red and bright colors.  

As we left we walked through a nice garden. It had blossoming trees and plants.  The Forbidden City had no trees or plants.  The Imperial Garden was shady and green.  

There were also some very old gnarly tree stumps that were from ancient trees.  

I was getting very hungry.  David said we were going to eat lunch.  We drove in the bus to a different area of the city.  When we got there the lunch place was like a dining room in the middle of an area with small shops around the edge that sold books and nice statues and dishes.

It was a vegetarian restaurant but they served fish.  They had potatoes in curry sauce, spicy tofu and mushrooms, orange juice, fish wrapped in seaweed, green beans and hot peppers and finally white rice!  I was happy to see that rice.  I asked for some soy sauce and enjoyed my rice bowl.