She wasn't nearly as outgoing as Thunk but she was still polite and friendly. She occasionally would tell me about a landmark or two that we would pass by but mostly she talked to the driver in her native tongue. It didn't bother me much but it was particularly cold and hazy this day although still not quite as cold as the first day. All the stops were outdoors. Lucky me. Our first trip was going to be Summer Palace, which was the farthest location. Cherry was hoping to burn out some time for the coldness of the morning to dissipate a bit and it was about a 45 minute drive. I mostly drank water and played with my phone. She didn't ask me too many questions and seemed content pointing out buildings and discussing city walls and how long and tall they were and how long they took to build.
As she was talking, I thought about a project I had my students do once where I assigned them a major city in several states. They all did presentations about the square kilometers of well-known parks and famous buildings and how tall or long they were. It occurred to me then that the Chinese must take the size of things that were built as a prideful thing when usually such statistics bored most Americans.
For them, it was more important I felt, because of the history of the many walls and buildings they had in China defied the understanding of the technology they had during ancient times during the times in which they built these things. Things took much more time and risk to build and had a history of a dynasty behind it that unless you really knew your dynasties wouldn't really understand.
In America, where things were more modern and rarely ancient, it was a fairly easier feat to accomplish building something unless it had a Frank Lloyd Wright design or something of the sort.
As I listened to her breakdowns of measurements of various places, I rubbed my hands together to try to get warm. We got to the Summer Palace used heavily as a summer resort great Empress Dowager Cixi.
The morning haze was still upon us and Kunming Lake was before us providing the air with cool, wet damp moisture. Cherry walked briskly through the palace and I tried to linger in places to take in the view of the lake. She went over and explained some of the ships and showed me intricately painted corridors, each section containing a different painting and no two the same. She pointed out a few places to take photos and gave me a brief history of the place. She seemed rushed and I tried to keep up with her brisk steps while taking in the view. It was pretty crowded for a wet day but it wasn't raining or snowing at least. I imagined Summer Palace is probably even more breathtaking in the Summer when the empress obviously utilized it for its best features (which were long corridors built to take in the cool breezes from the lake) but its beauty was not lost in the wintry glaze of February morning.
Kunming Lake
Marble ship decoy at Summer Palace
Bridge At Summer Palace
We power-trekked through Summer Palace in about half an hour and then our next stop was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City both of which were right next to each other. It was indeed slightly warmer as we got to our destination. I took pictures of the monument that looked very much like a smaller version of the Washington monument in DC that was in the middle of the square that proclaimed "The People's glory." Cherry helped me take a few photos and some panoramic ones since I was terrible at doing those on my iPhone. There were tons of people lined up outside of a building across the square which turned out to be the entrance of the Forbidden City. Across the street from the square was the National History Museum I visited yesterday. I had no idea then that it was right across the street from the square itself. We entered the Forbidden City. Cherry manipulating the spaces of the crowd like a pro and me struggling to catch up. I almost felt like she was rushing for a reason then I recalled when we left Summer Palace she had told me she was glad it wasn't a large group today and it was easier to manage a private tour because she was eager to get back to her mother and see her for the holiday. I suspected she was trying to get this over with. I tried to catch my breath"Cherry," I said, "I can't really keep up this pace. Do you mind slowing down?"
"Oh sure," she said.
Slowing down, however, in the end meant she kept her same pace and now occasionally stopped and looked behind her to see where I was and then waiting for me to catch up. Not walking alongside me and just slowing down her personal pace. I gave up but I got some beautiful pictures of the Forbidden City.
Forbidden City Entrance behind me
Line heading into F.C. (picture of Mao over entrance)
Forbidden City
Outside the entrance, one of the temples inside FC
In both the Summer Palace and The Forbidden City there are multiple entrances or gates, some entrances more popular than others for the sake of the view and scenery. The properties were very large and to see everything would require multiple visits. Cherry said there were many natives, herself included, who hadn't seen all the parts of The Forbidden City.
As we trudged through, Cherry's english wasn't the best and she spoke very fast making it hard to really understand her at times but she explained things and helped me take photos of myself standing in areas where the crowds were less thin.
We got through the City fast enough and she explained about yet another city wall that surrounded Beijing. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention. China has so many walls, it was apparent that they were staples in many cities.
This was a shopping tour which meant the tour agency had contracted deals with nearby vendors to try to sell products to tourists and then the tour agencies would get a cut of the profits if a sale was made. This kept the cost of the tours down themselves, especially group ones because they make the difference back with the commission from the vendors. I was initially nervous because I had read horror stories about people going on these tours and being harassed or bullied or even left behind if they didn't actually purchase anything. I found no such reviews for this particular tour. So we stopped first at a clearwater pearl factory right after Summer Palace.
I was shown a short video on how they harness the pearls and make the clams create the pearls. Afterwards a lady with way to much makeup dressed in a black skirt suit came down and stood behind a tank of some rather large clams. She and Cherry told me excitedly to pick a clam and the larger the clams the larger the pearls. They said I got to keep a pearl as a souvenir.
I should add here I have no interest in jewelry. I am the least likely person to ever purchase a piece of jewelry. Diamonds, necklaces and bracelets are not something I own nor wish to own. The few rings I have on my fingers are sentiments of my boyfriend, Charles, given to me as gifts. Prior to that the most jewelry you would have ever seen me wear are earrings my mother bought me. I have never purchased a piece of jewelry for myself. Yet, I played along with this ridiculous game. They opened the clam, the saleswoman pointing at all the pearls and cutting the membrane of the clam's mouth that covered the pearls. As she did it, I couldn't help but think how cruel we were as humans to force grains of sand that were clearly uncomfortable down the mouth of a clam to make a round stone and then kill them after a time just so we could wear these stones around our necks and arms and decorated buttons.
This clam was dying for a sale. But not in a way that one is itching to find a bargain.
They gave me the smallest, most deformed pearls in the lot (I didn't have a choice in this) and then escorted me upstairs to what looked like a jewelry store filled with pearls. The saleslady told me they had a "special sale" (as they always do despite the 300% markup, that's not an exaggerated figure and is why haggling is a well-needed skill) and to look around. I looked at a counter for about 10 seconds looking at outrageous price tags and then went to Cherry and told her I had no funds to purchase such expensive items. Our time here was essentially a waste. She mouthed "I'm sorry" to the saleslady as we headed downstairs and exited back to the car.
The next shop was a silk factory after we had left The Forbidden City. The lady gave her pitch on how silk was made and showed me the cocoons of silk worms, the different sizes and how they create different qualities of silk depending on the size of cocoon. It was interesting to say the least but then they went on to sell bed products, silk scarves and clothing that were widely overpriced compared to the street markets. I remember paying 200 yuan (approx $30) for what I was told was a handmade silk scarf in Shanghai once and my friend Rose who had turned away when I was making the purchase yelled at me saying I over-payed and that the cost of silk in China was super cheap. She said I shouldn't have spent more than $30 yuan and I had no way of really telling if it was handmade or not. Keeping that in mind these things were around that price or more. I walked up to Cherry shortly after the presentation and then being escorted to the clothing area.
"Hey, I'm ready to go." I said. She had been busy texting on her phone and she didn't put up a fight at all as we walked back to the car.
Those were the last of the shopping stops.
We had lunch before the silk factory however at a small local restaurant where the food had already been ordered for me. I had tea, rice with carrots and peas and chicken with a sweet glaze over it (not sweet and sour, again that doesn't exist here). I dug in with chopsticks. The weirdest thing happened as I ate. Cherry was not around as I ate and I was at a table by myself that was off to the side in sort of a corridor area. I was the only one seated in that area despite the tables around me. There were smaller booths in the back and a few tables that were already taken up. So visitors were walking by me. I started to get stares. I realized after a while that they were actually surprised at me eating with chopsticks. I would get curious looks that would follow down to my hand followed by small smiles and slight nods of approval. Some people nudged their friends or family members and waved their heads slightly in my direction. People did double takes. It was the oddest thing. The restaurant had given me a fork and spoon in case but I didn't think to use it. I had been taught to use chopsticks years ago, well before my trip to China when my mother had taught me as a kid. We would have Chinese takeout nights and she bought chopsticks and I would practice. My technique wasn't technically proper but it worked efficiently for me and me being a southpaw which was also an anomaly in China (they correct kids if they're left-handed) I didn't really try too much to learn the proper way since it felt awkward and I do things sometimes differently due to comfort.
Needless to say, I felt a little bit redeemed in the gratification of the natives even though it wasn't really a skill I had acquired here.
After lunch, we headed to the last stop which was Temple of Heaven. This was the shortest trip unfortunately. At this point it was almost 2pm but it was cold. Bitterly cold. Most of the areas we found were closed off due to crowd control which Cherry said was weird because it wasn't anywhere near busy and she had been there before at peak times and the whole area would be open. We had to take a ridiculously long detour to see a couple of buildings from a far. I got a few pictures and then we walked back.
Walkway through Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
That was it. At this point, I was cold, numb and tired mostly from keeping up with Cherry's power walking. We were well under schedule considering the tour was supposed to last till 5pm and we were done before 3. I was driven home. I took a long, deep nap and awoke around 6. Soon after, I was hungry and decided I wanted to find a place to eat.I googled well-known shops in the area and set out to try to find the appropriate trains to get to them. One I had my eye one closed around 8. It was now going on 9 and I was running out of options, each place getting closer to closing and I had to judge the commute and the time. I found one restaurant (after much walking up and down passing several dark, abandoned streets with lots of closed shops) that closed at 10:30 and rushed to it, dreading eating McDonald's another night. I found a place called Cha Hua Mei Zi (Yunnan Camellia Sister Restaurant). It was on some list for best noodles. I sat down and ordered a large noodle bowl with beef and then a side of fried Shanghai duck (they didn't have Peking on the menu much to my disappointment and the taste of the duck was nowhere near as good). I was the only one in the restaurant and it was near close, super dark and cold out, and unlikely anyone else would walk in. So the kitchen crew ate with the waitress while I ate my meal. I paid and bundled up and headed up down to the station to head home and retire for the evening.
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