Field Trip Day

One thing I forgot to say about flying here was that we flew through the North Pole. It was really interesting to see the snow formations. Everything was so desolate and peaceful.

Yesterday was tour day in Beijing. We started off in Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Stepping off the bus we were swarmed and hustled by the locals starting off asking 400 Yuan ($50) for an “official” 2008 Beijing Olympics baseball hat.

We walked around and saw the big picture of Mao that is repainted every year. We had a lot of Chinese people taking pictures of our group. It really is funny how much we stand out; not just because we are mostly a bunch of whiteys, but because of the way we are dressed and our mannerisms. I saw a handful of people snapping pictures and a couple of people using video cameras.

The square was mobbed with people want to go inside to see Mao in the mausoleum. We were approached quite often with people selling various goods, but we were told to just ignore them and keep on walking which we did for the most part. The vendors were very persistent and would follow us for 4-5 minutes continuously pitching us.

We then walked into the Forbidden City which is a series of courtyards and temples where the emperor lived. The first couple of chambers were interesting and ornate, but by the 7th or so near identical space it became pretty redundant. One nice thing about being tall in China is that I can stand over the crow somewhat. From a couple of instances that I have observed the people tend to push and get shovy in crowds. It is all done in a very polite manner; but if this was tried in the States I am sure people would be saying things and confronting them a lot more. I was able to take the picture below by standing in the middle of the crowd and just planting my feet and raising my arm up.

After the Forbidden City we took a bus to the Friendship store where we had lunch and browsed through all of the items. This place is a state-sponsored (I believe) store that sells all the things anyone would want to take home from China including tea, rugs, figurines and 5-foot-tall terra cotta soldier statues.

We headed off to tour the Great Wall next. The Wall itself was pretty amazing and afforded us a nice view of the country-side. We made it up about 2/3 of the way and agreed that it was not going to be worth it to go all the way and have to come back down. The steps ranged from 6” to about 24” in height. Both of had hearts that were pounding on the way up and legs that were shaking on the way back down. It was a well-kept tourist section of the Wall, but it provided a good glimpse at the magnitude of the whole structure.


I finally used my first squat toilet, well, used it like a urinal. It really is no big deal. Coming down from our long journey off the wall, C had to go and I can't imagine the pain she must have felt when trying to bend down.

After all of the horror stories and wives’ tales; China is not as bad as everyone thinks. Sure, we can’t drink the water eat fruit that does not have to be peeled or have ice in anything; but I have not found it to be true that we have to use holes in the ground for the bathroom, that there are dead animals hanging everywhere and as a whole is a scary place. Let me caveat this by the fact that we have only been doing tourist things in a group, in a controlled environment but all in all China is not as bad as people may think for visiting.

The people, the buildings and the general mentality that I have come across (again, I have been here 4 whole days) is very group like. People tend to dress alike and both cities I have observed are functional and practical instead of being ostentatious and attention-seeking. If the US is a peacock China seems to be your common backyard brown squirrel.