China - Aug. 7

August 7th:

Today, I got up at 8:30! What a sleep in! And then it was time again for a similar, fast breakfast, because the bus for our sightseeing trip today loaded at 9:15 for a 9:30 departure. All went well, and I made it with plenty of time.

The TV in the lobby was on when I came down, and CCTV, the main Chinese TV station, was playing the soccer game that we went to last night.

Our tour guide gave us a little bit of a rundown of the history of Beijing in connection with the Forbidden City at Tienanmen Square, and of the "Gate of Heavenly Peace" (if only) which it's name means in English. This was our main destination for the day. She said it was built in 1420, by the third (usurping) emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the fourth son of the first emperor, who stole the throne from his nephew, his father's first grandson.

The Forbidden City was very impressive. Anything built nearly 600 years ago is bound to be. Our tour guide took us through it and explained the importance and use of the more prominent buildings. It was a huge place, and only part of it is available to the general public. I was most impressed with the story of the hall where the best couple hundred students from the whole of China would come to take an examination (on any topic the emperor decided) to vie for a few positions of importance at the City. And there was palace after palace after palace. They were all ornate and beautifully painted, but we did not have time to talk about each one.

Running the length of the City, was a special stone path, where the emperors used to be carried over on a litter, whenever they traveled around the City. When it went up to the various palaces, there were special stone carvings that made ramps up and down the other sides. They were all engraved with dragons - a symbol of strength and power in ancient China. One of these ramps was made out of the largest single, engraved stone in the world. If I remember correctly, it was roughly 30 or 40 yards long. I had a great time in the City with my friends and my camera. Although we rushed a little at the end, the tour took an hour and a half.

We then got on the buses and were taken to a mall in downtown Beijing for two hours, to eat lunch and shop. Natalie and I went to McDonald's, on the second floor. Many other people did as well, so it was tricky ordering. Sort of reminiscent of yesterday's experience at the soccer game. We each got a Big Mac, because everything else on the menu looked like it either had chicken or fish. We couldn't tell, because there was no English on the signs. There wasn't even apple pie for a desert! They had something that looked like a coconut pudding in a pastry instead. After finishing lunch, we continued on and found Dairy Queen upstairs. Other than that, we just looked, because the stores were mostly designer clothing stores that looked really expensive and not in our size. There was one store that was fun to look in though... it had some pretty funny clothes with odd English sayings on them.

Outside the mall, we did stop by the really big official Olympics store, but couldn't decide on anything important enough to bother standing in the really long checkout line for. Finally, it was time to go, and the buses took us to... dinner! Good thing all I had was the one burger and a couple of Natalie's fries. It was another Dim Son style restaurant in a very fancy hotel. I had real Chinese sweet and sour pork, which tasted so much better/authentic than the American/Chinese kind I've had back home. They also had very good beef in sauce and onions, and a dish of fried vegetables in batter, sort of like tempura. It was all very tasty. And then, they had the first clean bathroom that I've seen here so far. It was very refreshing to feel clean after leaving one.

Upon our return to the hotel, we tried getting our orchestra pins from Brad, our director, but he wasn't in his room yet. After a little while of waiting around and talking about the speed of light and flying cars with headlights (thanks, Chuck), and laughing a lot, we went back to our rooms. I organized all my stuff that was not already, and then Natalie and I got together and headed over to the sports complex for a game of table tennis. Natalie said she was pretty tired, so she would probably only make it through one game. An hour later, after five, very intense, exhilarating, rousing and hilarious games, we had to call it a night. I was able to win three of them, but they were all very close. I don't think I've sweated quite so much on this trip as I did playing those games. It was very fun. We then retired to our rooms for much needed showers and sleep.

Jp