As we were starting our descent to land at Beijing airport I looked out the window. We were flying through clouds. I waited as we kept going down and looked forward to when we would break through and get to see the first glimpse of the city below. It didn't seem to be happening. We just kept going down and down in the cloud, or what was really smog. When we could finally see we were shocked, we were almost on the ground. This would be our worst experience with mass pollution.
We pre-booked accommodation in Beijing knowing it was peak travel season there. After getting our bags we walked out to the area in the airport where someone from the hotel was to meet us. Again no one was there. We walked back and forth looking through the crowds of people holding up signs. Our name or our hotel name was not on any of them. After about 15 minutes of waiting we asked a lady at the hotel reservation desk to call our hotel for us. Just then Jack sees a man show up with a sign of Aubrey Parnell. Not bad, this is the closest spelling of my name yet.
We were escorted out to a brand new mini van. What a nice surprise. Some of the vehicles we have been picked up in or had as taxis have been pretty scary. To our excitement we discovered the van even had seat belts. This would be one of the few times we have been able to wear a seat belt on the entire trip, other than our car rental in South Africa.
The ride was not off to a good start though. For some reason there was a line of vehicles waiting to exit the underground parking of the airport. Nothing was moving at all. Tons of honking started, it got more and more intense. No one knew what the problem was. We ended up sitting there for about 15 minutes until we finally started to move. We never did find out what happened. Our driver did have some choice words to say to the ticket lady as we exited through the gate.
The hour long trip from the airport gave us a good overview of the city. We saw a funny site when we passed some road construction. They have these life size plastic flag men. They are robotic and have an arm that moves up and down with a flag. They look like giant lego men. There were high rises as far as you can see, or as far as the smog would let you on that given day. Overpasses were everywhere with traffic whizzing about them. Construction cranes could be seen in every direction. The city has pretty much everything typical of any large city these days. McDonalds has taken over along with KFC, over 50 Starbucks are in Beijing alone. Not much of old Beijing is left. People living in the few original areas that are protected cling onto their old ways of life while the surrounding area of modernism and high rises encroaches around them. Beijing is no longer the city that people came to a generation ago. The days of mass bicycles in the streets and Maoist revolutionaries in buttoned-down tunics performing exercise in Tienanmen Square are long gone. The city is on a high speed course of modernism and the rest of China is going with it.
The old city was pretty well intact when the communists took over in 1949, but they had little regard for ancient Beijing and pulled down the city walls. Roads were built and modern buildings replaced the old. The construction continues today and nearly a third of the 62 square kilometer old city had been demolished, including over 1000 hutongs. This is a shame because it is the old city that captivates many tourists.
A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where hutongs run into the several thousand. Surrounding the Forbidden City, many were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming(1368-1628) and Qing(1644-1908) dynasties. In the prime of these dynasties the emperors, in order to establish supreme power for themselves, planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the etiquette systems of the Zhou Dynasty. The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace -- the Forbidden City.
One kind of hutong, usually referred to as the regular hutong, was near the palace to the east and west and arranged in orderly fashion along the streets. Most of the residents of these hutongs were imperial kinsmen and aristocrats. Another kind, the simple, was mostly located far to the north and south of the palace. The residents were merchants and other ordinary people. The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles--a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard . The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents.
We stayed in one of these protected hutong areas. It was a great experience and one of the only places left where you can see some authentic Chinese culture. We loved walking around the skinny alleyways going in all directions. It was very easy to get lost in. Life goes on in a different fashion in the Hutong compared to the rest of Beijing. Most of the houses do not have a bathroom. The streets have public washrooms with showers. In the mornings you will see old men walking down the road in their underwear heading to the shower with their soap and towel in hand. The smell coming out of the buildings is not pleasant. At night people are sleeping in cots and other make shift beds in the streets. I guess it is cooler than sleeping in their houses. In the evening you will see men gathered around playing Chinese checkers. They sit outside on small wooden stools around low tables. Cats and dogs scurry about looking for left over scraps of food from the days activities. The roads are filled with small shops selling pop, cigarettes, newspapers and some grocery items. There are lots of fruit and vegetable stands as well.
It seems every few feet there is a barber shop. Apparently everyone thinks they can cut hair here. We were told to be very careful if we got haircuts. There are supposedly less than 100 professional salons in all of Beijing. The rest are just unqualified people with scissors.
Unfortunately while we were in Beijing we both desperately needed a haircut. I posted a message on the Lonely Planet site asking if anyone could recommend a good place to go. I got a recommendation from another Canadian girl. Maybe she lucked out at this place and got a good cut, but mine turned out to be the worst haircut ever. This guy could not have ever gone to school for haircutting. First of all I thought it was strange they took me straight to the sink to wash my hair. Only the head lady spoke English. I asked if the hair dresser should look at my hair first while it was dry to see what I wanted done with it. She said no that is okay. So now this guy who has never cut my hair will see it for the first time wet and have no idea what my hair looks like.
I really started to panic when he didn't really comb my hair after washing it. He parted it and barely ran the comb through the rest of it. Then the horror began. No word of a lie this guy was literally just grabbing chunks of my hair with his hands and hacking at it. No method to it what so ever! I didn't know what to do. I just decided to sit there and let him do his thing. Oh well, it's just hair, it will grow back. He was done the massacre within about 15 minutes. Then he tried to style it. I really should have just left at this point while I was ahead. He of course had no idea what to do with wavy or curly hair, having never dealt with it before.
He started to take the blow dryer to it. He tossled it all over while using the blow dryer,this is not something you can do with my hair. So now that I looked like a female version of Jimmy Hendrix he was really confused. At this point I actually felt sorry for the guy, I could see the look of panic in his face. He didn't know what to do with my hair now. I decided to call the lady over who spoke English. I told her my hair needed to be dried with a brush being run through it at the same time to help straighten it out somewhat. She talked to him a bit and then he continued to try and style it. He got some wax pomade and basically started patting down my hair with his hands. I wish I had a picture of my hair. Voila, he was done his masterpiece. When he said the words OK? It took everything in me not to burst out laughing. I can't believe I was actually going to have to pay for what he had done to my hair.
Jack got his hair cut here too. His was not as bad, he wears his hair short enough that it's hard to screw it up too much. He did have a big glob of it left too long on the front that made it resemble the Flock of Seagulls look. I took some scissors to it later at the hotel and fixed it up. Mine I was not going to even try to fix, I became bandanna girl for the next few weeks, covering it up was about the only option. Okay we learned our lesson about haircuts in Beijing, DON'T DO IT!
Eating in Beijing was interesting. Every second corner seemed to have a Peking Duck restaurant on it. Not much use to us vegetarians. Surprisingly there was not much for us to eat here. We found Pizza Hut and hit that up a few times. They had a salad bar that was pretty good. It was also a great source of entertainment. You pay for the salad bar and are only allowed to go up once. The first time we went we had no idea what we were doing and got very little crammed into the small bowls they give you. We sat and watched other people filling their bowls, they were obviously experts who have done this many times. They would carefully place items in the bowls with great thought and precision. One ladies bowl looked like a work of art. We could not believe how much they got in the bowl and how high it was balanced out of the top of it. One of the tricks was to place celery and carrot sticks so they stick out of the bowl edge like a fan, then you start to pile your other items on top with careful balance. People were laughing in the rest of the restaurant as they saw the bowls being carried back to the table. Even the restaurant waiters were chuckling. The few times we went after, we had learned from the masters and were able to pile in the food quite high as well.
So far on our travels China tops the cake of bizarre stuff to eat. You have to realize that there was severe famine in China as recently as the mid 1970's. So you ate anything that flies in the air, crawls on land or swims in water just to survive. Even now the famine is over the stuff people ate back then is still very popular. Some things we saw on menus were starfish, seahorse, scorpion and dog.
We saw all kinds of bizarre etiquette when it comes to going to the washroom. Children under a certain age all where pants with a large split in croch and no underwear. They are taught to squat and go to the bathroom when ever the occasion arises. Regardless of where they are! It's actually quite funny because they do tend to use the square dirt area around the planted trees on the sidewalks, it's like a litter box for kids!
In one days outing we witnessed many strange washroom incidents. In the major attraction of the Forbidden city (which does have washrooms) we saw a dad place a plastic bag on the ground and have the child do #2 in it. Then we saw another dad hold a plastic pop bottle out and have his son pee in it. Later that day we were shopping in Walmart and saw a toddler squat right in the middle of an aisle and take a pee. The mom did nothing, he finished and they just kept walking. She never got anyone to clean it up or anything. The funniest one was in the Hutong where are hotel is. We saw a grandpa pushing the grandson in a wooden cart. The baby started to pee. After he was finished the grandpa held the baby with one arm so he wouldn't slide forward, with the other arm he tipped the cart forward to have the pee run out the front. Then he continued down the road as normal.
Getting taxis was challenging at times. We had a map and would point to where we wanted to go. Sometimes the driver would nod and we would get in without any problems. Other times the driver either didn't want to take us there, or couldn't understand where we wanted to go and waved his hands saying no. We had a difficult time getting a taxi to take us back to our hotel. It seems they didn't like going into the hutong area, too many narrow streets to navigate. Sometimes we would have to go through a dozen cabs to finally get one to take us. One night we simply could not get a taxi. We finally gave up and walked all the way back, it was well over an hour. Not that we mind walking for an hour, but we had a long day of sightseeing and more than enough walking for the day. Our feet were aching already.
We can see this being a problem during the olympics, the traffic will be a major issue as well. Sometimes we would have to wait for over 10 minutes in a left hand turn lane waiting to go. We sat for 10 lights waiting to turn one time, the meter is of course running up a storm. During peak times of the day getting around on the streets can be a nightmare, it's better to walk or take the underground, but it doesn't get you everywhere.
As far as the Olympics go, we were told the city was buzzing with Olympics. We saw street vendors selling key chains and other olympics souvenirs, there are several Official Olympics Shops. There is the large official Olympic countdown clock near Tienanmen Square. Other than that we saw nothing else to indicate the Olympics are coming. They are going to have to get a lot of things together before they try and take on 2 million international visitors. The airport for instance gives no direction of where to go or what to do. We couldn't even find the boards to find our flight and gate. We were not the only ones having to go up and ask where they were. They were in an odd place down a hallway by the bathrooms. Even the Chinese people were confused, some things are not signed at all, not even in Chinese. No signs are posted for filling out an exit card. People we getting into a big line to go through security only to be sent back out of it and fill out and exit card. Such a difference from flying into the Hong Kong airport where everything is signed and easy to follow. The way of thinking in China is so different. They don't seem to think about what needs to be done for people to accomplish things in an orderly fashion.
We wandered around an area called the Pedestrian street. This is a huge street of stores and shopping malls. It is buzzing with people at all hours of the day and into the night. Full of tacky tourist stuff right up to high end Gucchi and Channel. We didn't buy much in the way of souvenirs in China. A lot of it is really poorly made and crappy. It is mostly the same stuff you see in China towns all around the world, so there was nothing unique that caught our eye.
The TianAnMen square is needless to say a large square. Police and guards are everywhere night and day. There are also many surveillance cameras. People gather in the day and wander around it. Many come out to fly their kites since a big empty cement square is the perfect place to do so. There is a huge mausoleum which houses the preserved body of Chairman Mao. Apparently he does have to be taken away every once in a while for maintenance, other than this it is on display for public viewing, yuck.
Across from the square is a larger than life sized picture of Chairman Mao. This is on the outside of the Tienamen building where he used to do his speeches from. There is also seating from where he and the dignitaries would watch military parades go by. As you walk around the square you are endlessly approached by hawkers trying to sell you kites and other goods. It doesn't seem to matter which country we travel in they all start with the same approach. Hello, hello. It was really funny as Jack decided he was going to get the upper hand on one lady as she was walking towards us. Before she did anything he said hello, hello, to her. She started to laugh and walked away. She obviously knew we were not going to buy anything.
Overall we probably stayed a bit too long in China, we wore out our patience. Honestly we were really glad to be leaving and get to somewhere different. It can be very challenging to travel around at times, things work so differently. Even if people speak some English it does not mean they will be able to understand what you are trying to get across. This is definitely one of the most difficult countries we have traveled in, communication wise. Even with a Chinese phrase book and travel guide we found it very difficult at times. Of course you could take the easy way out and book a fully planned tour package. We have talked to people who have done this. They didn't see half of what we saw in the country. They were simply whisked from one large attraction to the next. One lady we spoke to said she was surprised there was no rural life in China, it was all modern. I think she missed the majority of the country!
It's a good thing we went now since the country seems to be ripping down most everything that is old. Out with the old and in with the new seems to be the countries slogan. In many circumstances very little concern is taken over the environment. Everything is designed for mass tourism or tour groups, not much consideration is taken for the individual traveler.
The prices that are charged for the attractions are completely out of scale compared with other world sites. They charge ridiculous fees just to get into parks to walk around. They are also creating what are dubbed as "new historical sites" Areas that are being built to look like they are an old area or structure that has no authenticity at all. Many places are so over touristed with bus loads of domestic travelers coming in, it makes it impossible to enjoy yourself. The best part of our time in China was when we could get away from all this into remote areas that have not been over developed yet, but it won't be long before these places of China are discovered by the masses too. It seems the government has plans to push railways into every corner of the country.
The other aspect that can become very annoying is the social etiquette of many of the people. The consistent clearing of the throat that can be heard everywhere you go, it is horrible. Then there is the spitting, and nose picking everywhere in public. The horrid table manors, loud smacking of food being chewed open mouthed and throwing of bones and unwanted food onto the table top or the floor. The crowds pushing, shoving, and complete lack of understanding how to queue up for something also get to you. Don't get the wrong idea, it is not like this everywhere, but we traveled around the country for 3 months, long enough to experience a great deal of it. Some people are very friendly, but many others have no desire to try and help you with directions or any other needs. A lot of this comes from their deep seated part of their culture to not "lose face". They don't want to be embarrassed if they can't understand what you are saying, or if they happen to use an English word incorrectly. We were given incorrect information so many times. It seemed that the people were more embarrassed to say that the didn't know the answer than giving the wrong information. It would end up that for any given situation we needed to ask at least 3 different people to make sure we had the correct advice. It all became very frustrating. Nonetheless, we are glad we got to see so much of the country, we saw some incredible things, and we were introduced to a very different culture, it was an experience we won't forget.
Author: Audreyandjack Date: July 14, 2008 |