This morning started off much like
yesterdays, we got up and ready and had our breakfast at the hotel. We would be heading back to Hong Kong tonight so we had to collect all our belongings so we could check out of the hotel before we left for the day. Linda meet us in the lobby again and then we headed out. Our first stop this morning was Tianemen Square. It was pretty crowded with people, as was everything
else we saw in the days past. We took a few pictures and learned about the history some and then took an underground walkway to the Forbidden City just on the other side of the street. The Forbidden City had some amazing architecture and was very rich in history and culture.
Linda told us all about the gates we had to cross in order to even make it into the city and about the buildings and thrones (which you had to push and be pushed in order to see) and courtyards in place. Once again there were a million people all around and I am not one for crowds so it got old to me pretty fast. I was done long before we actually made it out of the Forbidden City and started getting a headache too. I figured I would wait to take something until
after we ate lunch in case that helped me. When we left the Forbidden City we walked along part of the mote that surrounds the city to get to the car. On the way (and whenever you leave a sight or park) people were in our faces trying to sell us stuff or just asking for money. It
was amazing how they were all drawn to Peter and I because we were the only white people there. Not a single one offered to sell Linda anything but they come to us like moths drawn to a flame. There were also some very weird street acts trying to gain money from the people walking by. Mostly they would play an instrument or sing into a mic that projected very loudly through a speaker.
Eventually we chose to walk on the opposite side of some trees and closer to the mote where no one else was walking, this was much better. When we reached the corner of the mote we saw two couples having wedding pictures taken. They had beautiful long gowns but neither was white but rather one bright red and one bright blue. Very beautiful but I still prefer a spotless white wedding gown. We crossed a street and made the corner and made it to the car.
Mr. White took us to a restaurant a few miles away where we ordered Peking Duck (or Beijing Duck), noodles and beef, some really spicy mushroom dish which I couldn't eat because it was too hot, and spring rolls. The Peking Duck was very interesting. They
roast an entire duck, neck and all, and then cut off pieces of the skin that you are supposed to dip in a sauce or pure sugar and eat, they slice up the remaining meat and you use "pancakes" (nothing like real pancakes but more like really really thin and small quesadillas) to wrap some of the duck, carrots, cabbage, onions, cucumbers, and a sort of BBQ sauce with. It had a good flavor to it but after having the noodles and spring rolls I couldn't eat too many wraps.
We used only our chopsticks to eat though in the end I ended up just using my fingers for a couple things but it seemed appropriate. It was definitely way too much food for us and we tried to offer it to Linda but she ate and when we tried to give it to Mr. White we were told that he is a minority and is forbidden from eating certain things. The restaurant itself was very cool.
It was a "courtyard restaurant" and all the tables were either outside or in rooms with glass ceilings and sides with artificial trees and such to give you the feeling of being outside. We really enjoyed the atmosphere except that at any time there were at least two waiters standing beside your table waiting for you to need something and it was a
bit awkward having people watch you eat. After lunch my head wasn't feeling any better so I took just one ibuprofen (I am very anti-medicine). We were on our way to the Temple of Heaven which was about an hour drive and I really wasn't feeling very good. I ended up taking another ibuprofen but it didn't seem to be helping me. We arrived at the Temple of Heaven and fought more crowds of
people. The people in Beijing don't seem to be near as nice and polite as the people in Hong Kong. Nobody speaks English here and most of the people just stare at us where ever we go. We very rarely saw other "westerners" so I am sure the locals aren't use to seeing too many of us red bearded and blonde haired tourist. There were many great views of cool buildings here and also some of the rare opportunities to see some nature among the
overly populated city. I think we got a few cool shots. From here we drove just a few minutes to a Pearl Market which really was a store. We went inside and a lady asked me to fish out an oyster with a net. I chose the biggest one because I was told those were better and then the lady cracked it up open to reveal about 20-30 freshwater pearls inside. Pretty cool and different colors. The lady handed me one of the pearls because I was so helpful and then directed us to the store. Once again we got followed around by the sales lady (so annoying) and hadn't planned on buying anything. I don't really wear much jewelry except an occasional choker necklace. I have my rings and earrings but I never take them off or switch them
out. While we were wandering the store I thought of my mom and decided this would be a great gift to say thank you for taking care of our children for 2 weeks. I had previously asked my mom what I could get her but she said she didn't want anything but there was no way I couldn't bring her back something. I chose a pretty strand of purple pearls threaded with a couple silver chains that was very elegant and dainty. I know my mom has white pearls so I wanted to get her something different. I also picked her up a t-shirt at the Ladies Market but that's not really a "thank you for putting up with my 3 crazy children while I go away to play in China for 2 weeks" kind of gift. I was a bit stressed about what I would get her so I am happy to have that covered now. It was about 3 when we were all finished and with nothing left on our itinerary we headed to the airport about another hour away. We said good bye to Mr. White when he dropped us off and walked with Linda to get checked in. Check in this time was much
smoother and quicker than last time and we didn't need my debit card or any information from it (Peter had actually called the bank last night and spent about 20 minutes on the phone with them getting any and all information he thought may be helpful for our check in today, turns out we didn't need to do that but it's still better to be prepared). Linda walked us right up to the security gate where we said good bye. She had given me her email address earlier and wanted to make sure I sent her an email after we returned to the states. She told us that she was very touched with how Peter and I showed affection and obviously love and care for each other very much. This is something that we actually hear quite often and is always a compliment to us. We parted ways and proceeded through the airport past all points of security and immigration and customs. Another stamp added to our passports and then on to our gate. It was only about 4:30 and our flight wasn't set to board until 5:55 so we had a little bit of time to kill. I found some cute girl cut t-shirts clearly from Beijing so I bought them happily since I couldn't find anything in the city that wasn't the typical T-shirt cut that is very unflattering. Peter and i walked through a couple shops and touched this and that and then got a drink at Starbucks and sat and drank it while we talked about our children, looked at pictures of them on our phones and watched a video of us playing with them the day before we left. Shortly after we arrived at the airport I started feeling better and my headache went away completely. I wasn't feeling very sick after that and we wondered if it had to do with the air in the airport being much cleaner than the air outside. When it was about time we made our way to our gate and watched as our
plane came up to the terminal and unload the previous passengers. We lined up just before 6 but then heard the message that boarding would be delayed due to late arrival. We stayed in line and talked with a lady from Australia and had quite a nice conversation that made the time pass quickly until we boarded around 6:25. We sat at the gate for an hour waiting for clearance to taxi out until finally we started moving. We taxied to the runway where we sat for another hour and a half. We could see planes lines up next to us on either side all waiting for take off. I don't know what caused the first delay but we eventually heard that bad weather caused a further delay. Finally after over 2 hours of sitting and waiting on the plane we took off. Peter and I once again had our seats reassigned and some how had a seat in between us in the middle row of the plane (rather than the aisle and window seat I had originally chosen). When the person came to take the seat between us we just asked if it was alright if we switched one of our seats with him and that was no problem so at least that worked out. So, here I am on the plan typing the days events. Peter had bought me a wireless keyboard for my iPad for my birthday. I left the iPad in Hong Kong because I didn't want to carry it around the city with me so I am using my keyboard with my iPhone which looks rather silly, but hey, I've been getting weird stares all week so what's a couple more. When we land it should be after midnight so Peter and I will leave the airport on the train to Hong Kong and take a taxi back to the flat since the buses don't run this late. I am hoping to be able to call mom too since we weren't able to talk to her since before we left Hong Kong and then get into bed for a nice long sleep.
**By the way, all my photos have been photoshopped to clear out the haze. You can actually see the buildings and all the scenery in my photos a million times better than you could in person, even standing only a few feet away from things.**
