I have finally heard from Bryan again! The following is a post he sent me about their first day in China. Hope you enjoy! He also sent me some pictures. I will post those as I can this evening. Battling a headache, and having to share the computer with the girls.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well here we are, our first full day in the Peoples Republic of China, and the wonders of the country never seem to cease.
We’re staying at the Marriott Beijing West and absolutely love the room. The beds are either comfortable or we’ve been so tired that we haven’t really noticed and on entering the room there’s a hallway prior to the beds that can be closed off in case one of us wants to stay up on the computer. I’ll try to get some pictures of the room later so I can post them here. The breakfast here is fantastic, it’s buffet and includes eggs (scrambled and fried), bacon, sausage, breakfast fried rice, vegetables, cereal, fruit (and pineapple was on there but I didn’t eat too much this time), and waffles, etc. etc. Needless to say my dad and I have yet to go hungry in the morning. They also have a great black tea and a green tea that we get with breakfast where words cannot describe the wonderful flavor.
Our first trek outside of the hotel was a cab ride to Tiananmen Square which came off with no incidents and a fair price of 29 RMB. (that comes to about $4.50 for a distance of about 7 miles, not too bad) It’s really hard to describe Tiananmen Square, I’ve seen it in pictures and on the T.V., but you can’t quite grasp the size of it until you see it in person. We walk up and it is completely packed with people due to it being a Saturday so we didn’t get to see the whole expanse at once. There’s security you have to go through and get your bags scanned before you can enter. Then you walk out of the tent and among the throngs of people eating, walking, talking, and doing quite a number of different things all in this huge open area. I still didn’t appreciate the sheer size of the square until about half way across when I stopped and looked around. Once in the middle of Tiananmen Square, when you take that moment to stop and look around you can feel the importance of it to the country and its people as well as take in the grand scale while trying to look from one side to the other and end to end. It was quite simply amazing.
From there we crossed under the street and walked through Tiananmen Gate (you’ve probably seen the picture of Tiananmen Gate, it’s the one with the LARGE picture of Chairman Mao on it) on our way to the Forbidden City. Once through the gate we were asked by three or four complete strangers if we wanted them to be our guides and take us through the Forbidden City, of course we said no, we just wanted to walk in and take in all the sights cause we could read about the historical part of it. Well, it’s a good 100 to 200 yards from Tiananmen Gate to the actual entrance of the Forbidden City and it was almost elbow to elbow with people, all the combined body heat probably had raised the area by 10 degrees. We get to the other end, the actual entrance of the Forbidden City, and see the ticket line stretching completely through the serpentine gates and notice that the line is moving at a snail’s pace. Needless to say, that was as close as dad and I made to the Forbidden City, but what we did see was beautiful.
From there it was a quick 5 block walk due East to wangfujing to show dad where we stayed on our previous visits and take a look at the night market. (wanted to try a grasshopper or starfish) We walked through the Oriental Plaza mall in order to get some well deserved air conditioner and stopped off for a drink at the Dairy Queen. From there it was back up and another stop at an arts and crafts multilevel shopping center. We both found a lot of things we wanted but decided it best to wait and see if we can find the same item at the fantastic Pearl Market. Further North we next visited a children’s store where the best item I found was a couple of puzzles, one of Mickey and Minnie as Emperor and Empress in a temple with Chinese scrolls hanging around them and another of a Chinese lady. (again didn’t buy anything with a visit to the Pearl Market coming soon) We finally arrive at the Wangfujing Night Market but seeing how it’s only 1 p.m. there is nothing going on, hence the name “Night Market”. (well duh!)
Our next trip was back to the subway station with a little side trip to McDonalds, I know what you’re thinking “you can have McDonalds here”, which is true, but I can only get Pineapple pies at the McDonalds here. Taking a break dad and I both drink down a soda and chow on a delicious, hot, moist, pineapple pie. (yum yum yum)
Taking the subway in China is really no big deal, you just have to know where you’re going and what direction the train you’re getting on is going. With that done the station announcements are in Chinese and English, there’s a station indicator over the door, and a subway map on the back of your ticket. We decided to go see the Olympic grounds which took three transfers, five flights of stairs, fighting to get into and out of overcrowded cars, and a cost of 2 rmb. It was some of most fun yet.
We walked out of the subway station to and amazing courtyard made to resemble an ancient Chinese hutong, simply beautiful. Turning left from the station you look up and see the tower that the Olympic flame was on during the games and it is gigantic. From there it’s just a few stairs up and we got our first glimpse of the famous “birds nest”, and all I can say is that it is awe inspiring. We walked around the grounds taking various pictures of the Olympic flame tower, the birds nest, and all the little things around like the ground lights (which are shaped like the birds nest), and the keep off grass signs (which actually read “the grass is smiling at you please detour”. As we got closer to the birds nest the water cube slowly came into view along the right side so my attention quickly shifted over there due to the fact that Olympic history was made there by team USA. After many, many pictures we decided it was time to head back and call an end to our sightseeing excursion for the day, and since the closest subway station to our hotel is over half a mile down an eight lane road we got a cab and made it back to the front door in less than an hour.
Wrapping up the day included a trip to the Hard Rock Café, (not my choice, we went with some travel mates) and had a great time visiting with new friends while listening to the Hard Rock’s cover band do quite an amazing job on stage.
Good night from the P.R.C. and I will hopefully have more tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment