Travel Notes

Bathrooms

Bathrooms in Beijing were infamous for their lack of cleanliness.  The government must have done something to improve them because they have rating systems now.  The bathroom in the Forbidden City were rated 4 stars by the authorities and they were ok.  You have to bring your own toilet paper and it was useable.  I looked for 5 star toilets while visiting but didn’t find any.

When I used the restroom at the base of the Great Wall, an American girl came in and shouted to her friend or translator, “what a nice surprise, they have toilet seats!”  A lot of the Asian bathrooms have squatting toilets only and this girl was overjoyed to find a toilet that have seats at the base of the Great Wall.  The conversation went on about how great it is to have seat, how surprising it is to find the option…  I found it so interesting because I never thought toilet cleanliness and options can spark long conversations or a blog post…

Food

(Pee meet ball - didn't try them for good reasons)

Ok, maybe writing about food right after toilet options is not sanitary or appetizing but I have to say that food on this trip has been delicious, amazing, and thought provoking!  In Beijing, we had cheap, quality, and very tasty Chinese cuisines.  Sichuan fusion style food from “ Chao Jiang-Nan” (on the stock exchange), the famous Peking duck from “Chuan Ju De” (government owned on the stock exchange), cuisines from hu-tongs (small streets) were all well cooked and reasonably priced.  Singapore’s black pepper crab from the famous Long Beach and Jumbo restaurants were both finger-licking good.  Not to mention the variety of food that is accessible everywhere you go in Singapore… Japanese noodle shop, Chinese bao (bun) specialties, and Indian street food… And then, there’s Thailand – the spices and herbs that are infused in every dish that we ordered.  On the beach of Thailand, we got to enjoy every bite of food with the smell of the ocean and sound of the sea…  I am just saying, all this weight gain is the fault of this amazing culinary experience, not my doing…

Books

I enjoy reading books when I am on vacation.  The books that are usually too serious to pick-up during hectic work weeks are very enjoyable on a vacation…  I must have packed about 10-15 books for this trip knowing that I will have plenty of time to relax and just read.  Afternoons with nothing to do, nowhere to get to, no schedule to follow are the best ones to enjoy reading… I will have a lot of those days still ahead of me…  Three books read and some ten more to go maybe?  Just finished my first coconut of the day and I am ready to start another book… 

Great Wall

It took about an hour and half, maybe longer, to get to Mutianyu from our hotel in Beijing. Mutianyu is part of the Great Wall of China that is within driving distance from Beijing that has the least number of tourists.

The gondola in front of ours sped up and dipped to hold on to the tracks above – it was a little intimidating but we hopped on our cart. I waited for the increase in speed and the dip and when it happened, it was relief. The gondola went straight up the mountainside with decisive speed, our guide tried to take our picture but I was afraid shifting the weight in the middle of this climb would cause a disaster. We did it anyway…

The top of the mountain was an amazing site. The mountains were steep, the terrain was rough, the wind was crisp, the sky was blue, the clouds were puffy, and the Great Wall seemed endless… You can’t help but be awed, intimidated, and overwhelmed by the sight of the Great Wall sitting on top of the steep mountains and rough terrain. As you stand on the guard tower of the Wall, you can see so far away that no enemy will ever be able to sneak up on you or attack you in stealth. As you walked along the Wall, the loneliness of the soldiers is almost palatable. And as you looked at the engineering details of the Wall, you can’t help but be proud and sad of being part of the human race that possess so much ingenuity and at the same time so much insecurity…

Ironically, the Manchus were let in by one of the generals patrolling the border because he was not happy with the government under which he served… After general Wu opened the gate to the Manchus, the Qing Dynasty was established after the Manchus seized Beijing. Was the construction of the Wall worth it for those from the Ming Dynasty? Maybe, maybe not. However, without the construction and preservation of those before us, we’ll surely not have such amazing architecture to marvel or to admire.

Summer Palace

The second day in Beijing, we visited Gong Wang Fu and the Summer Palace.

Gong Wang Fu was built in the Qing Dynasty by He-Shen, the most corrupt official in Chinese history.  The Mansion was later confiscated by Jiaqing Emperor, the successor of Qianlong Emperor under who He-Shen had served.  The Mansion is famous for its beautiful gardens, lavish decor, and usage of materials that rivaled that of the Forbidden City.  And of course, this was a punishable offense back in that time. He-Shen with his other crimes, was put to death by the Jiaqing Emperor.  It was said that He-Shen’s fortune at the time of his death totaled 15 times that of the Qing Dynasty annual budget.  The current City of Bell scandal – it is not even close…  Unfortunately, Gong Wang Fu does not have the English instructions like the Forbidden City or the Summer Palace but this is definitely a well-preserved Chinese style mansion that is worth the visit.
And then there’s the Summer Palace…  I didn’t get the chance to visit the Summer Palace when I was last in Beijing 20 years ago.  The Summer Palace was also commissioned in the Qing Dynasty and the two square kilometer Kunming Lake was entirely man made.  The dirt that came out of the “lake” was then piled together to make the Longevity Mountain, which stands about 60 meters high…  The Palace landscape, architecture, paintings of the hallways and stairs, and the amazing view from top of the Longevity Mountain… it must be nice to be the Emperor.

As we continued our walk through the Summer Palace in our winter jackets, I imaged being the Empress strolling through the gardens that are covered with yellow autumn leaves.  The marble boat parked by the bank of the lake, the red colored boat docks, the arched marble stone bridges all for my personal enjoyment...  And the crowd, they might as well be my entourage…  As the sun starts to set, the air gradually turned sharper, the crowd thinned.  If I was the Empress, this will not just be my Summer Palace, I will come here to enjoy the crisp air and the solitude of the Palace in the fall… 

When you are ready to be an Emperor or Empress for a day, visit the Summer Palace…

Forbidden City

The flight to Beijing from Bangkok was unbearable according to mom and Jim.  I was too busy chatting up the Thais sitting next to me to notice the smoke that lingered in the seat covers, the tight seating arrangements, or the poor food and in-flight service on our flight.  We arrived Beijing at 1 or 2 in the morning and didn’t get to bed until almost 3 am…

That same morning, I woke up to the Beijing City view.  Beijing from the 41^st floor of our hotel was vast, developed, spread-out, metropolitan, and beautiful.  The blue sky, white clouds, and clear and almost breathable City air was a stark contrast from what I had been hearing…  I admired Beijing just from taking in the City view from our room.

The Forbidden City or the Palace Museum was our first stop after our long trip.  Our not-so-good 200RMB English tour guide that we hired right outside of the Palace (approximately $30) walked us through with some brief description of the one third of the Palace that’s open to public.  The Forbidden City was built in the 1400s by the Ming Dynasty, which was followed by numerous rebuilds after multiple fires and the Cultural Revolution.  The Palace is approximately 730,000 square meters with 9,000 plus living quarters which housed the Emperor, Empress, Concubines, Eunuchs, Maid-of-honors (concubine-to-be) and service staff.  The guide told us that if a baby was born and was allowed to change one living quarter a day, by the time the baby completes sleeping in all the rooms in the Forbidden City, the baby will be almost a grown 27-year old adult.  People that came into the Forbidden City to serve the Emperor were not allowed to leave the City without permission.  As a matter of fact, most of them ended up dying in the Forbidden City without ever stepping foot outside of the Palace once they had entered.

The walk from the North of the Palace to the South with frequent stops and wandering into various exhibits took us about four hours.  The rich history, imperial architecture, strictly-followed rites and ceremonies, countless number of symbols and customs, and the ‘recently’ excavated treasuries were impossible to take-in with one walking tour…

The Forbidden City is enormous, mysterious, and intriguing not just because of the physical buildings and treasures that are presented in the center of Beijing City, but its history during the rule of each of the Emperors under their rein.  What prompted the worship and the ruling of one man that comes with such a lavish and exaggerated lifestyle and power?  Was it better to live outside with the City with the savages of real life or was it more comfortable living within the confines of the Forbidden City with a possible luxurious life for generations?  I wondered while walking under the yellow golden roofs while snapping pictures…  Why? How? When? Who? And what happened?  I wish I knew more about Chinese history…

We were herded out, in large numbers, at the South end of the Palace by the security police.  On the South entrance of the Palace hangs a large Mao picture with two Chinese sentences to the sides “Long live the People’s Republic of China” and “Long Live the Great Unity of the World's Citizens”.  The twelve-lane Chang-an Avenue (not counting the bike lane on each side) that divided the Tiananmen and Tiananmen Square was already filled with traffic…  It took another 30 minutes walk for us to hail a willing cab to take us back to our hotel.   Despite the noise of the horn, the sea of people and cars, and the occasional cussing of the taxi driver, the grand and peaceful Forbidden City sits unfazed in the center of the modern and buzzing Beijing.