Beijing Day 3 Sept 3

So this morning I was planning to meet a friend at tiennamen Square but she had to cancel as her classes were changed at the last second and school does come first. So what to do? It turns out my roommate, a Japanese man who spoke as much English as I do Japanese had nothing else to do. So we rented bicycles and headed for the forbidden city. I will tell you any company is always better than no company. It didn’t matter that I almost never understood anything he said and any conversation took great lengths to convey simple ideas. Just being there with someone to say ‘ooooo’ made all the difference in the world.
The bicycle ride was nice. 20 yuan for the day and we had ourselves a bicycle with poor brakes, a little small, and locked. It was terribly great fun!! It was a little difficult at first, as in the handbasket I had placed my heavy camera bag. But by the time we entered the big streets I was doing alright.
Riding a bicycle in Beijing is quite an experience. There are large and ample bicycle lanes so that is not much of a problem. The problem arises from the busses, police and random people that park cars in the bicycle lanes forcing cyclers to venture out into the streets slightly to pass them.
The next danger comes from the buses that when pulling up the curb assume that you on a bicycle see them and can maneuver out of their way. Ive turned my head to see a bus a ft from my rear tire and pedaling like mad to outrun it. The scariest is when one bus is coming in and another going out and you inbetween.
There are more dangers of course. At street crossings a green does not mean go, it means this is your chance to cross with the least risk to your health. I say this because a red light does not mean stop, it is just a detterent and seems to be thought of as a suggestion more than a command. When crossing streets cars turning will honk as they force themselves through a crowd of pedestrians, and people start early finding themselves walking through traffic. There have been a few times when I thought yesterday I was going to end up in a bad situation.
I did not of course. Although I would have liked a helmet they are not available. Even in the bicycle shops I did not see helmets for sale. But my cowboy had never flew off. For safety we always followed the natives. We crossed when they crossed. We were always right next to them, if they would do it, so would i. after all, if they were crossing and had not been killed, they must know what they are doing right?
The ride to the forbidden city is a pleasant one. Pretty tree lined streets and glimpses of parks or a sparkling roof top. Once there finding a proper place to park the bicycles was a little difficult but it was quickly sorted out. The security was quick to say where not to park.
The forbidden city is so much fun to walk through. The place is enourmous. It just keeps going and going with giant gates, huge walls and courtyards. The rooms just go on and on and everything is just done to the extreme. I could only imagine what the place was like in a time without tourist and only residents and servants. The place really is a city inside itself. I thought the Vatican was large and intemedating I swear this place was fit for a god to live.
Took us an hour to walk strait through from one end to another. We were stopping to take photos and read the signs. Wandering the corridors and randomly walking into some rooms that were kept in the original state others that had been converted into museums that housed countless artifacts from pictures to teacups. The gardens were spectacular, and unbelievable. Rivers flowed through the middle of the palace and still there was more. Soon it became too much and we had to leave. It gets so overwhelming that you have to leave and come back otherwise it just all starts to blend together.
Hungry it was time for lunch. What else to eat but peking duck? A quick bicycle ride north and we found a restaurant with peking duck. It was no the one described in the book but peking duck is peking duck. This meal also was several courses. The first was a giant bowl of soup, enough to feed 5 people and it was given to the two of us. A giant bowl of soup and half a liter of beer and we were happy. Soon they brought out the duck and it was a duck. The whole duck. Cut into slices I had half and my Japanese friend had half. When I say half I mean half, all the way to the head. It took me a moment to realize it but I was looking at half the head of a duck. I assume this is so the brains and such could be eaten? The brains were ok, little too squishy for my taste but the rest of the duck was spectacular. Very crispy and strong on flavor. It was served with asian tortillas things, remnded me of a crepe. The meat was rolled and dipped into a sweet sauce. It was very very good.
However at the end of the meal my friend was somewhat upset. Afterall what good meal doesn’t have tea, non? Well here the tea cost a few yuan. He could not understand why that was. “In japan, tea free, no money, why money?” and he was right, in China you would think tea be free?
The day was not yet close to being done of course. Next was the Jidian Park north of the forbidden city, a temple built from the earth from the lakes, and from there we could see the entire city. An amazing view of the forbidden city and the lakes. The temple itself was small but the climb up was nice. It was a densely planted park from trees to bamboo. At the base we saw a group playing some bamboo instruments and singing for a crowd. I had no idea what or why but it was quite pleasant to watch them. Afterwards we started on the next leg of the journey.
We decided the next place to go was a park and temple complex to the south. So south we went. It took us through small alleyways and backstreets. I don’t have pictures but it really was something else to see. I love Beijing and the people, they are such an ‘outside’ people. Instead of being inside I see so many just sitting out playing cards or other games outside on the steps on stools. I see women sitting around talking and only entering their store when a customer walks in. The parks are no exception.
I did like how on the rules of the park listed in a giant sign at the entrance read, no peddling, no music, no dancing in the long corridor. Well in the long corridor there were people selling this and that, several groups playing sinstruments loudly to drown out the next music player 20 ft from him. Ladies dancing in the hallway that one would have to exit the hallway to pass. I don’t think rules were taken too seriously.
The park was beautiful. Wonderfully so. The park was nothing but fields of trees and lawns. It was just specatular. There was a temple of good harvest, another small temple complex with an echo wall, a circular wall enclosing the complex that supposedly echoed. I didn’t hear it but with dozens of people yelling at all points in the complex I couldn’t hear much of anything. By this point I was getting very tired.
All day on a bicycle or walking, with only one meal. I really do need to change that. I need to start buying some fruit or something for breakfast. Well back to the hostel were I just remember waking up the next morning