The next morning (Monday the 31st) we met our tour group in the lobby at 9 am. To be frank – which is a favorite expression of our national Tour Guide whose name is Ming (she’s fab, but more on her later) – we are not the typical demographic of people who go on the China Spree tours… we are 30 years younger than everyone else in our tour group. Literally. There are 8 people in our group from Florida. They have all been friends for 20 years and have traveled together many times before. They also all go camping in Florida together about once a month. The sum it up, we think they all voted for GW. (One of the guys tried to tell us that Al Gore was only interested in Global Warming because of all the money he was making by promoting his film… RIIIIIGGGHHHTTTT. Josh had to bite his tongue in order to avoid getting into a heated argument about that one. Another one of them, who in all fairness had a son who served in Iraq, which is obviously extremely Nobel and admirable, tried to Josh that there were many good reasons for the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy… Yeah. But, as long as we don’t talk politics or religion, they are very nice folks.) There are two other couples on the trip, both from California. Twila and Clayton are Josh’s favorites. They are an older couple from Palo Alto, and he went to Stanford, and she is on the board of Meals on Wheels (yeah Mom/Shana). But they are very fun and enjoy their bottle of wine at dinner every night. (We even found out that they have gone on the “Sideways” wine tour near Santa Barbara. In other words, they went to all the restaurants and wineries and hotels that were used in the movie… haha. The last couple is Marc and Cathy. They are from Augora Hills and the only other members of the tribe. We also share a love for the Dodgers and Lakers and have been updating each other on the sports scores. They are a lot of fun and at times have joined us in laughing at the other members of the group… sometimes you just have to laugh, right?
Overall… we’ve definitely been laughing our way through this country… the Chinese people have weird habits and do ridiculous things and there has been a lot of laughter, which is definitely the way to go. Even though it’s a little funny to be so much younger than the rest of our group, we feel really fortunate to be taking this trip at this time in our life. China’s influence on the world is increasing rapidly and it’s really eye opening to see what’s going on here first hand – both currently in the ever developing modern sections of China and also the inspiring show of history in this country. Also, when all the members of our tour were our age, no one was even being allowed to enter the country… not that anyone wanted to at the time…
As we mentioned before, Ming is our national tour guide – this means that she is our leader for the entire trip, traveling with us wherever we go. But, unlike our tour in Thailand where we had one guide the whole time, YAY SU, ChinaSpree always has a national guide, a local guide, a bus driver and many times a specific activity guide to lead us along. Shirley, our local tour guide in Beijing, was Lindsey’s age (they were both born in 1985, the year of the Ox, haha). FYI, Yosh was born in the year of the Dog. Go Roosters… (long story). Shirley was awesome and really informative… the first thing we did in Beijing with our group was go to Hutong – a Hutong is the Chinese name for the old fashioned Chinese neighborhood that sort of look like tenements… the Hutong we went to is still being lived in – as we mentioned before, many of them are being bulldozed – however it was rather touristy and set up for large groups to come visit. We were each given our own Rickshaw driver to take us around. The rickshaw is basically a tuk tuk without a motor… a poor guy on a bike has to ride with us sitting in a seat behind him… Like central park, but without the horse. We even had a blanket to put over our knees… it’s chilly in Beijing this time of year… In the Hutong we visited a Kindergarten and a Drum Tower with a panoramic view of the city. Then we had lunch at a local family’s home… this meant we ate around a little table in a bedroom. Even though a local woman was really cooking us all the food in her tiny kitchen, they were shuttling people in and out of there like nobody’s business… we’re realizing more and more how lucky we are to only have 14 people in our group… some tour groups have 40 or 50.. craziness. Also, Lindsey joined some elderly women in doing a little Hutong Dance and Josh was mesmerized by some of the retirees who were fiercely betting on their Mah Jong games… we still need to learn how to play.
After the Hutong, we went to Tiananmen Square where a ceremony for the Olympic torch had just been held, so we couldn’t actually walk on the square, but we walked around it… As many of you know, the square has a rather marred history because of the student uprisings that took place there… it’s the largest public square in the world and can hold 1 million people. (A small fraction of Beijing’s city population.) Everything in China seems to be the biggest, the longest or the largest… Then we entered the Forbidden City, walking through a gate with a huge picture of Chairman Mao hanging over us.
When we told Grandma Helen that we would be going to the Forbidden City (she was there with Grandpa Sidney in 1988) her response was that it was “very big”. After being there, we agree… “very big” is the best way to describe it. (“Repetitive” and “excessive” are also a close second and third.) It’s something like 110 acres and had over 8000 rooms. For many hundreds of years the only people that could go inside of it were the Emperor, the Empress, the concubines and their 30,000 servants. WTF. Honestly, it was cool, but some of the other attractions have been far more impressive. The coolest part of the Forbidden City was the garden, which was gorgeous. There was even a man made mountain that was made with gigantic rocks from the bottom of a lake. WHY? WHY? Regardless, if you’re ever in Beijing, the Forbidden City is a must…
Also, at the Forbidden City Lindsey found a Four Star public bathroom. Yes, sometimes they rate bathrooms here the same way we usually rate hotels. But since it’s unclear who actually assigns these stars it’s hard to really judge what they mean. The four star bathroom wasn’t much better quality than most of the other public ones… which is piss poor. Literally. Lindsey has decided that even though it’s undeniable that China’s stake is rising in the world, especially in terms of the economy, this country will never really be able to claim superiority over anyone until they get rid of all their fucking squat toilets. It’s one thing to have to squat while going to the bathroom in the woods on a camping trip of something, but there is no reason that nice hotels and restaurants should make you go squat in a bathroom. And we understand after being in Thailand that some developing countries just don’t have the means to put in western bathrooms everywhere… but Lindsey was actually in a bathroom that had an AUTOMATIC FLUSH SQUAT TOILET. What? WHAT? If they can take the time and energy to put in a sophisticated flushing system, we find it hard to believe they couldn’t’ve just upped the ante and got a western toilet. Apparently, Chinese people seem to think that squat toilets are a good thing… something about having your knees above your waist while you’re peeing is better for your circulation or that the squatting movement strengthens your back… honestly we have no clue what the benefits are except that it makes you want to get in and out of the bathroom as quickly as possible. Overall, the toilets are nasty and for better or worse Lindsey has gotten really good at never having to pee.
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