Forbidden Palace - or the Palace Museum

We spent one of our days in Beijing touring the Forbidden Palace or as it is officially named the Palace Museum. As everything else here, there is a lot of walking involved. And the weather was stifling and smothering. The air was visible.

A lot of large courtyards separated by gates. I thought the interesting parts were in the details. The difference set of lions at each gate, the roof details, the artifacts on display in the smaller buildings. There was also the juxtaposition of the parts that were restored, parts that looked original, and parts that just looked old.

We were still a little beat from the previous day at the Great Wall. We took a little seista in the middle of the day. One thing I didn't see coming was that everything is an enclosed courtyard meaning that the small breeze that was there was completely blocked out. But we managed to find a bench that was in an area where the breeze could move through. I took a picture though from our bench of the sun beating down on us.



The next picture is part of a funny story...well at least funny from where we were sitting. We came out the north end of the Palace and the park north looked good but we were just too tired to keep walking, let alone walk up the hill there. So we sat down in the ticket area and had a popsicle. While we were there the skies unleashed quite a torrent. From our vantage point we looked across the street to the Palace gate, people were huddled under the gate trying to stay dry in the rain the was coming sideways at times. During this there was a long line of taxis hanging out on the street. Eventually, there was a break in the rain (by which time the taxis had left). The front line of the huddled masses came running out and tried to get a taxi. After about five minutes the rain returned with a vengence and caught these people. It was a little mean, but I took pictures of some of the people trying to stay dry under ineffective umbrellas. These poor people were standing out in this rain for about 25 minutes before they managed to get moving.
















A look at the moat and an Arrow Tower.

The Golden River or Golden Water running through the palace.

A collection of lions in one of the side courtyards

The Great Wall - Mutianyu

The Chairman is quoted as saying to his people "If you have not been to the Great Wall, then you are not Chinese". And has been loosely transferred to "If you have not been to the Great Wall, then you have not been to China". Not wanting to take a chance, we did the Wall on our first day.

After being to a small section, I think there is some truth to these statements. The Great Wall is a tangible piece of many truly Chinese elements. It is huge. It was built almost by sheer will. There is tremendous history in it. It is an engineering marvel in some places and yet was built by very simple brute force in places. There are a lot of people there. For something that "everyone" does it can be quite difficult to see the real thing. Oh, and our first experience with Chinese bartering and all that entails - nothing in this country is sold at list price.

There are only a few options when it comes to seeing the wall - Jump on the big tour bus leaving from you hotel - Get a taxi for the day - Find someone that knows someone that knows how to get to a non-tourist or non-restored portion of the Wall.
Seeing as we don't really like tour buses and we didn't really have the time or desire to try finding someone that would take us to the Wall without taking us for a ride, we got a taxi for the day. Though when they say day they really mean an hour or so. It was surprisingly hard to convince the hotel and the driver that we actually wanted to spend some time there and do some actual hiking.

For 550RMB we got a driver to take us to the Mutianyu section of the wall. This section is touristy, but the main tour buses don't go here. It is a couple hours in the car, about half through semi-windy backroads. Once in the parking lot and through the flea market you can either take the cable car, ski lift, or your legs up to the Wall itself.

The walk took us about 40 minutes. Pretty much straight up. This section of the wall is in a steep area. Once on the Wall you can go right or left. The left having more length and going to the highest point of this section, we went left.


I really liked hiking the Wall. I have heard of people trying to make a continous through hike of the Wall, which I think would be an amazing project. The Wall goes through some tremendous peaks and ridges, and would be a little detective story crossed with navigational challenge. I can put that on the "Win the lottery" project list.

We did not have the best weather for hiking the Wall. The temperature was high, the humidity couldn't be any higher without rain, and the sun was out in full effect. So the sun would beat on us from above and whatever we didn't catch would heat the dark stone and then blast us from below. And with the humidity no sweat could evaporate. Plus the humidy made for hazy views, which while still impressive don't make for the best pictures.
Two of the first things that really hit me while walking the Wall. Wow, imagine the time, resources, and skill it took to build this immense structure in this remote and challenging terrain. Then I would look over on the other side to the heaveliy wooden near sheer cliff. Wow, they actually needed to build a wall through here so that people would not attack through this area? I would think this would be something like Rome building a wall through the Alps because they thought Hannibal was going to take a troop of elephants through them. Yeah maybe it happened, but how many times? And you build a gigantic wall for that one time?

But it was a great hike (even if made more challenging than it really was because of the heat). Beautiful mountains. More friendly people. More people that wanted to take a picture with us. Our first introduction to actual high Chinese prices. These are the tourist prices that we are used to, 2-5 times what you would pay elsewhere. Even our driver told us not to buy anything.


We made it to the end of the restored section (left picture) after the steep climb (previous picture).

Another fun thing here was there is a slide that goes back down to the parking lot. Once you get it going it is really a great ride. We had more time than energy when we got back to the hotel so we mostly stayed in. Got a nice bowl of noodles for dinner and prepared for the next day.

Are people waking up?

I found this little article on bottled water interesting - here.

Are people being moved by their pocket or their conscious? Will bottled water slow just because bottled beverages in general are falling out of favor? Is the consumer culture really changing?

Sad notes include bottled water has 100x the footprint as tap and the amount of plastic debris that washes up onto distant shores. Interesting notes, Chicago (along with San Fran and Seattle) gets a shout out for using political muscle for a good thing along with Wal-mart getting a nod for some innovative packaging.

If the likes of Wal-mart starting acting in a responsible manner (as an organization, not in a few showcase marketing attempts) then resource conservation can really get some traction. And if they find a way to deliver it at a lower price it will really take off.

Something else I just found. Reuters is reporting a Mastercard report that gasoline demand is down in the US - 5% last week compared to the same week last year. This is a trend, not a weekly blip. The summer increase has not materialized. Furthermore they are estimating that the change in is workday habits, in conjuction with off-work habits that began slowly changing months ago. Looks like we have found the point, or at least close to the point, that energy prices start effecting our collective thinking.

Beijing - the nice days

Our last couple of days in Beijing had some of the best weather I have seen my month in China. There was blue sky, the humidity was a little below the point of body melting, and on the last day the air was clear. So clear that I took a ton of pictures just because and revisited some places that we had already gone.



We tried to visit the Olympic venues - and interesting trip because we also used a bus to get there since the rail line to serve the venues was not open yet. Should be in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, we couldn't get anywhere near them as everything was fenced and guarded. I was surprised at the number of Chinese people out for the day walking around the fences, even driving along the streets, stopping, and taking pictures.
We also visited the Temple of Heaven Park centered around the Qinian Dian. This is a huge park area, people pull out instruments, sing, dance, and have a general great time.


We checked out the main buildings, many of which have been beautifully maintained and restored. You can't really go into any of them but the doors are open to look in and more of the rooms are not that big. The hardest part is dealing with the billion Chinese tourists that have to have their picture taken in their spot regardless of who has to wait. The main temple is cool and there are some great open spaces. If I were to pick one place of what we saw in Beijing to hang out for a day this would be it. Nice community park.

We also took in the famous local dish of Peking (or Beijing or Quanlude Roast) Duck. Duck is such a beautiful bird, and this is one of the best ways to enjoy it. Roasted, crispy skin. Tasty meat, simple presentation. Just the essentials. But it felt like we were have a pizza at Gino's East or Uno's downtown. Good, but for the out-of-towners.

The last day we only had a little time and nothing left on our list of 'must-see'. But the weather was too good to waste. So we headed to the Silk Market to get the China shopping experience after hearing so much about it sharing a shuttle into the city each morning with United flight crews. The Silk Market is now 7 floors crammed with vendors selling everything from high tech gadgets to silk to underwear and socks. They all know you or remember you from your last trip. They are all your friend and want to give you a good deal. Everything is negotiable. I thought we did ok talking them down to less than 50% starting price, but people talk about getting 1/8 of starting price. I think the only way to really be sure that you are getting a good deal is tell them you don't want them to lose money on the deal and walk away. If they come to you with a price it is likely the best one available. That got old fast, and we didn't want to waste the weather so we headed back to the Square to retake some pictures.


I took about 70 pictures just because I hadn't seen a sky this blue in over a month. The square was a lot more full with tourists since it was the weekend. And as required all the women had their sun umbrellas out. It is a good thing that the popsicles are so good and cheap here, it helps a little.

I have finally gotten all my photos up. If you have some time to kill you can see them in my google gallery.

Beijing Public Transit

We took the advice of the guidebook and didn't try to walk the city. The cabs here are pretty inexpensive but the public transit is practically free. And fast. The biggest problem is that even though it is a very comprehensive system Beijing is still a large city and there is still a good amount of walking to be done.



The train is very easy to use, with touch screens of the system map in English. Just touch the station you want to get off and the number of tickets - out comes a price (usually 2RMB per ride). Put in the money and out comes a card. Wave the card at the entrance booth, hold on to the card because you put it into the booth when you exit. No mess. And there are attendants there to help...sort of language still is an issue. Trains come every couple of minutes, and during rush hour there are friendly people there to pack people in.
Cars are usually well signed in Chinese and English. I wish the train at home was this cheap and easy.


Beijing metro is an interesting thing, because not all the Olympic lines are open yet - a large number of stations will be opening in the next month, though some of the maps show them open already. And in the next few years there is going to be a tremendous amount of construction going on with the total system projected to be the world's largest.



Train transfers are easy, though sometime a long walk. The bus system is another story. There are many buses, they come often and they go everywhere. Most are labeled by route end points. But many are similiar and finding them on most maps is pretty much impossible. I don't even know if a bus route map exists. Trying to transfer from bus to train was difficult when we tried it, the bus let off and the map said the train entrance should be nearby. We even found a street sign for the train entrance. But it was about a 10-15 minute walk. We probably missed a closer entrance but it isn't like you can ask anyone for directions.


The buses are nice if you can figure out that one is going where you want to go. Rides are usually 1RMB. Opposite to every other bus system I have ridden on - you get on in the rear where there is a person to take your fare and give you a ticket. They move remarkably well in traffic and don't bunch. This is extra impressive just give how general traffic flows here.

Wan Fung Jing Night Market - Beijing

I am probably going to be posting about the last week in reverse. Since there was a question about strange things that I have tried in China, I will start with these photos. In Beijing there is a night market that sells specifically street food and exotic snacks. It is known as the Wan Fung Jing market also, though it is not actually on Wan Fung Jing but a little west of this north-south street in the area of the Forbidden Palace. This is the most expensive street food in China (or at least Beijing), it is priced like fair food in Chicago.

The barkers are quite loud and talk a lot. Walking down the line is like walking past the motion detecting Halloween decoration aisle in the store, there is just an eruption of voices that follows down the line.

The 'normal' food was ok, much better on other streets. As for the weird stuff, I started with the dog patty and scorpions. Everything was deep fried and came slathered in hoisin sauce and sprinkled with seasonings. The dog didn't taste like much other than fried, not even sure there was any meat in there. The scorpions (at least that is what the vendor called it) were weird, they had big with meaty tails. Like a lobster tail. The meat in the tail had a strange taste, kind of fishy kind of metallic. The legs were better, no taste but they were crunchy and salty. Next I moved on to the seahorses and larvae. The seahorse was crispy and hollow (the starfish I saw someone eating looked like it had something inside) like a pork rind or chip. Not bad. The larvae was the best one, a little crunchy and tender. Not to strong of a flavor.

Now the kicker is that something in this mix (or anything along the way) did not react well. I had a little tightness in the throat, my sinuses filled, and there was a little nausea. It passed in a couple of hours. So maybe it was something I ate or something on whatever I ate, or drank. Whatever, I'll try different stuff next time.

Kitchen Confidential

A lot of the time that I spent reading this book I felt like I was reading The Jungle for 21st century. Upton Sinclair was trying to write about the working man and his plight. Promote the cause of Socialism. But people picked up his writings and only really read the 10 pages about the stockyards and where their meat came from.

Now obviously the food industry today does not have problems of that magnitude. Bourdain tries to tell us many times in this book, he is not writing about food handling practices, he is writing about the life, times, and inner self of people working in professional kitchens. But it seems that what most people get out of this book has been - don't eat fish on Monday and steer clear of Sunday brunches.

And of course I am reading this book as I am about to embark on a lifestyle that will leave me at the mercy of a professional kitchen more often than not. This read has actually encouraged me to eat at the smaller, more hole in the wall places and street vendors because, they will not be that much more dangerous than the Hard Rock and the chance of getting a really great meal is much higher. But then I was probably going to take that route anyways.

I don't know if it is because this book is old and the information has become more common knowledge, but I feel that a lot of what he talks about I have picked up just from going to restaurants and paying attention to the people and asking questions. This was still a useful read and very entertaining if you like his style (meaning are not Emiril or Racheal Ray fans). I happen to agree with a lot of his life philosophy, he just turns a much better phrase, paints a more detailed picture with his words, and of course has spent a life time in the pursuit of a good meal. (Interestingly in the time since this book he has made a little peace with the likes of Rachael and Emeril. With his following books and TV show he admits that has sold out, and that it happens in stages - once you start it is a slippery slope.)

One surprising thing about this book was that after reading it I no longer think I could make it in a professional kitchen. There are some things that I would be good at, but there are definitely some points that would get me booted. Like my inability to follow a recipe and make the same dish twice for a couple.

Still here...

I am still here, but a combination of lousy connections and Beth visiting have prevented me from posting. But the good news is that I have a lot of material to post now. I will try to include as many photos as possible, but depends on connection quality.

The sad news is that Beth has returned home. And that if the current schedule sticks I am scheduled to work 35 straight days after my 7 off. I am pretty sure that it will change but we'll see. Oh and the hot, steamy rainy season is nearing it's peak. The contractor doesn't like to provide proper ventilation in the vessels or cooling elements that other places provide, but they do hand out ice cream bars twice a shift. Take what we can get right? They seem to have 2 flavors - green pea (surprisingly good) and orange-mango.

Crazy tall white dude in China...with pants?

I caught a National Geographic show on mummies found in the Tarim Basin in China north of Beijing. It was pretty interesting, these mummies were from around 2000-3000BC and were probably the most cosmopolitan people in the world. They were found with technologies and artifacts from across Europe, Mesopetamia, and other far away places. They had bronze (not in China yet), intricate weaving (including plaid), horses (domesticated in the upper steppes very close to this time period), artifacts from the Indian Ocean. DNA analysis shows markers from all over the world, meaning that they were a nomadic people that had traveled the world to get there interacting with peoples along the way. For some more in depth info check it here and here.

Of course the thing that really got my attention was that the big mummy - the Cherchen Man - was about 6'6" and was buried in what the show billed as one of the worlds oldest pair of pants. See it is possible to do it. Yeah they were custom made - but they have been making pants long enough since the begining of time. And just that people have been traveling the world looking for better opportunities as long as they could walk.

China Transportation

As everyone knows, China has a lot of bikes. But I have been interested in finding out about their relationship to their bikes. Like in the States some people have a utilitarian relationship, some have a speed/sport relationship, some fitness, some just want to have something shiny to show off. Italy seemed to have a great speed/sport relationship going.

Where I am now it is universally utilitarian. Almost every regular person here rides a bike. They are almost all single speeds with fenders, chain guards, baskets, kickstands, and racks (often used to carry a seated passenger). There are also a lot of pick-up bikes - 3-wheeled bikes with flat bed trailers for cargo. There are also plenty of bike repair stands, like in the photo. Just a guy, a bench on a corner, and a bucket of tools. No one has a bike with any color or flash, just all utiliy cruisers in grey, brown, or the occasional blue. Anyone licky enough to have a new bike keeps most of the plastic wrap on as long as possible.

Most of this is driven by the money. We have gotten to know a couple of the operators and one of them helped a guy on the crew buy a bike for his stay here. Also found out that the operator has been able to ride his bike for 2 years because he can't afford to get it fixed. So our guy said he can have his bike when he leaves. He bought what is a pretty nice bike here brand new with 2 locks for about $40.

Cars here are also crazy expensive. The government taxes them to keep ownership down - a Camry here would run you over $40,000. So most people with cars are rich or have jobs that supply a company car. Normal cars become flashy, flashy cars become ridiculous.

Driving here is a whole other issue. Go look at a pictures of US cities from the 20s or 30s with the traffic all a mix of pedestrians, horses, cars, and cargo - well that is what it is like now in China. There aren't any fixed rules. No defensive driving, only offensive. They simply go where they want to go and honk their horn to warn you that they are coming. Side of the road, number of lanes are irrelevant. Wild West driving. My theory is that it is related to how long cars have been popular here and the number of cars - bikes still vastly outnumber cars. People are accustomed to moving by foot or bike. Throw cars in there and something needs to change. Keeping the bicycles out of traffic on the 4-lane highways might be a good place to start. Though there is a bike lane on one of the roads that is a popular shortcut for taxis that don't want to wait for a red light.