You won't believe it, I know, but the bloody smog cleared up. It's unbelievable. There were a whole pile of buildings across the road I'd never seen before, and the sun was actually still there. Crazy. I got a newspaper at breakfast that said on one page that tennis star Novak Djokivic was a whiny baby for wanting an oxygen tank while playing at the China Open because the Beijing air was fine, and on another page that the US embassy in Beijing had rated the air quality for the last couple of days as "Hazardous". That's the sixth level on a scale of six, that they helpfully coloured with a painful looking purple on this website (and in case you're too lazy to click the link, here's the quote "Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.") To prove it, I've developed a cold, with particular emphasis on runny nose and stinging eyes. :P
Today was the last day in Raffles, :(, so after breakfast we bade Abdul farewell and checked out
. To make the most of the sun, we went to Jingshan park and climbed one of only two hills in the city (both man made) to get a stunning view of the Forbidden City. It seemed like every other tourist in the place had the same idea, but when you consider how bad the crowds were during Golden Week, it was very calm and relaxed. There's a sort of temple at the top of the hill too, and I say "sort of" because I'm not sure if it's holy, as such, or just put up there because it looks nice. They ask you not to take photos inside, which is fine - it's not a big space, and I don't think it's tremendously respectful to have tourists hanging around inside any kind of religious establishment trying to get their artsy shot, particularly those obnoxious DSLR tourists. However, once I was back outside, I zoomed my camera in to get a photo of the Buddha statue and the flowers and fruits, and some guy started covering my camera with his hand. GET OFF, DUDE. Did you ever see the crowds wandering around churches in Italy, whether there's a mass on or not, flashing their cameras all over the place? It's just a photo. You can already find the pictures on the internet, so somebody already did it! There are plenty available of Yonghegong, which is far more religiously significant. Perhaps it's just him being Chinese, but it's irritating.
Once we were down the hill, we crossed the road to Beihai Park, which contains more templey things and the famous White Dagoba/Pagoda (it's hard to know whether one or other is a mistranslation or not)
. We walked through a sort of hutong, selling all sorts of awful lime green tracksuit pants and thin, shiny suit jackets that people were actually purchasing. :P A little taste, please, ladies. While the young generation of Chinese are generally very stylish and well-dressed (the girls, anyway!), the middle aged and older ones have ZERO taste whatsoever. I know the Cultural Revolution wasn't exactly a fashion parade, but you'd think once you got out the other side of it you'd invest in some nice material and some well-fitted garments... One well-dressed crowd we met was the bunch of kids (I say kids, but they were about my age) at the base of the Dagoba. The minute I was up the steps they were all over wanting pictures with me, individually and in groups. I've kept up my plan of making them take photos with my camera too, so I just handed it over and they kept swapping it to the next guy as they took their turn posing with me. Daddy's far more entertained by this than I am, but they don't ask him as much, so he just jumped in himself
. I think it's more a politeness thing - it's probably much easier to ask someone your own age.
There was still no way into the Dagoba, or no mention of what it might contain - if anything - so we carried on down the hill, through the temples, and headed for Dongsi Daijie, which is red on my map, which means shopping. :D Daddy really wanted to rent a bicycle so he could say he'd cycled a bike in Beijing, but while the hostels are great for that sort of thing, the Raffles crowd don't go in for it so much. SOOOO, on the way to Dongsi Daijie, I stopped a guy in a hutong and asked him in sign language if Daddy could cycle his bike. I don't know if he understood me, but he needed a smoke, so he gave us the bike and off Daddy went down the hutong. All the other people sitting around were highly amused. For a minute, I wasn't sure if he was going to come back at all, he was having so much fun, but he did and they all waved us off down the road again.
There wasn't anything for us on Dongsi, but there were plenty of wedding shops, although I'm not sure if they were photography studios, dress rentals or clothes shops. It's hard to tell. Weddings here are all about the photos (and the amount of costume changes you can fit into the photos), so I don't think the brides actually own many of the dresses they wear. :S We made it to a subway station on Line 4, which is new since I was here last, and got off at Oriental Plaza on Wangfujing to have some KFC
. I ordered a "mini burger" which turned out to be a chicken and vegetable burger. Or something. :P We went to Dairy Queen after that (mmmm, Oreo Blizzard) and made friends with a red head from Tennessee who had the BEST. ACCENT. EVER. He was visiting with his Chinese girlfriend, but he seemed a little bemused by the whole place. Once the brain-freeze was gone, we headed to Silk Street Market (yes, again) the for a foot massage, because, hello! - Nine. Hour. Flight. How is it that these pedicure places in Asia are always full of men who swear they've never tried this before and they just had a day off and the wife is always getting these and might as well kill some time - the fellow doth protest too much, methinks. It's pleasant, dude. Just enjoy it. :D
Just after 5pm, we headed back to the hotel, and went to the Outback Steakhouse again. I was still full of vegetable/chicken burger, so I only had chips and few free refills of Fanta, while watching the world go by on Wangfujing (it's a crazy, crazy world)
. It eventually got to the stage where I was happier to be killing time at the airport than in the city, because -though it was still quite early - it was too late to do anything interesting. We ordered a taxi, made friends with the Scots that had been behind us in the Steakhouse the last day (they were waiting for a taxi to the train to Suzhou), and left Raffles. :( It's funny how you forget the crowds, the spitting, the pollution, the smell and the hassle at the moment you're leaving. I nearly missed the city.
At the airport now, and just after watching our plane pull in. It's come from Nagoya, but nobody is getting off. There are a few Irish boarding with us, and we were all the first ones in the queue for check in, which is always good. Now for a good nights sleep.
lol.
j/k.
Last Supper
Monday, October 11, 2010
Beijing, Beijing, China
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