From the Forbidden City to Xi'an

Hi everyone!

We have done quite a lot since the last post! The day after visiting the Great wall, it was raining and rather uncomfortable in Beijing. Also, we needed to recover! We did go out for a nice dinner, but apart from that we had a relaxing day. 

The next day we visited Tiananmen Square.  This is known as the people's square, which is kind of amusing.  The police presence was overwhelming.  Between the soldiers and the cops, I couldn't help thinking how far this was from a people's square.

We crossed the front gate (I think this was one of two gates which were named something reasonable) and entered the Forbidden City. This site is neither forbidden, nor a city. However, it was spectacular.  There was some absolutely amazing architecture. The site is simply brimming with history from the Ming and Qing dynasties. We were offered a viewing by some art students (yep, it's a scam) and I not so politely declined with a "get a job". I think Ilana would have been nicer. After spending several hours absorbing the culture and history through the audio guide, we made our way to the park behind the City.  The view of the City was amazing, and the park was very pretty.  I apologize for all of the adjectives, but I cannot think of another way to convey the sheer grandeur of the place.

The next day, we decided to see the Summer Palace, having already seen where the Imperial Family spent the cooler months. I would very much enjoy owning a summer palace of that sort. It was amazing (more adjectives). I can fully understand why the family would have decided to spend their summers there. Buildings are laid out around a gorgeous lake. There is a temple at the top which offers a nice view, and the whole day was sublime. That evening we went out for some Peking duck, though I was not able to secure the real thing in Tiananmen because had we gone we would have missed our night train to Xi'an.

We had an interesting experience returning from the Palace, as we had some difficulty locating the bus on which we had arrived, and decided to accept the offer of one of the gentlemen riding what is essentially a cart. We assumed that it would be quite expensive, but when he held out 8 fingers (the bus costs 2) we bargained him down to 4 before embarking. When we arrived, and handed him his 4 RMB, he refused, though we could not figure out what he was saying. A passerby who spoke English decided to help, and explained that he had wanted 80, but thought we agreed on 40. At that price, we would have kept up our search for the bus. In the end, the guy told us that he had paid 20 to get there, so reluctantly, we agreed. When I later asked him, he said he actually paid 12, but since we are foreigners, he figured 20 would be appropriate. So, we learned the lesson that even those with nothing to gain will still screw foreigners, if for no other reason than their race. We will simply be more careful next time. Since then we have been extremely careful, basically going on the assumption that everyone in the country is trying to harm rather than help. We have not been ripped off since, though I do not want to jinx it.

Please check out pictures of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mnatlas/TiananmenForbiddenCitySummerPalace?feat=directlink

The night train took eleven hours. We met a nice Chinese student, with whom we spoke for a couple of hours before going to sleep. Before his college entrance exam, he went to school from 7am to 11pm 6 days per week. He also quit all of his extracurriculars, and was not allowed to see his girlfriend all year, even though they only lived two blocks away from each other. The Chinese are serious about their education! He also referred to Mao as "the great leader" numerous times, while insisting that he had freedom of speech (though not freedom of religion). He was shocked to hear that in Canada, one can send an insulting letter to one's political representative if one decides to do so. He actually said the words great leader as if that is the only way he would ever refer to Mao. Interesting cultural experiences!

Ilana slept well, I did not, as moving trains are not conducive to my sleeping lying down.  However, it was overall not an unpleasant experience. The bed was not too hard, and they provided hot water for instant meals.

Xi'an, however, was rather disappointing. The main reason for the visit was to see the terracotta warriors, and that we did. Honestly, we should have saved the money and looked at pictures of the warriors. They were much more impressive. That said, an army of warriors, all exquisitely crafted and each unique is a very interesting thing to see. We took a lot of pictures (as always) and had some good company. The hostel in Xi'an was clean and we were treated well. We went out for some good food from a hole in the wall place near our hostel, and it was some of the best food we have had since we have been in China. I thought that the spicy pork was divine.

Having been somewhat disappointed with Xi'an, we now head back east.

Thanks for reading!