October 9th : Beijing Forbidden City and Chinese Theater

This is the first time I have ever traveled in, shall we say, a very planned and even more comfortable fashion. Waking up under the warm and white covers, with a view from the bed and a clean bathroom just steps away is something I am accustomed to at home, but is fairly new to me as a traveler. I love it!

Julia was collecting us from the lobby at 9am. That meant we could sleep in and recover from the 30 hour train ride and the night before’s 90 minute massage. Massage?! Uh-huh. On suggestion from Julia, we agreed to 90 minute massages in our hotel room, just before bed. One hour total body then 30 minutes devoted solely (get it?) to feet.

Holy cow. Sometimes you just don’t know you need a massage until there is a Chinese lady pressing flesh, rotating joints and pinching and slapping the circulation back into your skin. Yeah, traditional Chinese massage is a little different from the American version! From time to time you feel like you have been a bad person and punishment is being doled out. The rest of the time, it’s a wonderful sensation that I happily sandwiched between sipping a wonderful Australia red that I found in a back alley of Beijing earlier that night.

Check out how they pre-warm (pre-clean) feet when there are no massage therapist props. The ladies each brought with them a plastic bag. Just prior to foot massage they half filled them with hot water from the bathroom and tied our feet inside them. Not a drop spilled on the carpet and it felt great too.

Our agenda was “light” according to Julia. We were to hit Tiananmen Square then explore the Forbidden Palace. Lastly, climb the hill in Jinshan Park, to take in the most expansive view of Beijing.

Tiananmen Square was closed. Some sort of military exercise or visiting dignitary with lots of security or such, was the reason. From across the road Julia pointed out bits and pieces and also gave us her recollection of the events that transpired there to make it famous. She was just 7 years old when the students gathered to peacefully protest. As we all heard around the world, the peaceful intentions went awry and the protests ended up escalating into violence. The military felt threatened and retaliated, the protesters did the same. Lives were lost, lessons were learned and Tiananmen Square will never be the same again.

We moved on to the Forbidden Place, which lies on the same axis (north-south line) in the middle of the city. The central axis for important monuments and buildings is very important in Chinese culture/tradition/feng shui.

The Forbidden Palace is the “inner circle” the most central of the city area, reserved for the Emperor and those he invites to live/work there. If I’m remembering correctly, only about 10,000 people lived/worked in the Forbidden Palace. They included the Royals, concubines, intellectuals (advisers) and other staff.

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a smooth reddish wall.

Outside this area is the Imperial City - a place reserved for slightly less important people but again, not everyone qualifies! Also fortified, the Imperial City has a wall that is bigger and of grey stone. A moat helps stop invasions too. When we asked about invasions, I think Julia said it had been penetrated twice in history. Not bad, considering how long history is in Beijing.

We spent hours learning about the different buildings: The Emperor’s bedroom, bathroom and getting dressed room. His wife, the Empress’ quarters, where she slept, entertained or did whatever. Again, these important rooms were placed along a central axis through the Forbidden City.

Each Emperor had concubines too. Kinda like secondary wives. He chose them and paid for their lifestyles. Earlier Emperors had thousands, later ones appeared to have simplified their lives and kept just a few dozen or hundreds of concubines. The process to choose them is perhaps just as fascinating or more, than needing them in the first place. Concubines could have come from any family/circumstances. All they had to do was first, win the local and regional beauty contests, then meet certain educational criteria (some Emperors like them dim or ignorant, some prefer their concubines to be able to learn/think a bit more) and finally they should pass a “personal hygiene” test. Arm pits were smelled! Everyone has minimum standards.

Outside the Forbidden City there was a street vendor selling what looked to be tiny candied apples on a skewer. As our eyes strayed his way, Julia picked up on our curiosity and bought us a stick to munch on. Not apples. Hawthorn fruit covered in boiled sugar. A little sour, a little sweet, crunchy with pits in side. Really quite nice. Probably not something I would have dared try if alone. I’d eat that again!

Mark and I took a stroll up the hill at Jingshan Park while Julia “waited” at the bottom. Waited implies she was doing nothing, which is wrong because that definitely wasn't her style. While we were out of sight she was updating the driver on timing and location, getting the car ready, making plans to take us to a local restaurant for lunch, confirming things for this afternoon. She is the wizard behind the curtain.

The air was cold but clear. I enjoyed strolling but wished I had a few more layers to put on. Apparently Julia and I are cut from the same cloth; She too had goose-bumps. We ascended, we viewed, we photographed and we reconnected with Julia at the bottom.

After lunch - during our ‘free time’ today, Julia had suggested we check out a Chinese Acrobatic show. It seemed like a warm and fun way to spend the afternoon, so that’s where she left us around 3pm - after buying us tickets and walking us all the way to our seats! (It was walking distance to the hotel and we felt confident that either we, or Google would successfully get us “home” ok later, so we said goodbye for the day.)

Bwaa hahahahaha!
You have to experience Chinese matinee theater to believe it. First of all, 80% of the patrons are talking… Not just before the show. They don’t stop, so it’s also during the entire performance. And not quietly either. The other 20% fell asleep before the show began and never woke up when it started, despite the incredibly loud sounds and bright lights.

Cell phones are never off… I mean never even silenced and they don’t go unanswered either. Phones ring and people answer them in the middle of the show! The occasional person will leave the theater to take the call, but they answer it in their seat first and talk their way up the isle as they exit.

Before the main performance began, the announcer asked for volunteers for prizes. About a dozen or so people exuberantly raised their hands and went backstage to claim something. The lady in front of us was chosen and appeared to be over the moon. She returned in 5 minutes with a cylinder in hand. Her husband decided to open it and extract the poster she had won, in the middle of the show. I was sitting behind him, so of course we had to move. He was holding up a full size poster between me and the stage, in the dark and they were talking excitedly about it. OMG! Mark and I got the giggles.

On the bright side, I did feel that I had been given every license to take out my own cell phone and photograph/video all parts of the show, just like every Chinese person was doing! LOL

Hard to see, but 5 full sized motorbikes are whizzing around inside!

Our Chinese "tour" goes mostly like this: Breakfast at the hotel in the morning, lunch restaurant chosen and lunch paid for by the guide - she also recommends dishes, educates us about what is a specialty of the city, district or this particular restaurant - and for dinner, we are on our own.

What happens when two tired, illiterate and somewhat adventurous tourists stray too far from their hotel in the dark of night and roll the dice regarding restaurant choice and menu selections?

You get ass of the dry pan for dinner!

I giggled A LOT today.