Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Friday, July 23, 2010
How To Read A Map In Beijing
Henk wasn’t feeling very well (his stomach had been upset for quite some time) so we took the risk on the morning of July 22nd and decided to visit the local Beijing hospital. While the idea of a Chinese Hospital is – frankly – very scary, we felt like we didn’t have too much choice. The only International Clinic (i.e. for English-speaking Westerners) wanted to charge us over $100 USD just for a consultation… not even including any possible tests we would need done. Hopeful yet weary at a cheaper alternative, I called the hospital and learned which train stop we would need to get off at. One excruciating hour long train ride later (it really isn’t fun being crammed in with hundreds of sweaty Chinese on the subway when you already feel sick) we arrived at the hospital and attempted to find someone, anyone, who spoke English.
First I tried the main hall of the hospital… but nothing. The one “English-speaking” person they brought spoke so little English it was still impossible to communicate. Finally I managed to get us seated in a smaller (and quieter) waiting area where a few different nurses and assistants tried to figure out what we needed. Henk and I were in communication on our cell phone with the department specializing in stomach/digestion trouble and through this and the nurses’ help we eventually got a doctor who did speak decent English and seemed eager to help us. She took us right away to have some tests done to check if Henk had a bacterial infection of some kind. She also stayed with us most of the time answering questions and ended up prescribing us some medication that would hopefully help Henk. We ended up leaving with a bag full of Chinese medication, a Chinese-written character summery of Henk’s tests, and a bill that was less than $10.00 USD. Pretty decent result compared to what we expected.
After Henk took his medicine and we bought him some juice we thought we could make a quick stop at the Beijing Underground City before heading back to Kevin’s place to rest. Remember what I said: WE THOUGHT. For the next 30 minutes or so, we spent time walking up and down the streets of Beijing looking for a taxi that would stop for us (many empty taxis just flat out waved us away when we walked up to their cars or refused to stop for us, but would for a Chinese person in the same area a few seconds later) and not finding anything. Then we decided to take the metro, but not before a Chinese guy almost ran us down with his car, prompting Henk to give it a good whack which caused the guy to then drive down the road next to us screaming in Chinese. (Which we ignored. He deserved it, he almost killed us!) Probably more than 45 minutes later we were out on the street again, having gotten out at the closest metro stop to this Underground City.
After asking a few people and even having someone call to confirm for us, we walked towards where the map and the helpful people pointed us to go. Another 30+ minutes later we were again looking for a taxi since while we walked in the right direction it still seemed as if we were very far away. The taxi dropped us off closer but we still had to find the Underground City on our own. Armed with the Chinese translation of the name we asked half a dozen people and while most of them seemed to have no idea what we were talking about, the others managed to eventually get us in direction we wanted to go. We spotted some other foreign and walked after them, figuring they were looking for the same thing. In total it took us more than 2.5 hours in the sweltering heat to find the Beijing Underground City!
And then we see this sign:
Right. Fantastic! Henk and I were somewhat comforted by the Chinese tourists as well as foreign tourists standing around the Underground City as well, unhappy about the result. We ended up walking back to a ‘The Pizza Company’ eatery we had spotted on the way TO the Underground City and ordered a nice big pizza and some cold ice-cream floats, sat and chilled out. Exhausted from the hellish day we just endured, we decided to give up on sight-seeing and head back. Henk was still feeling only moderately better and I’m sure the day’s events weren’t helping much.
We got up early on the 23rd of July in order to pay our respects to Mao and his final resting place: smack-bang in the middle of Tian’anmen Square! As always there was a giant Chinese queue we had to make our way through. While Henk deposited our camera I stood in line and moved ahead – quickly! Before I knew it I was already half-way through the line (or more!) with no Henk in sight! Thankfully he eventually made it up to me and snuck in line next to me without any trouble. Once we got through security we were supposed to remain silent (which was quite difficult) as we approached the big man. Or should I say little man! Henk’s first comment to me when we left the mausoleum was that he was surprised how little Mao was. He also took-note that Mao’s face looked very strange – like it was extremely bloated and had half a pound of make-up layered on it. I wouldn’t be shocked if it did!
We bought some ice-creams to try and cool down and while Henk grabbed the camera from its storage place, I struck up a conversation with a Chinese guy who was buying ice-cream as well. Turns out that he was a tour-guide in training (he had taken the tour-guide exam 3 times!) and really wanted to practice his English. Henk and I gave him some tips and pointers about what he could say to potential clients. He actually ended-up inviting himself to go with us to our next stop, the Temple of Heaven. We took the metro and the three of us got tickets (well, he didn’t need any since he is a tour guide) and went inside. Now commenced our mini free tour of the Temple of Heaven! He helped us understand a little more about the Temple as we walked to different areas as we helped him with all his questions about English. And did he have questions! We must have answered hundreds for him until we were quite tired… he got the better end of joint commitment for sure! But that was alright with us because a guide in training is still better than no guide at all.
However the signposts still told us almost everything we needed to know. The introductory one read: “… built in 1420, [the Temple of Heaven] used to be a place where emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties went to worship Heaven and offer sacrifices to pray for… harvests and favorable rain. Most of the structures we see today were constructed in the Qing Dynasty in compliance with the layout system set in Jiajing’s reign of the Ming Dynasty.” One of the first areas we approached was the ‘Imperial Hall of Heaven.’ This was dubbed as the “heavenly warehouse of the altar of prayer for grains.” Our guide told us a little about the hall before leading us to a 3-tiered stone terrace with 8 stairways known as the ‘Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.’ There was a stone bas-relief on the floor with dragons we took note of.
Next we headed to the annex halls which weren’t too interesting. The Fasting Palace also looked similar but had a bit more significance. The sign read: “[This] … was the place where the emperor used to exercise abstinence from meat, drink, music, women, and dealing with state affairs three days before conducting sacrificial rites at the temple. The Palace… is covered with green tiles symbolizing the emperor’s obedience to Heaven.” Almost finished with the complex, we spotted a tree on the way out labeled with ‘nine-dragon juniper.’ There were supposedly nine dragons to be found in the tree but we agreed that the Chinese must have very creative imaginations. (Aka didn’t look like anything!)
The last buildings we looked at were those around the circular ‘Echo Wall.’ If two people stand at the eastern and western annex hall points and speak those two people can apparently hear each others’ voices clearly. In the eastern hall there were dedications to the zodiac deities whereas in the western hall there were dedications to the natural deities of wind, rain and clouds. The Imperial Vault of Heaven was another circular building with a blue tile roof and a dragon playing with a pearl at the center and the ‘Circular Mound’ sat nearby as well.
At that point we were starving for some lunch and decided to go to a Subway we spotted one of the days before. First we sat down upstairs in the nearby mall so I could eat something in a quieter, more relaxed setting than the noisy non-AC places downstairs. I recognized the mall we were in from my first visit to China… it was the famous area where they sold tons of fake luxury goods. Anyways, I got some average spaghetti and decent garlic bread before deciding it would be nice to get a manicure/pedicure after such a long break in having any. Henk got himself a sandwich to eat while I was doing this from the Subway but sadly they put too much mustard on it so it wasn’t very good! We attempted to get my eyebrows done after this, but everywhere wanted to charge higher-than-New York prices and we weren’t convinced. Furthermore the lady we finally agreed to had obviously never done it before as she was opening a brand-new box with waxing supplies. We ran out of there as fast as we could!
That evening we went to the Red Theater for a really interesting show I found online. Armed with some concession-stand bought sodas and popcorn, we settled into the front row to watch the story unfold. It was a kung-fu show and I’d never seen one before so I was curious what it would entail. The quote I read on their website said we would be taken on a journey with a little boy from his initiation to his journey to Zen master, and further said this:
“In an ancient temple perched high on the side of a mountain, we encounter a little boy, through practicing Zen Buddhism and Kong Fu, our little monk eventually grows and finally reaches the sacred goal of enlightenment… The best Kung Fu practitioners from all over China have been found for this production and it shows on the stage. Their average age is just 17 years old! Additionally the costumes, set design and special effects are up to international standards, created by some of the best stage directors and designers in China.”
The show used the storyline of a boy becoming a kung-fu master as an outline for showing the audience a bunch of super-impressive kung-fu skills. There were little kids, looked about 7 or 8-years-old doing headstands combined with kung-fu jumps and other moves. The older kids each had personal ‘solos’ where they broke wooden boards on their heads or battled with each other. We were also shown various weapons used in conjunction with kung-fu moves – very entertaining. The parallel between animals and their respective kung-fu moves they were named after/resembled was very clear here. We took a taxi to the train station once the show was finished and went back to Kevin’s. Tomorrow would be an early start once again for our journey to the Great Wall of China!
Francesca
First I tried the main hall of the hospital… but nothing. The one “English-speaking” person they brought spoke so little English it was still impossible to communicate. Finally I managed to get us seated in a smaller (and quieter) waiting area where a few different nurses and assistants tried to figure out what we needed. Henk and I were in communication on our cell phone with the department specializing in stomach/digestion trouble and through this and the nurses’ help we eventually got a doctor who did speak decent English and seemed eager to help us. She took us right away to have some tests done to check if Henk had a bacterial infection of some kind. She also stayed with us most of the time answering questions and ended up prescribing us some medication that would hopefully help Henk. We ended up leaving with a bag full of Chinese medication, a Chinese-written character summery of Henk’s tests, and a bill that was less than $10.00 USD. Pretty decent result compared to what we expected.
After Henk took his medicine and we bought him some juice we thought we could make a quick stop at the Beijing Underground City before heading back to Kevin’s place to rest. Remember what I said: WE THOUGHT. For the next 30 minutes or so, we spent time walking up and down the streets of Beijing looking for a taxi that would stop for us (many empty taxis just flat out waved us away when we walked up to their cars or refused to stop for us, but would for a Chinese person in the same area a few seconds later) and not finding anything. Then we decided to take the metro, but not before a Chinese guy almost ran us down with his car, prompting Henk to give it a good whack which caused the guy to then drive down the road next to us screaming in Chinese. (Which we ignored. He deserved it, he almost killed us!) Probably more than 45 minutes later we were out on the street again, having gotten out at the closest metro stop to this Underground City.
After asking a few people and even having someone call to confirm for us, we walked towards where the map and the helpful people pointed us to go. Another 30+ minutes later we were again looking for a taxi since while we walked in the right direction it still seemed as if we were very far away. The taxi dropped us off closer but we still had to find the Underground City on our own. Armed with the Chinese translation of the name we asked half a dozen people and while most of them seemed to have no idea what we were talking about, the others managed to eventually get us in direction we wanted to go. We spotted some other foreign and walked after them, figuring they were looking for the same thing. In total it took us more than 2.5 hours in the sweltering heat to find the Beijing Underground City!
And then we see this sign:
Right. Fantastic! Henk and I were somewhat comforted by the Chinese tourists as well as foreign tourists standing around the Underground City as well, unhappy about the result. We ended up walking back to a ‘The Pizza Company’ eatery we had spotted on the way TO the Underground City and ordered a nice big pizza and some cold ice-cream floats, sat and chilled out. Exhausted from the hellish day we just endured, we decided to give up on sight-seeing and head back. Henk was still feeling only moderately better and I’m sure the day’s events weren’t helping much.
We got up early on the 23rd of July in order to pay our respects to Mao and his final resting place: smack-bang in the middle of Tian’anmen Square! As always there was a giant Chinese queue we had to make our way through. While Henk deposited our camera I stood in line and moved ahead – quickly! Before I knew it I was already half-way through the line (or more!) with no Henk in sight! Thankfully he eventually made it up to me and snuck in line next to me without any trouble. Once we got through security we were supposed to remain silent (which was quite difficult) as we approached the big man. Or should I say little man! Henk’s first comment to me when we left the mausoleum was that he was surprised how little Mao was. He also took-note that Mao’s face looked very strange – like it was extremely bloated and had half a pound of make-up layered on it. I wouldn’t be shocked if it did!
We bought some ice-creams to try and cool down and while Henk grabbed the camera from its storage place, I struck up a conversation with a Chinese guy who was buying ice-cream as well. Turns out that he was a tour-guide in training (he had taken the tour-guide exam 3 times!) and really wanted to practice his English. Henk and I gave him some tips and pointers about what he could say to potential clients. He actually ended-up inviting himself to go with us to our next stop, the Temple of Heaven. We took the metro and the three of us got tickets (well, he didn’t need any since he is a tour guide) and went inside. Now commenced our mini free tour of the Temple of Heaven! He helped us understand a little more about the Temple as we walked to different areas as we helped him with all his questions about English. And did he have questions! We must have answered hundreds for him until we were quite tired… he got the better end of joint commitment for sure! But that was alright with us because a guide in training is still better than no guide at all.
However the signposts still told us almost everything we needed to know. The introductory one read: “… built in 1420, [the Temple of Heaven] used to be a place where emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties went to worship Heaven and offer sacrifices to pray for… harvests and favorable rain. Most of the structures we see today were constructed in the Qing Dynasty in compliance with the layout system set in Jiajing’s reign of the Ming Dynasty.” One of the first areas we approached was the ‘Imperial Hall of Heaven.’ This was dubbed as the “heavenly warehouse of the altar of prayer for grains.” Our guide told us a little about the hall before leading us to a 3-tiered stone terrace with 8 stairways known as the ‘Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.’ There was a stone bas-relief on the floor with dragons we took note of.
Next we headed to the annex halls which weren’t too interesting. The Fasting Palace also looked similar but had a bit more significance. The sign read: “[This] … was the place where the emperor used to exercise abstinence from meat, drink, music, women, and dealing with state affairs three days before conducting sacrificial rites at the temple. The Palace… is covered with green tiles symbolizing the emperor’s obedience to Heaven.” Almost finished with the complex, we spotted a tree on the way out labeled with ‘nine-dragon juniper.’ There were supposedly nine dragons to be found in the tree but we agreed that the Chinese must have very creative imaginations. (Aka didn’t look like anything!)
The last buildings we looked at were those around the circular ‘Echo Wall.’ If two people stand at the eastern and western annex hall points and speak those two people can apparently hear each others’ voices clearly. In the eastern hall there were dedications to the zodiac deities whereas in the western hall there were dedications to the natural deities of wind, rain and clouds. The Imperial Vault of Heaven was another circular building with a blue tile roof and a dragon playing with a pearl at the center and the ‘Circular Mound’ sat nearby as well.
At that point we were starving for some lunch and decided to go to a Subway we spotted one of the days before. First we sat down upstairs in the nearby mall so I could eat something in a quieter, more relaxed setting than the noisy non-AC places downstairs. I recognized the mall we were in from my first visit to China… it was the famous area where they sold tons of fake luxury goods. Anyways, I got some average spaghetti and decent garlic bread before deciding it would be nice to get a manicure/pedicure after such a long break in having any. Henk got himself a sandwich to eat while I was doing this from the Subway but sadly they put too much mustard on it so it wasn’t very good! We attempted to get my eyebrows done after this, but everywhere wanted to charge higher-than-New York prices and we weren’t convinced. Furthermore the lady we finally agreed to had obviously never done it before as she was opening a brand-new box with waxing supplies. We ran out of there as fast as we could!
That evening we went to the Red Theater for a really interesting show I found online. Armed with some concession-stand bought sodas and popcorn, we settled into the front row to watch the story unfold. It was a kung-fu show and I’d never seen one before so I was curious what it would entail. The quote I read on their website said we would be taken on a journey with a little boy from his initiation to his journey to Zen master, and further said this:
“In an ancient temple perched high on the side of a mountain, we encounter a little boy, through practicing Zen Buddhism and Kong Fu, our little monk eventually grows and finally reaches the sacred goal of enlightenment… The best Kung Fu practitioners from all over China have been found for this production and it shows on the stage. Their average age is just 17 years old! Additionally the costumes, set design and special effects are up to international standards, created by some of the best stage directors and designers in China.”
The show used the storyline of a boy becoming a kung-fu master as an outline for showing the audience a bunch of super-impressive kung-fu skills. There were little kids, looked about 7 or 8-years-old doing headstands combined with kung-fu jumps and other moves. The older kids each had personal ‘solos’ where they broke wooden boards on their heads or battled with each other. We were also shown various weapons used in conjunction with kung-fu moves – very entertaining. The parallel between animals and their respective kung-fu moves they were named after/resembled was very clear here. We took a taxi to the train station once the show was finished and went back to Kevin’s. Tomorrow would be an early start once again for our journey to the Great Wall of China!
Francesca
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