(During a discussion of the Chinese legal/political system)
Lucy (our tour guide): "We have much freedom here in China."
Nina (a member of our tour): "Good, because I wasn't sure about that."
"Random" China link: Freedom House Ranking of China
The following morning saw our group headed for another Beijing site I'd missed out on in 2009, the Ming tombs. More specifically, we were headed to the Sacred Way of the Ming tombs, a path to the tombs of the Ming dynasty rulers lined with human and animal guardians. Apparently during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guard had pushed all of the statues depicting courtiers and officials down. Thus, all of the human statues bore distinctly whiter and newer noses.
Perhaps the most interesting creature was the qilin, a beast that seemed to be the result of the interbreeding of a dog and a dragon.
The area was vaguely reminiscent of the royal tombs in Gyeongju, Korea, which led me to reflect briefly on how interconnected all three of the East Asian cultures have been historically. Before I could ruminate too long on the matter though, our group was whisked away to the jade factory.Our jade factory guide eagerly briefed us on all of the jade essentials- the jade-carving process, how to differentiate jade from glass- before giving us time to peruse the large jade samplings. While the women in the group oohed and aahed at the rows and rows of jade bracelets, sculptures, and trinkets, the men headed to a nearby table for some tea.
jade ball within a ball within a ball within a ball in its many incarnations through the carving process
Whoever could lift this boat on his/her own was allowed to take it home free of charge
Following our noon meal, we headed off for the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Staring out into the barren and brown countryside on the way up, I couldn't help but recall how lush the same route had looked as I had traveled down it in August 2009. Somehow, living back in Southern California (aka the land of perpetual sunshine) has helped me to forget this phenomenon called "winter," which occurs in some remote parts of the world.
Even on the road leading up the Great Wall, we couldn't escape the "hello people." At every tourist site we stopped at, the vendors hawking their wares descended on us tourists like hawks on their prey, and the Great Wall was no exception. And these vendors had apparently all learned the same method of selling, namely inundating their potential customers with the phrase "Hello [insert product here], hello."
Cries of "Hello Rolex, hello" co-mingled with "Hello t-shirt, hello" and other fun phrases rang out as we walked by. Once I realized that these people were not just sad, lonely folk who had resorted to talking to the products they were selling and actually wanted our attention, it became much easier to ignore them.
wannabe pandas
lift up to the wall
Leaving the hello people behind, we got on-board a gondola for our journey up to the wall itself, traveling in the same method as Bill Clinton had when he had visited. Even in the all-enclosed vehicle, my sister and mom expressed some trepidation about our car dislodging from the cables overhead. Nevertheless, we made it to the top in one piece and reconvened with our group.
"Can we take the toboggan down from the wall?" I asked, gesturing toward the riders gliding down the metallic slide on plastic go-karts to our right.
"No, it's MUCH too dangerous," Kevin, our guide, admonished.
"Why would you want to kill yourself??" my sister asked.
Since I didn't want to die,
Goal 2 = failure
Some maniac with a death wish taking the toboggan down from the wall
obligatory jumping shot
Leaving the hello people behind, we got on-board a gondola for our journey up to the wall itself, traveling in the same method as Bill Clinton had when he had visited. Even in the all-enclosed vehicle, my sister and mom expressed some trepidation about our car dislodging from the cables overhead. Nevertheless, we made it to the top in one piece and reconvened with our group.
"Can we take the toboggan down from the wall?" I asked, gesturing toward the riders gliding down the metallic slide on plastic go-karts to our right.
"No, it's MUCH too dangerous," Kevin, our guide, admonished.
"Why would you want to kill yourself??" my sister asked.
Since I didn't want to die,
Goal 2 = failure
Some maniac with a death wish taking the toboggan down from the wall
obligatory jumping shot
The rest of the afternoon we explored the wall, which thankfully didn't suffer from diminishing returns and was perhaps one of the trip's major highlights. We spent the evening at the Bird's Nest, site of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony, flying kites and enjoying the beautiful gray fog...
No comments:
Post a Comment