Good Morning from Beijing – Wednesday (Day 3)

Good morning from Beijing. Congee again for Matt! The last 2 days have been, in traditional Matt and Kris fashion, an absolutely grueling 2 day tour of Beijing. Of course these were our “resting days”. The real touring starts Friday (day 5). As I write this at 5:30 on Friday, August 18^th (4 days until Libby!), we are supposed to be well rested, centered, and mentally and physically prepared to enter what we are assured is one of the most mentally and physically demanding endeavors – parenthood. Instead, we are physically exhausted (witness the sleeping in past 5 AM), and covered with mosquito bites as we begin the next three days of touring in earnest – with our adoptarinos and our Chinese tour guide.

The great thing about the smog in Beijing is that it totally negates the need for sunblock. You can tour all day in the blazing sun and not get sunburned…cool huh? Although I will admit to a bit of wheezing and general sinus congestion. On the other hand, we’ll save a fortune on sunblock, man that stuff is expensive. Our legs would also be extremely sore as we have walked more than 34 miles in 3 days (Kris brought a pedometer..pretty cool). However, we are well massaged. The Chinese foot massage is something else. It hurts like hell while they are doing it, but the next day you feel great.

Despite physical exhaustion, (Kris is still asleep at 6 AM, can you believe it?) we are both in rather high spirits, and frankly, still a bit high on China (could be the smog?) We have had an amazing couple of days and feel now closer to our baby than we ever have. Yes, I would say we’re a bit giddy.

Getting around in China can be very difficult if you don’t know the language because there is VERY little English spoken, and what English there is typically incorrect. Fortunately, since we have been studying Mandarin (Thank you Fei!) we definitely know “Just enough Chinese” for us to get around in China. China is not like Mexico where you can struggle with a cab driver, waiter, or market clerk to find a few common words and get your meaning across. And in Chinese, pronouncing something slightly wrong changes the meaning and so makes communication more difficult. However, we have had very little trouble getting the locals here to understand the Chinese phrases we use to get around, we have had no trouble getting around in cabs, we just ask the cabbie in mandarin if he would take us somewhere (Ma Fan ni zai wo dao…..) we don’t usually understand what they reply if they say more that ke yi, but we always end up where we asked to go, and Kristin is physically incapable of leaving a cab without telling the driver he has very good driving skills (Ni de ji shu hen hao). we have also always been able to get to the restroom (Ching wen ce suo zai na?), order food and beers (Yi bei pi jiou) and the shopping has also been pretty easy. We have been shopping at the local Hutong markets where there is no English spoken, but all we do is just point and tell them how many, and ask how much (duo shao qian?) And at the bigger markets you always have to say that’s too expensive (tai gui le!) I want it cheaper (Shao dien). I can’t believe how quickly we have learned our numbers, and to begin to understand this language. Immersion is really something else. Using our mandarin has been a blast, and the locals are very nice and forgiving when you at least try to speak it. Thanks to Fei, we have learned just enough Chinese to get around in china! Okay, back to our travels.

Wednesday started with a medical appointment for Kristin and a bit of rest in the morning. She woke up with the biggest pain in the neck ever (. . . no really . . .Matt is no trouble. . . ) the beds are pretty hard though (actually, a bit like sleeping on boards, even at the 4 star hotels). So, she had a “treatment” with our new Chinese doctor, Dr. Meng. Chinese treatment translated into English is basically to beat the liv’in crap outta a meiguo who is not feeling very good (!), and she liked it. He worked a softball sized knot on her shoulder into a ping pong ball. From what we have learned about Chinese medicine there is basically 1 rule. Never never never tell a chinese doctor you have a pain, anywhere. The reason is that Chinese medicine appears to work by inflicting such incredible pain that you forget all about why you went in there in the first place. It worked though, Kristin is feeling much better.

After her doctor appointment, we went to Beijing University (known as PKU for Peking university, but all the locals refer to it as Beijing University) for a visit. We have been told by many that PKU is a Chinese Ivy league school, one of the most prestigious in the country. Of course, I forgot the camera, so we had to buy the post card packet. What I can say about PKU is that except for the grounds (incredible walking paths around small lakes and very distinctive landscaping) it could literally be any university anywhere else (except the Chinese toilets of course, those are rather unique). We visited the library, the student center, and one of the classroom buildings, and walked much of the campus. We tried to pop in on the sociology department, but couldn’t read the Chinese campus map well enough to find it. Maybe next time.

We met a handful of foreign students from places like germany, denmark, and mexico. All spoke English so it was fun to visit with them. we even managed to send an exchange student who asked us for directions in the completely wrong direction. . .not on purpose! We saw him later and he had happily found the right place. We all laughed and he was a good sport. Moral of the story. . .Never take directions from foreigners in foreign lands!

After our long walk around PKU in the afternoon. . .we took a short rest, rehydrated and enjoyed a beautiful peach. It’s peach season in Beijing. And we have been really enjoying these wonderful treats, especially in the heat of the summer. We have been buying them from street vendors, carefully washing them in boiled water and peeling them. Mmmmm Beijing Peaches!

Late afternoon wednesday, we took a cab to the Taoist temple-Dongyou temple. Known internationally for it’s size and grandeur. It’s very difficult to imagine the number of “departments” represented here at this temple. Below are pictures of a few of our favorites. I wish we could have taken pictures inside the departments of the rather interesting large figures of the gods, but photography inside the temple is strictly forbidden because it is an active site of worship.

The Dongyue Taoist temple is a rather impressive and very beautiful temple near downtown Beijing. The opulant entrance is presided over by very large temple guards (the figure behind kris is a guard). It is a square shaped temple that covers 3 or 4 city blocks and around the edges are all the departments. The departments are presided over by gods (who look a lot like the temple guards standing behind kris). Photography wasn't allowed inside the temple, so we could only get photos of the signs. There were at least 4 or 5 dozen departments. The taoists have a rather beaurocratic religion. I especially liked the department of petty officials and the department of signing documents. (I'm not kidding).

After the temple, we made it back to the hotel in time to dine in our new favorite dumpling house in Beijing. In the Dongcheng Hutong, where we stayed, there is a small hole in the wall dumpling house with absolutely fabulous dumplings, very Hot (hot food is very important especially in the Hotong, it kills all the things that make you sick) extremely tasty, and our bill for a 3 course meal and drinks was about 48 yuan (about 5 bucks). (thanks for this tip too Chris!)

Some of the bathrooms (very few that I saw though) are rated. However, these ratings don't appear to correspond at all with the actual quality of the bathroom. I would have given the Dongyue temple bathroom a 3 at least! Actually, most of the places we have visited have actually had 1 or 2 western toilets along with the chinese toilets.