China Day 5 - Garden, Hutong, Dumplings, Temple of Heaven, Overnight Train
Its been a really full day. We had the morning free until 11:30 so several of us went to a beautiful garden near the hotel and walked around for a couple of hours. It was really lovely with a little lake, beautiful flower beds and flowering shrubs, lots of Chinese people, mostly retired, hanging out playing cards, or mah-jong and babysitting their grandchildren. In the complex there were numerous buildings reminiscent of the Summer Palace, but it was not a bit crowded and we were the only tourists there. Everyone else was local Chinese folks. There was a lovely Buddhist temple and a waterfall and rock formations to climb up and people were dancing and playing music. It was peaceful and serene and very relaxing. The weather was perfect - blue skys and sunny but not too humid this morning. I've included a pic of me in front of the waterfall and by the lake and a lotus flower.
We had to be back by 11 so that we could check out of our rooms. When we left the hotel we drove to a hutong near the Forbidden City, in the northern part of Beijing. The hutongs are small neighborhoods with houses that are single story, small dwellings rather than the high rise apartments that otherwise dominate Beijing. The hutongs represent the old way of life for Chinese - small communities where people live cheek to jowl in courtyards that comprise many families. Toilet facilities are communal and shared and are located every couple of blocks or so. Shower facilities are also shared by many neighbors as most of the homes do not have their own bathrooms. I did not choose to use the facilities while we were there, but traveling companions reported that not only were they the typical Asian style toilets there were no stalls - just rows of the toilets. Obviously, the Chinese have a very different concept of personal privacy than do Americans! We had a home cooked lunch in the home of a family that is employed by the Forbidden City to do various kinds of maintenance work. The niece of the family is a well known artist who paints intricate and delicate pictures on bottles - perfume bottles, snuff bottles and the like. Her work was featured during the 2008 Olympics. We had a delicious lunch, again discovering foods we had not had before, like lotus stems, which were very tasty. They cut the stems into round pieces, marinate them in the refrigerator in orange juice and then cook them. They are really tasty. We also had a meatball dish with cucumbers that was seasoned with ginger and was really good. They also made us fresh steamed dumplings and we then enjoyed a demonstration of how dumplings are made and we had a chance to try it ourselves. Our hosts had a small white toy poodle who came around and greeted all of us. Her ears were dyed orange! I've included a pic. It was hilarious! I've also included a pic of the young girl in the family who does the artwork standing in front of the house.
After we left the hutong, we took the bus to a nearby subway station and had the chance to experience the Beijing subway to get to our next stop, which was the Temple of Heaven. The Beijing subway is a real class act! When you go down the escalator to enter the subway you can feel the air conditioning coming at you, which felt really good on this hot humid afternoon. The stations and trains are pristine, clean, quiet and cool. Apparently during rush hour they are literally sardine cans with women hired to "push" people into the cars, but during the middle of the afternoon they were full but not unmanageable. If I ever return to Beijing, I will go everywhere on the subway as it is clearly the best way to navigate the city given how horrific the traffic is all the time.
Then we went to the Temple of Heaven, a 15th century temple used by the Emperors every year on the first lunar new moon of the year to make propitiation to the gods for a plentiful harvest. At other times of the year other special ceremonies were held there too. Its an immense structure, very ornately painted with beautiful ceramic tile roofing. Nowadays it is used for important public functions, like lighting of the torch for the 2008 Olympics and events of that nature.
After the Temple of Heaven we went to dinner, which was another experience of new and delicious foods. The winner at that meal was an eggplant dish that included shrimp cooked in the eggplant pieces. Also mooshu pork, and a unique preparation of kung pao chicken. There was also a cabbage dish that was very good but I got a mouthful of red pepper and then couldn't taste much of the rest of the meal!! We also had a dish that was tofu wrapped around a pork stuffing and soaked in a ginger curry sauce. We rolled out of that restaurant more than sated and headed back to our bus and on to the train station for our overnight train ride.
As I write this I am sitting on the top bunk of my train compartment. I got lucky and managed to get a whole compartment to myself. Everyone else is sharing with one other person. These compartments are intended for 4 people but our tour company pays for us to have the compartments for only 2 people instead of 4. Good thing as 4 people in here would be way too close for my comfort!! The bunks in this train are more comfortable than the bed in the hotel, much to all of our surprise! The train station was another experience of Chinese life. Hugely crowded, with folks rushing onto the trains to find places to sit. Everything in China so far has been marked by crowds - actually hordes of people. You really get a feel for what it means to be in such an enormously overpopulated nation. Our guide came along and gave us all a small glass of Chinese red wine as we were settling into the compartments and then he came by with Chinese "fire water" a national liquor that tastes like rubbing alcohol!! Its a drink that is drunk for its effect on you rather than for taste!! And Chinese red wine leaves much to be desired. They've got a long way to go to compete in the global wine arena! I've included a pic of my train compartment.
Tomorrow morning we arrive in Xian and will go to our hotel to check in and get breakfast and showers before heading out for the day's adventures. At this point I'm going to read for a short while and then crash. I'm tired after a really full day of walking in heat and humidity!
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