Sunday, October 16, 2011
Day 1. Part 4...the end
So, fortunately I did not get arrested and my guide did not have to bail me out of a Chinese jail...but it got dicey.
See, I said I wanted to shop for purses, she brought us to the multiple floored Shopping place called Silk Market, every floor sells something different, electronics, pearls, shoes, purses, clothes...and she said she would meet us back in the lobby in one hour. She informed me that after spending the day with me that she thought I would be fine upstairs on the purse floor but watch out for my mom, they are going to try to "really get her".
I had zero idea what this conversation meant but whatever, we hit the escalator, got off on the next floor and then-HOLY (@)&$ $:&;@)...i would really like to write what I actually said but I also want my children to be able to read this one day...just insert here what you known I really said when we were literally accosted by women from every direction, like five of them sticking stuff up in our faces and freaking grabbing us, pulling us back as we tried to walk past them, it sounded like a damn chicken coop and i liter rally was feeling this urge to scream right in their faces a touch louder than they were chattering at us. Give them a taste of their own selling technique. I gave looks to little ladies that I have never given before. We just jerked our arms out of their grabbing hands and plowed into the luggage room, no commotion in there..re-compose...
Seriously...what the he'll just happened!?!
I already knew this wasn't going to work, but we had to leave, pretty much through the same area we endeared, there are just rows and rows or stalls jammed together, merchandise crammed in everywhere...I would have loved to browse through the stalls, we both wanted purses...when we arrived, now we wanted a weapon, or at least a gladiator shield.
We had to go back in...1,2,3....lady don't freaking touch me again...you, don't pull me, ....I will not buy anything from you while you yell in my face...
Walk, tell someone off, walk, walk, give her the hand, give her the stink eye....walk, walk..spin move, back off lady, ...walk,walk, nope, not buying, don't want any, leave us alone, back off...
See two girls, corner booth two rows before the escalator, not actively lunging at us, not preparing to run at us, not moving their mouths...
Decide to make approach and test the waters...one appeared docile and polite...other had potential for mayhem...must jump in and control the environment quickly....
Me: ok, you, don't touch me...we want to look, if you get in my face we are leaving...got it.
See all those people back there...they got no dollars from us. I can buy a purse at home and not deal with this crap so lets keep this pleasant.
Silence...this might be working
Her ( the docile one) you want see catalog...hmm as a matter of fact I do...
So we went from WWF smack down to browsing through a catalog, a mere 10 feet from the hyena like scavengers in the other booths...this was working so far....they kept pulling out bags from under the counter, behind the counter...I think they had 3000 purses crammed in a 30 sq ft booth, asking us what we liked, pulling out more..the process continued, we narrowed it down to a few...little diva started getting aggressive again, it was killing her ...every time she got mouthy, I ignored her and would only look at and talk to the nice girl. She actually started getting bitchy with the nice girl...saying that she answered to her...It was obvious that she didn't t want me negotiating prices with the nice one.
I pushed them for apprise and then laughed at them, I am talking like 2000-3000 RMB...($300-400 USD) Whatever! Apparently that word translates in all languages. I told then that we needed to look at something about 1/3 that price so pull out something cheaper or we were gone. I told them I have plenty of places at home where I can drop that on a purse...I did t come here to pay what I pay at home.
I got what I wanted for what I wanted to pay...ok, of course they then pounced on my mom saying that because I bought one they would give her same price, buy more it cheaper!
After the initial assault my mom was over it...she didn't want a purse...she was really peeved at little diva for being mean to the nice girl..she was dead to my mom, you pick on nice girl...you get no dollars from Lee Aycock!
So...this whole exchange took 20 minutes...seemed like hours!
We left the market, walked down the street, found a dairy queen and had soft serve cones and laughed for a good 30 minutes. We only wish that my grandmother from Lousiana was with us...we decided that she would have taken someone's head off with her handbag...for her it is a lethal weapon...I think she would have used it!
Oh and to see my husband in the middle of that mess...I don't know what he would have done with all those women grabbing and pulling on him and shoving stuff in his face...hmmm
I think he would have been absolutely silent, his face would have been crimson...sweat beading up on his forehead and he would have either had a heart attack from trying to restrain himself....or reverted back to high school football, put one of us under each arm and ran for the inzone...escalator...
I don't know if I would have been scared for his health or just wet my pants laughing at him trying not to punch a gaggle of yelling grabbing women...but I would love to see it none the less!
Afterwards it was just funny...and there are seriously many friends I would love to drop into that mess and video the exchange...hysterical culture clash!!!
So after that comic relief we walked around Teinemen Square..it is massive...fits half a million people...seriously huge space!
Interesting people watching...then jumped back in with the driver , hit the grocery store for diet cokes that cost 50 cents instead of $4.25 each at the hotel!
So now it is 3:00 am and I need to try and sleep for a few hours before we start day 2...the Great Wall!
Tara
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Day 1. Part 3. Second attempt...
Yep, I was done with the post...and then apparently I touched something on the screen that shut down blogpost...and my post is now gone...goody.
So I will try again...to lay the groundwork here, we haven't experienced true jet lag here, just odd sleep patterns...we hit the hay at 7:00 this evening but both were wide awake at 11:30, just 4 hrs later. So my mom wrote about the days events in her journal and I have been writing my posts and uploading pics...it is 1:15 now, so I am going to finish this post and then try to get some more sleep before we start day 2.
I am still feeling awake...and completely at home as the man in the room next to us is snoring like a papa bear...or my sweet husband. I can hear it loud and clear.
So, we ft Starbucks, walked through a pretty park with a lake, dead in the middle of the city, so nice! We were hassled by little old ladies offering a massage...and they like to grab you here to get your attention and ...I could do without that.
So we headed to the silk factory, not the actual factory but a government run place where you can see every step in the silk making process and also a big store where you can buy all things silk.
Below is a shot of the pretty trees that hand over the streets, beautiful like Savannah without the moss.
Now this is what it looks like from inside the car during peak traffic time...people, cars, busses, mopeds and bikes, all over each other, no rhyme, reason or rules. It looks like total insanity but for some reason if just works, the flow keeps moving, the unspoken rules of the road are understood by all, everyone k owe to kind of gracefully stay in motion, dancing in and out of the paths of all other moving objects.
One time our driver, Mr. Wong, popped out of our lane into the opposite lane, we were playing chicken with a silver Mercedes, no one flinched, no yelling, or jerking, the cars just smoothly accelerated towards each other and then Mr. Wong popped back over into the right lane between two busses about 3 inches apart..i think he shape shifted the car...there was no opening but were just back in our lane, and the flow keeps going...
We do a VERY diet version of this craziness in Atlanta during rush hour but it also involves (at least in my car) cursing the living day lights out of at least two morons trying to end your life by cutting you off, riding your bumper or slamming on their brakes for no reason, or other random general acts of stupidity...all verbal communication reinforced with sign language and honking...the kind of honking that says " I wish this steering wheel I am punching was your face".
Here...all vehicles, 2 wheels and 4, honk...but there doesn't seem to be a death wish tied to the honk. And no one is yelling or cursing each other for missing their body or their vehicle by inches... Not completely sure what the honk is meant to accomplish here, because nobody is stopping for anyone or anything...complete stopping doesn't occur...regardless of what lies in your path. It is like everyone is in agreement that all bodies in motion will remain in motion, gracefully leaning and sliding one way or the other at the last second before possible impact. It just seems to flow...one constant motion. Kind of like when you watch the groups of people in the park doing tai chi.
So, the silk market...we both absolutely loved this place, learned a lot, the process of making silk is fascinating to me!
So first we started with worms, live ones...they eat mulberry leaves for about a month and when they get full and stop eating they are placed on these stick like wreath things and they build a cocoon. They either build one cocoon all by themselves or (only in China) two worms will bunk up and weave a cocoon together, called a double, since the two worms are incubating in there together.
The single worm cocoons are used to make thread that will become fabric for clothing and other textile products. The double cocoons are used to make fill fiber for duvet/comforters.
The cocoons are boiled, worms go to heaven.
They then take 8-10 cocoons and put them in these little water baths on the threading machines, then they get a stick type tool and wave it around in the water and catch threads off the cocoons. These threads are attached to a type of guide wick on the machine and it pulls the 8-10 almost invisible fibers up into one strand and spins it up onto a spool. The little white cocoons are just sitting there spinning together as they are unravelled into the very fine but very strong thread. The guide said that each cocoon give like 1300 meters of thread ( possibly off on that figure but whatever the number was...it was long!)
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They have more modern machines now but the process is the same, it just does it faster. You would think that the fine strands of silk couldn't withstand the pulling of the machine process but those little invisible threads are unusually strong.
The next process was very cool to me. The double cocoons can't be used to get silk thread, with two worms spinning a cocoon at one time together the strands are too tangled to unravel into single strands.
Those cocoons are processed to the end product completely by hand, very labor intensive process.
A worker will take the soaked double cocoons and cut them open and remove the dead worm carcasses rinse it off and then stretch the little wet cocoon over a wooden standing arch shaped frame. Then she pulls it off the frame, wets it again, then stretches it over a larger flame, she repeats this process several times with each frame getting a little larger each time.
When several cocoons are stretched ofer the final frame and dried, they are then removed in one piece, a fluffy 1x1 ish size piece of fluffy silk strands.
See at the left side of the picture above, those stacked white fluffy things are the finished product...at least for this step.
Next these pieces are brought to several workers that stand around a stretched square frame. They take one piece of double cocoon silk fluff and all hands in the middle, they pull outward in a very synchronized manner creating a giant even silk spiderweb and stretch it over the square frame...they even let my mom and I give it a try.
These layers are made into a comforter and the Chinese sleep with these and they literally last a lifetime. The comforters are made to standard industry bed sizes in 3 different weights. The weight is determined by how many of these silk spider web layers are used. There is a lightweight summer weight, a year round weight and a winter weight. The silk comforters are super light but keep you warm. The silk fibers never break or fray so no dander or allergens that you get in down comforters. Also since the fill is literally layered a few at a time over the form, it stays put in the fabric cover, no lumping up or moving around like down comforters.
Yeah...jade and pearls are all cool I guess but this is my thing...I am a bedding junkie...and this is my new favorite thing on the planet!
Yeah, I got a comforter, I can't wait to snuggle underneath this thing! My mom got one too...they compress the air out of it for travel.
I was going to get the pillows too but I had to draw the line...$46USD is a bit much for one pillow.
They also had the gorgeous silk duvet covers, I just wanted to wrap myself up in them and lay down on the display bed...I was in my happy place. I also realized that my favorite ones were also the most expensive silks that they made...had to just step away, I have duvet covers, just say no, step back slowly and walk away.
So later in the trip we will check out the pearl and jade market but I got my "jewelry" already! I just need to come back and get all the rest..pillows, more comforters, matching silk duvet covers...I want it all! But that is for a later time in life...I am very happy happy happy with my double cocoon silk filled comforter.
Ok, now the funniest part of the day is next and I must say I personally was impressed with my restraint but there were moments that I thought I was going to slap the crap out of another human being..smaller and shorter than me...seriously!
Catch ya in the next post!
Tara
So I will try again...to lay the groundwork here, we haven't experienced true jet lag here, just odd sleep patterns...we hit the hay at 7:00 this evening but both were wide awake at 11:30, just 4 hrs later. So my mom wrote about the days events in her journal and I have been writing my posts and uploading pics...it is 1:15 now, so I am going to finish this post and then try to get some more sleep before we start day 2.
I am still feeling awake...and completely at home as the man in the room next to us is snoring like a papa bear...or my sweet husband. I can hear it loud and clear.
So, we ft Starbucks, walked through a pretty park with a lake, dead in the middle of the city, so nice! We were hassled by little old ladies offering a massage...and they like to grab you here to get your attention and ...I could do without that.
So we headed to the silk factory, not the actual factory but a government run place where you can see every step in the silk making process and also a big store where you can buy all things silk.
Below is a shot of the pretty trees that hand over the streets, beautiful like Savannah without the moss.
Now this is what it looks like from inside the car during peak traffic time...people, cars, busses, mopeds and bikes, all over each other, no rhyme, reason or rules. It looks like total insanity but for some reason if just works, the flow keeps moving, the unspoken rules of the road are understood by all, everyone k owe to kind of gracefully stay in motion, dancing in and out of the paths of all other moving objects.
One time our driver, Mr. Wong, popped out of our lane into the opposite lane, we were playing chicken with a silver Mercedes, no one flinched, no yelling, or jerking, the cars just smoothly accelerated towards each other and then Mr. Wong popped back over into the right lane between two busses about 3 inches apart..i think he shape shifted the car...there was no opening but were just back in our lane, and the flow keeps going...
We do a VERY diet version of this craziness in Atlanta during rush hour but it also involves (at least in my car) cursing the living day lights out of at least two morons trying to end your life by cutting you off, riding your bumper or slamming on their brakes for no reason, or other random general acts of stupidity...all verbal communication reinforced with sign language and honking...the kind of honking that says " I wish this steering wheel I am punching was your face".
Here...all vehicles, 2 wheels and 4, honk...but there doesn't seem to be a death wish tied to the honk. And no one is yelling or cursing each other for missing their body or their vehicle by inches... Not completely sure what the honk is meant to accomplish here, because nobody is stopping for anyone or anything...complete stopping doesn't occur...regardless of what lies in your path. It is like everyone is in agreement that all bodies in motion will remain in motion, gracefully leaning and sliding one way or the other at the last second before possible impact. It just seems to flow...one constant motion. Kind of like when you watch the groups of people in the park doing tai chi.
So, the silk market...we both absolutely loved this place, learned a lot, the process of making silk is fascinating to me!
So first we started with worms, live ones...they eat mulberry leaves for about a month and when they get full and stop eating they are placed on these stick like wreath things and they build a cocoon. They either build one cocoon all by themselves or (only in China) two worms will bunk up and weave a cocoon together, called a double, since the two worms are incubating in there together.
The single worm cocoons are used to make thread that will become fabric for clothing and other textile products. The double cocoons are used to make fill fiber for duvet/comforters.
The cocoons are boiled, worms go to heaven.
They then take 8-10 cocoons and put them in these little water baths on the threading machines, then they get a stick type tool and wave it around in the water and catch threads off the cocoons. These threads are attached to a type of guide wick on the machine and it pulls the 8-10 almost invisible fibers up into one strand and spins it up onto a spool. The little white cocoons are just sitting there spinning together as they are unravelled into the very fine but very strong thread. The guide said that each cocoon give like 1300 meters of thread ( possibly off on that figure but whatever the number was...it was long!)
from
They have more modern machines now but the process is the same, it just does it faster. You would think that the fine strands of silk couldn't withstand the pulling of the machine process but those little invisible threads are unusually strong.
The next process was very cool to me. The double cocoons can't be used to get silk thread, with two worms spinning a cocoon at one time together the strands are too tangled to unravel into single strands.
Those cocoons are processed to the end product completely by hand, very labor intensive process.
A worker will take the soaked double cocoons and cut them open and remove the dead worm carcasses rinse it off and then stretch the little wet cocoon over a wooden standing arch shaped frame. Then she pulls it off the frame, wets it again, then stretches it over a larger flame, she repeats this process several times with each frame getting a little larger each time.
When several cocoons are stretched ofer the final frame and dried, they are then removed in one piece, a fluffy 1x1 ish size piece of fluffy silk strands.
See at the left side of the picture above, those stacked white fluffy things are the finished product...at least for this step.
Next these pieces are brought to several workers that stand around a stretched square frame. They take one piece of double cocoon silk fluff and all hands in the middle, they pull outward in a very synchronized manner creating a giant even silk spiderweb and stretch it over the square frame...they even let my mom and I give it a try.
These layers are made into a comforter and the Chinese sleep with these and they literally last a lifetime. The comforters are made to standard industry bed sizes in 3 different weights. The weight is determined by how many of these silk spider web layers are used. There is a lightweight summer weight, a year round weight and a winter weight. The silk comforters are super light but keep you warm. The silk fibers never break or fray so no dander or allergens that you get in down comforters. Also since the fill is literally layered a few at a time over the form, it stays put in the fabric cover, no lumping up or moving around like down comforters.
Yeah...jade and pearls are all cool I guess but this is my thing...I am a bedding junkie...and this is my new favorite thing on the planet!
Yeah, I got a comforter, I can't wait to snuggle underneath this thing! My mom got one too...they compress the air out of it for travel.
I was going to get the pillows too but I had to draw the line...$46USD is a bit much for one pillow.
They also had the gorgeous silk duvet covers, I just wanted to wrap myself up in them and lay down on the display bed...I was in my happy place. I also realized that my favorite ones were also the most expensive silks that they made...had to just step away, I have duvet covers, just say no, step back slowly and walk away.
So later in the trip we will check out the pearl and jade market but I got my "jewelry" already! I just need to come back and get all the rest..pillows, more comforters, matching silk duvet covers...I want it all! But that is for a later time in life...I am very happy happy happy with my double cocoon silk filled comforter.
Ok, now the funniest part of the day is next and I must say I personally was impressed with my restraint but there were moments that I thought I was going to slap the crap out of another human being..smaller and shorter than me...seriously!
Catch ya in the next post!
Tara
Day 1, Part 2 in Beijing
So after we left the Forbidden City I asked Charlotte to take us to a Hutong...this is a traditional, old style neighborhood. These still speckle the city but many are being torn down for new real estate development. They have the traditional architectural elements, and each structure would (back in the day) have a courtyard type arrangement with the rooms on the outside,( I will attempt to get this correct, no promises!) the master bedroom on South, sons bedroom on East, daughter on West, maids, kitchen on North...the coldest room was where the lowest ranking person stayed. And the courtyard like area in the center was where they came together to socialize as a family. Now you will find a whole family or old couple living in an area that was once for just one person in a family, very crowded arrangement now. Now you find mostly old people living there in these Hutong communities, they feel safe because the lifestyle, although cramped, is safe to them, they have no privacy but everyone knows who is coming and going and everyone looks out for each other. Even though it was considered a lesser place to reside by locals...it was quaint, had a little park with exercise equipment, little stores where the people would get their steamed bread or bags of rice and farmers selling produce from the back of their truck. I thought it was like a neat tight knit little village right in the big city of 19 million people.
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Above is what looked like a graveyard for old bikes and rickshaws, this was in the center of the Hutong area, next to this was the open area, park area with exercise equipment. In the mornings you can see older people coming here to socialize and exercize together.
Overlooking the little park is the old belltower, so beautiful! Those blue and yellow things on the ground are the exercise equipment found in most all parks. Also in the Hutongs they all share a community bathroom...which is where I introduced my mom to something that I had been keeping a secret from her...the famous Squatty Potty!
It is my goal to complete this whole trip without having to use one of these, legend has it that it can be done.
Even this community bathroom had a western toilet, with the lid bolted down. This one, although it smelled horrible, would be considered quite clean. Also you can see, privacy isn't considered important here!
So we left the Hutong area and walked to a more "regular" area, even played a little frogged with some busses as our guide took us across a street with no crosswalk. I told my mom, just move when Charlotte moves, don't thing, don't try to use your brain, let her be the brain...if you stop to think and look at what you are doing you will get your butt run over.
Lunch! Wow! We went to a place on a side street filled with locals, Charlotte ordered for us...a lot of food, we loved it all! I now love the sautéed cucumbers in a sweet brown sauce, but the best part was the steamed dumplings! They made them fresh right there...pure heaven, I could, and will probably try, to eat these every day! We had one plate that were filled with a mildly seasoned vegetable mixture and the other plate was filled with a pork and vegetable mix. Charlotte and my mom liked them plain but I really liked them dipped in brown vinegar. I have got to get some more of those soon.
Below is what it looks like driving around much of the city, very beautiful and green, the trees hanging over the street reminds me of Savannah without the moss.
Creature comforts...in order to survive (and cured my jet lag like a charm) I paid $4.25 for a diet coke after breakfast in the hotel...so we told Charlotte that we needed to buy our daily "fixes" somewhere else!
Next stop..Starbucks! I brought good creamer with me from home in a shoe box type plastic bin and some Starbucks VIA instant coffee...and it was good, and we knew we would need more to get each day started for the next few weeks.
We picked up enough to last us until we get to Guanzhou for about $16. !Not bad for two people to have good coffee for 7-8 days. Luckily our hotel in GZ has a Starbucks in the hotel lobby. Did I mention that I totally love China so far!
Part 3 next post!
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Above is what looked like a graveyard for old bikes and rickshaws, this was in the center of the Hutong area, next to this was the open area, park area with exercise equipment. In the mornings you can see older people coming here to socialize and exercize together.
Overlooking the little park is the old belltower, so beautiful! Those blue and yellow things on the ground are the exercise equipment found in most all parks. Also in the Hutongs they all share a community bathroom...which is where I introduced my mom to something that I had been keeping a secret from her...the famous Squatty Potty!
It is my goal to complete this whole trip without having to use one of these, legend has it that it can be done.
Even this community bathroom had a western toilet, with the lid bolted down. This one, although it smelled horrible, would be considered quite clean. Also you can see, privacy isn't considered important here!
So we left the Hutong area and walked to a more "regular" area, even played a little frogged with some busses as our guide took us across a street with no crosswalk. I told my mom, just move when Charlotte moves, don't thing, don't try to use your brain, let her be the brain...if you stop to think and look at what you are doing you will get your butt run over.
Lunch! Wow! We went to a place on a side street filled with locals, Charlotte ordered for us...a lot of food, we loved it all! I now love the sautéed cucumbers in a sweet brown sauce, but the best part was the steamed dumplings! They made them fresh right there...pure heaven, I could, and will probably try, to eat these every day! We had one plate that were filled with a mildly seasoned vegetable mixture and the other plate was filled with a pork and vegetable mix. Charlotte and my mom liked them plain but I really liked them dipped in brown vinegar. I have got to get some more of those soon.
Below is what it looks like driving around much of the city, very beautiful and green, the trees hanging over the street reminds me of Savannah without the moss.
Creature comforts...in order to survive (and cured my jet lag like a charm) I paid $4.25 for a diet coke after breakfast in the hotel...so we told Charlotte that we needed to buy our daily "fixes" somewhere else!
Next stop..Starbucks! I brought good creamer with me from home in a shoe box type plastic bin and some Starbucks VIA instant coffee...and it was good, and we knew we would need more to get each day started for the next few weeks.
We picked up enough to last us until we get to Guanzhou for about $16. !Not bad for two people to have good coffee for 7-8 days. Luckily our hotel in GZ has a Starbucks in the hotel lobby. Did I mention that I totally love China so far!
Part 3 next post!
We made it to China and it is Great!
Long flight, not much sleep, but my mom and I made it here just fine. On the flight we had a little brown eyed toddler boy sitting in front of us...seriously made me miss my little Mac...I wanted to ask the Mom if I could just borrow him for a while, he was an active little thing, she probably would have appreciated the break!
Movies: watched Bridesmaids..hysterical, wet your pants funny! However if you are watching if on a plane and have kids around, fast fwd through the first 30 seconds, it is crass and graphic...and you will be embarrassed if some sweet little old lady is sitting next to you.
Watched Company Men... liked it.
Hangover 2, it was Ok, funny parts, on a plane it kept me entertained but of course there were parts that grossed me out and there could never be one as funny as the first one.
Water For Elephants, also good I thought..., takes place during prohibition time, shows the life of the traveling Circus people, your basic good, sweet story, nothing riveting or like changing, sweet.
So 15 hours over to Tokyo, 3 hr layover, another 3.5 hr flight to Beijing, arrived in the Hotel and in the bed a little after 2:00am China time.
So, on to the good stuff...yesterday we had breakfast at our hotel, great needles, fried rice, and 2 different flavors of steamed buns...very good!
They had regular American stuff too but ...this was sooo good, glad I skipped the boring stuff!
Our guide picked us up at 10:00 am and we headed to the Forbidden City. It is very large...beautiful architecture.
Below is my mom with out guide Charlotte...and she is absolutely amazing. She is a single mom to an 11yr old boy...who called her crying today because he lost his retainer. My mom and I got a good laugh...I too threw my retainer away on a lunch tray when I was in middle school...in think every kid that ever had one did the same thing at some point.
Charlotte explained that the Chinese people consist of those that are of Han descent, the majority, then 55 different minority groups. The little lady below is one of the minorities from the southern region of China.Posted
Just beautiful! The traditional dress was so intricate, incredible detail. I wanted a picture with her, thought that might freak her out so I passed.
Below is one of the many large urn things that were once totally gilded in gold, now worn off quite a bit.
I love these carvings found on each corner of the buildings. Only the emperor could have 10 creatures on his corners...and commoners were not allowed to have that number or the same creatures...apparently rules like this were seriously enforced.
The carving above was made from one solid piece that was brought from far away. It was so heavy they had to wait until winter, pour water on the ground and let it freeze. Then they pushed the giant stone on the ice path all the way to the forbidden city and then if was carved here once it arrived...took many months to make its way there.
See that red step i am standing on...ghost barrier...great idea, I want one! Seriously, it is traditional tonhave one of these at the entrance to a home to keep out the ghosts and for further ghost insurance there would be a screen placed a few feet in front of the entrance to deflect the ghosts back out the door...wanna know why that screen thing is so effective...cause ghosts can't make turns! Ha, bet ya didn't know that. I find that to be very useful info. If you are ever being chased by a ghost just make a left turn!
Above and below is the ornate ceiling inside one of the throne rooms.
Below is some kind of jewel encrusted wand with a clock face on the end, beautiful.
Above is what the bedrooms looked like in the living area for the empresses and the concubines.
Above is a man that is drawing a picture of the man in the blue coat on the plate. Charlotte said he has been coming here drawing pictures of people for over 10 years.
We walked through the gardens in the Forbidden City and they were spectacular. Above is my mom standing next to large cedar trees, the red square on it indicated that it is over 300 yrs old. In a traditional Chinese garden there are 4 elements, water, a place/structure to sit in the shade, evergreen trees, and I think the last one is rock...but don't quote me on that.
Flowers are not a part of a traditional garden.
If i remember correctly, this is the North Gate. That is the only gate that the Empresses and concubines were permitted to use.
After we left the forbidden city we walked around the city of Beijing a bit. When we were driving into Beijing from the airport it completely felt like riding throu Atlanta, same look, they have more trees in the city though, very beautiful...now when traffic kicked up in the afternoon when we left the forbidden city...nothing like Atlanta, the driving is crazy but totally fun to experience when you have a good driver. If you arent paying attention here you will get runover, cars and mopeds and bikesnand pedestrians...all over the place, sidewalks, crossing over lanes into oncoming traffic, those mopeds are so quiet, you could easily get popped. But the city is beautiful and energizing. I will post the rest of our day in the next post, this one is getting long!
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Movies: watched Bridesmaids..hysterical, wet your pants funny! However if you are watching if on a plane and have kids around, fast fwd through the first 30 seconds, it is crass and graphic...and you will be embarrassed if some sweet little old lady is sitting next to you.
Watched Company Men... liked it.
Hangover 2, it was Ok, funny parts, on a plane it kept me entertained but of course there were parts that grossed me out and there could never be one as funny as the first one.
Water For Elephants, also good I thought..., takes place during prohibition time, shows the life of the traveling Circus people, your basic good, sweet story, nothing riveting or like changing, sweet.
So 15 hours over to Tokyo, 3 hr layover, another 3.5 hr flight to Beijing, arrived in the Hotel and in the bed a little after 2:00am China time.
So, on to the good stuff...yesterday we had breakfast at our hotel, great needles, fried rice, and 2 different flavors of steamed buns...very good!
They had regular American stuff too but ...this was sooo good, glad I skipped the boring stuff!
Our guide picked us up at 10:00 am and we headed to the Forbidden City. It is very large...beautiful architecture.
Below is my mom with out guide Charlotte...and she is absolutely amazing. She is a single mom to an 11yr old boy...who called her crying today because he lost his retainer. My mom and I got a good laugh...I too threw my retainer away on a lunch tray when I was in middle school...in think every kid that ever had one did the same thing at some point.
Charlotte explained that the Chinese people consist of those that are of Han descent, the majority, then 55 different minority groups. The little lady below is one of the minorities from the southern region of China.Posted
Just beautiful! The traditional dress was so intricate, incredible detail. I wanted a picture with her, thought that might freak her out so I passed.
Below is one of the many large urn things that were once totally gilded in gold, now worn off quite a bit.
I love these carvings found on each corner of the buildings. Only the emperor could have 10 creatures on his corners...and commoners were not allowed to have that number or the same creatures...apparently rules like this were seriously enforced.
The carving above was made from one solid piece that was brought from far away. It was so heavy they had to wait until winter, pour water on the ground and let it freeze. Then they pushed the giant stone on the ice path all the way to the forbidden city and then if was carved here once it arrived...took many months to make its way there.
See that red step i am standing on...ghost barrier...great idea, I want one! Seriously, it is traditional tonhave one of these at the entrance to a home to keep out the ghosts and for further ghost insurance there would be a screen placed a few feet in front of the entrance to deflect the ghosts back out the door...wanna know why that screen thing is so effective...cause ghosts can't make turns! Ha, bet ya didn't know that. I find that to be very useful info. If you are ever being chased by a ghost just make a left turn!
Above and below is the ornate ceiling inside one of the throne rooms.
Below is some kind of jewel encrusted wand with a clock face on the end, beautiful.
Above is what the bedrooms looked like in the living area for the empresses and the concubines.
Above is a man that is drawing a picture of the man in the blue coat on the plate. Charlotte said he has been coming here drawing pictures of people for over 10 years.
We walked through the gardens in the Forbidden City and they were spectacular. Above is my mom standing next to large cedar trees, the red square on it indicated that it is over 300 yrs old. In a traditional Chinese garden there are 4 elements, water, a place/structure to sit in the shade, evergreen trees, and I think the last one is rock...but don't quote me on that.
Flowers are not a part of a traditional garden.
If i remember correctly, this is the North Gate. That is the only gate that the Empresses and concubines were permitted to use.
After we left the forbidden city we walked around the city of Beijing a bit. When we were driving into Beijing from the airport it completely felt like riding throu Atlanta, same look, they have more trees in the city though, very beautiful...now when traffic kicked up in the afternoon when we left the forbidden city...nothing like Atlanta, the driving is crazy but totally fun to experience when you have a good driver. If you arent paying attention here you will get runover, cars and mopeds and bikesnand pedestrians...all over the place, sidewalks, crossing over lanes into oncoming traffic, those mopeds are so quiet, you could easily get popped. But the city is beautiful and energizing. I will post the rest of our day in the next post, this one is getting long!
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Mac is Two!
Got some catching up to do so...last Tuesday (10/11/2011) my mom and dad came into town and we, along with Kristi, surprised Mac at his school for his birthday. We brought in cupcakes decorated like baseballs and some little juice boxes and treat bags and had a little party.
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Wow! My little Mac Man has grown a lot in hid first two years on earth. And yes I miss that little baby, but i so love my little mac man...and I am in China right now...thousands of miles away from him...it's going to be tough without him for two more weeks...I need some Mac Love!
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Wow! My little Mac Man has grown a lot in hid first two years on earth. And yes I miss that little baby, but i so love my little mac man...and I am in China right now...thousands of miles away from him...it's going to be tough without him for two more weeks...I need some Mac Love!
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