Trains, Planes, and Food poisoning-A trip to China, Part 1

Dear Readers,

We left on Singapore Airlines for Shanghi, China on a Tuesday afternoon. The flight was good with lots of movies and good food. We planned on spending five days in Beijing and then five days in Shanghai where Steve works. We spent the first night in the Marriot outside Shanghai where Steve usually stays. Next door is the Bubba's Texas BBQ place. Yes, it's for real. A place where westerners hang out, drink beer, and eat BBQ. They play country music and wear cowboy hats. I was very amused.

The next morning bright and early we caught a taxi to the high speed train station that just recently opened. I have been following its progress in the newspapers-trains stop during rain storms, passengers trapped on dead train, train crashes, train officals arrested, mechanical failure on the train so I was worried. We had soft chair tickets and sat in the last cabin next to the engineer. We were given warm cokes and a chinese lunch. The bathroom was nice. And sure enough we arrived in five hours at an average speed of 300 kilometers. Then when we got off the train and tried to get a taxi, we soon came to realize that our taxi driver who spoke no english whatsoever didn't have a clue as to where our Marriot hotel in Beijing was. He drove in the general direction, taking us to the wrong place, asking people on the street for directions, and finally giving up at the place next door. We kept pointing out the hotel (one of the largest in the city) as we drove by it but to no avail. We hopped out and dragged our suitcases down the sidewalk until we got to where we were going. The Hotel is surrounded by the remains of the wall of the city (1400's) Ming. We walked around it after we got checked in.

The Marriot Beijing was a great hotel with several restaurants and helpful people who all spoke English. We immediately booked tours for the next two days. They would be private tours with a guide and driver only. We don't like the bus thing. So we enjoyed the buffett breakfast in the morning and headed out of town to the Great Wall. The ride was an hour and a half and I saw cars turn into motorcycles turn into horse and carts. Every spare inch of land in Chinese is planted in something. Vines growing vegetables are everywhere. I saw very little livestock. Some goats. A group of ducks, a donkey. Donkey meat by the way was for sale a sign said. Why these signs are in English, I am not quite sure. There are several portions of the wall available to tourist. Steve wanted to see the part less traveled, the part not fully restored so we walked straight up to a cable car and then straight up to the wall. The sky was hazy, gray, and the weather was hot-hotter than Singapore. I was drenched in no time. At no time, I should add, did I see blue sky in Beijing. Not ever. It was gray every day. Pollution? I wondered. Anyway, I could not keep up with Steve on the stairs and uneven pavement on the wall. Finally, I sat down and he ran ahead. While sitting there, another woman came over and sat down to rest. Turns out she was with a group of army people from California. One asked where I was from and he said I have a brother who went to Virginia Tech. He sent me a T shirt with a Hokie on it. Do you know what a Hokie is? I told him no one really does. Anyway, it was a small world. They went on and another woman sat down. Is this where the fifty and over people sit? Yes, it is, I said. She was from Chicago and was hiking the entire way. I had to admire that. Steve came back and I limped back to the car. On the way back, I saw a couple getting dressed for a wedding on the wall by the porta potties. Yes, dressing in the open. The potties were nasty!

We were taken to a "factory" when we thought we were heading to lunch. This is typical of the tours-trying to force you to buy something. I believe the guide gets a kick back. We bought two Christmas ornaments (I do collect them in Singapore) so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Then at the "factory" we were seated in a cleaner, air conditioned place for lunch. A little boy rode his trike in and out staring at the westerners. He evidently lives there, hence the laundry outside the door. Food was interesting and tasty. I was always worried, though, about the quality. Next we went over alot of mountains and landed at the Ming tombs.

Here the first emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried under a mountain. No one has dug him up. Our guide told us all kinds of things-the religion was feng shui, Some of the grave items were on display. I should mention that the place was falling apart and needed painting. I should also mention that all heritage places belong to the people and so the people treat the place like home. They have picnics all over, sleep on the benches and walls, stare at westerners, and if a little one has to pee, well, anything is fair game. They smoke like chimneys and there is no where they don't smoke. They pay absolutely no attention to signs-they are too many for the police to bother with. And they will walk, lean, push on you and never say a word. They are happy to walk right over you. Having said that I was not surprised to see a big empty building. Every building we saw was empty because they told me that anything over 100 years old is up for sale. They have sold all their antiques, heirlooms, grave goods, or all the loot they could get a hold of to anyone willing to pay. So all they have are empty buildings-mostly restorations that the guide passed off as authentic. I had read ahead though so I knew that the tomb had been rebuilt in 1950 and the Forbidden Palace was rebuilt for tourists too. We drove back to town and were late, due to traffic. We had reservations at one of the best duck restaurants in town. We couldn't even shower-we literally ran from one taxi to another, ran into the restaurant in front of alot of irate people to get our back table. Then we discovered no one spoke English and we couldn't read the menu. The poor waitress kept coming around and we just looked at her. She got mad, disappeared, and came back with a man who could speak English. At last we ordered our food and got our duck. It was delicious.

That was the end of our first day in Beijing.