Victor Sizemore's Blog

I didn’t do much on day one except for sleep! So I made the most of day two…

Saturday, November 3, 2007

I started off the morning around 9AM to hit all the major sites, mainly the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. I chose to do a walking tour suggested by my Lonely Planet guidebook, which seemed ideal but I was quickly off the beaten path. First I caught a cab to a popular shopping area to begin my tour. The next stop was “Snack Street” for lunch. This is a little hidden area tucked in an alley literally behind huge stores like Gucci and etc. Snack Street was packed with people, food, and trinkets! My first snack I got bated in by a guy who spoke English so I bought a plate of fried dumplings and a coke for about $3. (21 RMB) After the quick bite I kept walking down the alley when something else interesting caught my eye. From a distance it looked like candy on a stick but when I got a little closer and to my surprise it was an array of tiny creatures on a stick. I’m talking seahorses, bugs and scorpions! I opted to go with the beef it was delicious! Next I passed several more food huts, kitchens, stands that were all jammed with people eating and cooking. The next thing I ate was a candied fruit on a stick, yummy!

I made my way to the end of the ally out of the food and into the flea market type area with tables and booth spilling with knickknacks and trinkets. Of course I stuck out like a tourist with hair and the baseball cap is a dead give away. I got approached by everyone to see everything. After I bought a few old Chinese coins for the boys it was worse! Since you’re a tourist you get quoted an outrageous price and then you have to bargain and when in doubt walk away or pull out the cash value of your final offer. For example one guy wanted 80 RMB for a pack of ten postcards I got them for 15… (Approximately $11 to $2) Before I head to the airport I’m going to stop back and get the boys a couple carved Chinese soldiers, a chess set and a few Olympic souvenirs.

My brain was overloaded after making it out of Snack. I was back on the main shopping plaza street, which was foot traffic only. There was a Toys R’ Us type store having a sale out front so I scoped a couple Transformer toys, one Optimous Prime helmet with a voice changer and a descent size Bumble Bee that played music. They were both way over priced. At the end of the plaza I headed West by the night market which I never got to experience because it doesn’t get started until about 5PM and goes into the wee hours of the night. My hotel was too far away to make it back at night. It’s an open market of tents and carts down one side of the street, there had to be at least 200-300 food carts.

I finally reached the Forbidden City wall and corner guard tower after ducking in and out of little shops along the way. Here I just took a few shots of the tower but the light wasn’t quite right to get the best photos. So my plan was to tour inside the Place but to get to the entrance I had to walk back across the moat and to the main gate (Heavenly Gate) on the South side by Tiananmen Square. However, this is where I got lost/sidetracked! I was supposed to go one more street which would have lead me through a park by a temple and eventually to the entrance. I went do a different street that was sort of like the arts district in San Juan Capistrano. There were shops, restaurants, and everything you could think of lining the streets but then behind the storefront was a somewhat connected home. I kept walking and peaking in several places. After looking in a one window someone came out and approached me in Chinese. I gave them the I don’t know and no,no,no but then another person came out, then another… Finally, a couple that had just arrived came out and explained to me that this was a Traditional Chinese Tea House. They wanted me to join them for the experience. Why not… The couple was super nice! She was from Shanghai and he was from a smaller village that was famous for Kung Fu. I can’t remember the name but it’s about 7 hours inland from Beijing. He also noted there were a lot of Monks and both Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were students of his village.

The Chinese culture has been established for so long it’s amazing the traditions that are still going. There is a way to do everything, even in the Tea Ceremony. I had to hold my cup a certain way, no cheers like alcohol, smell the tea first and drink three sips to finish every cup. The cups were no bigger than a 2 oz shot glass. In all we sampled 11 different kinds of tea from all parts of China. There was green tea, black tea, Jasmine, leafs, one that looked like rice and smelled like chocolate, one that grew on the top of a mountain with no sunlight and it was neon green, one that looked like flower pedals and was purple and tasted like juice, and there was even one that expanded into a whole flower. They all looked, smelled and tasted completely different. It was pretty amazing! Betty translated everything for me to understand.

After tea I finally made it to the Forbidden City, I walked around the entrance and in the court yard for a while and took a few snaps but decided on to go in.

For dinner that night I met up with William and some of his friends there was 7 of us in all. I had to go across town to the Eastside. We ate at a pretty fancy, tablecloth type place. The service was phenomenal and you don’t even tip in China or most other parts of the world. Anyway, we were all to ourselves in a room for dinner. I thought that was kind of neat. The regular restaurant was downstairs and then a bunch of breakout room upstairs. A couple of the girls ordered for everyone, we had like 15 different dishes. However, there was one thing that everyone came to eat and it was the “Big Gate Crab” or “Hairy Crab”, it gets the name from actually being hairy. They’re claws are covered in black hair and the legs with red. They have to come from Yangcheng Lake and be eaten in the fall when they’re a certain size. The female crab is filled with roe and is much sweeter tasting than the male, but you get more meat from the male since the claws and legs are bigger. There is a certain way to open the crab and break it apart so you can eat the orange roe first while holding the legs like a spoon handle. All the dishes at dinner were good but one other favorite was the baby eel in mushroom sauce, yummy!