I'm wandering around my house today trying to stay awake. That jet lag can be brutal. My trip was an amazing and very educational experience. To see just a tiny bit of the Chinese culture was very eye opening. It is so different from ours. It made me truly grateful to be born in this country at this time. On our plane ride back, my friend and I made a list of likes & dislikes of our trip. I thought I would start there.
Favorites1. The Great Wall of China - This was the best part of the trip. It was amazing to see it and then climb up to the top tower. The climb took about an hour and was brutal. Very steep with approximately 2300 steps. Yes, I counted them on the way down. I'm nuts. I was so excited to be on "the wall" that I decided to call Scott and tell him where I was at 3am Utah time. I'm sure he appreciated me waking him up.
2. Shopping at the Silk Market and Yau Show Market. The shopping was cheap yet exhausting. We were constantly bombarded with vendors shouting things like "Hello lady I give you best price" or "Very good quality". If you even slowed down to look into their shop they would grab your arm and pull you in and start trying to sell. The first time we went to the market we were very overwhelmed and intimidated by them. They were not rude, just very pushy. If you tried something on and you didn't like it they would not take no for an answer. Even if it clearly didn't fit they would say "this is only the model" or "It will stretch." And these Chinese people were tiny! I was trying on clothes that were XL and they fit just right. We also noticed subtle things they were doing to keep us in their store. As soon as you started bartering for the price, one of their friends would stand by the door so you couldn't get out as easily. They would hold your arm or give you the calculator to hold. By the end of the trip we finally had the bartering process perfected. We also developed a thick skin and learned we had to be blunt with them. We both regret not buying more stuff. The prices we got were fantastic! I will never be able to buy jeans here again. This is a pix of my friend trying on jeans - no dressing room, just a sheet!
3. Sacrament Meeting - I had the opportunity to attend Sacrament Meeting while I was there. They have one branch in Beijing. The branch is large and very diverse. Yet, the Chinese are not allowed to attend. Again, it reminded me how lucky I am to live in a country where we can worship as we please.
4. Hutong Tour - In China about 20% of the residents live in Hutongs. This number use to be significantly higher, but Beijing is slowly tearing down these areas and replacing them with high rises. These Hutongs are small villages with 500-700 people. To me they almost seemed liked compounds with lots of narrow alleys, with several homes that are connected together and that share a common courtyard. Our tour group toured a Hutong by rickshaw and then were able to go into a family's home. It was definitely eye opening to see such a different way of living. In this home we noticed a cricket in a cage. (If you remember in Mulan she had a pet cricket). Apparently having crickets as pets and then getting them together to fight is a common hobby. Who knew?
5. Tai Chi - In the mornings Kari and I would go down to the local McDonalds, buy some hot chocolate and go to the local park. Here there are groups of people doing Tai Chi every morning. The men would get together and bend and stretch and the women would do Tai Chi. Sometimes to music and sometimes without. My favorite part was watching a group of ladies do Tai Chi with a racket and ball. The inside of the racket was rubber and the ball had sand inside. These women would do amazing things with the racket and ball. I was so impressed!
6. Forbidden City and The Summer Palace - Very interesting to see these historic site and learn more about them. I thought the most interesting part was learning about all of the symbols that they use on and around their buildings.
7. Cloisonne, Silk and Jade Factories - More tours on items that are unique to China. These factories are government controlled which means the prices on all the goods are a lot more expensive.
Not So Favorites1. Squatters - As Western as the Chinese claim to be, they are still a bit behind on the bathrooms. Squatters are essentially a porcelain hole in the ground that you straddle, squat and do your thing. Gross, definitely gross. In the bathrooms they would have 6 rows of these and then 1 or 2 actual toilets. There was no toilet paper so you had to bring your own. Plus, the people there did not flush their toilet paper down, you throw it in a trash can. So needless to say the bathrooms stunk. I was so amazed that we would go into a bathroom in a very nice restaurant, see marble countertops and then see a row of squatters. Chinese have bathroom ratings. 2 and 3 stars mean no toilets. 3 and 4 stars mean toilets. I will not miss the bathrooms.
2. People - Now I recognize that I only saw a few Chinese people and I don't believe every Chinese person is like this, but the ones I encountered at the hotel and at the tourist spots weren't very nice. Plus, they have no problems with spitting, chomping on food, staring, bumping into you and making all sorts of noises in public!
3. Pollution/Traffic - Although the city is clean the pollution and traffic were absolutely terrible. There was a haze covering the city the entire time and I don't know how long we sat in our tour bus stuck in traffic.
4. Hotel - Our hotel claimed to be a 4 star business hotel. In the lobby on the front desk there was a flat screen TV that advertised a business center with all the amenities. There was no business center. Every time we asked they either told us no, that it was "in maintenance" or "in repairing." The elevators were slow and our bathroom would flood every time we took a shower. It took us a few times to figure out how to keep water off the floor.
5. Pushy Salespeople - Wherever we went there was someone trying to sell us something. Everything from Rolex watches to Gucci bags. I learned not to make eye contact with them and not even look at what they are selling. If you showed even mild interest they would not leave you alone.
Funny ThingsSome of the funniest things I saw on the trip were English words translated from Chinese. Our hotel had a breakfast buffet with half Chinese food and half American food. These were some of the things I could eat:
"Purple watery gruel"
"Tofu brain"
"Chaos"
"Arterial Sclerosis"
"Old Sweet Corn"
We saw a sign advertising a steak house in the city. It said "Probably the Best Steak in Town."
This picture is a sign on The Great Wall of China.
All in all I had a great time. I would definitely go again - especially for the shopping!
