Do all americans eat left-handed?
Today we saw the (also cold) Temple of Heaven and
the infamous Pearl Market.
It was a day
with our new friend, Jian Hua.
Chinese
medicine.Tracy woke up with a
cough, so Jian Hua and Humphrey went out to get her some traditional Chinese
medicine... it's thick, not too tasty, and seems to be
effective.The Temple
of HeavenSome things are bigger
than the Forbidden City.... today we went to the Temple of Heaven - where the
Ming emperor would go to ask the gods for a good harvest. It's the last
surviving example of Ancient Ming architecture. It's all built around the theme
of the 9 levels of heaven. The emperor and his posse would enter the temple
(through different gates, of course) and follow a path, with several stops, to
the temple itself. First stop, change clothes... and then the rest of the
prayer road. Tracy and Jian Hua on the
steps leading to one of the stops of the prayer
road:
Here's me in the center of the 9
levels, asking for access to the temple; which is in the
background.
And here is the temple
itself...
Nice coat - starting to look familiar?
By this time, Tracy is quite ill.Next
stop, lunch... we stopped at a little cafe and ordered rice, tofu, and chicken
- just as a snack. It cost about $3, including drinks (coca cola) - appallingly
expensive - but it's in a park. What can you do? It's about a mile to get out
of the park... in all directions. I
asked Jian Hua if the coke was made with corn syrup - but she didn't quite
understand me... what's the character for
sugar?While we were eating, Jian Hua
was chatting with the staff, who asked if all americans use chopsticks
left-handed... Jian Hua had a hard time explaining that both Tracy and I were
not forced to change to right handed, as she was. Before coming, the etiquette
book I was reading made me think it might not be okay to eat with the left-hand
so I had practiced using the sticks in the right hand before coming... so I
switched a few minutes later. That got a nice
laugh.Jian Hua is a big fan of music
and the Temple of Heaven park contains a Museum of Music - where we were going
next... only 750 meters from lunch; or say the signs. It was colder inside the
building than out - all in all, not good for
Tracy.
If you want to find THIS museum, read
the signs... there's not Starbucks in the Temple of Heaven for providing
bearings. :-(The
Pearl MarketNext up for the day,
the market (after much debate about did Tracy want to walk through a market -
assuming it was outside) - but surprise, it's almost a
mall!Walk in and you are immediately
assaulted with sales pitches for reading lights, leather goods, cashmere (of
course), silk, and for me, BELTS!
It's a cacophony of
"Here Nice
Lady""Buy a
belt?""Special Price for you! - You so
pretty.""Sir, buy a belt! Have your
size."Deny the pleas after browsing
and if you are not actually grabbed to prevent leaving, you
get:"No looking, just
buying."(After all the admonitions to
buy a belt I had to check that my pants weren't around my
knees.)Dinner.Because
Tracy was feeling wrecked, it was going to be dinner with me, Alex, Humphrey,
and Jian Hua at 6:15. I took Tracy up to the room while Jian Hua waited to meet
Alex in the lobby. Turns out she heard "quarter 'til" and told Alex 6:45... so
I got to wait with her when returning and have a long conversation. She really
is one of the nicest people ever... we talked about all sorts of geeky things
(and religion, and some stumpers like "What is aikido for?").
Some highlights from the philosophy of
Jian Hua... "Dinner is for conversations first, then food." (She doesn't really
eat...)This was right after she told
me about "Humphrey Time" - she quoted a famous Chinese philosopher, whose name
escaped me, however, "Time is life, being late wastes time, so tardiness kills
part of those who you make wait." I won't name names... but these are words to
live by. Dinner was chinese
"fast-food" just down from the hotel... not Panda Express. You would not
believe how many dishes our hosts ordered... 15 for the 4 of us, or more. It
was really tasty... of
course.The last of
the Scenic
Sopts?We're
planning to go to Xi'An in a couple of days to see the terra cotta soldiers; so
this may be the last of Beijing's scenic spots that we get to
see.
But tomorrow, we make a visit to
Humphrey's home - Tianjin. This is so we can see the college town and the
technical and economic development area (TEDA); which is a planned city
nearby.
Posted: Mon - January 8, 2007 at 08:56 PM
|
Quick Links
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat
|
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 13, 2007 05:14 PM
|