We toured the Hutongs (old Beijing) on the other half of our free day. This was probably the most interesting – even more so than the temples and palaces. It provided a stark contrast to how the royalty lived and breathed. The hutongs were little more than shacks at times. Others, modest homes at best. We tried walking them at first, but it was just too damn big. We never would have walked down some of the lanes our rickshaw driver took us – just too scary looking. Many of the places only had public baths – no water in the homes? Even scarier. We saw people washing themselves in the streets. It made us thankful to have a roof over our head and hot and cold running water. At the end of the hutong tour, we stopped at the Bell Tower, a large 17th century structure with, as you can imagine, a big-ass bell. It started to rain afterward, so we canceled the tour of the adjacent Drum tower (I can imagine a big-ass drum well enough), although we did get a nice view of the hutongs from above.

Without our guide, getting around in Beijing was a real pain in the ass. We had a card from the hotel with the address and map to it, both in English and Chinese, but we must have hailed a half dozen cabbies before we found one who knew the way. I’ve never been in a city where so many cab drivers didn’t have a clue as to where to go – even with a map, an address and phone number – and they all had hand phones. I figure they were either lazy, illiterate or both. When we did find a cab driver who agreed to take us back to our hotel, we got only a few miles. He stalled his car at a light and could not get it started again. He found another cabbie for us and we were on our way again. We weren’t even that far (15 minutes) from our original location. It wasn’t just us, either; several others in our tour group had similar experiences for their free day. Beware, travelers to Beijing – bring a translator, a guide or your own damn vehicle. The Olympics should be fun for lots of people next year who attempt this.

The next section of the video is the park surrounding the Temple of Heaven. Hundreds of people were there early in the morning performing various exercises, dances, sports and other activities. Our guide said it was a way to reconnect with people – so many live in crowded condos and apartments they’ve lost the sense of community that the older villages provided. It was interesting to see so many older folks working out. It gave us a real sense of Beijing and its people.

I may pull together a few more photos and videos for another post, but this might be it for a spell. We visited several arts and crafts factories (don’t you ever wonder where all those “Made in China” products come from?) and I’ve got some nice pictures of sweat shops. Making these videos takes time, although I enjoy doing it. I hope you enjoy watching them.

After seeing the palaces of Chinese royalty, it was time see some of their religious practices. the first stop was the Lama Temple, a Tibetan Buddhist style temple. Myeong Hee and I were surprised by the number of deities that were whole or part animal. Although she is a (sometimes) practicing Buddhist, she’s never seen animals in the temples or on the altars. We figured that was the difference from Tibetan Lama style and Korean style, in which there is only people, albeit multiple deities.

The Lama (as in Dalai Lama) temple was far grander than any other Buddhist temples I’d seen – either in Korea, China, Thailand or Japan. Not surprising it was highly recommended as a stop. We went to the temple on our free day, in which no guide was along to hurry though all the places. We took our time and strolled along, reading what we could from the minimal English placards. Myeong Hee thought how lucky I am to have been born in America and speak and read English. No where but Korea and maybe a few adjacent airports was there any Korean for her. I did a lot of translating, although she does understand a lot on her own.

The remainder of our free day, we spent among the common folk in Beijing and the pictures and video didn’t juxtapose well with the Lama Temple as the Temple of Heaven, a place we went to on our final day in China. I’ve got media from the common areas that was, in some ways, far more interesting than the palaces and temples. I’ll share that in another posting. The Temple of Heaven, the second part of this video, is where the Emperor conducted the yearly rituals to pray for rain or a good harvest. They conducted enormous ceremonies with animal sacrifices for the “god of heaven”, altar fires and flowery speeches. It was interesting to compare and contrast between the Buddhist temple and the state religion of Imperial China.

China is a strange land with a mysterious past and an even more complicated present. The Buddhist Lama temple is tolerated, even protected, although a Christian church was nowhere in sight. The Christian churches are nearly on every corner in Korea, and especially easy to find at night.

This was Monday, July 30th. We went to first Tian’anmen Square and then on to the Forbidden City. The Square was large, but otherwise unimpressive. The Mao Mausoleum was closed (as were many structures around town) for renovation in preparation for next year’s Olympics. The other structures were simply monuments to the glory of the people and its armies and revolutions. A lot of wasted space, in my opinion, especially since they aren’t going to be allowing the students to have demonstrations again like they did in 1989.

Adjacent to the Square is the Forbidden City, a place where for centuries only the Emperor, the Empress, concubines, and government officials were allowed to go. Just as commoners were not allowed in, some of the royal court did not go out and spent their entire lives within the walls. Two of the largest structures, as you will see in the video, were undergoing renovation and the scaffolding marred the view. Understandable, given the timing, but lamentable nonetheless. The Forbidden City was still quite impressive. Again, I wondered how many royal feet walked the same steps as I, strolled though the same hallways and sat in the same garden. Centuries of history passed through this place and its magnificence was intoxicating despite the renovations.

The Square and the Forbidden City encompassed what seemed like miles of walking. The heat and humidity was oppressive and we were soaked in sweat. The bus ride to dinner only served to chill the sweat on our shirts and not really cool us off. After dinner, we went to an acrobatic show which was excellent. The costumes were bright and colorful and the acrobats were talented.

This tiny little lady balanced several stacks of plates on every part of her body while she twisted herself around the platform. I don’t think I’ve seen one so bendy as her. She could hold a platter on the sole of her foot and twist herself around from stomach to back and even her head without so much as a jingle.

This is probably one of the best shots I took of the evening – the clarity, the costumes, the cuties…too much.

Although the photo is a bit fuzzy, I kept it anyway. This guy balanced on one hand as he walked/hopped first down the steps from the platform, and then back up again. The strength and balance it must take to do jumping, one-handed push-ups has to be extreme.

These girls did all manner of tricks on their bikes. At times, it was hard to tell who was riding and who was driving.

By the end of all this, we were more than ready for an early bed time. Day three we would be on our own, exploring Beijing without the benefit of our guide but at the pace we wanted.