beiging day 2

The Beijing marathon continues. We did the city center today, the Forbiddin City, where the emperors used to live,(where Last Emperoror was filmed). It;s amazing the see and hear all the languages from around the globe, tour groups from around China, from Australia, France, Italy, Russia, Japan, US of course, and those are only the ones I recognized. Flags, umbrellas to indicate the group leaders, sometimes every member is wearing a red Nike hat, sometimes uniform t shirts, sort of like kindergarteners at the zoo! We followed a red Mickey Mouse umbrella all day. And of course I was the one that got lost!. I was just trying to get a picture of these amazing copper dragons in the window frame of the imperial dining hall, and take shots of the building to put it into perspective, and when I looked up, I didn't recognise anybody! Fortunatley, the plan had already been laid, call "Maria's" cell phone (walk up to any group leader, show the #, he/she will call and you will be rescued). It worked. All the group leaders are government employees, did I mention that earlier? Seems EVERYBODY is a gov't emp. china seems to be one huge public works project. I asked if we would be able to get a look at the stadium being prepared for the 2008 olympics, but that's off limits, under wraps, however you like to put it.
We wer sheparded past Tien an men square, waved at Mao's tomb from a distance, Her explanation for why we didn't walk Th"RU the square was that it was heavily policed due to the risk of a Falun Gong member attempting to torch himself on the square. I've read a little about Falun Gong, but my reading was a tract protesting the government's using them as "organ donors", or for medical experiments. So who knows what the truth is?
But after lunch, (finally! :) ), S"H"OPPING. Went to the government pearl store, and of course even the gov't employees there will haggle! Beautiful colors, settings, did get one dressy and one casual necklace, then she "threw in" a pendant, and some little things I'll probably use as X-mas tree ornaments.
Finally to the Herbal Health Center, where I guy in a white lab coat explained chinese herbal medicine, then a group of "professors" came in and offered each of us an opportunity to be diagnosed, using radial pulse and looking at the tongue.
I have bad kidneys (as do all the older members of the group) and that's the root of all my joint pain and swellling. Hey, who am I to question, this has been around thousands of years!
Finally supper, dim sum style again (breakfast was the only meal where we had the opportunity to get food without sodium, could there be a reason for all the kidney problems?) and dragging back to the hotel. wakeup call tomorrow, 6 am, and on the the GREAT WALL!!
I'll keep you posted!

good grief

Pulling up my blog on this side of the globe presents me with all the login info, etc in Chinese!!
Last eve I typed a long entry, and this am it's not there! Double drat!
I merely wanted to make a comment about this hotel room. We have the usual plastic pass-key to
get into the room. on entering, the "key" goes into a slot by the door, I thought just not to get lost, but really, to allow us to turn on lights, TV, etc. Then when we leaave it all goes off when we pull the key out. Pretty cool, huh?

I made it

Egad, what time is it there?!? It's 5PM in beijing, and I've finally gotten a shower in our 16-star hotel, or at least that's what I feel about it, after the events of the last 24 hours.
Plane left timely from memphis, where I had the tightest security check of all my passages through security (go figure).
LA airport is not nearly as exciting or glamourous as I somehow imagined it would be. We hauled bags from Northwest to China Air, and then manually to their x-ray machine, then went to the gate to hang out for over 2 hoursand pay $14 for a sandwich and a water, and it's already past my bedtime. Finally at 1AM (on time) crew members start to arrive... and arrive, and arrive.. turned out it was a 747. Over the Pacific that's logical, but I don't do this much. First class and business class were in a separate level above the economy class where we all were ( I swear I saw Woody Harrelson and companion zip on board at the end of the 1st class line, but nobody else saw him, and we couldn't see that section.
So, now, finally settled in for the mother of all flights (14 hours), bone tired, neck pillow, noise-cancelling earphones and eye mask, and it's still pretty brutal.
At 5AM, we touch down in Beijing, and somehow, I don't know how, a bunch of us are game to do the "optional tour", for an extra $30, we are fed dim-sum style (twice, breakfast and lunch), visit the old Hutong district. It's basically a neighborhood, arranged sort of like a chess board, houses face inward to a central square, and the adjoining roads are reallly alleys. All brick here is grey because the dirt is gray, and these buildings are left that color because, apparently, all paint colors have meanings, or significance. A family welcomed us in to see their courtyard, a palatial one reallly, with a pear and persimmon tree, and koi in a huge ancient tub. The very proud owner told his the government gave his father the house because he wasgood soldier.
Eye level billboards on the ally walls show citizens being appreciative of the military, and soldiers helping old folks, and that sort of thing.
We rode bicycle rick-shaws and were assulted by steet venders... all in all had a great time!
Andrew, you were right about the toilets, but thank heaven there are some western ones. I'm no ready to learn how to stand over a hole! And Daniel, you were right too, it helps to have a notebook along to scratch notes so I can write ya'll a halfway decent blog.

this hotel has www access and we're gonna be here 2 more days. Don't know what the other places will be like.
Right now I'm going down to the 3rd floor and spend 228 yuan for a full body massage. Tough life, eh?

goin' to china!

It's Friday, May 4, and the big U of M Orchestra trip for China begins on Monday!
I will be feeling my way through this, hoping to post from abroad when I get the opportunity.
Since this is purely for family and friends, I hope to get comments, even updates from the home front.
See ya'll in June!