Summer Palace

A must see in Beijing is the Summer Palace. We expected to visit the palace in a few hours. When we arrived and saw the sheer size of the property, we knew we would have to rearrange our plans for the afternoon. The scenery is tranquil and the architecture is elegant. It took us hours to meander through rock caves and wander through the Chinese classical-style structures.

Our first arrival at the Summer Palace and a great shot of Longevity Hill, which was named after the Qing Dynasty Emperor's mother on her 60th birthday.

In order to get around the Summer Palace one must take a dragon ferry. The ride wasn't nearly as fun as watching people stare at us. During that short ride, I think there were at least 10 pictures taken of us in one form or another. Not to mention the group of people who followed us after we hopped off the boat. It's great to be famous.

Some of the many structures:

The crowds were ridiculous, but that is to be expected in China. The great thing about the Summer Palace is that it is huge enough that if you aren't in the path of a must-see sight, you can sit and relax without any bother at all. Next time I come I am bringing my children, a blanket, and a picnic.

Warning! - Chinese Style

When you arrive at the Beijing airport one of the first things you see is a glass case of what you are not allowed to bring into the country. Heroin is a no-no and so is psychotropic substances. And if you wondering what those things are, here is a nice sample:

Also, no Spam.

For the dignity of all man kind, shouldn't have this been band years ago?

These signs also intrigued me. In case you don't know Chinese or English, there are pictures to clearly define what you should not be doing.

...or shoot cobalt blue laser beams from your camera

My only question for this one is, what if you change your mind in the middle of your business? What to do?

Chinese Opera

Our first experience in Beijing was going to a Chinese Opera. Since Amber is a theater major and actress by profession, we just had to see a production. I had no idea what to expect, which made the experience even more fun. We hadn't eaten since the plane so the jasmine tea and salted peanuts sustained us for the duration of the show. I think the lack of food and jet lag made the view oh, so, pleasurable. (I periodically saw vivid fairies and rainbows during the performance and a Pink Floyd song was playing in the background, it was awesome).

Chinese opera shows began around the 1200s and have been one of the most popular forms of mass entertainment in China. Apparently, there are 300 different styles of Chinese opera all consisting of music, literature, dance, mime and martial arts. The music is funky and sounds a little like my kids' playroom when they find the box of chimes, symbols, and xylophones. The quick tempos and the slow tempos don't seem to correlate with the actor's actions, but maybe that is part of the drama??? I didn't get the rhythm.

Red make-up on a male character signifies bravery and loyalty, while white denotes a powerful villian. (If this is true, the man shown above is deeply confused). Clowns usually wear a white patch on the tip of their nose to indicate wit or playfulness. The guy shown below didn't have much white on his noise but I could just tell he was a playful guy. I think my first clue was that the expressions on his face changed every 3 seconds.

Mastery of this art takes years. Actors usually start when they are children and they pick their specific role from the beginning. In other words, once a villain, always a villain. The singing intrigued me. How do the Chinese know if they are good singers or not? The tonal sounds make their music go from screeching to flat within one bar. Traditional Hindi music is equally confusing, it all sounds like a church choir gone wrong to me.

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This guy looks like Hanuman (the Hindu monkey god). I am not sure who he was exactly but he had some serious martial arts skillz (ie. spinning swords on sticks). Monkey madness I tell you.

We saw this show at the Forbidden City. The movements during the fight scenes in this show were amazing. What equally intrigued me was how unidentifiable the gender of the person in white was.

Chinese opera is a worthy attraction and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I think next time I will opt for the acrobatics. Those Chinese are bendy.

Chinese Take Out

Although I knew Chinese American food was very different from Chinese Chinese food, I wasn't expecting it to be completely tasteless. Isn't that what MSG is for? Aren't the Chinese known for their love of MSG? Now I am confused.

Even the crazy food had no flavor. It was disappointing. I don't have a heightened sense of taste, but to merely feel texture and no flavor in my mouth, was just plain boring. I can do weird, gross, spicy, or sour, but nothing? Meh. The only exciting part of Chinese food was perusing their menus. I have come to realize that the Chinese will literally eat anything to stay alive. Also, they have no English friends who can help them with the translation on their menu.

'Shannon bacteria dry shrimp beef'

'The shop sign makes an oxtail secretly'

'Balled salty chicken feet'

'marinated chicken green sauce'

And my all-time favorite:

'Donkey of doing boiler Hunan'

'Monolithic dual-crisp pickles'

You would think I went out of my way to find such a yummy menu, but not so. You can find these gourmet meals anywhere in the city. Turtle heads, duck tongue, and chicken brains, can all be found at pretty much any restaurant in town. You can also choose your favorite fish from the tank:

You can choose the live fish, the barely alive fish, or the ones floating at the top. Your choice.

We did find a meal on Wangfunjing St. that wasn't half bad. The other options were the following:

Which I had already eaten in Arizona. Rattlesnake, in fact, killed by my husband. Grandma has the belt to prove it. Not bad, like chicken.

Foreigners have to pay $2.50 for a sample and I was too cheap to pay for my stomach to be pumped. Plus, I paid too much money to get to China than to only spend time with Chinese toilets. I would rather see the Summer Palace. I am not a food wimp and the usual Terah would say 'heck yeah', but since it was the end of the day and the smells were high, my stomach and head were saying no. Therefore, disappointingly, I did not try many of the unidentifiable treats. It will be saved for the next visit to China, I promise. The only one I nibbled on was the starfish. It was grainy and tasteless and I know next time if I am offered one, I can pass.

I even suckered squeamish Amber to try it out.

The only food that was slightly appealing was this assortment of caramelized fruit. Haw fruit even grew on us.

Truthfully, the only good food we ate the entire time we were in China was at Da Dong Restaurant. Uh-mazing. The menu also consisted of its fair share of crazy concoctions, but our dishes were carefully picked and out-of-this-world.

The sampling was not just food, it was art. Like this sweet pork rib snowy island:

...and carefully craved Peking Duck with all of the tasty condiments...

...and a mere side order of asparagus with rose petals and bamboo wrapped ends:

My final report on Chinese food: 'Starve yourself, or chew ice chips while in China. It is more flavorful and less gut churning. That is, unless you can visit Da Dong and then gorge, baby, gorge.'