Beijing, China (Saturday)

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Saturday

Well almost sleep. Allie's roommate came home and started snoring, maybe 2 hours after I went to bed. A few hours later I woke up because Allie finally came back but only a few hours before I had to wake up. So much for my full night of sleep. I didn't wake up in time for breakfast again and had to settle for more granola bars. I got picked up by a different tour guide but the same driver. We only had seven of us on this tour (we had ten the day before), but I liked small tour groups. We had one mixed Asian couple, one older British gent named Geoff, and three new graduates from UC Berkeley! Those girls were fun but it took us a few hours to warm up to each other. They were traveling together across China as a graduation present.

Our guide's name was "Power" we called him Power-walker. He walked so fast he constantly lost our small group (where HE would be the only one not with the group). We went to our first stop, the Summer Palace, it was crowded and the tour of the Palace felt rushed. But it was still beautiful. We got dragged to a Pearl Factory and had a surprisingly good lunch there. We all ate too much because we didn't know the next time we'd get good food.

Then we went to the Forbidden City (call thus because the only person who could come at go at will was the Emperor, once you went inside you were never allowed out, don't ask me why). Well we tried to go to the Forbidden City, this turned out to be harder than it should have been. The gate we were supposed to enter had a looooong line (which we didn't know about until we got off the bus and had to run to catch as it was idling in traffic). We finally got power-walked to a golf cart thing that took us to a less crowded gate. We then got power-walked through the Forbidden City in about half an hour (this place is huge too). But we didn't get to see Tiananmen square.

We then got hauled to a silk factory, which was actually slightly educational, but I was getting annoyed with all the factory stops tours seemed required to make. We finally got taken to the Temple of Heaven. It truly was a paradise of the day. The sunlight was just lowering to the golden hour and the overcast day cleared up. An evening breeze cooled everything off and the colors and shape of the Temple appealed to me on every level, the colors (blues and gold) the shape (round), both my favorites. We even got to skip the power-walking and got set free for half an hour. It was probably my favorite monument after the Great Wall. It even felt alive in a different way than the other over crowded palaces. There were dozens and dozens of retired people sitting around playing card games, or dancing, or singing, some were selling little things they made, but not in an obnoxious way. It felt real and alive and like I was actually seeing part of the city and not just a rush of tourists.

We were all tired and looking forward to going back to our hotels, but no, we got taken to a tea tasting instead. "Power" walked us right past our bus in the parking lot to this tea house (also in the parking lot). *Groans of tiredness* We at least got to sit while they showed us the different teas and had us try them. In truth it was the best factory tour we'd had. I enjoyed tasting the different teas and even bought a few tins of tea (maybe because they looked pretty too). And I got a free cup.

We finally, finally we got taken back to our hotels. There was another note on the bed when I got to the room saying Allie had gone to dinner. I'd missed them by half an hour. Again. I took a shower (happily, you get so grimy on all day tours) and went to dinner alone again in the hotel. I was too tired to explore for food.

I also talked to the concierge to plan my Sunday and met the famous "Storm Li" that all the hotel review sights rave about how good he is. And he was. He saved my Sunday. He found out the remaining things I wanted to see and showed me on two different maps (marking and letting me keep them) how I could take myself on the subway. He then wrote out step by step directions of which stop was which and where to change trains etc, and every detail I needed to know to rule the subway.

I talked to Allie for a short time when she got back from dinner. She has badly hurt her foot on Friday night and had stayed in the room Saturday. I packed and planned my Sunday more than I normally would because I had a plane to catch that Sunday night and didn't want to miss it. Blissful sleep.

(see next post)