Day 8 & 9: Beijing

Day 8: Started the tour at 8:20. Unfortunaly, the group wasn't as lively as yesterdays group, but I did manage to meet an Australian couple.

The first stop was the 'Ming Tombs. This is where the Ming Emperors are buried. There are 13 of them buried here. The emperors are buried here with their wives, concubines, and the eunuchs. Jade (especially jade belt) was an important factor and was only given to very important people in the kingdom.

We then headed to the 'Jade' factory, where we saw how Jade was made. Then we headed to lunch and then to see the Herbal Factory. At the herbal factory we were brought into a room with a few herbal medicine doctors and their associates. The herbal medicine doctor examined me. He was a chinese man in his 60's, no more than 5'7'', with a white coat and big thick, dark, round glasses. He grabbed my wrist and checked my pulse then he asked me to stick out my tongue. After some time of piercing into my eyes, checking my pulse, and asking me a serious of questions via the associate (translater) he explained to me that my 'liver was overheated'. The he prescribed some herbal medicine for me...boy I thought I hadn't noticed any smoke coming out of me lately.

The last stop was the 'Great Wall of China'. It is one of the wonders of the world. It was magnificent. We took a cart half way to the top of the Great Wall. It was like riding on a rollercoaster. We got off and headed towards the top. It was quite crowded and my tour guide explained to me that climbing the 'Great Wall' is the duty of every Chinese to do before they die. Some parts were very steep climbing up and I almost slipped, you can just imagine how the workers constructed this as it is so steep. As I headed to the top, I got stopped a few times by some Asians to ask if I could have my picture taken with them, I noticed a couple of the other non-Asian fellow tourmates were being propostioned also with the same question. It's interesting, the Asians find it such a novelty to see non Asians and have their pictures taken with them.

Later that evening went to dinner with Asha (my good friend from high school that I am staying with in Beijing) and Ellen (the Norweigan gal, I met on my first tour of Beijing), who has excellent English. We went out for dinner and had an interesting conversation. I had commented to Ellen how I didn't think she was Norwegian and she told me that she is not a typcial Norwegian, as most of them are more reserved. We then talked about the cultural differences between the Norway and U.S. She had told me that Norweigans bring and drink their own alcohol at parties, since alcohol is very expensive in Norway and that Norweigan mothers get up to a year off with pay when their babies are born and their husbands are eligible for paid time off as well. Not a bad way to live I would say....

We then headed to a local bar called 'Bar Bleu'. The bar was very similar to the bars/clubs in the U.S. very modern, nice couchs (very important for those of us 30+), a dance floor with American music, it was like almost being back in the U.S.

As we were getting our drinks at the bar, I decided to ease off on the alchol and get a 'diet coke' after the herbal doctor had mentioned that my 'liver was overheated'. I was in the mood to meet some local Beijingers as I realized I hadn't met too many and only had a couple of days left. I noticed a Chinese group sitting at one of the couchs. I slowly approached the Chinese group and asked if my friends and I could sit with them, they were a little relutant at first and then agreed. As we started talking I soon realized they all worked for 'HP' (my former company) in Beijing and they all had worked for the same division of HP that I had worked for. I thought boy this must have been faith, out of all the couches I could have picked in the bar, I picked the couch with the fellow HP'ers. Then as I was talking to one of the guys, he then mentioned to me that he had gone to 'Purdue', (my alma mater...go Boilermakers!!!!), what a concidence. Then after further discussion he told me he use to live in Fremont (I used to work there). Boy what a small world it is. I had to go all the way to Beijing to find a fellow HPer that had gone to Purdue. The night ended with Asha (my high school friend) and I dancing to 'Billy Jean' by Michael Jackson, it reminded us of our high school days. What a great night....that night I found a little bit of home in Beijing.

Day 9: Did anyone say 'Duck'? Yes, today is the day that I tried the famous 'Peking Duck' and famous it is. Asha and her family (her husband, and two small kids (Anand and Akash)) joined me to go to the 'Quandjude Roast Duck Rest'. We had to be careful not to say 'Duck', since Akash (who is 2+)was a little sad when we told him we were going to go eat 'Duck'. After we received the 'Duck', Akash slowly joined in trying some and things were okay. They had all parts of the duck on the menu. We put the duck in a thin pancake and then added green onions and plum sauce, it was delicious....

More info. on Beijing and attractions above: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/attractions.htm