Random moments

*originally posted 18 October 2007

I love the chairman! Am only simple tourist!

Favorite (but nonetheless random!) moments from our first day in Beijing…

Our taxi driver from the airport, when hearing me try to fumble through my crappy Mandarin, “Do you speak English?” popped in the cassette player what must have been Learning English for Taxi Drivers –he would repeat the English phrases, we the Mandarin ones. Things like”would you like to go round trip or just one way?” or “do you mind if I smoke?” The three of us must have seemed utterly adorable and ridiculous all at once.

Seeing morning t’ai chi on the sidewalk.

…then there was the elderly man who was doing grande plies using a shrub for support. Right there on the sidewalk.

Glimpsing the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the entrance to the Forbidden City, with its imposing portrait of Chairman Mao as we emerged from the subway station. It’s huge, red, did I menton imposing?– I remember Steve saying something to the effect of, “I can put the guidebook away now…” as his voice trailed off while we stood there, dumbstruck.

Queuing with hundreds of Chinese on their pilgrimage to see Chairman Mao’s body on display at the Memorial Hall in Tian’anmen Square. Then the expressions on their faces while we were paraded past his corpse…and the trillions of flowers that were laid at the foot of his statue. Despite going against everything I ever thought about the man, he is adored here; ‘At the centre of the centre of China lies a corpse that nobody dare remove’ -Tiziano Terzani

Discovering the heaven that is Beijing duck, especially the better-than-bacon (gasp!) duck skin. Steve says I started squealing. I just remember the look on his face as he bit into the deliciousness for the first time. Beijing (apparently calling it Peking is a big faux pas) duck is sublime: take a rice pancake, then a piece of duck–carved in front of you– dip in plum sauce, add green onion strips, roll in the pancake…et voila.

Holding our own at line no. 4 at the Beijing railway station as we bought our tickets for the next week, amidst a crowd of at least 10 pushy Chinese attempting to get their requests in first. Steve even felt his jacket pocket being unzipped, but he stopped it just in time.

Witnessing Buddhist devotion at the Tibetan Lama Temple. The smell of incense will forever take us back to that moment: Buddhists raise the lit incense above their heads and bow down exactly three times to each and every statue/icon there (and there must have been at least 50). We even saw a child who couldn’t have been more than five years old doing this with his mother’s guidance. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, watching this.

I let the staring bother me for about 5 minutes. Then Steve had the bright idea to stare right back and end it with a goofy grin. The effect is either 1) they look away, which is satisfactory, or 2) they smile back, which is heartwarming. Win-win. Maybe today we’ll get the courage to add an Irish jig with our smile.

We’re off to change hotels–one with heat, please– explore the Forbidden City (that has such a chilling ring to it, forbidden!) and eat all the street food that I can get my grubby hands on.