(no subject)

[lizzybennet]

Day 2 didn't exactly start off on the right foot. We hailed a taxi and asked him to take us to one of the restaurants directly across the road from Tian'emen square, one that was likely to serve a western style breakfast. He took us to a hotel that he knew of...when we arrived there the hotel was closed. He refused to take us elsewhere and we ended up getting out in some strange part of town. We had to hail another cab and have him take us directly to the square. By now our time was running out and Chris was suppose to be meeting up with the student group. We ended up eating KFC for breakfast that day. Chris went ahead and I assured him that I could find Tian'emen square on my own. After all, it is a huge place and it was just right across the road from where we were.

Unfortunately, while we were in the Square it was so crazy with hecticness that I had no time to a)listen to Chris' lecture about the history of the Square or b)contemplate the bits of history that I do know about the Square. Looking back now, I would never have taken the kids there if I'd known what was going to happen. Of all the times we've been asked to pose for pictures, this was by far the very worst. I think it was because most all the people visiting the Square are tourists. Also, we went on a Saturday so it was jammed full with people. We were just thronged with people wanting us to pose for photographs with them. I suppose the most unique situation was when two men in wheelchairs wanted the boys to sit on their laps for a picture. The boys were very patient and did pose for many pics, but to be honest they could really care less about all that posing. When they looked at the Square, all they saw was lots of flat open space to run in. They played tag and duck, duck, goose.
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Here's an example of one of the pics the boys posed for. I snapped along with the little girls mom. It is a bit odd to think off all these random strangers who have pictures of my boys. I wonder what they tell their friends when they are showing off their vacation photos. "Look, here are some white boys that we saw in Beijing."



An example of the crowds in the Square.



This little kid just couldn't stop staring at us. Sometimes I've started staring back at people, just to see how long they will look before they get embarrassed and look away. I know, it may seem rude of me but you'd just have to experience life here to see what I mean. It just gets so old be a spectacle all the time. Imagine if you were walking down the street in the US in a bright, Vegas girl costume with a huge feather hat. Imagine the stares you would get...well, we get those stares everywhere we go just because we are foreigners with three kids.



The boys playing tag in the Square.



There were guards posted all over the square.

After we finished at Tian'emen square, we walked across the street to the Forbidden City. I'm sure it is no coincidence that Mao's body lies to rest directly across from what was once the home to China's emperors. btw, we didn't go see his mausoleum, as it has a huge line. I'm just not that interested in looking at a dead body, you know? The Forbidden City was disappointing for a few reasons. The kids were so ready to be done with sightseeing by this point. They had just had enough. But, we were with the group and couldn't seem to get away. We had to stand around and wait and wait (and wait some more!) before we could get in. At this point I had had enough of being pointed at and photographed and I really had no more patience for it. At one point I saw a little girl pointing and running towards us, while her mom waved the camera in the air. I took off and pretended like I hadn't noticed her. It was just too much. Once we finally got in to the City (after over an hour of standing around) it turned out the biggest building was under construction. That was it for me, I had no interesting in looking around, I just wanted to get out of there. We pretty much rushed straight through it. Looking back, I realize we missed quite a lot, but there was not much to be done about it. The whole family was worn to a frazzle.



Connor running in the Forbidden City.



I love this picture. Here we are taking a breather from our hike through the city. The boys were complaining (rightfully so) about how sore and tired their feet were. Zack said his feet were going to fall off and he was only going to be left with stubs :)



Finally, we made it through the City and headed for the Hard Rock Cafe. It was so expensive, and so worth it. I think I mentioned before that we had root beer there! Pretty much the only soda in China is cola, lemon-lime or orange. Sometimes we find ginger ale, or there are always the chinese flavors to try (such as mint sprite, mint orange, or coffe cola) but we prefer to stick with what we know. But that root beer was heavenly. The boys played on the a foosball table for a long time. They had a great time and it helped them forget about the horrors of the morning trek.



Here is Zack eating his chocolate milkshake. He said to me "Thank you so much for bringing us here! It's the best place ever!"

After lunch, I had promised the boys that we would go back to the hotel and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon. That's exactly what we did. Naps and video games until dinner. It was just what we needed.

For the evening, we had planned to go back to the tea house to watch the show. We showed up a bit early because we weren't sure if the tickets would sell out or not. After we bought our tickets, we just walked next door to eat at the closest place. We had Peking Duck again, along with a few other tasty dishes. I know I mentioned about the lady and her drunken friends who accosted us for photos as we were trying to leave. Well, she emailed several of the photos to us and I'll post those another time.

The show was so awesome. The boys loved it. I think I always enjoy things the most when I see that the kids are enjoying it. They really loved the Beijing opera act of the Monkey King. The man who played Monkey was so super talented. Of course, my camera ran out of space, so I wasn't able to take many pics of the show. My favorite part was the mask changing act and we all really enjoyed the kung fu artists as well.




Thus ends day 2 with us utterly exhausted but happy. What started off as a really bad day ended as a really great day.

Comments

[risingpheenix.livejournal.com]

All of you, dye your hair *lol*. Just kidding.

Was it a rainy day or is that the smog? It seems so gray and dark.

I would love to see the Forbidden City. Have you seen Jet Li's "Hero"? The photography is amazing and I had been wondering if it was actually filmed in the Forbidden City, the parts that look like they are shot there.