Market of Dreams

On one of our last days in Beijing we visited what our guide book called the "Market of Dreams." It's a combination of flea marketyness and small stores which display their wares in their shops and on tables out front. I do not think there wasn't anything that we did not find here: scrolls, paintings, games, clothing, jade, pearls, marble, chops, bobble heads, statues, silver necklaces, arm pieces, hair ornaments, books of Mao's sayings in several languages, incense, baskets, furniture, doors, and things I couldn't even identify.

Props to Lauren who took all these pictures:

























We did us some good shopping here. I am not a bargainer, not at all. Lauren on the other hand is good at it. They want 100 yen for something she laughs and says 30. A combination of using a calculator, me as an interpreter, and a little walking away later and we end up with a fairly decent deal.

The Forbidden City

One of our many stops in Beijing was to the Forbidden City. Home to Chinese emperors from it's completion in 1420, the Forbidden City has 980 surviving rooms and covers 720,000 square meters, which is a lot of squares. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, UNSECO listed it as the world's largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Shrouded in mystery, the city was as forbidden as its name implies and it wasn't just anyone who got an invite; until the Japanese and Western governments helped the Boxers topple the last Qing Empire and replace it with Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Shek then later with Mao. I think they got the fair end of that deal, no? Sorry, I just finished an Anchee Min book and find myself feeling uncharacteristically sympathetic towards the (former)Chinese government...In any case, Royal Palace or tourist attraction the Forbidden City still rises majestically in the center of Beijing.



Even after entering the main gate the massive size of the city is not immediately apparent and remains so until you start passing through the various halls and buildings and you just keep going like it stretches on forever.













Once you're done being completely overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the space you can concentrate on details...like the longest single piece marble carving in the world.





And the color! Oh my gosh the colors. And all the fantastic details both large and small.



















And have I mentioned that there are also gardens? The gardens are buried way in the back and were for the private use of only the emperor and his court.















It was really amazing to be able to see this with my own eyes. I've seen the Forbidden City featured in many movies, read about it's history and histories of the people who have ruled it and to finally be there myself was a real privledge.

The Great Wall...or...The Most Terrifying Experience of My Existence

Lauren and I spent a large chunk of November in China. We've been planning this trip for months now and I was so excited as I have wanted to see China for years and years now. We made pretty good use of our three weeks and hit all the major sites of Beijing, Harbin, Xi'An, and Shanghai. We took advantage of being in Beijing to spend a day hiking on the Great Wall. There are several sites on the Wall for tourists. Badaling is only about 30 minutes outside of Beijing and it is probably the one most people think of...in fairly decent repair, smooth walking, etc etc. We didn't go there. We went to a section 3 hours outside of Beijing for, I believe a 6 hour hike that involved give or take 8 miles. Maybe 10? I'm too traumatized to think about it.

We got there and had a choice; take a cable car up the mountain, or walk an additional 45-ish minutes to get to the same starting point. Yeah, we totally took the cable car. The cable card ride took about 20 minutes and I was a little freaked out. We were fairly high up and there was nothing below us except the ground a very far distance away.



The view on the way up though could not be beat.





And once off the cable car (which we had to jump out of while it was still moving), the view got even better.











Then we started walking. I will preface with no, I'm not in very good shape and while the hike would have left me winded regardless, it was not lack of breath or out of use muscles that had me trembling; it was stark, cold fear. I am afraid of stairs. People laugh and ask "seriously?" Yes freaking seriously. It's not heights, it's stairs. I fall down a lot. Generally for no good reason. I can be walking across a perfectly smooth floor barefoot and just collapse. usually not very gracefully either. I'm tall and big and hit the floor hard. So unlike my irrational fear of airports and clowns and full body mobile Kermit, I feel that stairs are a pretty darn legitimate fear. I have fallen down the stairs at my parents house (broke my tailbone), at my university, down both sets of stairs in my house, down the escalator at the Foggy Bottom metro, up several staircases...and so on and so forth. I did not know that the Great Wall had that many stairs. It's a wall, walls are, you know, even. I thought that I would be walking, not frigging climbing bloody stairs. Stairs that, by the way, were often 12 to 16 inches high (I don't know how Lauren did it) and were crumbling and falling apart.







During the time that it took us to pass through the 30 towers we had to get to our pick up point, I shook with fear and terror. Sometimes there were bits of actual wall or ramparts or whatever on at least one side of the stairs and I could cling to that on my way up or down. I liked those bits. Most of the time I relied on the help of a local who attached herself to me and helped me in hope that I would buy some of her stuff (which I happily did cause I would not have made it without her). The absolute only thing that kept moving me forward was the absolute knowledge that there simply wasn't another way. I could either move forward or stay in one spot indefinitely. I stopped a lot along the way, sometimes I just needed a minute before I could face the next five. Sometimes I couldn't breathe I was so scared.

I cried several times on the wall. I wonder if in a few months when I think about it if I will only remember the incredible beauty and awesomeness of the views and the knowledge that I was standing on a piece of history...or if I will always remember that it was the most terrifying experience of my entire existence.

Muli bwanji from Zambia: The Airport Cha-Cha

On Friday night, I boarded an overnight flight to London. The flight to London was really easy for me. Almost immediately after take-off, I put on my eyemask and ear plugs, took a valerian root cap and was dead to the world. I even missed dinner on the flight, and didn't wake up until I felt the plane start its decent into Heathrow. I felt pretty rested, and was definitely ready to move.

My plan for the day was to meet K at Paddington station, where we would shove off for a whirlwind tour of the key things to see in the city. With her advice, I boarded the Heathrow express, and it was sound. At Paddington station, I quickly found the statue of Paddington Bear as he is remembered for being "found" there by his family. Once K and I found each other, we rushed to the Tube and headed for the Theames where we saw Big Ben and the Tower, and the London Eye, which is just a giant Ferris Wheel. Considering my great fear of Ferris Wheels, I was more than happy to keep my distance.

Next Stop: Westminster Abbey

The line here was so long, that there was no way we'd be able to take a tour. I snapped a few shots of the architecture and details, thankful for my college gen eds-- ART 101 which helped me to identify the stylings, etc. From there, it was on to Buckinghap Palace as we chattered away about how unimpressive and stoic it felt. Actually, the building looked remarkably like every other government building in DC: Stone, neo-classical columns, and security out front. K mentioned that it's a great spot to people watch, and once again her tip didn't disappoint as we watched the tourists' lack of respect for the memorials, climbing all over them!!!

From there, we headed to Trafalgar Square and saw Nelson's Column, a memorial of a battle from a long time ago that remains in the in the English modern memory...ewkay. From there, we rushed around to find food, with almost no luck, missing the English "lunch hour" at all the pubs, so my hopes for a real eeeeenglish Fish and Chips lunch were dashed temporarily. We ended up at the Texas Embassy (yes it's a real place!) for some pretty respectable tex-mex offerings. K told me that normally in the UK you'd get Doritos and tomato sauce, and they'd call it chips and salsa. These were nothing like doritos and the salsa was quite respectable with a kick that I figured was probalby really hot to the English palette.

Unfortunately, after lunch, I was about 30 minutes behind schedule. We rushed back to the Tube, and luckily I managed to get the train I needed back to Paddington quickly. But I was nearly dashed when the Heathrow express train I was on was delayed outside the airport by about 20 minutes. If you're doing the math, that means I was nearly 1 hour later than I scheduled myself to be....I was making contingency plans in my head, and praying fiercely...Once at the airport train station I ran (yes RAN!) with my backpack on and laptop in hand all the way to security without stopping. Hey, a girl's gotta get her exercise, eh?! Thankfully, security was no problem for a vetran like me as I slipped out of my shoes, took off my jackets, and breezed through with no problems. It also helps that I didn't have to take my laptop out of the bag. Thank goodness the English security xrays don't have a problem with laptop bags like TSA in the States does. I got to my gate (nearly the very last on in Terminal 1) just as they started boarding....whew!

The flight to Johannesburg (Joburg) was 11 hours and I probably got 5 hours of sleep give or take. I decided I was going to like South African Airways when I found socks, an eyemask, and a toothbrush in a pack on my seat with a heavy blanket and pillow. After my toes nearly froze off on the flight to London, I was thankful. Little did I know that would be the last cold I would feel for a while. The flight was quite hot, but I wasn't complaining, despite having spent the second day in a row in the same clothes...I watched a movie and continued reading my book (Eclipse)

The Airport in Joburg was interesting...it was my third airport in as many days. I traveled for 36 hours in all before getting to Lusaka, and I was amused by the fact that the music at the airports was not your usual muzak like you'd find in an elevator. Nooooo, this was american hip hop music...and as I treked through the airport with my hand luggage I was practially dancing to the cha-cha slide, and laughing at myself for doing it, but I was amused!

By the time i got to Lusaka I was pretty well cooked. It was hot...really hot and I was in long sleeves and pants standing out like a sore thumb compared to all the tourists in their linen and sandals. It's hot here...but I'm thankful for a breeze that flows almost constantly. The people are friendly, and when I went to Mass last night, I don't think I've ever heard singing that was so beautiful in my life. The voices...the VOICES! That's all I can really say, since i have no other words for it...what a blessing it was to have been able to hear them, I can't wait until next Sunday!

It's late here and I"m going to sign off for now since I have to be at our office early tomorrow morning. I hope to be able to share some more pictures than the two I've posted here very soon...wish me luck with a faster Internet connection.

Goodnight, and love to you all.