Exploring on My Last Day

Thursday, June 12, 2008--Beijing (Continued)

I went wandering in the early evening. I walked down the nearby walking street. The neon lights were flashing on all the stores. I went into one department store to explore. It was beautifully done inside--half the store remodeled and the other half being an addition. Their food halls were nice to explore. I also just watched everyone having a good time.

I went around to another block to find a restaurant recommended by my guidebook. They specialize in dumplings. I got two orders--one of pork with cabbage and one of mutton with onions. Each consisted of 10 dumplings. There was a woman behind a glass partition making the dumplings as they were ordered. I saw her dipping the inner mixture with a spoon, putting it into a flat dumpling disk, and them pinching the dumpling closed. She tossed each dumpling into a wooden basket with a woven bottom. Then when she had them all prepared, she put the basket into a steamer to cook them. They came to the table hot and very fresh. I mixed some pepper sauce into some soy sauce and started eating. UMMMM! But 20 dumplings is a lot of food. I barely finished them off.

A Norwegian couple came into the restaurant while I was there. They had their 15-month-old daughter with them. The staff of the restaurant went wild over the blue-eyed blond. They baby sat her while her parents ate. They asked me about going to the wall, so I wrote directions about where to go to catch the bus and which bus to take.

Friday, June 13, 2008--Beijing

I decided to explore today. First, I walked north from my hotel to the National Museum. It is the museum that was having an opening the artist on my airport bus encouraged me to attend on Monday night. The exhibit there is of new media. Most of it is interactive. It was so much fun. And it was fun watching everyone else there. I got several photos of me interacting with various works. It's hard to describe the pieces. I think it's best to try to see such an exhibit.

From there, I walked further to a popular hudong here in town. That's a "local neighborhood." It's what has been torn down in so many parts of Beijing to make way for huge hotels, offices, etc. This one is located just northeast of the Forbidden City and is still intact. It's so pleasant to walk along the narrow streets and see the small shops in the quaint buildings with tiled roofs. This one is especially popular with tourists because of its location and the fact that there are several hostels within the area. Therefore, there are many small cafes and shops that cater to tourists. Unfortunately, like almost everywhere in Beijing these days, there was construction to mar the experience. They are putting new underground cables down the streets, so the pavement is torn up and the atmosphere is lessened by it.

While in the neighborhood, I wandered to an intersection where the Drum Tower exists. That's a tower that has a large drum. It used to be beaten to let the people know the hour of the day. Now it is just a big tower that is open to the public as a tourist attraction.

My guidebook showed an internet cafe nearby, so I went searching. China has been closing many internet cafes, and it is hard to find them. The one I have been using is in a youth hostel by the train station and charges more than the normal neighborhood places would. But there are no signs to make it obvious to the tourist that a cafe is here. The guidebook showed the Chinese symbols to watch for and said it would be on the second floor of the building. I found a stairway with one of the symbols over the doorway, so I went up. Sure enough, the cafe was there.

By the way, the first day I was here, I was able to read the Greenville and the Commerce newspapers online. Not since. My guess is that the government minders go over the websites that foreigners visit (since we have to be identified by our passports when we use the internet) and decide which websites to block. Of course, the Greenville and Commerce newspapers have nothing but local news on them--turning the first spade of dirt for the new elementary school, the wreck that injured 3 people, the fund drive for the family whose house burned, etc.

Oh, I forgot to mention Nike. They have the costumes for the Chinese teams in their stores. But they won't let people take photos!!! What a turn off. Do they expect we will copy them and put them on a competing team at this late date? Makes me want to boycot their stores.