Saturday, July 10, 2010

From the mist and clouds a Great Wall rises. This was the thought of the day as we awoke after listening to the rainfall all night and trickle into a makeshift water fountain outside our door. I must say, with the absolute darkness and calming rhythm of the rain it was the best night sleep I’ve had in a long while. It was an early start to the day as we were the first pick-up of the tour group. We were out the door by 7:30AM after the regular American breakfast: 1 egg, spam, bacon, toast, and fruit. What the breakfast lacks in flair is made up many times over by the cheerful girls who are eager to make our stay here wonderful.

We made the hotel pick-up rounds with “Sally”, our guide for the day. We were happy to see Maggie and Islam at the third stop. They are a nice couple from Dubai that we met yesterday. With the 13 guests on board, Sally gave us the daily schedule: Jade factory, Ming Tombs, Cloisonné factory, lunch, Great Wall, Tea House. Whew…that’s ambitious. Honestly, we’re quite entertained simply driving around Beijing and observing daily life here. There are many “ordinary” things going on that are so different and unique to what we know and do in our daily lives. Just being here is enriching beyond measure.

The Jade factory visit was notable as we learned of the many attributes and cultural significance of Jade. Michelle purchased a lovely jade bangle that she will wear on her left hand close to the heart and one-day hand down to Ava when she gets married. This is a Chinese tradition among women to hand down a jade bangle to their daughter.

The Ming Tombs was underwhelming and I felt we were rushed through without much time to read and reflect. The surrounding orchards were abundant and lush. The small periodic fruit stands that I could see featured cherries, apples, sweet melon, apricots and corn.

After lunch, we took a short (20 min) drive up a winding road to the Baldaling section of Great Wall. This was to be the highlight of Beijing for Michelle. From the bus we could see various guard towers fading in and out of view. Although the rain held off for the day the air was thick with moisture and a light breeze pushed wispy clouds mysteriously through the Wall’s sections. We though that it was fitting that we should have Seattle weather on this day and the cool breeze was welcome. Sally took some time to repeatedly tell us about the “Obama” section of the Wall and that as we head up we should “turn left” to see the famous area where President Obama visited. Finally, after the third time hearing this, I asked, “Where is the Reagan section…?” I got a quizzical look back. Anyway, Michelle and I ventured to climb as far up as we could in the next two hours. When we reached the junction point we turned right and kept going.

The long distance vistas of the Wall were obscured by the misty clouds. Rather than gaze North from where the Mongols would invade in the past we could focus on each unique step in front of us and appreciate the now. Today this ancient Wall served as a powerful metaphor for our present journey.

Dr. Tea is the place for the official state tea…or so we were told. We slurped, swished and laughed and left with three varieties of tea to share with the West.

So, this is a new feature here - the quote of the day. Here’s the set up. We were dropped at the street corned at the end of the day because the bus could not make it down the narrow alley to the courtyard. Right off the bat Michelle spotted a steamy gurgling set-up on the corner. Upon closer inspection it was a neighborhood hot pot. Upon really, really closer inspection we recognized ABSOLUTELY nothing that was on the wood skewers being presented to us a “food.”