May 19, Thursday

Howdy from Beijing! 

Today was our typical "American Tourist" day in Beijing.  Not having any agriculture related stops, we got the low down on the City of Beijing. 

Rolling out of bed bright and early, we were on the bus by 7am headed to the famous Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City to beat the rush (crazy tourists) that come in the middle of the day.  These historic places in the middle of downtown Beijing are an important part of China's ancient and modern history. 

Sitting on more than 110 acres, Tiananmen Square can host over half a million visitors at a time.  It also houses former Dictator Mao's tomb as well as a Monument to the People's Heroes and the Zhengyangmen Gate.  It is surrounded on either side by the People's Congress of China building and China's National Museum.  It was kind of cool to see who had the most curious Chinese people that would ask to take a picture with the weird tall white people from America.  Being the tallest guy, I think Corey got featured in the most snapshots. 

Crossing the street, we headed into the first gate (Tiananmen Gate) of six gates entering into China's Forbidden City.  This city was home to the royalty of the Quin and Ming Dynasties from 1406 till 1924.  Taking over 300,000 workers to build, it was under construction from 1406-1430 A.D.  It was called the Forbidden City because the common people were never allowed to enter its gates until 1925 when it was opened to the public.  It was home to over 3,000 royalty and concubines at a time, with an astounding 8,704 rooms.  This 180 acre city (in the middle of a Beijing) takes over 50,000 workers to staff.  We were all blown away by the history, detail of architecture, and size of this palace.

During lunch at a local restaurant, our tour guide (Michelle) switched hats for a couple minutes and made a delicious dessert of fried apple toffee, which finally hit a note with the sweet tooth we have as Americans.  I think we've all been missing the sweet desserts that we usually enjoy back home.

After lunch we headed to Yi Xin Tea House where we got the low down on how to make real Chinese tea.  Fun fact - there are over 3,000 different types of tea in China, and they are used for everything from liver and eye health, to morning and night tea and even for curing hangovers.  Needless to say, even with the six types that we got to sample, our taste buds went on a roller coaster ride of bitter to sweet and even tangy.  We all left the gift shop with a handful of different boxes of tea to take home to share. 

Following tea time, we made a quick stop at the Temple of Heaven, which was historically used to present sacrifices including oxen, jade, and silks by the Emperors to "The Heavens" to ensure that the Gods would grant them a good harvest of crops.  We enjoyed doing some bartering on knick-knacks and hats from street vendors and playing Chana's version of hackey-sac with the elderly that gather in the temple park to enjoy their day. 

Following the temple visit, we 'swung' by to catch an acrobatic show in a local theater. From the fie motorcycle riders in the cage to the dancing ladies stacked nine high on one bicycle, I think it's fair to say that we were all flabbergasted by the performances.  Wow! What flexibility and body strength!

Next we rolled on down to the Pearl Market to try our hand at more bartering and dickering on gifts for our family & friends (and mostly ourselves).  Basically, the Pearl Market is like the silk market that we visited yesterday - cheaply made products with name brands slapped on them (like Oakley sunglasses, Bose speakers, Coach purses, or Rolex watches).  The listed price is about what you would pay for the actual name brand products, and your challenge is to dicker the price down to about 1/6 of the price.  We definitely got a chance to work on our bartering skills with the rather stubborn shop owners.  We were told to never feel bad for the price we got goods down to, as they would never sell it to you for a loss.  Needless to say, after spending more than we probably budgeted for, we headed off for a local cuisine specialty for supper -- Peking duck. 

Now, Peking duck is basically China's version of a duck burrito.  The whole duck is filled with soy sauce and cooked until the sauce has penetrated the whole duck.  The inside is moist and the outside is crispy.  It is then masterfully carved, and placed into soft wheat tortilla like wraps with cucumber and onion slices and hoisin sauce.  The finished meal is nothing like the wild waterfowl duck we're used to eating back in the states - you actually enjoy eating it.  Overall, the Peking duck supper is probably one of the top 3 notable meals from the trip so far. 

So, getting our fill of tourism today has us all looking forward to more agriculture visits tomorrow, with John Deere and Artex Farm Solutions on the itinerary. It's crazy to think that we only have two full days left in China! 

Signing off from Beijing.  Yi huier jian (see you later)! 

-Reba and Andy