The first morning our wake-up call was at 7 with breakfast at 7:30; although I was exhausted from the trip, stuffed with food, and I went to bed early for me (about 11 PM) I’m up earlier because my sleep was irregular. Maybe it was the jet lag and maybe it was just the excitement and anticipation. The Royal Phoenix hosts a breakfast buffet with everything from conge to an “egg bar” to rice, plenty of fruit, several different vegetable dishes, different types of Chinese rolls, noodles, and a lot of things I have no idea what they were but that didn’t stop us from eating. Note: Eating will become a major focus for this whole trip but I get to that later.
8:30 AM. Vincent rounds us up and off we are to the Temple of Earth Park where Master Chen conducts his classes. Besides the eight of us, Josh flew in from the east coast and met us at the hotel; there are about 5 Chinese students who appear to be regular students. Among the students it appears that one woman, 50ish, who I’m told is an acolyte of Master Chen’s.
Practicing in the park is interesting because besides Master Chen’s students, people will walk by, stop watch or participate. Yesterday a woman came, observed, stood with us, practiced wǔ ji standing (silent meditative standing), and when we finished, she pickup her coat and left and said nothing to anyone. It appears historic parks are not open affairs but they like many other things here are walled; apparently there is some form or admittance requirement (membership? Vincent paid for us); point is that parks, which are widely used are not hangouts for vagrants. Most important is that high walled parks provide a calm (less wind) peaceful environment for lots of different activities
After practice, Vincent herded us up and we went to eat but I don’t remember where. The scheduled afternoon site was the Summer palace (there appears to be two summer palaces). My ankle had begun swell and it was suggested that I no go on this walk. Josh, the van driver, and I waited at the back exit while the others went site seeing. My physical limitation is going to be an ongoing issue for this trip but the back of the palace proved to be most interesting to me. The first thing that struck my eye was the vendors. Vincent had mentioned that farmers come to the city without work permits and sell whatever they can; I should note that Vincent had a disapproving tone when he mentioned this fact.
I was fascinated by a woman who was selling hot sweet potatoes from a bicycle, with a 50 gal. oil drum attached for her stove. I wanted to take her photo and pay for the privilege but she would have none of it. I hadn’t changed any of my money into RBM’s (Yuan) yet and offered her a dollar (about 6 Yuan) but she’d have none of it and gave my dollar back, she just wanted to sell sweet potatoes. I persisted and a friend of hers came to assist in the negotiation and took the dollar and gave it to her but she refused and in the ensuing discussion I walked away with my dollar and took a candid shot as I left (see photos).
The second thing that caught my eye was demolished Hutong next to where we had parked. At first I didn’t notice because there was a series of large signs which lined the block but then I notice that the signed obscured a six or seven-foot wall with paintings and inlays which told some type of story. As I looked through a broken part of the wall I noted that the Hutong had been destroyed. I wondered what happened to those people as I wondered about what happened to the people in old China town that was destroyed to build the I-5 freeway through Seattle. I find the displacement of people and their histories disturbing. So much for progress…
For dinner we ate at the Beijing Food Restaurant. Besides our making fun of the name of the restaurant there were lots of Europeans dinning; apparently this is a favorite spot for tour guides to take their groups. Snickering aside the food was good and more than enough for the eight of us. I will talk about food often two reasons: 1. It helps me document my experiences on this trip and 2. Culturally guests are supposed to eat all the food served by the host as a sign of good manners and respect for the host. Not eating all the food gives the host the idea that you didn’t like the meal. We were Vincent’s guest and he stuffed us at every meal, with 8-12 dishes at every meal not to mention two 20 oz. bottles of beer. On the other hand, Vincent is a business man so if we wanted more beer we would have to pay for it ourselves (remember beer is cheaper than water).
Final note: The Chinese don’t generally drink cold beverages (I think there is an exception for soft drinks?); they even prefer beer at room temperature.
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