Outside the Forbidden CityWe dawdled a bit this morning, getting up about 8am and finally leaving our hostel at 9:45. We walked to the Forbidden City, about a 15 minute walk away, and entered it under the picture of Chairman Mao. We walked through a number of gates and past stalls selling souvenirs. Paul has been looking for a Chinese Army winter hat with faux fur but has been having trouble finding one that will fit him. They all seem to be marked size 1 but vary in size despite that. He found one that fit him OK and got it for a good price. Then Jade started looking at Chinese Empress hats and found one she liked. We debated whether or not to get it because it is going to be awkward carrying it but then decided to go ahead. It is really gorgeous!
Empress Jade!
There weren't too many people bothering us to buy things as we walked in--a few said they were students who wanted to practice their English and guide us for free--yeah, sure! Others asked us if we had been to the Great Wall and there were PLENTY of freelance guides who would gladly have taken us on a tour. We'd been to the Forbidden City before and were really quite happy to walk around ourselves so we declined.
We walked through the complex--it really is massive--and were very impressed with the restorations made on the outside of the first main hall. The paintwork is marvellous! You can even see from this distant photo how vibrant the paintwork on the eaves of this building is. It was restored in 2008.
The Hall of Supreme HarmonyHere is another building which has also been restored.
After we left the Forbidden City there were a few people waiting to sell things including rickshaw drivers wanting to take us on a hutong tour and others offering tickets to various shows. We waved them off and headed east towards Wangfujing Street for a late lunch. On the way a beggar came towards us. He had no hands.
We had a nice walk through a hutong area on the way. I love the way the walls are made of grey bricks and the sidewalks/footpaths are also gray. It gives these areas an ancient look. Many hutongs, especially those in the northern parts of Beijing are beautifully clean. The hutong we are in is in a more 'natural' state. The hutongs are very lively places with lots of little shops of all kinds and people walking here and there all the time.
When we got to Wangfujing St we discovered that part of it had become a pedestrian street. This part is two blocks away from the hotel we stayed in in 2001--the Crowne Plaza. It's changed its name now. We looked at a few noodle places then opted for Maccas including ice cream cones at 2.5Y each. With time running out we had a quick look around then stumbled onto a Beijing 2008 store selling the Olympic mascots. There in the window were the 30cm size mascots we'd wanted last year to add to the two the kids already had. They didn't have Huan Huan (the flame) but we picked up NiNi (the gymnastics mascot--of course) and BeiBei the swimming mascot. (The kids already have the panda JingJing and the antelope YingYing.) Oh my goodness, where are we going to fit these things in?????? We've been so good about not buying large things--or really many things at all. Today we blew that with the hats and mascot dolls.
By then it was close to 2:30 and Jade and I had an appointment to view some female gymnasts training with Mr. Zhang, whom we'd met on Saturday. We walked towards the end of the pedestrian street where there must have been 20-30 taxis waiting. I had the address written in Chinese and Mr. Zhang's phone number as well. The minute they saw us the taxi drivers did their best to send us away. First sending us to the farthest taxi at the front of the group. He and several of the taxis near him were on a break so they sent us back. We went from taxi to taxi. Some deliberated before turning us down, others waved us off as we approached. This taxi thing is getting annoying!!!!! We crossed the street and asked a few more taxis in another place. Finally a female driver let us get in the cab. I called Mr. Zhang who gave her directions. Then she agreed to take us. I had a jolly time with her chatting. She was a real earthy woman who cleared her throat with the best of the men. (Luckily she didn't spit.) As we headed towards Tiananmen Square she complained about the traffic so I asked her if she didn't like Tiananmen Square. She answered very patriotically that she loved Tiananmen. Then I recalled a Chinese children's song about the square and tried to sing it. She took over singing another song but I said, no, that wasn't it and she then sang the children's song. I hummed along with her as we drove through the square. Here you can hear the song:
and here you can see the lyrics:
When we left the taxi I gave the driver a tip for agreeing to take us. Then Jade and I entered the address which had a stadium and a number of buildings. We had no idea where to go. I asked a few people and was sent a bit too far in one direction then someone finally pointed us to the right building. I was talking with Mr. Zhang on the phone as we walked towards a building then saw him on his phone. Relief! He was very welcoming and took us into the gymnastics hall where we saw about a dozen girls training. These girls were aged from 12 and up and from the skills we saw were at the 'top, top' level as Jade describes it. Jade was invited to train too and changed into her leo. She did some bars work including jumping from the low to the high bar--her first time--and some trampoline for about half an hour. Since she wasn't being coached and she was also tired from all the walking she stopped to watch the big girls. They were just AMAZING! After being told at the other school that I couldn't take photos I was reluctant to ask but did towards the end of our stay and got a few photos of the gym and a few of the girls. The girl training on beam in something like a tracksuit is training that way because she weighs too much and this is how they get her to lose weight. We've noticed scales in the two gyms we've been in. Weight seems to be something that they watch strictly here. That's tough on the girls.
bars
beam
At the end of our stay Mr. Zhang walked us out to the gate and helped us to get a taxi. Once again we had a problem--this time because we wanted to go to a street which is one way the wrong way! It always seems to be something! Finally with much discussion between the driver and Mr. Zhang we were off. The trip took us to the second ring road to an area not far from our hostel. Much to the relief of the driver I said that we would get out and walk across the pedestrian bridge and up the one way street ourselves and so save him the drive. Thus ended our day!
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