Since the last post I’ve managed to fit in another two Mandarin lessons, both of which were cultural in nature as opposed to just checking out shops for stuff to spend Amy’s money on. The first of these involved a trip to a traditional tea house on the western side of Beijing, where we were given the ins and outs of tea here in China. This included a demonstration of a traditional tea ceremony which took us through the proper protocols of enjoying a cup of brew Beijing-style. In all honesty I thought that aside from the different types of tea flavours, tea was tea. But alas NO. Aside from the flavour being a key distinguisher of cost and reknownness (is that actually a word? Rhetorical question – no prizes for the right answer this time) the age of the leaf is also a big deal. This was evident in the tea house menu, with prices for a pot of tea ranging from 80 yuan to 600 yuan. Pu-er tea, which is the traditional Chinese black tea, is the Penfolds Grange of the tea world, with leaves getting more expensive the older they are (600 yuan will get you the 10 year vintage pu-er leaf, while we tried a cup of a 2 year vintage for 30 yuan). The tea house is actually one of the oldest tea houses in Beijing, and has now caught on to the benefits of franchising and opened up a few more dotted around the place.
The trip to the west of the city again highlights the vast disparity in English translations between this area and the more diplomatically populated areas east of the city’s meridian line. Over our way (we are in the NE of the city) most of the signs are often inclusive of English translations, but on the western side the foreigners are often left to fend for themselves. Except for the foreign university students who probably reside near the campuses in the NW of the city, it really comes across to me as way more local and Chinese than our side. On my few trips over I have noticed that the traffic is heavier, the western influence less pronounced, and the likelihood of being stared at as if I had two heads is higher. Given all that, a tea ceremony at high noon was just the right occasion to have our trusty language coach Lily to guide the way. In addition to getting a translation of the tea ceremony, which was given only in Mandarin, she also highlighted the fact that the flat area just around the corner from the tea house was actually a “Public Square”, which here in Beijing refers to places where the convicted and condemned were (still are??) brought for their capital punishment . I wonder if the tea house does deals on last meal requests?
Michelle perfecting the art of pouring tea from on high.
The second lesson this week was to Wangfujing street, where we went and checked out a shop that specialises in chopsticks. Here I was thinking that chopsticks were chopsticks were chopsticks, but again no. The variety available was amazing with prices dependant on the wood used and the trimming (everything from gold to sea shell). Want the crème de la crème of chopsticks? You want the set of 12 pairs for 23,8886 Yuan (approximately AU$5000). Eating with those should even turn my cooking into something edible. With a few sets in tow, we then went next door to one of Beijing’s oldest and most famous restaurants and had hotpot for lunch. This was my second foray into it since I’ve been in China, and this one certainly was a better deal food wise than the first one we reported on in the previous blog. While it cost us 340 Yuan for the three of us, there was so much meat that we ended up having to send a whole plate and a bit of lamb back to the kitchen. Being the carnivore that I am, it really did bring a tear to my eye but I honestly couldn’t fit another thing in. By this time we were running very short on time so we made a very quick dash across the street to the markets to check out the sea horses and the scorpions on a skewer, some of which were still showing signs of resistance to death. Unfortunately I didn’t even have enough space for water let alone a snack with its own in-built toothpick. Next time.
Scorpians and seahorses, with many of the stingers still squirming on the sticks. Dessert anyone?
The most anticipated event for the Guihot’s over the previous two weeks was the cultural tour to Tianjin, which in the end was a bit of a disappointment. While the itinerary and promises of on-board commentary sounded great, we soon found out that the majority of the commentary on the bus heading to and from Tianjin was provided in Mandarin or German. OK, so we are in China BUT the tour was targetted towards foriegn officials and was supposed to cater for people from a non-Chinese speaking background. That’s not to say they didn’t translate some of it into English but often they gave a single English word as the translation for an entire Chinese paragraph – leaving us confused about the context of the conversation.
The site-seeing included in the tour was average. Anticipation of seeing a good demonstration of Chinese opera was dashed when we realised it was just a local community group that was going to perform for us. In addition to this we found out along the way that we were to be involved in the performance, requiring us to select between acting out the role of a horse, singing or dancing. While I initially selected the Chinese opera singing I decided to join Amy and Maddy in doing the horse thing. In the end this part of the trip was a bit of fun, as we were instructed by a local Chinese guy who was quite into his role and had a good sense of humor (and he needed it to put up with a bunch of westerners galumphing around).
Amy and Madeline testing out their imaginary horse-riding prowess on their imaginary horses.
Me in mid horse-mounting action.
The rest of the day was made up of touring the former Tianjin residence of the last emperor of China (Pu Yi), and residence of a local rich land owner. These were much better parts of the trip and we enjoyed seeing the beautifully restored buildings.
The choice of restaurant selected for lunch was also very average. While the food was plentiful it was not really suited for couples with children, as a lot of it was quite spicy. And while it might be a very Chinese tradition, most visitors still prefer to have tea leaves with their hot water to wash down their lunch (and it isn’t that expensive per person).
There was though two saving graces for the restaurant. One had nothing to do with the food but rather the utilisation of a very 60s American concept of waiting staff on wheels. And I’m not talking rollerblades but the old-skool rollerskates. The other was the sight of the largest tea pot I've ever seen, used for making Conje for people ducking in for a quick business lunch.
The tea pot from the land of giants. It wasn't picked up and poured - it was tipped.
Sweet and Sour Xanadu.
Two weeks ago I did manage to knock off one of the items on my “things to do before I die” list, and ride the World’s longest escalator. This magnificent beast of technology is found in the Joy City Plaza on the western side of Tiananmen Square. It goes from the ground to the 6th floor, giving people faster access to floors 7 through 13 of the plaza (yep, she’s a biggie). As well as riding the escalator to nowhere really, I did also manage to come across this little beauty of a sign outside the Cinema complex. All take note of point 6.
Just part of the longest escalator in the world. Hold on to your excitment.
On the empowerment front Amy attended an International Women’s Day function a few weeks ago at the Great Hall of the People. The building is, as it name would suggest, quite large and the inside is very beautiful. Amy had an afternoon tea with lots of other women, many of whom were Chinese government officials and PLA officers. The event included some very impressive performers – the PLA dance troupe performed several traditional dances, there was an acrobatic/ballet performance of ‘the Oriental Swan’ which was incredible. At one point the female ballet dancer was on one pointe balancing on the male dancer’s outstretched upper arm – incredible. There were also a few singers performing opera – one of whom is one of the most popular singers in China. Given the reaction of the (mainly female) crowd, this guy must be China’s answer to Tom Jones – many of the PLA women were close to fainting - some even closer to throwing underpants.
On a positive exercise note from me I’ve actually gotten on the bike a fair bit in the last week, so much so that I could hardly walk up the stairs last night. The week-long tour-de-north-east Beijing included a trip out to the Olympic area on Wednesday, my first ride with the local Beijing MOB group on Saturday followed up by a ride yesterday out to some of the less affluent areas of Beijing. While yesterday was meant to be the warm-down for the week it was a bit longer than expected, but a real eye opener. It certainly showed me that you do not need to travel too far from the well developed and ‘affluent’ areas of Beijing to see how the other half (or more) of Beijing live (and struggle).
Three little kids (+ one's dolly) walk along the canal where we rode on Sunday, on their way to a play-date.
I won’t bore the non-cyclists with the details here, but the bike-o-philes can now check out the nitty gritty of my riding adventures and more photos in my new bike blog here.
Guihot Body Count
Two numb fingers, a corked thigh and two near-smashed faces. No, it’s not the results of a foray into kickboxing, or even a run-in between bike and car on one of our rides. It was the toll from the Saturday’s dodge ball match, which was the icing on the cake for both Amy and I in what was a pretty exhausting weekend.
On a final note, congrats to Julie for being the first one in with the correct answer. The movie the chingrish translation was referring to was Meet Dave, with Eddy Murphy. (In the spirit of Danny Devito in Twins – “Obviously”). And in the spirit of the competition her prize pack included this beauty of a sticker.
On a final note, congrats to Julie for being the first one in with the correct answer. The movie the chingrish translation was referring to was Meet Dave, with Eddy Murphy. (In the spirit of Danny Devito in Twins – “Obviously”). And in the spirit of the competition her prize pack included this beauty of a sticker.
This weekend we are off to Shaolin, which we were lucky to get in for as they had originally sold out, but thanks to cancellations we got a guernsey. We are also doing a day trip walking a section of the great wall. It will probably go quiet on the travel front for us for a while after this as Amy’s work is about to get quite hectic thanks to some planned visits from Australian dignitaries.
Quiz Question
We ran across this guy in our travels in the last two weeks. What was he doing?
a) Playing the role of a tea dragon in a traditional tea ceremony
b) Doing his job as a maitre de in the Wangfujing Hotpot restaurant
c) Playing the role of a horsemen in a Chinese Opera performance
d) Busking in the street to raise money for a Guinness World Records beard attempt
e) Auditioning for a part in the sequel to “Big Trouble in Little China”.
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