47. Beijing Airport - End of Trip -

47. Beijing Airport - End of Trip

Beijing, Nautica Cruise Ship, Africa……… Good Bye!

Leaving Beijing

 

We are at the airport, leaving China, ending our Africa, Cruise, China trip for 2014/15. We have been on the road for 104 days. I had new experiences that will take me some time to absorb. We mostly only saw large towns, cities, coastal harbors. We had guided tours, almost all of the time; the entire time we were typical tourists.


Tea Bag Design Shop Where Women Learn
to Make Designs With Tea Bags

 While I wrote what I felt at the time, I already know that a lot of it is just a surface report. One can simply not look at one place briefly and offer an opinion. It was fun though. I’ll keep these blogs as a memory; I posted them so they do not get lost. I trust that this internet blog will be around as long as I am alive, and if someone else reads this, well, enjoy my stories.

Tea Time on Our Cruise Ship

To recap the whole trip in just a few words seems impossible. I led a ‘spoiled’, rich man’s life for the last few months. I know it. It kind of bothered me to see others try so hard to make a daily life for themselves while I had the luxury to idle away time and money. But then all this might be just in my head, reality is different for all of us. I seem to forget the 14 to 16 hour working days I put in for nearly 30 years. The no weekends, no sleep days after traveling all night.


Street Dancers Trying to Make
a Little Money

He Looked Fierce But Was Soft-Spoken













The people I met in Africa were very nice people. Most of the men and women I met spoke 2, 3 or more languages. Not European languages of course, but African Dialects which are very different from each other, as different as French is from German. It takes smarts to be able to do that. Most folks I met worked hard; wanted to make a better life for themselves, were smart.

 

Africa was the most difficult place to make a decent living. There is simply too much corruption on this continent, it is said. Everybody, even a lonely security guard in Cape Town, asks for ‘favors’. I remember one instance where I asked a man for direction and he walked with me for 2 city blocks but did not really show me the spot I asked for. Never-the-less, he wanted to be paid for his ‘kindness’.  He was upset that I did not pay him for what I took as a nice guy gesture.

Green Market Square

 

There is nothing free in Africa, it seems. On the other hand, people worked hard, very hard indeed. Not so much with their brains but physically, for sure. The vendors in Cape Town who set up their stands on Green Market Square and work there every day come to mind. They do not have any money to speak of, only selling items that are available 

Masks

Green Market Square

everywhere and not really needed by anyone. All the vendors seemed to be selling the same articles. How about innovation folks; something new, please?  I found this to be the same everywhere on my trip though; to walk around selling postcards or toys?  Selling big books when everybody can look things up on the internet? Their reality of what customers want to buy is certainly different from mine.  

 

I saw people selling wooden carvings that they had blackened with shoe shine paste to look like Ebony Wood. I saw hand painted, simple postcards priced at U.S. $ 5.—apiece. Way too expensive. Even in the U.S. nobody would buy them at those prices. Frustrating! Carol told me to stop worrying about it. We are here as visitors only, we are not here to change the people or the country. The World has tried to help Africa for the last 500 years, Africa still needs help. But how to you help Africa?  Whatever the world tried so far does not seem to be working.

Pearl Market in Beijing

 

Indo China, what little I saw, was all about making money. Making money seems to be their hobby.  Every family, it seems, has a business, or knows someone who has a business that might give them a kickback if you buy something through their recommendations. Family is a big part of their culture. Naturally we were the outsiders and the objects 

Outside the Pearl Market

of their pursuit for business. I obliged to a point. Looking around me while being in their streets, I saw many things I do not understand, like having a street with one shoe store next to the other, all bunched up. I called it a Shoe Street. There were Electronics Streets, Food Streets, etc. We went to a Pearl Market Store, where 3 stories of the building sold pearls. Not jade, not diamonds, gold or any other jewelry, no it was a Pearl Market. Carol was looking for jade earrings and had a hard time finding them. She finally did but it was a fluke, this was a pearl place and pearls were mostly what were offered. Talk about single-mindedness. My guess is there were 60 or more jewelry stores just selling pearls. Amazing?  To my mind, yes, it was amazing. Where is the individuality?
 

There is always competition but I do not understand the concept of multiple stores with the same thing in one building at all. Sure they offer different foods, different shoes, different sets of pearls, etc. in each area, but your competition can see all your merchandize, every second of the day. Where is the uniqueness of your product, your innovation? Where or what is your edge? The concept was a mystery to me.

Fields in Vietnam

 Indo China, the countries of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam especially are worth another visit. Their history shows that they have very different ideas from China and India, the 2 giant countries that squish them on both sides. I did not have enough time to see those countries in detail but it seems worth a trip. I would like to see the smaller to medium size cities, not the mega cities we

Silk Painting in Vietnam

visited, that are more or less a copy of western cities. I’d like to explore the different life styles, talk to them about how they look at the world. Many of these countries seem to be just waking up from a Sleeping Beauty sleep. For hundreds of years they were in the back of peoples’ minds, but today with the internet bringing countries together this area would be good to explore.

Symbol of Japan

Japan was unique, in many ways. Japan has their way of life. Japan is not China, nor Korea and for sure not any country in Indochina. Some voices around me said Japan was too bland, not colorful enough. Well, their culture is not flashy, true, but sophisticated. I felt the people were happy, smiled easily and were smart. Many things were different in Japan. Yes they had some food streets too and

Traditional Japanese Residence

their buildings were skyscrapers but the Department Stores for example, had Help stands, Help people who would try to steer you to the right floor. Everything was neat and clean, orderly. I liked Japan.
 

China?  Oh, China!  China is huge, crowded, busy and proud; too proud?   For sure China is too crowded.  I know this is controversial but this is my report, so I say it. Their one child policy is a disaster. The one child is being spoiled rotten; to the point where those

Inside the Forbidden City

babies are turned into ‘me first’ people. The babies know they are the king of the family and are therefore as demanding as any king. They are, since birth, made to believe that they are the center of the world; that they are very important people. Everyone around them caters to them. Only them. China lately is flexing her muscles, getting more demanding in adding lost real estate back

Children Are Doted On By Their Parents

to the mainland. I stepped very carefully when I was in China. I liked the people, most of them. But I was a bit nervous with the numbers of police and military I saw around me. The media is controlled, the internet is censored and there are checkpoints in the subways and on the sidewalks. From what I experienced, one is always reminded that this is a communistic country. Liberty? Freedom?  Those are rhetoric words and for sure are not part of China today.


Beijing At Night

 

 I found China dangerous. Not the individual people per say, but the regime, the set-up, the underlying atmosphere. Not as bad as I remember the former East Germany but close enough to give me the hebe geebies.

I had a good time travelling, I kept these blogs; I learned a lot. Let’s see what the next trips will bring.

Moon Gate

Lanterns for Chinese New Year



The Bird's Nest, One of the Sites For the
Olympics in Beijing, Summer 2008

 

 

 

Auf Wiedersehen, Tschuess. 

46. Beijing, China - Day 7 -

Forbidden City, Again……. 

Long Lines to Enter the Forbidden City

From my previous visits to Beijing I knew that there is much more to see in the Forbidden City than what we saw a few days ago with our ‘guide’. So I thought this huge Palace deserves another visit. We took the subway to just one block away from the main entrance. And again, like the last time, we had to go through a police barrier with hundreds of people in line to go through a metal detector, a backpack x-ray and a pat down. Everybody who was Chinese had to show their ID card,

Entrance Gate to the Forbidden City

which was electronically scanned and I am sure filed in some computer bank. I had to just show my passport, was patted down and then moved along. The waiting time to go through this barricade was about 15 minutes. Did I tell you I do not like being stuck in huge crowds? To feel bodies in front, rear and each side just makes me cranky. I need space. I don’t like crowds of pushy people. I don’t like to be pushed.


Mao Still Guarding the Entrance

 



To finally be through this checkpoint was a relief but left me a bit on edge. I noticed that a lot of cigarette lighters were confiscated. I saw a lot of people just throwing them in to a big pile, voluntarily. No clue why, I did not know you were not allowed to carry them. Did you? Anyhow, a new lighter cost only 17 cents U.S. so I guess it was not too expensive to leave one behind. Still it made no sense to me. We were not entering a building; the check point was on the sidewalk in front of the Forbidden City. Chinese logic, I suppose. Before you can enter the Forbidden City there is a maze of barricades. There are police and soldiers everywhere. It seems this is the way daily life is in Beijing. The people just accepted this as ‘normal’.


Main Portal Into the Forbidden City
 

Carol and I entered the main gate to the Forbidden City, ready to buy a ticket but…. No ticket booth. I could still see the old spots in the floor where turnstiles used to be but now……nothing. Just walk in. We did and so did lots of Chinese. Benches and food trucks greeted us along the wide walk; with the Meridian Line in the middle of it. Remember, the center of the Universe line that only the Emperor was allowed to walk on? Now of course, everybody walks everywhere. Nothing seems to be forbidden within the walls of The City.

The Third Plaza
We Cannot Go Further Due to the Barricades

We entered into a non-descript large plaza with a big building, a hall in front of us. Then walked around this building hall and entered another plaza, again non-descript. There was hardly a difference between the 1^st and 2^nd plazas. This walk went on to a 3^rd plaza and yes, this one was a bit different because we could not go further. A barricade blocked us. We could not go further than that, I tried. Side gates were open so we went left and looked down the alley way to be faced by

Souvenir Shops

shops that sell souvenirs, tour tickets, etc. Carol and I looked at each other and agreed this was not for us, not what we expected inside the Forbidden City. We must be wrong somehow.


Suddenly We Are Outside the Forbidden City
and On a Shopping Street

So we went back to the barricade and now moved to the right. Ah, yes, there is a line of people standing and waiting. Smallish, electric, open buses load passengers for 2 Renminbi (34 cents U.S.) per person and the whole affair is very efficient. The loading continues and we join the crowd. Ok, off we go and after about a 3 minute ride we are dropped off at??  Where are we? There is a guard house and another entrance but this entrance is blocked off, too. Where do we go from here? We stand a bit perplexed. Carol wants to go back to the starting point; I want to follow the crowds. After some debate, we follow the crowd who after a few hundred yards, disperses into the traffic of a road that runs along a shopping street. We are out of the Forbidden City and back into Beijing’s Shopping Streets.

In Line Again to Enter the Forbidden City

I know there is more to see of the Forbidden City but we were not able to logically get there. We walked through the front entrance, but somehow got lost. We followed the crowds and now we are back in the street. Amazing, we are not that stupid, but the results speak for themselves. We got lost in the huge complex of the Forbidden City (FC) and now what do we do? Give up? You don’t know Carol, she never gives up.



Wall Surrounding Another Section of the
Forbidden City

Back to the front of the FC we go, through the Barricade again and now we try the right side entrance, not the main entrance. Naturally a ‘guide’ approaches us but we want to see the FC by ourselves, thank you. So off we trudge through an area with few people. Paved parks, long empty, tarred walks and few old? buildings greet us. There is one castle-like building behind a wall. We enter and find out from the signs that this is the Ancestral Hall. We see photographers taking pictures of wedding parties on the elaborate stairs. 

Wedding Pictures

In a way it would be idyllic within the walls of this Ancestral complex, were it not for the ‘stuff’ stored behind barricades on the side, around the corner from the main view.
 



The Ancestral Hall



Strange Footwear For a Wedding

 

Film crews have their commercial shots set up for some scene. There are makeup tables slightly hidden behind trees. A modern “Emperor” and his Concubine jumping in the air to catch a red bow was the scene being shot. It looked stupid, but the film crew took it seriously. We watched a commercial being filmed that used the background of this palace as a typical Chinese background prop. The Wedding photographer, too, eternalized the couple’s memories of their special day right here.

Making a Movie

We must have been in a ‘famous’ place, but it did not feel like it. It rather felt like a commercial story book set, set up for the promotion of the old China, but it did not seem real. I felt like I was in a movie set, not at an ancestral place where the old should be revered. There was no reverence, just commercialism. We left this place.





Strange Action For the Movie

Our own FC excursion was a bust. We spent all afternoon looking for something special within the FC that is no longer there. Too many years have passed; too many people are stomping through the FC to give me an impression of how forbidden it used to be. Stories can be read, dummies can be shown in imperial robes but the true spirit of the FC is no longer alive. It died with the last Emperor. The new Chinese, atheists as they are, use this complex as a business center. The

Comfortable Footwear Makes Sense

Chinese are selling images of their heritage, selling their past, selling anything to make a buck in the Forbidden City. It is a commercial tourist trap. We got trapped in it more than once; once with a guide and now trying to find a sense of imperial splendor ourselves. The Forbidden City is just a shell, a commercial advertising spot. And the entire world buys this.

Look at any page about China and you will see the Forbidden City as the main attraction of Beijing. Well, I did not find it attractive at all. I felt that I was being ‘sold’ a bunch of empty promises. I learned something though; I learned to just find my own images of China, without the advertising promises of the Government of China promoting whatever they think people want to see. China is interesting in many ways, but nothing is as promised by slick photos shown in advertisements. 

Another Bored Tourist

 

45. Beijing, China Day 6 - Summer Palace -

Day 6 in Beijing

Trip to the Summer Palace.

Entrance to the Summer Palace and
Crowds of People

The subway in Beijing is amazing. It works great and covers huge distances. We took it long distance this time to visit the ‘ancient’ Summer Palace, another Imperial show piece from years gone by. Well, almost ancient!

Everything within the gardens and palaces is rebuilt; fixed up or "new". If there are ancient



The Main Building

buildings I did not see them. The park is huge. When we arrived, we just followed the crowds. It being a Sunday, the crowd was quite impressive. As soon as we entered the gate, crowds moved towards a hill filled with temple buildings and small to medium sized castles. The whole compound is set on the hill side with stairs, stairs, and stairs. I made it to the top but it was not worth it, on the top was a

More and More Stairs and Crowds

wall. I walked up the wrong side of the hill. I could not figure out a way to circumvent the wall.

So down the hill we went and took a winding path through the woods that meanders around the hill. (That sounds romantic but it was way too busy with people everywhere to be romantic). We were not alone mind you. Families with baby carriages or toddlers in their arms were our companions. The path was filled with folks.

Part of the Main Building



Beautiful Art Work on the
Roof Lines



Intricate Carvings and Decorations

View From One of the Balconies



More Exquisite Architecture



Inside the Main Temple

More Stairs

It Was a Family Outing for Many

 

 

 

I noticed that Chinese talk loudly, especially while being on a cell phone. And with the one child policy each child is an Emperor or Empress to their parents. They dote over their offspring as if this child will save their life in the future. It was a family outing for most, just walking in the park. Like always in China, there is a crowd. It is hard to get away from people. No matter where you go, there is

Another Crooked Bridge to Prevent the
Evil Spirits From Crossing

somebody there. I don’t think the Chinese are even aware of it, but for a Westerner this is obvious but maybe not so consciously obvious. I found it disturbing, the people got on my nerves; their behavior, their pushiness, their spitting on the ground, and their loudness simply got to me. I think I have been in China too long already. I am not used to being in close contact with other bodies, with noise all the time.

Stone Bridge

The actual park you want me to talk about? It was a retreat for the royals for the hot summer months that can be very hot in Beijing. The Park and Palace were started in 1750 and destroyed many times; mostly by the 2 Anglo/French Opium wars. Even the restorations done by Empress Cixi of the Qing Dynasty in 1888, on which she spent the whole Navy Budget for the year (and ultimately lost to the Japanese because if it), were again destroyed by the 8 Powers of the Colonial forces in 1900.

Map Shows Proximity of
Mongolia to Beijing

The park has about 3000 structures, and a hand dug, huge lake on which the Empress watched ‘war’ displays arranged for her by the Navy, while she sat on her marble Steam Ship Replica on the shore line sipping tea. The whole 742 acre park was set up for the pleasures of Cixi, the notorious Empress who ruled from behind a screen and wielded the true powers of China. 

Empress Cixi's Marble Steamboat Replica
on the Hand Dug Lake at the Summer Palace
 

 

 

 

She was the last breath of true power in China. She was a capable, but mired in tradition, ruler. Here is an account of her life in a very condensed form: The Summer Palace was actually her Palace.



She was born on November 28th of 1835, surnamed Yehe Nala. 
In 1851, she was selected as a beauty into the Palace. Due to the favor of Emperor Xianfeng, she was honored as a high-ranked Imperial Concubine, with the title of Yipin.

Stained Glass In the Marble Ship Casts
Coloured Shadows on the Floor

In 1854, she was given a higher rank, with the title changed to Yi Guifei.

In 1856, she gave birth to Zaichun who later became Emperor Tongzhi.




Empress Cixi

 

Dragon Boats on the Hand Dug Lake



Dragon Boat Tied to the Dock

In 1861, the Second Opium War broke out. After Emperor Xianfeng died in August, her son ascended the throne as Emperor Tongzhi, who honored his mother as 'Holy Mother Empress Dowager'. In November, along with Prince Gong (brother-in-law of Cixi), she launched a coup in which the eight chancellors were dismissed or killed. As a result, she became the real power by keeping court from behind a screen.

Tail of the Dragon?
(Oh Oh, Bad Pun)

In 1862, she was given the title of Empress Dowager Cixi by Emperor Tongzhi (Actually, she gave the title to herself through Emperor Tongzhi's prescript).

In 1873, as Emperor Tongzhi had grown up, she appeared to turn the power over to him but she still held power behind the scenes.

In 1874, Emperor Tongzhi- (her son) - died. (Rumor has it the Empress had her hand in his death). She chose another grandson of Emperor Daoguang as the heir - Emperor Guangxu. Because she was the aunt of Emperor Guangxu, she could continue ruling from behind the screen.

Empress's Throne and the Screen Which Was
Placed in Front to Shield Her From Public View

In 1889, Emperor Guangxu married. She announced that she would relinquish her power and retire to live in the Summer Palace. However, all the court officials still listened to her, leaving Emperor Guangxu as a puppet Emperor.

In 1894, Japan launched the Sino-Japanese War while Cixi was busy preparing the celebration of her 60th birthday. What's worse, while the Chinese navy fought fiercely with the Japanese, she strongly insisted on appropriating the military fund to restore the Summer Palace, ignoring the advice of chancellors.

Creating Beautiful Designs on Ceramic Urns

In 1895, the Qing Navy was defeated by the Japanese due to the compromise of Cixi. Taiwan Island ceded.

In 1898, she launched a coup against Emperor Guangxu's Wu Hsu Reform. After that, she executed the main reform party members and from then on she put Emperor Guangxu under house arrest.

In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces captured capital Beijing. She took Emperor Guangxu with her and fled to Xian. In September, another humiliating treaty - Peace Treaty of1901 was signed.

Hand Painted Urns for Sale

 On November 15th of 1908, the day after the death of Emperor Guangxu, Empress Dowager Cixi died in the afternoon.

Yes, she was the last flamboyant figure of China. Ruthless and opinionated, prejudiced and I bet lonely. Power was her goal in life, maybe a misguided life, who knows. The Summer Palace was her playground, where parties were held and formal dinners given for dignitaries from around the world. What we see today though, is just a replica of years gone by. The buildings had a strange taste in color and décor for a Westerner like me. I visited, but I would not want to live there, I can think of nicer places. The park is too big, also. I would not need that much space to be alone.

Hmmmm