4-6 January 24 – 26 Beijing
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F 24 (continued)
We venture out down the street west from the
entrance of our houton to count the music stores in the area. We come up with
more that 30 on the south side of the street! Crazy, as Wily Nelson might
have sang.
Elizabeth returns to where we got her flute and
talks to the flute master there. We purchase a CD of flue times and they
discuss how to get a slight distortion sound out of the instrument using
tissue paper. I purchase a guitar capo to ensure I can play with her no
matter what the key and we spend a few minutes looking at guitars. Imports
are priced comprabably to the US and I don't run into any local instruments
that particularly move me, but that may be due to my language shortcomings.
Elizabeth is still having trouble with the
electronics and this is not making her a pleased person in a tent. However
she is maintaining a cheerful and pleasant demeanour and remains very
positive about the day's events. After a few fruitless hours on the tablet
and telephone she decides to seek out dinner which takes us back to Red
Lantern dining room whet we are informed that we are exactly on time for two
plates of dumplings and free beer.
This brightens our mood considerably, especially
when the dumplings arrive. They are magnificent - - perhaps the best we have
ever tasted - - and the beer was pretty delicious to.
Afterward we return to our room and then repair
to the lobby of our building to play flute and guitar together. It is a gentle
and quiet time, with accompaniment from a bird who lives there.
And so to bed.
S 25 January the Forbidden City day 5.
A late start this morning. We sleep in until
almost 9 and break our fast on French Toast. In keeping with our Canadian
hippie ways we also feed on tea and oranges that come all the way from China.
This is not the accomplishment it might have been when those words were first
sang, but there is a comfortable resonance.
After morning business we have coffee and a donut
large enough to have been used as the driver side tire for a small Fiat and
then take the subway back to the Forbidden City.
This is a truly jaw - dropping installation As
monumental preservation goes, I have never seen its like The scale is truly
imperial, designed to tell the visitor "No matter how big you might be
at home, here you are an insignificant insect. Join us or die".
One gets a sense of the immense power that was
imperial China, even when it was weakening, but little insight into the
hearts of the people who lived there. We suspect that this is a deliberate
move on the part of those who recreated the complex : the Party has no love
for the feudal lords who oppressed the people for so long.
I had the same sense of disjuncture from the
residents of the palace in Istanbul. The Turks are a little more generous
when it comes to the Sultan : there were domestic quarters and kitchens on
display, but the Forbidden City was all static views of monumental
proportions without any context. Sure they talked a lot about rituals and
sacrifices, but there was never any sense of what they might have entailed.
Nor was there any sense of what a poetry party might have been like, what
children did in this environment or even how the the servants lived and
worked. All very stark. A classic example of condemning by praising until the
subject is revealed to be unworthy of sympathy.
While inside we are waylaid by some artists from
the school in Xian and we purchase two pieces - - one for Angus and the other
for David and Angie.
Then we return our erratically performing
electronic guides and cross the street northward into Dongshang Park to climb
the hill and view the Buddhist shrine on top. There is also a clear view of
the city: south to the Forbidden City complex and neighbourhood, east to the
broadcast tower, north to the Drum Tower and westward to the lake.
We head that way and pass people flying kites to
enter the Lotus Market. Although the weather is warm there are people
skating, sledging and Ice- biking as we walk along. I am getting moody so we
purchase and consume a chocolate bar as we make our way through houtons and a
large totally local market before emerging about 300 metres from our
lodgings. But instead of going home we go eastward to where we suspect one
can eat Duck.
We are too early so we cross the street to a shopping
centre which has an advertisement for Cafe Bene, but the place is still being
built so we go to the food court in the basement to an Italian (!) place
where Elizabeth has some delicious mushroom soup and we share flatbreads.
A good appetizer.
Then it is Duck Season. It comes on a large
platter: breast meat and a crispy skin. It is accompanied by moo shoo
pancakes, sliced of onion and cucumber, and duck sauce. I am getting quite
excited but Elizabeth just smiles at the mountain of food and reminds me that
we have all evening to eat it...
About forty minutes later we are sitting with
silly smiles and a collection of bare plates. The locals seem impressed with
our prowess, and hide their children from us both as we exit the
establishment.
We arrive back at the Red Lantern in about ten
minutes and start to document the day. Down the hall comes the muted sounds
of human voices and a well - played cello. The evening is starting out well.
Elizabeth is still locked in mortal combat with Google but manages to avoid a
final confrontation and instead masters a few new levels on a game before
taking her flute to the common room. I join her a few minutes later. We play
together and with our host until after ten o'clock
26 January Sn - Panda City day 6.
We wake up, breakfast at the Red Lantern and are
off to the Beijing Zoo for 9:30.
On the way we stop at a local convenience store
to get Elizabeth a new pair of gloves and then descend into the metro for the
three stop trip to the zoo.
Admission process is quick and painless and we
arrive at the Giant Panda exhibit in time to see them having a late
breakfast.
Everyone is massively excited and there is a certain
amount of untoward shoving and butting in as visitors surge forward to view
some of China's best loved emmesaries to the world. But it is a good natured
crowd and there is ooing and asking as the masticating ursunoid waddles up to
the glass and settles in for a good scratch. I got excited and took some film
footage which I hope to share with Lucy upon our return to the Great White
North. We are no less excited than anyone else.
Afterwards we wander the zoo and view a number of
monkeys, polar bears, Emu, Zebra, giraffe, cobra, Python's, boas, giant
tortoise and other assorted wildlife. We make one stop for overpriced but
nevertheless welcome coffee during our walk and leave the zoo at about 2:30
to catch the metro back to our local station. The system is more crowded than
we have experienced this far but eeverything goes smoothly and we catch a
light lunch at our local cafe before pausing in a music store to get
information about how to ensure that the paper stays affixed to the bamboo
flute. We are aided by a knowledgeable young man who sells us a good backlog
of papers and stickum and then continue home. At the entrance to our houton
there is a cobbler who punches two holes in my belt for the princely sum of
5rmb. Ecstasy! I now have a belt that actually helps to hold up my trousers.!
So life improves incrementally...
Later Elizabeth discovers that yes, she can use
Facebook. Our spirits lift even more, if this is possible.
At seven we walk west to a houton with lots of
food places. Elizabeth selects a Muslim run establishment and orders an
incredible quantity of food. There is Kimchee, tofu, cabbage, seaweed
and tentacles, a savoury peanut sauce, moo Shu pancakes and a hot skillet
with brilliantly flavoured beef and onions. And beer too. We pounce. All of
this walking outside gives us an appetite but we don't seem to be having
weight, which is nice.
We return to the Red Lantern and loll about.
Elizabeth has found a computer game she likes (thanks Ian!) and I take a few
moments to write up the day and review our finances. So far, so good.
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