As I arrived from a fairly short plane ride from Shanghai, for once I was happy to see the effects of mass tourism. In preparation for the Olympic games, Beijing recently added subway lines around the city, improved the English signage and supposedly trained many of the taxi drivers in basic English phrases, though I couldn't manage to extract one word of English from any of the ones that I encountered. I came into the city more excited than I was for Shanghai, as this is home of a few of the great cultural offerings of China. I took the subway straight from the airport, walked 20 minutes with my heavy bags to my hostel and then made my way just 10 minutes away to the edge of the Forbidden City. This massive, walled complex is the former home of the emperors and elite of the Chinese capital, and it now serves as one of the top tourist attractions in the country. Walking alongside the wide moat, I passed just under the wispy green leaves of the innumerable willow trees lining the sidewalk just outside of the high stone wall separating the common city from the "Forbidden" sector. After about 15 minutes of winding my way around the beautiful border, I found my way to the front of the enclosure and the beginnings of the tourist hordes. Through the first gate lies majestic views of the outside of the palaces within the walls, covered in decorative shingles, intricate woodwork and traditional style buildings. On the other side of the concrete square, a tree lined walkway and another gate leads to a second large square full of people, soldiers and vendors. I followed the masses through the last arched entranceway, passed through a dark corridor and emerged on the other side with a vast cement square in front of me and a massive portrait of Mao Zedong just above me. I was at the much-pictured end of Tiananmen Square, the largest square in the world, famous for both the tourist draw and the killings that may or may not have taken place in 1989. I crossed a small stone arched bridge and turned around for another view, seeing a 40 or 50 foot Mao painting staring right back at me, fronted by a few stoic, immovable guards standing at attention. Not only a sight for foreigners, the vast majority of people here are actually Chinese tourists coming to see the bastion of their country and government. In a place as well-known as this, I was surprised to see so few Westerners around.
Unfortunately, as evening was setting in, so I didn't have time to tour the complex, so I instead crossed under the wide boulevard to Tiananmen Square. Thousands of people crowded the massive concrete field, stretching in all directions, eventually bordered by imposing government buildings. I think I read something about the square being as large as 600 football fields, often holding over a million people for parades and celebrations. Content to just watch the people pass by, I found an empty spot of concrete and sat down, staring at the passerbys, as many of them did the same to me. As darkness set in, I headed down the main road back to my hostel, getting cut off by a "friendly" guy who happened to speak English. Knowing the scam, I wasn't too thrilled to stop by his art studio, but it literally was on the way back, so I couldn't say no. His jovial mood eventually changed after I repeatedly told him that I would not be buying anything, and he even tried to pass the sale off not as a transaction, but an investment to friendship. I explained to him that a true friend would not charge another for the right to be their friend, and he stubbornly let me go. Not knowing where to go, I fortuitously headed back to the Square, finding a plaza full of lights and colors. The temples of the Forbidden City were all intricately lined with white Christmas lights, giving a magical appearance to the buildings. The government building and some statues in the Square also had similar light schemes, and the place looked even more impressive at night. Not to be outdone, a few minutes later, a water show emerged from the moat, shooting off jets in every direction, colored with red, blue or green lights.
Quite impressed, I finished off my first evening with a trip to Wangfujing Food Street, a tourist market full of typical and eccentric food, anything from noodle bowls and dumplings to skewers of any kind of animal or insect that you could desire. Live scorpions, three per skewer, squirmed on the wooden poles, drawing quite a bit of attention but very few takers. Next to them were centipedes, spiders, cocoons, starfish, seahorses, snakes and much more. Some even claimed to have dog meat, but I didn't want to verify that for myself. Deciding to skip the adventure for one night, I opted for a safe, cheap bowl of noodles and headed back, delighted by my first day in Beijing.
(Walking along the edge of the Forbidden City. Not forbidden.)
(Me and Mao.)
(The stern soldier guarding the portrait and posing for pictures at the same time. Talented Chinese.)
(The temples are even more beautiful at night. It's like every day is Christmas here.)
(And then there's a water show? Could this place get any better.)
(She and her friend wanted a picture with me, so I gave them my camera as well. Then they ran off with it, but I don't think it was a scam. No, that last part didn't happen. Sarcasm is so much easier in person than via a blog.)
(Scorpion on a stick? Anyone?)
(More mystery meat of Wangfujing Street.)
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