Our New Office

Saturday, October 18th, 2008. The reviews of the “dirt” or “ghost” market we read in our guidebook were glowing. Of all the touristy markets in Beijing, the best deals were said to be had here. Hundreds of booths, people selling out of little shops (or on the ground), and the occasional genuine authentic antique. While it was definitely the biggest market we went to, it was a little over-hyped. Still, it’s worth a visit. Here are my thoughts about Beijing’s Ghost or Dirt Market:

Unfortunately, Sara and I aren’t big fans of jade jewelry or sculpture. If you’re into jade, you’re going to love the Dirt market. Lots of jade bracelets, pendants, necklaces, dragons, lions, and various other sculptures. We saw some incredibly complicated carvings, for example. If only we were interested…

Second, the best deals at the Dirt-Ghost market are for big, one-of-a-kind items. We found a huge and obviously hand-carved rock sculpture that would be the center piece of any room, and it could be had for less than $1000. Definitely a deal. However, for someone looking to buy items that fit in a suitcase, the deals were a lot more pedestrian. Still, if I were decorating my home with Asian art, the discounts here would more than cover the cost of a plane ticket.

Third, you have to be on your guard for scammers. While I know this sounds like silly advice – you should always be on your guard – the truth is a lot of really shady people were selling goods at this place. We looked at wool rugs, for instance, and nearly every rug this young man was selling was dirty. Upon closer inspection, the rugs looked worn as well. Yet he was selling these obviously used rugs for new-rug prices. When I told him his rugs were used, he got irritated and refused to deal further.

There’s also a lot of fake “antiquing” going on – covering carvings or sculptures in special chemicals designed to make something look much older than it is. I could spot some of these fakes because a lot of the time the underlying sculpture showed clear signs of manufacture – such as metal left over from a from, perfectly drilled holes, etc. I’m no expert, I just know that ancient Chinese craftsman didn’t produce anything with obvious metal-casting remnants – they were much too careful for that.

Finally, and perhaps most disappointingly, the market carried many of the same souvenirs and curios as all the other markets we’ve been to. Very repetitive.

Still, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy myself. It’s always fun to negotiate with people and look for bargains (at least for me.)

If you only go to one market in Beijing, the Dirk or Ghost market is the one to go to. In fact, my advice would be to skip all the other markets in Beijing (such as the numerous stalls south of Tiananmen and the Pearl market) and just head to the Dirt market instead (just remember, it’s only open on weekends). You can get everything you want here, and the prices are as good as any of the places we looked earlier in the week.

This mythical creature combines the teeth of the lion, the scales of a fish, the antlers of a deer, and a bunch of other features that I can’t remember. It was created by the Ming Emperors to demonstrate how so many different peoples were united to form one China. Beijing is a must-see for any world traveler – it represents many of the Chinese people’s greatest achievements.

We spent the rest of the day getting some work done. Tomorrow morning, we fly to Xian.

So long Beijing – it’s been amazing!

Friday, October 17th 2008. Sara and I had a business meeting with a Chinese web design company this morning. It was fascinating to learn just how different the Chinese people’s expectations are when it comes to what makes a “good” website. Perhaps I’ll post more about that on my company website, the Spork Marketing Blog.

Our meeting was held at the Golden Resources Shopping Mall. Officially, it is the 2nd largest shopping mall in the world. According to the people we met with, it was at the very least the largest shopping mall in all of Asia. Our meeting was at a Starbucks, and it was surprisingly difficult to find. Guess what the largest mall in Asia DOESN’T have – A DIRECTORY!

Evidently, directories aren’t necessary (or accurate) when it comes to shopping malls in Beijing. We’ve been to a couple of malls where the directory was very vague (Golden Resources did have a directory, but it was much too vague to be useful), and the Wangfujing shopping area had directories, but they often times were innaccurate. Perhaps I’m placing too much emphasis on this – after all, I don’t find myself studying directories at U.S. shopping malls – but it seems sort of ridiculous to have one of the biggest malls in the world and no directory to speak of. At least the staff was helpful. A mall security guard escorted us to where we needed to go when we asked for directions.

One of the many Dragon boats motoring away from the main temple at the Summer Palace.

Next, we headed to the Summer Palace. Unfortunately, today was a bad day to visit. The weather was crummy – the “cloud” cover was thick and the sun didn’t shine at all. What could have been a beautiful lake and collection of temples was instead a repeat of much of what we had seen before.

One of China’s last emperess’s, Dowager Cixi, restored this boat in 1893 using embezzled funds that were supposed to go towards modernizing the Chinese Navy. Ironic, isn’t it?

Some advice for anyone visiting Beijing – the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven are quite similar. If you’re pressed for time, you can definitely skip one of them.

After nearly a full week of touring, Sara and I decided to take a break from tourist activities and do some work. It felt good to stay in one place for a while.

Thursday, October 16th, 2008. Today was a half-day – we worked in the morning and toured in the afternoon. When I say “worked” it was more about “catching up on email” than anything else. After lunch, we hoped on the subway system (as nice as any you’ve ever seen – very clean and neat) and rode to the exit closest to the Temple of Heaven.

Sara and I standing before the entrance to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven park.

The Temple of Heaven, built in 1420, is very special – it was here that the Emperor would go to pray for good harvests. The aptly named “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest” was the showpiece – an amazing multi-story pagoda set atop a large stone mound. There was a huge LCD screen sitting next to the hall that explained the purpose and function of the hall, the stone bridge leading up to it, as well as all the related buildings (see video). It was interesting without being showy – a very nice touch. The Temple of Heaven is said to be the largest “existing architectural complex in the world,” and I believe that means that this area hasn’t been harmed throughout Chinese history to the degree that many other attractions have been.

After visiting the Temple of Heaven for a few hours, Sara and I made our way to the nearby “Pearl Market.” Floor upon floor of clothes, electronics, souvenirs, and jewelry, the pearl market was a full-on selling center. Hundreds of vendors, each with their own table, would yell “HELLO!” and then shake or wave their wares at you. Some of the better vendors spoke enough english to offer “ROLEX WATCH!” or “PRADA!,” but the sad truth was that most of these stalls sold the same variety of inferior goods. Similar to Canal street in NYC, it’s only worth a look if your dead-set on buying some pearls. Still, Sara and I both managed to buy some trinkets.

Tired and hungry after the assault at the Pearl Market, we were trying to find a specific restaurant mentioned in our guide book. Known as “San De Guizhoumen” (or something like that) in Chinese, we asked a random white person when we got off the subway and he told us where to go. Unfortunately, after following his directions, we couldn’t find a restaurant with the name listed in the book. Frustrated, Sara and I rested and contemplated our options. I looked at the description in the book again, and Sara asked me to find another restaurant in the same area.

We were getting ready to walk away when out of desperation, I showed a local sitting on a nearby bench the name of the restaurant in the book. Confused, he looked at me and then pointed to a shop right next to us – we had been standing in front of the restaurant the whole time! The restaurant, in order to make it “easier” for westerners, had changed their sign from Chinese to English. Therefore, the “San de Guizhoumen” was translated to “Three Guizhou Men.” Embarassed (but grateful), we enojyed a nice (and very spicy) meal of hot-pot. Fortunately the food was good enough to make the journey worthwhile.

Before visiting the Great Wall, our tour group was taken to a special “ancient chinese medical center” that was really nothing more than a tourist trap. We were also taken to a “Jade Factory and Museum” that was nothing more than a giant Jade jewelry store. Everything was beautiful, and the staff was very helpful, but the items were incredibly over-priced. We didn’t buy anything.

One of the members of our tour group enjoying “free ancient Chinese medical diagnosis” – also known as a sales pitch.

Lunch was a treat – we sat at a large table with other couples in our tour group and made small talk while enjoying a buffet of sorts. The table had a lazy susan in the center, and it was covered with 15 or so different dishes. When you wanted something, you spun the lazy susan around to the dish you wanted to eat and helped yourself. Not the most sanitary way to eat with a group of strangers, but fun. It was especially entertaining to watch other people try foods for the first time – you could tell many of the people in the group were unfamiliar with Chinese foods in general, and Sara and I felt very cosmopolitan to be so familiar with the relatively tame offerings. The truth is that nothing exotic was on the table – just beef, pork, and chicken – but the presentation was “Chinese”, meaning you couldn’t tell what the hell it was until after you ate it.

The Great Wall at Badaling (one of the higher points on the wall) was overwhelming. After a full morning of crowded touring, Sara and I were looking for an opportunity to contemplate and enjoy scenery and a nice hike. Instead, we were rushed into a huge line, thrown into something resembling a roller coaster that hauled us up the hill, and then told we had 2 hours to enjoy the Great Wall with 20,000 of our closest Chinese friends. While the views were stunning and the experience was unforgettable, China would do well to open many more sections of wall (besides the 3 or 4 that are commonly visited now).

We rode this “tram” (more like a roller coaster) to get near the top of the great wall.

Despite the tram ride, the top of the wall at Badaling was still quite a ways up.

We visited the “Badaling” section of the Great Wall, which is Chinese for something similar to “signal hill.” It had a great view of the surrounding mountains and wall sections. It was good to be in a place without smog – we could actually see quite a ways. Badaling served the important purpose of a main signal relay – if and when someone on the wall spotted an invasion, Badaling was a crucial relay point for getting word of the invastion back to the Emperor. Indeed, the great wall was as much of a signal network as it was a military fortification. The wall was far enough away from the Forbidden City that the emperor had enough time to raise an army and challenge the invasion before the invaders could reach anything important.

One of the nicer views of the surrounding wall and countryside.

A closer view of more of the Great Wall nearby, partially restored.

To some of the Chinese tourists visiting the Great Wall, Sara and I were as much of a spectacle as the wall was. We were stared at, pointed at, and everything we did was watched closely. A random Chinese man even asked to have his picture taken with the two of us, much to the amusement of his close friends. While our “superstar” status raised our profile, it did little to prevent the ever-present pushing and shoving so common in Chinese crowds. I had a little old woman – who might have been 5 feel tall and weighed 90 lbs – pushing me nearly the entire time we stood in line to get back on the roller coaster that would take us down the hill. I’m not sure if it was aprehension on her part at the upcomming ride, or if she was hoping that by pushing me she could skip ahead, but she found a way to irritate Sara and I greatly. Still, it was a tiny little old woman – we had to take our lumps.

Sara and I nearing the top of the Great Wall.

Leaving the Great Wall, we felt exhausted. The steep climb, battling with the crowds, and the rush-rush-rush atmosphere of a crowded tourist attraction left us tired and ready for our hotel. Combined with the Ming Tombs earlier, we definitely got our money’s worth today.

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008. Today I managed to accomplish a lifetime goal – I visited the Great Wall. Like everything else we’ve seen in China so far, the size of the Great Wall, the number of people visiting the wall, and the experience itself are overwhelming.

The Changling Ming tomb.

We decided to take a tour bus to visit the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. Our tour guide, a young Chinese woman, was named “Johnny.” She told us that her first English teacher made a mistake and gave her a boy’s name because Johnny’s hair was very short at the time. It was a funny story and an endearing quality. Sara and I enjoyed Johnny’s tour very much.

Our first stop, the Ming Tombs, was amazing. While I’ve never been to Egypt, my guess is that the Ming tombs rival all but the grandest Egyptian tombs. We visited the Changling tomb, the tomb of the third Ming Emperor Chengzu (1363-1424 AD). The tomb is massive – 100 meters on a side, nine stories below ground and 5 stories above (or there abouts). When the Emperor died, his body was carried more than 3 kilometers on the “Divine Way” (a zig-zagging path with various sculptures and gates) before being taken to a special palace where the burial party would rest for 3 days. They performed various ceremonies here, ate only a vegetarian diet, and the concubines that were chosen to be entombed with the Emperor hanged themselves here before making the final journey to the tomb.

The final journey involved burying the emperor with everything he would need in the after-life – tools, food, clothing, valuables, servants, animals, and of course, concubines. All of these things were sacrificed upon the emperor’s death.

While it might sound barbaric to bury servants and concubines with the Emperor, it had a very religious and sacred purpose. The Emperor was viewed as a God, and while I have no idea about the truth behind that belief, I will say that anyone who managed to unite a country as vast and varied as China deserved some sort of recognition.

The Nanmu wood pillars inside the mausoleum palace at the Changling tomb.

Atop the tomb was a mausoleum palace. The palace, about three stories tall, was built mostly out of a valuable wood known as Nanmu. Each of the pillars in the mausoleum were scuplted from one huge tree, and since these trees were only found in Southern China at the time, it took nearly 4 years to bring the huge columns to the tombs.

The bricks used to build the tomb were also interesting. On the outside, every brick was inscribed by the name of the person that placed it. This way, when the inspection of the tomb was completed, any poorly placed bricks could be traced back to the individual that made the mistake. Many of these marks are visible today. Inside the mausoleum palace there are “golden bricks,” perfectly fired bricks that were so strong they made a metallic sound when hit with a wooden mallet. Finally, and perhaps most amazingly, the grout used to hold all of these bricks together was made from egg whites and sticky rice.

This brick was mortared in place with sticky rice and egg whites. Each worker signed the bricks they placed so that they could be held accountable by the Emperor for any mistakes they made.

I bet I know what the workers had to eat everyday.

One of the more interesting aspects of visiting the Ming Tombs was when we were walking out. We had to step through a gate, yell out something along the lines of “spirit come with me” in Chinese, and then hope that our spirit had not decided to stay at the tomb. The superstition is that our spirit would decide to stay at the tomb instead of coming with us – or something like that. Most of the Chinese found this superstition to be more humorous than real, but everyone leaving the tomb made sure to walk through the gate.

When I visited the restroom before we left the tomb, my hands weren’t signaling the automatic sinks or hand dryers to turn on. For a moment, I too was worried my spirit was left behind in the tombs, and that my spirit-less self wasn’t recognized by the electric sensors. Then I found one that worked and my fears were alieviated.

The Days Inn Forbidden City is located just outside the east entrance of Teifai park, about a half-mile away from the south gate of the Forbidden City. It’s also a long city block away from the Wangfujing shopping area. In short, the location is excellent when it comes to tourism. We stayed at the Days Inn for 5 days, and here’s our review:

The bad:

• The rooms are small, the bathrooms offer no privacy whatsoever (I can hear everything that happens through the paper-thin bathroom doors), and the view out our window was pitiful.
• The breakfast buffet was very repetitive – nearly the same offerings every day
• The shower door didn’t close completely, so you had to be careful or you would dump a lot of water on the floor.

The good:

• The location is just about perfect for tourism in Beijing. It’s easy to find a cab, you can walk to the major tourist areas (Forbidden City, Tiananmen, etc.), as well as the subway
• Everything is clean.
• The staff is superior. Excellent english, extraodinarily friendly and helpful, and very professional. We felt sorry for them – it seemed like the same staff worked 12 hours a day.
• The food at the breakfast buffet, while repetitive, was of good quality. Lots of fruit juice, all sorts of breads and cereals, and then a nice collection of western and asian staples (eggs, hashbrowns, congee, etc.).

Overall, we would recommend the Days Inn Forbidden City to anyone traveling to Beijing.

Monday, October 13th 2008. Today we decided to follow Frommer’s recommended “Back Lakes” walking tour of an old Beijing neighborhood. Known as “hutongs,” these old neighborhoods were constructed hundreds of years ago and have housed countless generations of Chinese people. The area we toured was fairly close to the Forbidden City, so it was (and still is) a popular neighborhood among China’s elite.

Hutong (translated literally as “narrow alley”) are usually made of stone. Because the hutongs were constructed before the advent of the automobile, most of the streets are barely wide enough for a small cart. Therefore, it’s best to walk. We started at the home of a famous Chinese opera star, Mei Lanfang. It was an interesting stop, but I would suggest you skip it when you visit. Next we walked past one of Beijing’s oldest university campuses (also un-interesting) before arriving at Prince Gong’s Mansion, known as Gong Wang Fu.

Prince Gong’s mansion looked a lot like the Forbidden City from the outside (similar style buildings, etc.), and Sara and I were tempted to skip it. We’re quite glad that we decided to go inside. The main buildings were interesting (albeit a repeat of the Forbidden Palace), but the garden behind the buildings was absolutely stunning. Incredible rock and water features, beautiful plants, and even animal life. It was truly an oasis in an otherwise crowded and polluted city.

I highly recommend you visit Prince Gong’s mansion to visit the garden, but if you’re like Sara and I you’ll also enjoy seeing the spectacle of Chinese people having their picture taken with a life-size Chinese character (see below). The character means “good fortune” in Chinese, and it’s believed that having your picture taken with this character (or even having a picture of it) will bring you luck and happiness.

We also ran into another superstitious situation – while walking up a steep walkway to a small temple of some sort, I was nearly over-ran by a tour group running up this same walkway. Evidently, it’s good luck to run in this situation.

After visiting Prince Gong’s Palace, we walked through more hutong. Beijing is very much a city under construction, and it was fascinating to see workers adding electricity, plumbing, air conditioning, and other modern conveniences to a stone neighborhood hundreds of years old. While this particular area wasn’t truly representative of a “real” Chinese neighborhood, it was still very interesting to see.

We ended up at Houhai Lake halfway through the day, just in time to witness the zany action at Wild Duck Island. While it sounds exciting, it’s a great example of a complete cultural breakdown between China and the West. While the Chinese view this island as a “commitment to nature,” most westerners would likely see a small grouping of trash (carpet, wooden pallets, and other flotsam) assembled in such a way as to provide refuge to a very small collection of “wild ducks.” It’s this type of attempt at environmentalism that illustrates the disparity between Eastern and Western attitudes about nature and preservation. That and the ever-present Beijing smog, of course.

After walking around Houhai Lake and strolling through Tobacco Alley (a trendy restaurant area), we finished our day of touring at Beihai park. Beihai offered a glimpse of real Beijing life. School groups were on a field trip, and the kids were so cute that Sara remarked often about “taking one of those home with us.” They would always wave and yell “Hello!” at us when we walked by. They also enjoyed peeing in the park in plain view of everyone. Hilarious and cute to be sure. We also saw regular people enjoying the park – old folks demonstrated the Chinese version “power walking,” families and friends assembled to sing songs, play games, and have a good time.

View of the White Dagoba upon the top of the Jade Islet, Beihai park, Beijing.

The best part of Beihai park was the Jade Islet on the south end of the lake. It was topped by a large Buddhist Dagoba, and inside was a group of caves dedicated to the 12 Daoist spirits. While Sara was uncomfortable visiting the caves, I found the experience to be spectacular. The scenery surrounding the islet was magnificent, and the general mood in the park was calm. While most tourist parks (such as the Summer Palace) are just as beautiful and inspiring, Beihai park lacked the hustle and bustle of a tourist attraction. We also felt like Beihai offered insight into normal Chinese life.

Giant water lilies – at least 4 feet tall – covered the southern part of the lake and made for a very calm experience.

If you visit Beijing, I would recommend you add Beihai to your itinerary.

October 9th, 2008. My first intercontinental flight wasn’t as rough as I thought it would be, but it was pretty hard. Not only was it 14 hours of time in a cramped seat, but I was bracketed by THREE screaming youngsters. I was also very tired – we boarded at about 1 am, and didn’t sleep for another couple of hours.

Here’s Sara outlining all the flights we need to get to Beijing:

Here’s the official flight “Highs and Lows”:

Lows:

• Three screaming youngsters – two in the seats directly in front of me, one in the seat directly behind. I felt bad for them (and their parents) – nearly 25% of the time the kids were screaming.
• The seats didn’t actually recline. Instead, the cushions just slid “up and down.”
• The seat-back “pouch” wasn’t a pouch at all – it was a sort of clipboard that held the safety brochure and that’s about it. There was no place to put trash, my magazines, etc.
• I got nothing done – no work, no reading, nothing.

Here’s what we looked like leading up to the long-haul:

Highs:

• The entertainment system was awesome. Movies, TV shows, and a tourist guide all on-demand.
• It really wasn’t that bad. I got to get up and walk around quite a bit.
• When we got off the plane, the cabin looked like a trash bomb had exploded. There was stuff EVERYWHERE – blankets and trash strewn about, pillows everywhere, etc. It was hilarious.

Bottom line: If you’re a tourist, flying coach is fine. You can do it. However, if you’re making that flight more than once every few months, business class (or better) is the only way to go.

The first few days we were in Beijing the weather was beautiful. The temperature was just right, the sky was blue, the sun was out, and we were happy. We even talked to other travelers about how surprised we were that there wasn’t that much pollution.

But then day four came and with it the pollution. Coming from Denver we are both used to seeing hazy days and even seeing days where you can’t see the downtown skyline because of all the smog, but this….this is different.

It’s so smoggy that it looks like clouds. It’s so smoggy that you can’t really see the tops of buildings. It’s so smoggy that when I look down the hallway in our hotel (inside mind you) that I can see a haze. It’s so smoggy that the sun looks weird.

It’s most likely a combination of weather and pollution, but it all makes me a little sad. We talk a lot about the lungs of the people that live here and how it might be hurting the little babies and the environment of the whole world, not just here in China.

The up side is that I think this may make an environmentalist out of Jason, but don’t tell him I said that because he’ll deny it:)