Tiananmen Square and so much more - 21 September

We checked out of the hotel by 8:00 and were soon on the bus motoring off to the Temple of Heaven. The temple was built during the Ming Dynasty and is one of the largest temple complexes in China and, according to the tour guide, “a paradigm of Chinese architectural balance and symbolism.” Whatever. All I know is that it was beautiful.

When we arrived at the complex, we walked through the park where the elderly were doing their exercises for the morning. They were dancing, playing hackey sack, fencing, and doing martial arts and playing cards. It was so much fun to watch and we wanted to linger there but the architectural balance and symbolism was awaiting us ahead.

It was a gorgeous temple – very large and ornate with vivid colors. It was surrounded by many other buildings and we had only a few minutes to explore them since Nancy had us on a tight time schedule. We took our pictures and scurried back to the buses so that we could head off to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

We arrived in the vicinity of the square and, again, I was asked to bring up the rear of the group. %$#@*& After my experience at the Summer Palace I was not eager to try my herding techniques again. Fortunately, everyone stayed together while walking through the huge square to the Forbidden City and I started to breathe again.

It was fascinating being in the square. The place was teeming with people and street vendors. You couldn’t turn around without bumping into someone. Along our walk to the Forbidden City we passed by Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum which contained the embalmed body of Mao - ick. The line to get into the building was long. Fortunately, we continued along the square to the City and finally made our way inside. And I didn’t lose anyone! Hallelujah!

Once inside the gate to the city, our tour guides procured audio devices for us and let us wander through the city at our own pace. Yet another blessing! Life is Good! Eileen and I went through the complex together. We had two hours to explore all the buildings along with 999,999 of our closest tourist friends. The place was packed. We could barely get close enough to some of the buildings to see inside (the interiors could not be entered but could be viewed from the doorway). Another disappointment was that the largest hall in the complex, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, was closed for renovations. This was the hall where the throne was located.

One of the halls though, was a big hit with Eileen and me – the Hall of Mental Cultivation. We are going to rename our library from the Information Spa to the Hall of Mental Cultivation! Instead of Librarians, we are going to be Mental Cultivators. Our students think it is a great name for it : )

We wandered around the city for our two hours in the hot sun and got to only a fraction of the halls to see. I guess we’ll have to save that for another trip. We made a quick visit to the loo - an Asian-style loo that was little more than a bowl set into the floor. During our time in Asia, I have been so thankful that my parents took our family camping a lot and I had already acquired the necessary skills for these bathrooms. It’s the one of the best gifts my parents have bestowed upon me.

We met up with the rest of the group at the other end of the city and made our way back to the bus without losing anyone. What a victory! We then had lunch with unlimited quantities of food and beer. I was enjoying the time in the restaurant so much that I was late to the bus which is a big no-no for bus leaders since we are keeping track of everybody lateness. I had to mark myself down this time. Ooops!

We then drove to the airport and got our boarding passes to Xi’an only to learn that our flight was delayed for two hours. Total bummer. I spent the time catching up on blog note and writing post cards. The students spent the time walking around the airport and playing cards.

We arrived in Xi’an at 8:30 and faced a one hour drive into the city. We were given the choice of going to a restaurant for a hot pot dinner or going to the hotel and getting caught up on sleep. I opted for dinner and was very glad that I had. It was so much fun. We each had our own hot pot and could boil things (food mainly) at will. I lost a lot of things in my hot pot due to my inferior chopstick skills. I finally got a fork and started fishing out shriveled up pieces of beef and vegetables that had been boiled to death. I just dunked them in sauce and called it good. It was very tasty despite my questionable hot pot technique.

We finally got back to the hotel at 11:00 but didn’t get my room key until about 11:30 because the distribution of the keys was a mess again. I finally got to my room (my roommate had elected to go straight to the hotel) but couldn’t get the key to work so I had to wake her up to let me in. Bad roommate etiquette! I washed as quickly as possible and then crashed into bed in a blissful daze. It had been a very eventful day!