Week 11 (China-Beijing)
8th to 13th of October
With a final farewell through the messy streets of UB (in our very
friendly taxi-driver’s minibus…with and extra back window on top of our
luggage…just for incase…you never know what you gona need in Mongolia!!!) we arrived
at the Chinggis Khaan Airport. We were returning to Beijing for another little
Chinese adventure. Only 5 nights this time!
We were booked into Aldorada Hostel in the Hutong (traditional court
yard Chines house) district. We’ve been on the specific subway line before, so
we were now like…experienced!!!!!! Arno was even caught out by another American
tourist with the question: ‘Can you read Chines?”, as he was studying the
subway map!! So funny. We then proceeded to help them to buy tickets and
directed them to where they were aiming for! We were getting VERY good now at
cramming ourselves and the bags into the overfull trains and shoving and
pushing folk out of our way on our journey to disembark from the train at given
station!!
Now overly used to (and irritated) by all the attention they receive
EVERYWHERE they go, the kids also started to wear their zippers back to front.
The reason for this was, when ever they saw paparazzi approaching us, they will
pull their hoodies over their faces….to great annoyance of their mother…because
of the tripping up hazard this was causing!! Nina had another approach, she
will just turn towards me and hide her face against my legs. It was just
getting a bit too much for them…
Our hostel was very convenient and very easy to reach from the
underground, but we all agree that this was our least favorite hostel so far. It
was all still going ok, until they charged us extra to use the kitchen… It cost
us then nearly as much to bake our own eggs than to go into the street and buy
6 egg-‘batties’ (rolls) from a street vendor!!! We stayed here for 3 nights.
Our 4-bedroom was a bit small, and since they were not that busy we got another
double room next door. This was great for Arno and I to have a bit of privacy-
chatting loudly to one another, not waking up kiddo’s and watching a movie with
full volume!!! Luxuary!!
We used our time well by visiting the Zhongshan Park (this is a former imperial
garden and now a public park) right beside the Forbidden City and then also
strolled over to the Emperor’s palace which is way way way back inside the
Forbidden City. Man, you can not comprehend in what kind of scenario these
Chinese rulers resided and reigned/ruled their nation. We decided not to use
the services of a guide and just to wander through the place at our own leisure…but
even just that took us (and there is not much to see inside the buildings…just
walking from the front to the back) nearly 2 hours.
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming
Dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex
consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 hectares. For
almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as
well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. The Forbidden
City was declared a World Heritage site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the
largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. The
name ‘Forbidden City” translated means the “Purple Forbidden City’ with
‘purple’ referring to the abode of the Celestial Emperor, and ‘forbidden’
refers to the fact that no one could enter or leave the palace without the
emperor’s permission.
Our exploration of this gigantic museum took up most
of the afternoon. It was now close to sunset as we started off on our 30min+
walk back to the hostel. We were stunned by the color of the sun…bright red!
Yes, then we realized, it was due to the shockingly high levels of pollution
over the city. We faffed about a little bit to get some dinner…none of the restaurants
close to our hostel ticked the boxes of what members in the family’s tummies
might have been interested in… Eventually I decided on cold meats form the
supermarket on some rolls. Pretty Western, yes, but at this stage I just needed
people to eat something, to keep them from ‘starvation’ in an hours time!! We
were booked to go on a girls night out and boy’s night out!!
Arno and Thomas opt for the Kung Fu show – telling the
life story of a Kung Fu master, birth, training, love, rising up to be a Grand
Master. The girlies and I went to an acrobatic performance. Good show, but I
was a bit disappointed in the emptiness of the auditorium. Surprisingly, all
the GREAT stunts of the evening were performed by boys!! (We were thinking of
you Sam McDonald!!)
Since us grown-ups have had our chance at deciding
where to sightsee, we decided it was the kids turn to pick a destination…their
choice was the Beijing Zoo. We were attracted to this Zoo, because of the
opportunity to see panda’s. One of their dreams, since Scotland, was to see
panda’s. We never managed to see them in the Edinburgh Zoo, Chengdu- close to
Xi’an – also did not happen, so we were looking forward to the Zoo in Beijing!!
We kept the best for last!! At a mere 30 yuan per person (£3), we felt quite
happy about the ‘cheap’ day out. Well, the cheap entrance fee came at a price
for the animals. Many cages were empty. The state of the animals were at a
general neglect and the Chinese were feeding zebra’s and gemsbokke (Orinx’s)
crisps form packets. I was raging!! I’ve never felt so helpless and annoyed
with people, as I did on that day!! Praise God, the panda’s were behind glass,
so at least no person could interfere with their eating habits and care!!! We
watched them for ages eating bamboo…then had a sad farewell of a little
3(nearly 4!!) year old who wanted a BIG soft panda to cuddle. This girl and her
soft teddy’s!!! ( When Philippa lost her new big-eyed-unicorn, she was so concerned
for her, that she gave her own new big-eyed-unicorn to her sister!! She said
that she still had Hippie Hippo to cuddle, but Ph did not have a teddy to
cuddle. So cute and loving!! Hopefully we’ll find a cuddly panda for her as a
birthday prezzie!!)
After the zoo we had one more stop to make before
calling it a day: Tiananmen Square. In 1989 this square in front of the Chinese
parliament, was the setting of and international accounted event. Not too much
information is known about what really happened there on 4th of June
1989. 7 weeks of protests of mainly university students (who gathered there to
morn the death of a liberal former communist leader) culminated in the killing
of hundreds (maybe even thousands) of unarmed civilians. The protesters called
for government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the
restoration of workers' control over industry. At the height of the protests,
about a million people assembled in the Square. IF you want to read a bit more
about the fate of the “Tank Man”, follow the link.
For the last two nights of our Chinese adventure,
we’ve contacted a friend of a our friends, Donna and Graham, the Dransfield
family, who invited us to their home in north eastern Beijing. Not only that!!!
They even sent a driver to come and pick us up, saving us the joy’s of dragging
ourselves and our luggage through underground tunnels and down stairways and up
elevators. We thought we would be ready early, so asked him to pick us up just
after 8am. Unfortunately, this Saturday was a ‘working day’ (still the
aftermath of the weeklong Chinese Moon-festival holiday) and the roads were
gridlocked. It took us almost 2.5 hours to cover the 35km!! We were ready for
that lovely cuppa coffee (with REAL milk) and awesome home baking!! We were
welcomed by this family as if we were old friends. The kids disappeared
upstairs (they’ve got 4 of their own too – similar ages to our 4!!) and the
grown ups were left to actually have a peaceful conversation.
Malcolm works as a geologist for Shell. Marianne runs
a craft/clothes making project, with the aim to provide a place for expat wives
to connect and using their skills in ministering to the children and teachers
of the migrant community school. All funds raised by selling their gorgeous
clothes range (created upstairs in Marianne’s work/sowing room) get’s plowed
back into training the migrant community to into having a skill in needle work.
The migrants do not have government passes to obtain free schooling and medical
funds inside Beijing city. On Fridays Marianne give sowing classes at the
migrant school. During the last sale of their products, they’ve raised enough
to buy 3 sowing machines for the school. Before moving away form Beijing,
Marianne has the vision of creating a steady flow of income to make this project
sustainable – she’s hoping to be able to fund the services of a local
dressmaker teaching at the school on a continual basis. Wow. Besides raising 4
children and showering us with hospitality, this lady is making a real
difference in the lives of local less fortunate Chinese people and giving
purpose to the lives of a great number of expat ladies!! (Just thought I’d
mentioned this amazing lady!!!)
Malcolm volunteered his ‘tour-guide’ services and we
departed on our planned adventure to walk on the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!
The great wall was built along an east-to-west line
across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese
Empire from the nomadic tribes form the north (Mongolia) or from infiltration from
warlike peoples or forces. Part of the wall was built as early as the 7th
century before Christ. Later it was rebuilt, fortified with watchtowers and
joined together. The largest part of the wall was build during the Ming dynasty
(14th century), measuring 8,850 km!!
This was my dream number 3-come-true-day!! Since my
granny visited China, al those years ago, I visualized myself standing on this
ancient wonder. My dad had the opportunity to ride the cable car to the top and
most recently, my cousin Marthe and her husband, Willie, visited the Wall in
2013.
With Malcolm, the expert’s, help, we decided to walk
up and down. On our way up we took a less known path through a lovely garden
and rock museum, to reach the wall between the 8th and 9th
watchtower. Due to the polluted air (also the reason why Marianne and the
children did not join us on the walk) we could not see to far ahead of us, but
to be honest, I did not care. I was just so thankful to be standing on top of
this amazing work of generations!! We spend about and hour or two, walking
towards the 14th watchtower. Some sections a bit steeper than
others. Then we took the million stairs back down again. It all passed WAY too
quickly. Once down in the valley again, I had to pinch myself…was I just on top
of the GREAT WALL OF CHINA??!! When I return here, I would like to hike a few
sections of the wall over a couple of days…or even, just maybe… attempt to run
the Great Wall of China marathon (like Malcolm did last year – by the way – Malcolm,
you are my new hero now!!!)
Back home with our hosts the children just relaxed in
the toy heaven and learned to make dumplings from their Chinese Ah-Ee who came
in to cook us a traditional Chinese meal!!
The amazingly calm Maw-Maw (Golden
Retriever) added to the warmth and welcome we experienced here. Alana
discovered the sowing room upstairs and she was lost to the world…. Fabrics
galore, buttons, ribbons, 3 sowing machines…(Ouma Leta, hint hint…Christmas is
coming…..!!)
I went for an early Sunday morning run with Malcolm
and caught up on the Chinese culture and the challenges of living as and expat,
in this interesting foreign culture. As he told me, even though they’ve been
living in China for just over 2 years now, they are still surprised (almost on
a daily basis) by a new reaction or behavior…just as they were starting to
think they understood the culture!!
We were blessed to join them at Capital Congregational
Church and witness another baptism!! I was contemplating the fact, that even
though Christianity is under severe persecution in China, according to our
hosts, the underground Chinese church is growing exponentially!! The Chinese
economy is experiencing an exceptional growth spurt too… Funny that??!!
Back at home another lovely lunch was dished up and
the 12 of us were sitting around their dinner table together. So homely!!
Alana
disappeared upstairs again while the boys went to walk Maw-Maw. It was after 6pm
before we saw her again. I started to wonder if she had not fallen asleep
somewhere. She was busy creating a whole new wardrobe for Philippa’s Barbie
doll. She also made herself a new soft cuddly owl.
I can not express enough thanks to the Dransfields for
welcoming us into their home. We were dropped off at the airport (very) early
on Monday morning and had a bag of goodies to see us though the first stage of
our journey to Vietnam. Sometimes you just meet people you can relax with. No
pretense, no awkward silences!! We can not wait to welcome you in our home in
South Africa…who knows, maybe sooner than we think!!!
Our Chinese experience was one of very mixed
feelings…not a culture that is too easy to settle down into, just because it is
sooo different. I found people to be very self-minded, pushing you out of their
way to get to the front first…but then also so loving and caring, getting out
of their seats on the subway so the children (and I) can sit down. Not to many
happy smiley faces going around, but then exuberant excitement when they see
our four children and loud chatter in the process of getting to the front to
take a good souvenir photograph of them! Clearing their throats and spitting
everywhere (!!) but then riding on the backs of calligraphy giants and former
rulers of most of the world. Complex, diverse for sure, vulnerable… created by
an all loving Father, just the same!
