Saturday, October 10, 2009
We had a great breakfast at the hotel this morning. The coffee was great...but then again, I'm used to the strong, French-style coffee. Afterward, we all met in the lobby and headed out to the Great Wall. On the way to the Great Wall we decided to make a stop at China's Largest Jade Gallery. It was very interesting and impressive to say the least to watch them making the jade pieces. I have to agree, it was the largest Jade Gallery that I have ever seen. Of course, we bought a few souvenirs. After that, it was on to the Wall.
It was incredibly beautiful! We walked all the way to the 4th tower which took about an hour to do. Some of the steps were so steep, I literally had to crawl up to the next step. I have short legs, but still, I don't know how some people who are much shorter than I am can do it. At one point, it felt like we were going straight up. I took lots of photos but I don't think they will do it justice. It's one of those things you just have to experience to fully comprehend the greatness! Once we got to the top, Randy bought us the obligatory "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts that they sell at the top.
On the way down from the top of the mountain it was a much faster trip although more difficult to keep hold of the rail as it was about knee-high. It had the effect of making you lean backwards in a partial limbo just to get a grip. Beijing moves from a plain to sharp mountains in the course of about a mile. The mountains were where the Great Wall began, so you can imagine the difficulty of climbing it. Of course, this was easy compared to hauling all the granite up those same mountains when they built it with no real technology. Truly a marvel of construction.
After the Great Wall we had all worked up quite the appetites and headed off to lunch at traditional Chinese restaurant. Our guide, Cindy, ordered for us. She said this restaurant was famous for its "home-style" cooking. Everyone sat at a large round table, family-style, with a glass top lazy Susan so the food could be spun around to whomever needed it. We had shrimp, chicken, pork and beef in larger quantities, and of course, tofu for me. We had stir-fried green beans and stir-fried julienne potatoes that were great. Randy said the peanut chicken was beyond spicy. In all, the food was really good, but definitely different.
After lunch we visited the tombs of the Ming Emperors. Instead of walking more stairs down into the tombs we decided to walk the Sacred Road with hand-carved stone statues protecting the emperors in the next life. One huge carved elephant, who was in a resting pose, had his front legs bent the wrong way, but they went with it anyhow - 700-year-old civil service.
We then returned back to the hotel completely exhausted. Randy had to lay down in the back seat of the bus. There were those - okay, everybody - who told him that he was snoring pretty loud. He said, "I find that hard to believe. The whole thing wreaks of conspiracy." We should have gotten it on film!
After we got to the room Randy decided to check out the massage thing...here's his story. Definitely one to remember:
"I heard about these great Chinese therapeutic massages and my back was sore from climbing up a mountain on the Great Wall. Bare in mind, this is in a Marriott Courtyard in Beijing - a very nice hotel. I go to the fourth floor gym, up to the service desk and ask for a massage in English. The young woman at the service desk calls over this guy who can barely speak English and is dressed in a medical-looking smock. Well, for the next 45 minutes he proceeds to loosen my back up through a series of pressure points and chiropractic moves. It's fantastic! I'm thinking, this is the bomb. They do all this with your clothes on, which I already knew was the custom as explained by our interpreter earlier in the day. Everything is going fine. I'm at peace with the world. Life is truly good. After lying down, he has me sitting on a little stool to crack a certain spot in my back that he correctly identified as a pain point (keep in mind he spoke very little English, so he found all the problems I had with little if any input from me - really knew his stuff) when he called out to someone. This is where things get weird. An attractive young woman appears at the door. She is *not* dressed in a medical smock. She looks more like she's heading out clubbing. The gentleman manages to get out that she's going to finish the massage. So, naively, I'm thinking maybe she was on break and he was just helping her out while she was gone. I had about 15 minutes of the massage left, so this made sense to me. The first indication of problems arose when the gentleman said he was done and she pulled out a new price list. I'm still not catching on. I think to myself, why would a need another massage? She asked for my room number, so I figured she was going to have the previous massage charged to my room. It started to become clear when the gentleman left the room and she asked me - with a broad smile to "get undressed now?" Crap! She's a hooker. Or at least a specialist in happy endings. I tried to explain that I was done, at which point she offered to meet me in my room. After insisting several times that I was good to go, she looked (falsely) sad and walked out. Then the original masseur entered the room and asked one more time if I wanted her to "take care" of me. I said one final no. I pulled out the yuan to pay the man and he said I only should tip him, but have to give the fee to his "boss." This is on the fourth floor of the Marriott Courtyard mind you. Outside of the room was a gym with a service desk and what looked like a few tables and couches for people to relax after a workout. At one of these tables in a darker corner was the "Boss." We'll just call him "Moose." Sitting across from Moose is the young lady who I had previously met and another who looked to be about the same "rank." I cough up the yuan for the massage and Moose points to the women one last time, they smile, and I do my best to say no thanks (boo-yao shi-shi) in Mandarin. He looks a little put out but sits back down at the table and starts back typing on his laptop. Now I'm in a really weird space - from peaceful to confused to scared to, "What just happened?" I got back to the room and Renee asked what was wrong - apparently my eyes were still a little bugged-out from the sudden increase in metabolism. I told the whole story to her and said if a hooker knocks on the door in the next hour or so, I'm not here. She said, jokingly, we should never speak of this again. I agreed. My silence lasted until breakfast the next day."Well, off to sleep........tomorrow is another big day!
P.S. The massage therapist never showed up at the room :)
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