After the crowds at Forbidden City, Thom took me on a tour of the Hutongs that he had walked this week while I worked.  The Hutongs are where the locals live in complex mazes of alleyways.  It felt a little intrusive and weird to walk these quiet places but it gave me a real feel for the simple, poor living conditions of most of the citizens.  Concrete huts really with outdoor cooking over fires, adding to the haze of pollution that is everywhere.  

Out of one alley and thrust into market day, the Chinese crowds were buying lunch from street vendors-fruits/vegetables, nuts, various meat that looked exotic and made my weak stomach churn.  Some smelled delicious but others not so much. 

I saw the opening at the end of the crowd into a park. Thom argued that 20 RMB a person was too much to pay-a mere $4 a person but I paid and off we went.  Little did we know that we had stumbled into one of Beijing’s most famous and beautiful parks, Beihai Park.  With a gorgeous lake and temple, Beihai Park is Beijing’s answer to NYC’s Central Park.  

We stumbled upon a large sing-a-long taking place with a small band and a leader directing enthusiastically from a pedestal.  We were there on a Sunday but we couldn’t tell if the songs were religious or patriotic.  Whichever, the crowd was definitely singing with passion and fervor.  They ended after many songs and a sole saxophone played Auld Lang Syne as the crowd dispersed to enjoy the sunny day. 

From singing to dancing, many other groups were performing along the way for the park goers.  Thom and I enjoy stumbling upon hidden gems like Beihai Park when we travel and seeing how the locals enjoy their lives.  There were few Westerners there that day in the park-just Beijing citizens relishing their last few days of warm weather on a rare relatively smog-free day.

 

“Hey lady, wanta Louie?  I give you good price!”  The Silk Market haggling is legendary for jiade “fake” merchandise and not to be missed in Beijing.  Floor after floor of anything you could want but primarily designer branded items fill the space along with the overly aggressive primarily female sales staff in each booth.  I went with two of my team members-males really get the royal treatment by the ladies who physically grab various parts of their bodies to make a point and a deal.  The bidding starts high and the negotiations are done on a large calculator, which for some reason was usually pink.  Some English is spoken but primarily they put in “special friend price for you” on the calculator at say 2500 RMB and you counter with 20 RMB and then the bargaining gets going, with the final price usually 90% less than the original price. 

My team member who speaks Mandarin asked for the “special stuff” so we were taken down into the basement, out into a parking garage and shown to the back of a hatchback where the “special stuff” was kept–too good of a price to be in the real store they told us.  We squatted on plastic stools (my two team members are substantial and I thought for sure would end up flattening the things but they held up) and we proceeded to be shown a parade of Prada, Tods, Gucci, Chanel, LV, etc. handbags of only the finest quality streaming out of the back of the car.  I was glad to have already spent all my cash (no credit cards accepted of course) on my wonderful husband (Barcelona Nike outfit and an Omega watch-worth $3,000 but, for me, only $60) but my team mates ended up buying several lovely bags for their friends and co-workers back home.  You do get better pricing by buying multiple items from the same vendor. 

Best practice–know exactly what you want to pay for the item you are seeking, have pictures of the designer’s actual product that you want, and start way below that desired price, knowing you will have to put in about 3-4 higher prices into the calculator and then just walk away to seal the deal.  Trust me, they will follow you down the aisles shouting at you-“-best offer xxxx, you come back now!”  Then, there will be a big show that you got a screaming deal (even if you didn’t) with many pleas to be quiet about the price, lest others get such a bargain and cries of “you’re killing me, lady” to express their pain to sell it to you at such a ridiculously low price. 

Regretfully, I got the shopping bug and went back on my own with some cash to get a few items before leaving town.  My new Tumi leather briefcase was definitely worth all the drama that it took to secure my very own screaming deal.

 

 As we rode from Beijing to the Great Wall, our
driver took us through the local areas where the farmers were using the side of
the roads to process their crops.  For
long stretches, the corn was heaped into big piles waiting to be
processed.  Further along, the corn had
somehow been taken off the cob and laid into yellow ribbons on the
pavement.  It would be fascinating to
understand their entire process from farm to table. 

At times, hugging the ancient stones while screaming at my goat-like husband to slow the @#*! down, I lost sight of the amazing fact that I was walking THE Great Wall of China.   Then, it would hit me and I would shake my head in total awe and stop to enjoy the moment. 

It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen or done before..built in various stages over 2,000 years ago, it is so historic and beautiful.  And you don’t just look at it or we didn’t–it is meant to be challenging and it was.  Climbing on hands and knees or sliding down on your ass, whatever it took to gain access to the highest point, we did it even though there were moments when I wondered if it was worth it–it was.  It took Thom and I two hours to go from the Mutianyu gate (farther out from Beijing than the more crowded Badaling section) to the top garret.  Young and old alike were gasping for air and spitting up their lungs by the final ascension by steep stairs.  Jubiliation followed as the few who made the long journey realized that they could stop climbing and just soak in the view. 

ADA compliant it is not-in fact, there is no way for anyone who has any type of disability or physical condition to experience the route we took.  There were open holes in floors where steep staircases took you down and narrow walkways not meant to be shared by even two people to get across wide gaps.  Not for the faint hearted or weak for sure!  I heard one stout fellow say, “I’m taking the elevator down!!!”.  Good luck with that dude.  Thom and I got cocky after making it and on the way down to the gate, people would ask us if the climb up was hard, to which we would reply, “Nah-piece of cake–only fifteen minutes to the top”  Then we would turn and quietly snicker to ourselves… 

As we cut into the crowded line to go down the mountain by gondola, one guy in line remarked that he had seen us on the wall and was struck by our energetic spirit.  How could you not be completely hyped up by gazing at the beautiful autumn forests from the ridiculously picturesque and historic Great Wall??