Today began bright and early with our flight leaving at 8am, meaning we had to be at the airport at 7am at the latest and waking up at 5:30am to be on time for all of this. So we rolled out of bed and Max’s dad drove us to the airport. When we got there we waited in line to check in, and as we got towards the front, the machine mysteriously broke. Max then went to the front of the line and told the lady, but apparently it wasn’t her problem so we had to go to the express check in line and were able to rush through security to make our flight right as it was boarding the last people. We were on our way to Beijing and everything was fine except the yelling kid in the seat in front of me. Normally I am fine on kids, I actually love kids, but this was the first kid to really make me want to physically kick like the last shot in a Fifa world cup final. Besides the kid it was a really smooth flight to Beijing and Max’s dad arranged for our driver to pick us up from the airport in an Audi A8, which was really cool. So we made it back to the hotel and decided to grab some lunch at a Korean restaurant near by. The Korean restaurant was really cool because it was like a little grille where they brought all the meat out raw and you cooked it yourself. It was nice because when you cook your own meat it means every bite is hot and cooked the way you want.
After lunch we decided to go see the temple of heaven. This was the place that the emperors in the past would go to pray to the gods of the sky and the heavens. It was really neat and hard to describe. I don’t really know a whole lot about it and will probably appreciate it much more when I read up on it, but Max was really excited the whole time. The architecture of the buildings was very traditional Chinese and some of the doors to the different gates were really elaborate with cool designs. It was pretty cool walking around. So far this whole trip we have been really lucky with the weather. In Nanjing which is known as one of the 4 oven cities of China we have had overcast days where hasn’t been rain, but it has been 10 degrees lower than usual. In Beijing yesterday it was 110 degrees, but today it was probably only around 85. Everyday has been sunny or overcast and until today it has only sprinkled while we were driving and stopped by the time we arrived. Today on the other hand our luck ran out. When we got to the temple of heaven we were able to buy our tickets and get just inside before it started to rain. It didn’t pour, but everything in the temple of heaven was uncovered and you had to walk at least 15 minutes to get to the exit to try and catch a bus or taxi. Of course we didn’t have raincoats or umbrellas, so we were basically stuck in the rain. There was covered gait where we waited about 30 minutes for the rain to stop, but it only died down to a sprinkle the whole time we were there. Near by there was a giant coke umbrella, like the kind vendors use for their stands, so Gordon grabs it and we all walk to the exit completely dry. The security was yelling something at us as we walked across the main area of the temple, but we couldn’t understand and Max just kept following us. When we made it to the exit we dropped off the umbrella and made our way out before the security really caught up and we made our way to the bus stop.
After the temple of heaven our next stop was Tien’ Anmen Square. The plan was to get there at 7:45 to watch the flag lowering ceremony that they do everyday. We had a little time before then, so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed over. The flag lowering ceremony was really cool. Even in the rain, there were at least 150 people there watching an event that happens every day. The guards were extremely succinct and well practiced. They raise and lower the flag each day to the giant picture of Mao that you see in all the history books. Behind the flag opposite the Mao picture are two giant screens playing music and pictures of China’s big historical sites. Because it was raining we didn’t get any pictures, but they got a lot of pictures of us. There were tons of cameras all over the place from the entrances to the exits not to mention the hundreds of guards all around making sure nothing out of the ordinary took place. The ceremony itself was really cool and we would have taken pictures if it weren’t for the rain. So instead we met of with some of Max’s friends from Carleton and at a nice bar they knew of.
Max took us to meet up with 3 of his friends from Carleton at a place called the village. The village was a nice shopping area with lots of nice bars that was pretty popular for the fellow palefaces in Beijing. Beijing is a popular tourist area and has more white people living there than any other of the cities we have been to so far. This area was really cool and it was nice to be able to talk to other people that could speak English. This was our first time being around people that Max didn’t have to translate everything we said. So we went to a Mexican restaurant and had some margaritas while we talked and hung out with his friends. We left the bar pretty early because once again our day tomorrow is starting really early.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is so big that it takes all day to walk through so we have to get up early to go see it. There is rain in the forecast so we are hoping that it holds out for us and is not too bad. Also there is a student from Beijing that was accepted to Hill in the fall and the admissions office hooked up with Max for us to talk to this guy and tell him about Hill and what to expect for the fall. So tomorrow morning we are meeting up with the student from Beijing and his mother for them to tell us about Beijing and the Forbidden City, while we tell them about The Hill School. It should be an exciting day tomorrow so I hope you guys have a great rest of the day and I will let you know how tomorrow turns out.
Marty
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