Beijing ~ July 8
Well we lucked out with more cloud cover today but still hot and very humid. Stacy ran and got breakfast for the family from the same street vendor. They were surprised and very happy to have our business again. Kallin and Hailey have discovered the stash of Nutella that Zoe smuggled in her suitcase. An all out war has been waged over the Nutella. Much to Zoe’s dismay, she has been forced to share by the commander in chief.
We got a bit of a late start today and managed to make it out of the room by 11:00 a.m. Everyone is sleeping so soundly after hours of walking each day. After a brief lesson on how to use the subway, John and Stacy decided that Kallin and Zoe would have to navigate us to our next destination: The Temple of Heaven. They managed to successfully navigate their way to the Temple of Heaven (it should be noted that no transfer of trains was required for this destination!)
The grounds are massive; quite possibly rivaling that of The Forbidden City. There was an extremely lengthy walkway that was beautifully painted in ornate designs, including the ceilings. There were huge areas of grass and trees. What we really enjoyed was the gathering of the locals truly enjoying one another and their beautiful surroundings. It was really peaceful. There were men gathered playing some kind of domino looking game, people playing musical instruments purely for pleasure and a sort of hackie sac game. What really caught our attention was large gatherings of men and women where a person would be singing accompanied by live music. — no stage, just an impromptu sort of celebration. People young and old would dance by themselves intermixed with the singer. The next thing we knew, Kallin and Zoe were out in the middle with them dancing! People literally went wild and asking to get their pictures taken with them.
From there, we ventured onward until we reached the actual Temple of Heaven which is very large and consists of three round tiers with a roof. The entire structure is elevated up a long flight of stars, ornately decorated and brightly painted. There were several ornate structures nearby as well that were quite large as well. After some stiff negotiating by John, we paid to have our pictures taken in period clothing as an emperor and empresses in front of the Temple of Heaven. It may well be our next Christmas card! It was quite funny. Again, the Chinese nearby went camera happy snapping pictures of and with us. It totally baffles us as to what they are going to do with these pictures.
As we headed back to the subway we came across one of the few subway/street performers that we have seen while here. John gave the guy some yuan, grabbed his guitar and started singing with the girl in the underground subway! Their first song was “Let It Be” by the Beatles and then a Bob Marley song. As you can imagine, people were quite startled to see a middle aged Caucasian man and his three blond daughters singing in the subway with a tip can out front. Quite a crowd gathered and out came many cameras for pictures. They held the audience captive with the Beatles song but lost a few with Bob Marley! (not sure if they know who Bob Marley even was) It was quite the scene.
From their we made it to a 4:00 pm English speaking mass at a real Catholic Church! Can’t believe we found one in a communist country but there it was. — three blocks from where we are staying. The Irish priest who presided must have been uncomfortable in his robes with the heat because mass was finished in 40 minutes tops! Outside in the church court yard at least 150 people were gathered. Some were skate boarders ( not as good as the ones back in the USA), some older people relaxing and a lot of these dance groups that appear to be competitive.
That evening we made our way to the Dong Hua Men Night Market. What an experience! It goes about 4 blocks long and there hundreds of vendors selling food. But not just any food! Some of the oddest and grossest items sold on a stick were: baby sharks, baby pigeons, sheep penis(seriously), sheep testicles, scorpions, large hairy spiders and silk worms. There were people actually eating this stuff. In addition to the bizarre items, there were all sorts of normal things hat were incredibly fresh including various types of sea food, lamb, beef, chicken, fruits, noodle dishes, pot stickers and fried rice. Kallin felt adventurous and got strawberries on a stick with some sort of clear glaze. It was delicious! The corn on the cob was not so good — not sweet — and ended up in the trash. John got sea urchin in its spiny shell and ate it with wasabi. Not the best either. It was a really fun adventure and first rate people watching.
From there we made our way over to a hatoung area recommended by the concierge at the next door Peninsula Hotel. John had asked for a family friendly suggestion. There were many bars and restaurants all with large glass windows to see inside. As we were walking, Hailey asked ” why are those ladies dancing with the poles in those outfits?”. Oops, I guess the Peninsula concierge has a different definition on family friendly than we do. We pulled into a outdoor spot with no pole dancers (just a harmless guitarist) and ate a quick snack before heading home for the night.
The Zehrens Go Global 