These Tennis Shoes Were Made For Walking

Sunday was a day off for myself and Lincoln. We got lucky on this one. We’re on opposite shifts now, so we don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together, so a day off like this is awesome. The plan was to go to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, then to take in a Chinese Acrobat show at a local theatre.

We took the subway from the media village for the first time, very clean, brand new, and very tourist friendly, with lots of English to help guide our journey. It was pretty full with morning commuters heading to work. We arrived at the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square stop and walked up out of the station and onto the street corner. There in front of us was the ever present picture of Chairman Mao watching all his people scurry to and fro. His portrait hangs on the front of the Forbidden City gate, which we discovered, is no longer a Forbidden City, because every Chinese citizen and their relatives had decided to visit on this day. Fortunately this place is ginormous and can handle the population of the state of Rhode Island at one time.

Lincoln and I snapped some photos and then proceeded inside. This was the home to several dynasties of emperors and was called the Forbidden City because the Emperor and some select company were the only ones allowed in. One interesting piece of trivia. The emperor was the only non-castrated male allowed in the place. That way if a concubine ended up pregnant, he could claim credit with no dispute. No thanks on that gig. Once inside it a huge collection of traditional Chinese buildings and halls, with massive open courtyards. One after another, and all of them follow the ever present theme of being named after a virtue. So after entering the gate of harmony, and walking through the hall of preserving harmony, we turned left and went into the hall of righteousness, which we thought should have been on the right. That lead us to the bridge of wisdom building and ended up at the hall of collected brilliance, which is Chinese for Treasure gallery. Mind you it takes a lot of walking to get through all this stuff, so by then we were done. There were a number of interesting museum like exhibits of weapons and clothing from the various dynasties, but overall the way I would sum up the visit is a place you have to go, to say you’ve been there. Wouldn’t have a need to go back unless it was on a tour with a really informational and entertaining guide.

We exited the City gate and walked around it until we found a little restaurant for lunch. Local dive, and we enjoyed a feast of rice, dumplings, cucumbers, and peppered beef and onions. Quite good and cheap. Next is was a long walk back around to Tiananmen Square. Once we made it there is was early afternoon. The highlight was seeing the finishing touches being put on elaborate flower displays around the edge of the square. The Chinese know how to grow flowers. Their parks in general are incredible. When they’re motivated by the Olympics it gets nuts. They make Disney look amateurish.

We then headed south to where the Theatre was located for our evening show. Along the way we found an antique shop area, and we really enjoyed shopping at some places with authentic Chinese history, art, and handcrafts. Lincoln and I both picked up a few souvenirs and then continued our search for the Theatre. This part of Beijing just south of the square, is going through some growing pains. They are redoing much of the old houses and buildings that are there, but running into some problems with where they can put the residents. Many times there is not a good solution and the family is left to their own devices to find a new home. When the government decides to do something there isn’t much that can stop them.

Finally we arrived at our final destination for the acrobats show. I had found this online, and read the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe, who we were seeing, were considered the best in the city. We bought our tickets and sat on the third row, right in the center. It was a nice little theatre with a nice sized stage and good show lights. About 35 other foreigners found their way into the show, and it began. Unbelievable. My litmus test for awesomeness is how long does my jaw stay dropped while watching something, and how many noises do I make in amazed reflex. The awesome scale was off the charts. Elementary through middle school kids were doing, juggling, flipping, balancing, tossing, twirling, climbing, and every other movement possible. They were balancing things with their feet, teeth, head, back, etc. while riding unicycles, or standing on each other, or whatever other things they could dream up. Some of the stuff they were pulling off you wouldn’t believe could be done until you saw it actually happen such as: Riding an 8 foot unicycle, while balancing 8 metal bowls on your head, then taking the bowls, and while still balancing with one foot on the unicycle, flipping the 8 bowls stacked on top of each other from your now free foot back onto your head at once, or your neighbors head in the same position, or over your head onto another person riding behind you. I don’t know how they did the stuff they did, but I got pictures and some video on my camera. Un real. It was pretty cool to get to see this authentic and unique Chinese art in its local setting. We saw a lot of authentic culture as we walked through side streets and looked in the different shops selling handcrafted goods.

After the show, we grabbed the subway back home, and did a little math on the way. We figured up that we had walked about 13 miles. That my friends will make your feet pretty sore by the end of the day. It was worth every step.