Saturday, April 09, 2005

Mao oh Mao!

Where to even start. I didn't feel like I was off on another journey until I got to the international gate in San Francisco and it was full of Chinese people. I'm really off this time -- here goes nothing!

Beijing is a fascinating study in contrasts. Within ten minutes of arriving, my throat was choking on the pollution and dry air. After another five, I stopped talking completely to Lindy, the nice girl who picked me up and was taking me to my room at the Far East Hotel. Settling in around 9pm and downing a Tsingtao beer, I was ready to wander the narrow hutong on which the hotel sat. And this is where my fun in China began....

Imagine a dark, narrow alley, full of life, buying and selling, night markets, food stalls, people walking, riding bikes, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, the occasional taxi braving the criss-crossing of children and adults alike until the late hours of morning. Red lanterns glowing so beautifully outside small restaurants and teahouses, casting shadows that prance in a dizzying dance along the dim streets. First dog you see really is a Pekingese. The smell of roasted mutton skewers tempting the nose in the same breath as the soot that sticks to just about everything. The sounds of children running, up way past their bedtimes, grown men either walking with their wives or playing checkers, crouched around the board on the floor just inside an old door, slight ajar and broken. Pink signs offering foot and full body massages (literally) in the backrooms, while pretty young girls give haircuts in the front. All this, outside my doorstep, and I had only been in China for a couple hours. Fantastic.

The next day I wandered the wide expanse of Tian'anmen Square. Along the way I passed through the same hutong as the night before and found a different air permeated the alley -- shoe repairmen hard at work, clothes stores staffed by teenagers, and bicycles everywhere as people headed off to work. Once at the square, it was a little hard to relax and watch the men flying kites as big as and shaped like falcons because every thirty seconds I was asked to buy postcards, a Rolex or something else I really didn't need. "Have look, have look, have look." "No, no, no, NO!" I was surprised at how immense the square is, and it only added to the effect of trying to picture the mass demonstration, uprising and 'response' by the government that took place not too long ago. However, the square itself is not much of an attraction. That lies just across the street -- the Forbidden City.

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