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October
8, 1999
This is
Nick Baggarly. And this is day #1 here in Beijing!
After a
long of day of traveling, the excitement of being in China readied each
member of the group for a busy day. We scheduled a 10:00 a.m. rendezvous
to begin our sightseeing in Bejing, one of China’s leading cultural and
cities and its seat of government. Earle and I got up early and did a
little pre-sightseeing. Because the previous six weeks were dedicated to
trip planning and Land Rover building, little personal maintenance and
grooming had taken place. Several of the team members independently decided
to get haircuts. Although the language barrier promised to make things
interesting, Jeff and I took our chances at a local barbershop. The
proprietors were as uneasy as the rest of us. However, appearing as
shaggy as I was, the locals knew why I was there.
I sat down
in the chair and a young Chinese woman came over to start the haircutting
process. I had no idea what this process entailed as she began to shampoo
my hair. A massage ensued: first my scalp, then my neck, my upper back
and then my arms. Not knowing how long this would continue, Jeff pointed
at his watch. The rendezvous time was quickly approaching. Well, pointing
to one’s watch must be the international symbol for "we don't have a
lot of time,’’ because a woman dressed in black came over armed with a
pair of scissors and a comb. With all the confidence in the world, she
began cutting my hair. Snip, snip snip, and after fifteen minutes she
took a step back, and was shocked to find my brown hair all over her
dress. With a disgusted look she began furiously brushing off the shaggy
hair. After realizing the price of cutting my hair, she finished up the
haircut at a safe distance.
The haircut
took longer than we had planned and Jeff and I made it back to the hotel
a few minutes after 10 a.m. Day One, and we’re setting a standard for
tardiness already. Although it was early, we began the day with a meal.
Peking duck was just one of the 6 or 7 courses that we dined on that day.
After satiating ourselves we began to explore the famous Chinese city. The
first site we went to was the Tian Tan Park and the Temple of Heaven. We
met our first souvenir hawkers and learned the finer points of
bargaining. Doug and I came away with different copies of Mao's Little
Red book for quite different prices. Anywhere you go, it pays to shop
around.
The park
was freshly decorated for the revolutionary celebrations: fresh flowers,
freshly painted structures. King (our guide) was giving us basic Chinese
lessons as we made our way from one end of the park to the other. We saw
the Temple of Heaven, and the shouting wall among other things. We saw
people playing cards, playing games, exercising and socializing. The park
was alive. We were in China!!!!
From the
park, our guides took us to the tourist cloisonné factory, where we saw
local artists making this traditional Chinese craft.
After all
this sightseeing we were tired and went back to the hotel for a little
rest and recuperation before dinner.
Rest time
passed as we soon got into the car and prepared to gorge ourselves once
again on the flavorful Chinese cuisine.
After
dinner we headed to Tianaman Square, where it was the last day of
celebrations commemorating 50-year anniversary of the Chinese Revolution.
Colorful vehicles (parade floats) from the different Chinese provinces
covered the Square. The floats were covered in images and artifacts that
marked every region as unique. We saw dragons, pearls, farming equipment
and military colors. The Square was beautifully lit with an austere
appearance. It was flanked by government buildings, Mao's tomb and the
Forbidden City.
There were
thousands of people taking in the cool evening and charming ambiance. We
felt very popular as many of the locals asked us to be in their pictures.
We almost felt like celebrities.
Since there
were so many people we had to park quite a ways away from the square. We
were all excited to walk down the lesser populated streets of Bejing. One
thing that caught our attention was the no honking sign. It was depicted
as a bugle with a red line through it. We laughed and laughed, and I
think our hosts just thought we were weird, but were happy that we were
having so much fun.
After an
exciting first day and an exhausting previous day we were all happy to
return to the hotel and kick off our shoes. Tomorrow is another day that
promises to bring new and exciting experiences. This is Nick Baggarly
signing off. G'bye.
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