PeaceBike :: PeaceBiker Journals

PeaceBike - Biking the planet. Connecting kids. Making friends.


On the Trail	Cycling Resources	Friendship One	Penpals	Interviews	Expedition Team Sign Up	Donate/ Volunteer

Main \| Add Journal Entry
Beijing Wanderings - Beijing, China
Monday, May 28, 2001 (14:00:00)
Frank here... This morning I met Yi Len, who's English name is Amy and we took a bus just past Tiananmen Square on our search for Beihai Gongyuan, a temple, which is situated northwest of the Forbidden City. All of the Chinese that I have met so far that can speak English well have an English name as well. After getting off the bus it was a longer walk than expected but at least the trees along the sidewalk kept us cool from heat of the 9:30am sun which was already difficult to bear. The place was really impressive with temples, hills, walkways, halls and pavillions but unfortunately I lost my field notebook so I will not have much to write other than the site is situated on a manmade lake (possibly with the involvment of Kublia Kahn) and its one island called Jade Islet. There were many halls that had images of Buddha's and other important golden figures. On the island is the 36 meter high White Dagoba which can be seen from far away in all directions. We took a boat to get to the island and also had a lunch break at the Fangshan Fanzhuang restaurant where we had a great meal and were entertained by Chinese dancers. The four dancers were dressed in red and had these high shoes that only seemed to support the body in the middle of the foot. I also found the tea pots really interesting because they had very long spouts which were probably about 50 centimeters long. I heard that they were long in order to not have to walk around the table to serve tea. Yi Len also told me that in some restaurants that had more than one floor, some of the tea servers could pour a tea from the floor above. Impressive! From there we took a cab to a market to find myself a raincoat, but I bought other things instead. Gift - I bought more gifts. I guess I am getting gift happy because my trip is feeling like it is soon ending. I bought four kerchiefs, three ties, and then later that night I bought a little battery operated pedicab. Amy bought some DVD movies from behind one of the shops, groceries, and then back to the hostel. Tad and I did not meet in the afternoon so Yi Len and I went for a quick dinner then to a teahouse for some tea, snacks, and a variety night of entertainment. It was great! Some of the acts were: two men making many different types of sounds - my favorite was the running of the train; awesome plate spinning with female body contortionists; and a magic act with fish appearing from everwhere. On the walk back through Tiananmen Square, Yi Len helped me with my Chinese (Mandarin) pronounciation and I played harmonica. It appears that some of the popular American artists here in Beijing are The Carpenters and Simon and Garfunkel - 30 years later. So, I played some of their songs. Some people would stop and listen - cool! When we got back to the hostel, I interneted a bit until I fell asleep at the computer. -Sing like no one is listening -Frank Pollari Tad here... In comparison to Frank's adventures mine just barely get honorable mention. In the morning I went to the India Embassy, not too far from our Hostel, and submitted my visa application. The fee was 95$ which gets the award for most expensive visa thus far....argh. I also found an internet cafe in the morning with a chinese fellow I met at the embassy named Hansel. He helped me find the place and we may meet again on my road south. After that I headed back to meet Sarah at Tianenman Square and we wandered around Beijing and then sat down for a Mandarin lesson. Xie-xie sarah! The evening I spent emailing and trying to connect my Sharp ZQ-700 personal organizer (knighted Sir Sharpy or His Royal Sharpness from now on) but Sharpy would not connect with the PCs because there was a major chink in his armor...his accompanying CD was scratched. I am now in the process of ordering another. Back to the hostel I borrowed another travellers clippers (thanks Aaron) and gave myself cir(edited)-shave (meaning around my entire head and face, except eyebrows), then challenged Franko to a shortest hair contest (I think we tied.), and then headed to bed. Another skinhead for peace, TAD