This morning we met Ally at the hotel and set off for Tienenman Square and the Forbidden City. David joined us for this outing and we were all amazed by the imposing nature of the square and the enormous sprawling largesse of the Forbidden City. There is an entire mini-Forbidden City within the actual Forbidden City which was where the retired Emperor lived once he ceded power to his son, sort of a high end Senior Citizens Center with plenty of rooms for his concubines.
Chinese tourists kept approaching the kids as though they were celebrities, and asking if they would pose for a photo with them. Justin is in his 3rd year of Mandarin lessons at school and can thankfully translate for us and make polite conversation with the locals when approached, hopefully helping to improve Chinese-American relations in some small way. Justin is also compiling a documentary video (narrated by himself in Mandarin) of his trip to Beijing for school. So at various spots along the way we stopped for me to film Justin as he explained where we were and what we were doing. Given that I speak no Mandarin, I can only be the D.P. and provide feedback on the enthusiasm of his delivery. Crowds of Chinese people stopped to watch this amazing spectacle of the Western boy recording a video in Mandarin, and I think Justin was quite touched by the smiling and occasional cheering from the impromptu audience.
At lunch, Ally pulled 2 cans of Fanta out of her knapsack for the kids, sealing her place as “Best Guide Ever” in the Borenstein-Lawee travel log. We then drove to visit the Summer Palace which was overcrowded with visiting Chinese tourists in huge tour buses, so we took a very quick walk through and then headed back to Wayfujang Street which is a famous food market for the locals. Let's just say I didn't know you could get a scorpion kebab or that seahorses tasted good grilled until this utterly disgusting stop, see photos. The sight was mildly traumatic for Justin and Livvy but especially Justin who is a stickler for avoiding all things gross.
After just 2 days of authentic Chinese cuisine and the painful Wayfujang experience, Justin was “dying for a cheeseburger,” so we went to the TGI Friday’s across from the hotel for dinner and had the pleasure of being waited on by “Frankie” who did not speak a lick of English but wore an impressive rhinestone studded cowboy outfit and another waitress with a Boy George hat circa. 1982 Culture Club , whom we dubbed “Hat Girl” as she had no name tag. We all ordered cheeseburgers, and were somewhat perplexed when the burgers arrived with a block of some kind of battered and deep fried substance on top of the patty. Livvy thought it was fish, but after poking it and examining it visually, I took a small bite and positively identified it as deep fried cheese. There was also a small dollop of a Velveeta-like spread on top of the deep fried cheese for good measure. After our deep fried cheeseburger we decided to indulge in foot massages, and after 20 minutes convincing Justin that “yes, even boys get foot massages on China and it isn’t weird,” we where tucked into a private room for 4, Justin conversing amicably with the staff in Mandarin, while Livvy and David snored away.
The next morning we drove drove to the Great Wall, and took the ski lift up to explore. The Wall was amazing and as we climbed ever higher, we could see more and more of the 3,011 mile long wall, giving us a real appreciation for just how massive it is. At the very top we spotted a remarkable site, an Orthodox Rabbi blowing a shofar (ram’s horn) and could hear the sound reverberate for what seemed like miles. I stopped with Justin to admire the scene and the Rabbi engaged me in conversation, checking whether I went to Temple at home and nodding approvingly when I mentioned the name of our synagogue. The Rabbi was accompanied by a small documentary film crew, all Chinese, and one of the videographers stopped me as I turned to walk away from the Rabbi, and said “God bless you,” to which I replied smiling, “and you.”
After our wall top hike, we tobogganed down on a seriously dangerous but exhilarating steel toboggan run, with limited braking ability.
We stopped for lunch at local restaurant famous for its fresh river trout which we selected from the garden pond, and once more Ally produced Fanta out of her bag for the appreciative kids. We returned to the hotel for a rest before heading out again to the Kung Fu Show at the Red Theatre. After the show David found it difficult to keep himself from making embarrassing Kung Fu moves at every turn, understandable of course but nonetheless unfortunate.
