Rubbing your way to good fortune

I’m going to inflict upon you some more Spring Festival pictures. KW, JW, TG and I went to the Baiyunguan Taoist Temple on Friday. Baiyunguan is a bit different from the other temples I’ve been to in that it is still a functioning religious site. We saw monks around the place, and many people were making offerings.
The main entrance is festooned with red flags.
At this gate, there’s a monkey carved in the stone which is supposed to bring you good luck if you rub it. It’s been rubbed so much over I don’t know how many years that I couldn’t distinguish the shape of the monkey at all, but I rubbed the spot that everyone else did.
Many people offered incense for the various burners around the compound. This is one of the biggest ones; the guards and monks take the offerings and put them in the flames.
This is the beautifully painted arch above a doorway.
This wall has carvings of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. There was a line of people to rub them. Since the majority of people seemed to be selective about which ones they touched, I assumed that they pick the one of their own birth year. But I could be wrong.
I did not see anyone try to ridd this horse.
Outside the temple proper was a line of typical trinket booths, much like the ones I saw at Chaoyang Park and Ditan Park. And past that was a crowded street cluttered with food stands and less elaborate merchants selling everything from handcrafts to books to tools. I’m guessing the health inspectors stay away from here.

After that expedition, we took a taxi back to our part of town and went to a Greek restaurant for dinner. The food was decent, not outstanding, but the décor was very Greek, and there was Greek music playing.
On Saturday I went to a giant plant market in an attempt to bring a little life into my apartment. These fellows were outside the market. I think they might be for sale as garden ornaments, but I don’t have enough room for them.
Inside the big building were many aisles selling potted plants, including more orchids than I’ve ever seen in one place. There was a section over to one side where cut flowers were on offer, and there were also aisles selling various kinds of fish – for aquariums, not cooking.
I picked up these three. The one in the middle (isn’t that a cozy little scene I set up?) is a peace lily, but I would welcome any hints as to exactly what the others are. It was fun getting them all into a Hyundai Elantra taxi for the trip home. A man from the market brought them out on a cart, and the taxi driver didn’t think they would fit. But they did.

In the morning, it’s back to work, and goodbye to a week of holiday – though I did end up doing some work at home. I expect the fireworks will continue, since there’s one more week of festival. I think most people will be going back to work like me, so maybe it will be a little calmer.

Dispatches from the land of Ewoks

It’s been busy lately at work, so I have no exciting outings to report. And since I can’t really write any details about work, I guess I have nothing at all to write about. OK, bye, everyone.

What? You’re still here? Oh, maybe I can think of something.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my experiences with my gas meter. Last week I had to put some more money on my electric meter. In a closet outside my apartment there are three meters, one for each of the units on the twelfth floor of my tower. The display on the right is mine. It just shows three dots until it gets below 200 units. For a couple weeks it had been slowly counting down, from two to five units a day. If it gets to zero you have no power.
The electric card is similar to the gas card. I put ¥200 on it and stuck it in the slot on the meter. Aw, gee, the electric company is an Olympic sponsor.
It clicked up to 461, then went back to dots when I pulled the card out. Isn’t that exciting? Gas and electricity must be paid in advance, like minutes on my cell phone. Water, on the other hand, is actually metered and billed. I don’t know how often they bill for water usage – I’ve been here a full three months and have not got a bill yet. I know from my lease that it’s my responsibility to pay that, not the landlord’s. A maintenance man came by last Monday and (I think) read the meter, so maybe I’ll get it soon.
I’ve started the process of getting a proper Chinese work permit. It required a ridiculous amount of different papers to be filled out, many of which require passport-size photos. I’ve been through one full set of 16 photos, plus almost all of a second 16, between applying for the original entrance visa, moving into the apartment, applying for Olympic credentials (still in the works after more than a full month), and now the work permit. I may go get another set of pictures taken, just in case. Next Monday, I’ll go for my health check. From several of my coworkers who have already gone through it, it’s a pretty minimal sort of exam. I was disappointed to learn I will not have to make a trip to Hong Kong to apply for my permit. Maybe some other time. (And look, I got a bowl to put my fruit in.)

And now some random thoughts, observations, and photos.
I’ve mentioned a few times about the different kinds of taxis you find in Beijing. On most mornings, there’s a whole line of them outside Seasons Park, making it easy to get one to go to the office. This picture was actually taken on a Sunday afternoon, but it’s the basic idea. The first one is a Hyundai, followed by a couple of Citroëns and I think a VW.

I took the camera along with me to the grocery store, and snapped a few shots along the way.
Several things to note in this one… Clothes hanging to dry along the sidewalk are a pretty common sight. Apparently theft is not a problem. A little further along you can see what JW refers to as an Ewok: a small child bundled up so he or she waddles when walking and can’t put the arms down, moving rather like the small furry beings from Return of the Jedi. The shops along here consist of a beauty salon, a cheap little restaurant, and a vice shop (as I call the ubiquitous tobacco and alcohol stores).
Further along the same street is where I buy some of my groceries. April Gourmet carries many European and American goods, and everything is marked in English in addition to Chinese. It’s a little more expensive than the stores that don’t cater to expats, but at least I can get cheese and cereal there if I feel a hankering for something familiar. I’ve also bought meat at the butcher shop next door, and been quite satisfied, though I’ve heard some of their sausages are on the bland side.
On the way home, more laundry out to dry. Note the name on the building in the background. I’ll have to take another picture to provide a more dramatic contrast between the word “Mansion” in its name and the reality of its appearance. The building on the immediate right is empty and has been since I arrived in the neighborhood. No signs of impending construction – don’t know what’s up there.
At various locations all over Beijing you see public exercise equipment like this, which is inside the Seasons Park grounds. I see people using it fairly often. There’s also a proper gym indoors with treadmills, stationary bikes, and other modern machines. I’ve been going there three times a week, trying to keep myself from turning into a complete blob considering all the hours I spend sitting at a computer. I miss playing soccer, but this will have to do, along with all the walking around town. By the way, the building in the background is the one I live in.
Look, it’s a cat! I’ve seen this one around the grounds a few times now. I’m pretty sure it’s a stray, but it’s not starving.
Forgive the blurry nature of this one – it was taken from a moving taxi. This is along Dongzhimennei (Dongzhimen Inner) straight down my street towards downtown. I’m told this street is well-known for its restaurants among locals. Aside from the bank in the center of the picture, I think every single storefront here is a restaurant. Most of these places don’t cater much to foreigners, but I hope to visit some of them over the next couple years.
Another taxi shot. This is where Dongzhimen meets the Second Ring Road (which is actually down below the railing you can see). Just to the left of the middle is a building that tacks traditional Chinese style roofing on top of a modern building.

Everything Forbidden is mandatory

Picking up where I left off...

Yesterday afternoon I made another trip to Carrefour for some household items. TG and I went to a different one than where I went back in October. This one is further away and much larger. I got an iron and ironing board, a toaster, and a wok. I have a frying pan I got at IKEA back when I first moved into the apartment, but the burner on the stove is really made for something larger, and a wok seemed like the most sensible thing. Oddly enough, the one I got was made in Germany. Go figure.
I also picked up some speakers for the laptop. I was going crazy just listening to music on the little built-in speakers. I'm very happy with these. They were made by Hyundai. TG also picked up a set of speakers for his computer. Getting all that stuff back in a little Beijing taxi was fun. Like the majority of the taxis here, it was a Hyundai, and they're kind of cramped for long-legged Americans like us, especially when they have a cage around the driver like some of them do.

Last night was another culinary adventure. JW, TG and I went to a little place around the corner called A-Che! It's basically Cuban food and drink with lots of Che Guevara décor. It is really nice inside (and I don't say that just because it was so cold outside). There was a little bit of New Orleans in the mix as well, and Latin videos were projected on the wall. We got to see a lot of Shakira, which is never a bad thing. Anyway, we started out with some "Cuban margaritas" which seemed sweeter than normal ones, and might have in fact been made with rum instead of tequila. The food turned out to be okay but not great. I had Cuban style roast pork with beans and rice. The meat was excellent, but the beans and rice mixture was rather dry and flavorless. TG took advantage of the availability of Cuban cigars and politely blew his smoke away from us. I'm getting kind of used to all the smoking around me here, and must admit the Cuban cigar was less stinky than any other cigar I've smelled.

Even more entertaining than the videos was a large table of Russians next to us. There were about ten of them, and they were consuming prodigious quantities of alcohol of all sorts. I saw a bottle of Absolut brought to them, and the whole thing was drained before they left, along with dozens of beers and who knows what else. After dinner, a little band started playing jazz and Latin standards ("Girl from Ipanema", "Fly Me to the Moon", "The Shadow of Your Smile", and so on), and one of the Russian girls jumped up on her chair and started dancing. The three of us stayed in our seats and moved on to a Russian beer called Baltika 9 in honor of the entertainment. There were also some more trained dancers who did some great whirling and dipping and so on.

This morning I managed to get out of bed and make it down to the gym around 8:00, then Skyped with D for a while (nasty weather in Seattle). At 11:30 I met TG for a little sightseeing. We got in a taxi and asked for the Forbidden City (actually I pointed to it on a map, but whatever). For some reason the driver dropped us off at the north entrance, which is closer (and therefore a smaller fare for him). Most visitors go to the south entrance, so we saw things in kind of a backwards order. The place is so huge we didn't get through more than about half of it, though we did make it to many of the most famous buildings. There's a lot of renovation and restoration going on. I took 155 pictures – just some of the highlights will go here.
Here's the frozen canal the runs along the north wall, and the nortwest corner Arrow Tower.
This is Dui Xiu Shan, The Temple of Accumulated Elegance, which is made of natural stones piled up and mortared together into an artificial hill with a temple on top. There are tunnels inside it.
The north part of the City has many small courtyards like this with trees and temples and oddly shaped chunks of stone on pillars. I'm sure it looks quite different in the summertime.
This is a close view of the walkway, with some nice stonework.
There are many of these passageways, almost like a maze.
Many of the temples have sculptures of animals outside them. Aside from the deer and dragon, there were lions, cranes, peacocks, and turtles.
We thought the tall temple in the background looked really interesting, so we tried to make our way towards it, but every time we found a passage in that direction, it either turned a different way or ended. We never did get any closer to it. But that's okay, we saw many interesting things.
There were lots of people around, though it wasn't really crowded. I'm sure it's a different story at other times of the year. Instead of approaching our dragon-tower temple, we found ourselves here...
It was like walking onto a gigantic movie set. I tried to imagine the place without the modern trash cans, railings and warning signs. The building in the background is Qian Qing Gong, The Palace of Heavenly Purity, which dates from 1420. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emperors lived here.
A little peak inside to a throne room.
Every time we walked though a gate, there was another courtyard and more elaborate buildings. We began to say things like, "Oh, look, another temple," in deadpan voices. Here's TG taking a picture backed by an ornate wall just outside the Gate of Heavenly Purity.
Two golden lions greet visitors here. The far one is the male, representing the emperor, and the near one is female for the emperor's concubine.
This is the female lion. Notice the cub under her paw. Hopefully she's playing with it, not crushing it. It was in this courtyard that we had our first interaction with a stranger. A young woman wearing some sort of ID badge came up to us and asked us in English where we were from. We told her we were Americans, and no we weren't just visiting China on a vacation. She said she was a volunteer at an art gallery over at the other end of the courtyard and invited us to see the watercolors. I'm sure she was exactly what she said she was, but we politely declined and said we wanted to see more of the buildings. Maybe we would stop in later. She said, "I don't think you will." Very perceptive of her. We smiled and laughed as we walked away.
This is the Large Stone Carving. That's its name (in English anyway). It was carved out of a single piece of stone that was brought from several miles away. There's a sign to explain how they did it. Workers poured water on the road in the cold of winter, making a long ice road, and they pulled the stone on the ice. It's 16.75 meters long, 3.07 meters wide, and 1.7 meters thick, and weighs more than 200 tons. The carvings now visible are not the originals. In 1761, the original design was chiseled off and replaced with the nine dragons with lotus trim we see now.
Here's a view where you can see some of the modern city in the distance, including construction cranes, of course.
This got a chuckle. I don't think I need to explain anything on this one.
Coming in the winter does have some advantages, including sights like this.
This is Wu Men (Meridian Gate), the main south gate where most people come in. Along here a gentleman spoke to us who said he was visiting from Shanghai. No, we're not visiting, we live here, we work here, we're Americans, do you know where Seattle is?
Outside that gate is another spectacular courtyard (yawn), and then this gate, which is right on Chang'an Boulevard, Beijing's main street. Here we talked to a young woman from Shanghai. I think she was either a student or had a job in Beijing. When we said we were working for the Olympics she was intrigued. "Thank you," she said. "We need lots of help. It's a very big thing, and we've never done it before." She introduced us to her friend. I noticed that a little crowd of Chinese was gathering around us, listening in on the conversation.
Across the street is Tian'anmen Square. That's the National Museum on the far side.
And this is the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese Parliament Building. As we walked along here, another young woman approached and asked where we were from. No, we're not visiting—Americans—Olympics—since October—and so on. She told us she came from the city near where the big Three Gorges Dam is, and introduced us to her friend who was visiting from their home town. By this time we had worked out a story that we only had a little time for our sightseeing, then had to get to our office to work. Somewhere in there was another conversation with a woman from Qingdao, which is the coastal city where the Olympic sailing events will take place, and this is her friend... Americans—Olympics—October—work.
I'm sure this monument commemorates something important, but I didn't get any closer to find out what. By this time I was feeling a little tired. (I’ve since looked it up, and it’s the Monument to the People’s Heroes.) Near here, a girl in a red coat came up and asked where we were from. Americans—Olympics—October—work. She introduced a young man who was with her. He said he loved American movies, and Spiderman is his favorite, though he also likes Shrek, Toy Story, and lots of others. He was very enthusiastic, and said he liked the sound of American accents. They invited us to see a calligraphy and watercolor exhibit over at the museum.
Forward the Revolution!
This would be a great spot for people watching but for a couple things. First, it was too darn cold. Second, about every ten paces, someone will approach you trying to sell you postcards or Mao wristwatches or Red Army style hats. Or try to get you to go to the calligraphy exhibit at the museum. Or maybe just practice their English. Americans—Olympics—October—work.
This is a view along Chang'an looking east. We walked along the street for a while until we found a taxi that was available. Whew! I'm tired all over again just writing about it. Oddly enough, the whole affair only took about four hours. There's still plenty we haven't seen yet in that part of town, like the lovely calligraphy and watercolor exhibit at the museum, so we'll be back. And if anyone ever comes to visit me here, I'll probably get to act as tourguide and go through it again.

Well, it’s getting late and I’m very tired. Posting this entry has been quite tedious, since the only way I could get the images to upload was by doing them one at a time, and some of them I had to try three times before they made it. I might post some of the remaining pictures in later entries where I don’t have new photos.