· Beijing is very different than Shanghai! Even though Shanghai has a denser population, Beijing seems crowded just about everywhere you go. ESPECIALLY in the subways. That has been a shock! Our subway trips have already been an adventure of sorts…an adventure to another place where these things happen…
o …our subway car’s doors cannot close, because a few people are half in, half out, trying to squeeze in. A Beijing Subway staff member, who earlier had been directing people around the platform with a bullhorn, walks over and pushes those people in—packing the whole subway car like a can of sardines. Yes, this was our first experience of professional subway pushers!
o …we begin walking to get into the subway car, but the force of the pushing from the great mass of those behind us half-carries, half-squeezes us into the car. Ai ya!
· We visited the Capital Museum, the architecture of which is astounding! My favorite exhibit of all was the ancient paintings. What struck me about many of these paintings was the level of honesty and reality they were given. Many were portraits of emperors and high-ranking officials, and when I looked into their painted faces, I could see the real person. I saw scraggly beards, one droopy eye, large eyes, almond eyes, and fat cheeks. This honesty really touched me—why exactly, I am not completely sure—but perhaps it was because these paintings portrayed people who were once flesh and blood, and human. Not cold, stone, unmoving statues.
- For dinner, we ate at Peter’s Tex Mex Restaurant. It was the first Mexican food that we have had (not made by ourselves) in a long time now. Eating those burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, chimichangas, tacos, and listening to mariachi music, I think we all found ourselves transported outside of China for the evening. It was a lovely mini-vacation within our vacation, and I think that we might be back for another before returning to Yantai.
No comments:
Post a Comment