Words of wisdom

Before I left for China, Brian's sister, Natalie, gave me a travel journal and there is a quote on one of the pages that I keep coming back to... "The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he came to see." Today, I am so happy to be a traveler. 

Colette and I got a slow start this morning and were a bit anxious we wouldn't have enough time in the day to see everything we had on our agenda (I'll admit: I think I was a bit more anxious than she was...). So we sort of hurried through breakfast to get to our first stop: The Forbidden City. As we were about to cross the street outside of our hotel, two young Chinese men overheard our English and pointed us in the right direction. They then walked with us saying they were on their way to somewhere near the Forbidden City and could direct us. 

Directions turned into introductions: Byron (his American name) was a Philosophy PhD/Professor and his friend, Chen Yi, was his student. We learned that Byron focused on Confucionism and he thought it particularly interesting we were illustrating one of Confucious' teaching: that among any group of people (2 or 42) you have something to learn. Our group of four kept walking and as we neared the Forbidden City, they showed us the art studio they were heading to and we learned Byron was not only a philosopher, but an artist, as was Chen Yi. 

As we talked, they asked my Chinese name. I told them it was "Ai mai" - sort of a literal translation of Amy that my Mandarin teacher told me about. As we continued to chat and see their art, I looked over to see that Chen Yi (who is also a master of calligraphy we learned) had drawn my name in Chinese. He turned to us with the biggest grin I have ever seen..... 

He took the liberty of writing my name in Chinese (for the record it means "love" and "beautiful"... I'll take it). I couldn't believe it. These were some of the nicest two people! The experience continued as they showed us their art, they drew Colette's name in Chinese (and Brian's!) and we learned the best spot from which to see the Great Wall of China tomorrow from a beautiful painting Byron had done. We are heading to Simatai tomorrow - it looks stunning. 

Laughing to ourselves at how nice these people were and what a surprisingly great encounter this was, we left with our gifts and Chen Yi showed us the way to the Forbidden City.

Above: Colette and our new friend, Chen Yi. 

Then, we continued on and by early afternoon had finally made it to our original destination... above you can see the North Entrance to the Forbidden City. Pictures cannot capture the size of this place. MASSIVE and totally like nothing I have ever seen before. 

As much about grandeur as it is about surprisingly little nooks and crannies, the Forbidden City is beyond words and should also go on your 'to do' list. As we walked through and observed everything before us, an hour quickly passed. I turned to Colette and she informed me we were only about 1/4 through the entire Forbidden City. I couldn't not believe it. I felt like I had already walked forever! 

Above: A sign within the FC that must be from the Beijing Olympic days: a toilet that is rated 4 stars! 

A few more images below. This was a really humbling experience as a novice photgrapher... nothing I did could really capture how grand this place was. 

As we exited the Forbidden City and turned back, you cannot miss the giant painting of Mao above the doors. This is one of my favorite photos of the day. 

We crossed the huge 8-10 lane highway (via an underpass) to get to Tian'an Men square across the street. As we neared it, I got another picture of a guard below. I felt Communism here like I had not felt in my entire time in China. 

Tian'an Men Square is also larger than life... pictures don't do it any justice, but I'll try...

That's actually the Forbidden City entrance above - all the separates me from it in this photo is the 8-10 lane street I mentioned and the Square. The Square is just soooo big.

Above: A guard standing watch in Tian'an Men Square.

As 4pm approached, we realized we had not had anything to eat since breakfast, so we went in search of Peking Duck which we've heard so much about. Below is the duck arriving at our table. This is officially my favorite meal I have had in China.... duck, lettuce, a very thin little pancake with scallions and a soy-like (but thicker) sauce. YUM. 

We left full and happy two hours later and headed to one more spot: the silk market. Exhausted, we returned home a few hours ago and reflected on the great day we've had. We've never seen or experienced anything like the things I saw today: the biggest smiles from our new Chinese friends, the enormity of the Forbidden City and Tian'an Men Square, and the deliciousness of the Peking Duck. As impressive as this all was, we can't wait for the Great Wall tomorrow.