Bean actually slept until 5:30 this morning, so I think we are starting to adjust a bit more to the time change. We are now old pros at the hotel breakfast buffet so that went well.
We met Tom in the lobby of our hotel, Hotel Jianguo, at 8 am and took the tour bus to Tiananmen Square. I have never seen so much security concentrated in one place before. There was a registration point across the street from the square. Then we descended some steps to an underground crosswalk. There was a checkpoint with an x-ray machine for bags and then we ascended into the square itself. I imagine the cold winter weather kept some visitors away, but it was still a pretty crowded place. There were tourists, soldiers, police officers, and vendors peddling inexpensive souvenirs. Interestingly enough, a lot of people were taking photographs of us as though white Americans are a tourist attraction in and of themselves. The highlight for me was being able to haggle with the merchant for a plush panda hat. Here's how that went down:
The enterprising businessman offered two hats for 80 yuan.
I informed him that I did not want two panda hats. I only wanted one hat and I would give him 20 yuan for it.
Mr. Merchant repeated his offer. I repeated mine.
He offered one hat for 35 yuan. I repeated an offer of 20 yuan.
He scoffed and offered 30 yuan. I said "no, thank you" in Mandarin and turned and walked away.
Mr. Merchant chased after me and offered to sell one panda hat for 20 yuan. I accepted that offer.
Thank you University of Google for teaching me how to bargain before this trip. Normally, I would be too intimidated to even attempt to haggle. I would either pay the asking price to buy an item or not pay the asking price and not buy the item. I have to admit this was kind of fun! For future reference, you can buy a plush child's panda hat for 20 yuan in Tiananmen Square. Not that you would want to, I'm sure.
The framed picture of Chairman Mao was actually a bit anti-climactic in real life, as I'm sure many historical icons are. It seemed...smaller than I expected.
We then walked to the Forbidden City which was neat from an architectural standpoint, but the cold air and biting wind made the entire experience less than fun. Bean kept up a steady low whine throughout the tour. Fortunately, his lament was pitched at such a volume that it was only audible to us, his parents, and the rest of the group kept complementing us on his patience and maturity. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the only things I got to hear during the tour were "I'm cooooo-ooold" and "When is this going to be oo-ooo-ver?".
I wasn't really looking forward to the hutong tour via rickshaw since it seems like the epitome of self-importance and pomposity to pay someone to pedal my lazy butt around town for fun, but I was so cold and tired of walking by that point that it was actually quite enjoyable. I felt right at home since our rickshaw driver pedaled like Angry Driver drives: that is to say he cut people off and yelled what were in all likelihood obscenities at anyone foolish enough to get in his way.
We were told that we would have lunch and tour a family home in the Hutong District but the experience was not what I expected. The lunch took place in what looked like a three table restaurant in a family's otherwise bare living room. I'm not even sure if the people who live there (if indeed someone does live there) were present since introductions were never made. My favorite foods were the green beans and the cabbage, which is surprising since normally I don't care for cabbage. I'm telling you, this was some tasty cabbage. The fun peaked when Bean spilled Coke all over himself and the floor. Yes, I admit that I bribed my son to stop whining by plying him with Coca Cola.
Once we rickshawed back to the bus (yes, I did just coin a new verb: "to rickshaw"), we returned to the hotel for a bit and then went to the Acrobatic Show. Nothing causes one to feel like more of a failure at life than witnessing beautiful young people balance trays of wine glasses on their faces, tumble lithely across a stage, and run along the periphery of giant spinning steel wheels. Angry Driver and Bean particularly enjoyed the 8 motorcyclists in glowing LED uniforms motorcycling simultaneously in the spherical steel cage. I told them that being as Angry Driver's grandfather drove the motorcycle in the cage at carnivals while his grandmother rode on the handlebars, it was predestined that such a stage act would be their favorite. They are carnies: it's in their blood.
Amazingly enough, Bean stayed awake long enough for us to go to dinner with the group at a nearby pizza place. However, he was tired and crabby and managed to spill water all over himself twice during the meal. The group wanted to explore the Silk Market after dinner but all it took was one lap around one floor of the place for me to conclude that the Silk Market is sketchy and not my scene.
After today's Adventure in Tourism, we are packing up to head to Jinan tomorrow by bullet train. I'm going to miss our travel group, but we will see them in a few days when we go to Guangzhou, since we all will finalize our adoptions at the US Consulate on December 22nd. I'm also going to miss being shepherded from activity to activity by our intrepid guide. I've never done the guided group vacation thing before, but it sure does have its appeal since I don't have to make any arrangements or think about logistical issues. I'm starting to think it would be nice to sign up for the guided life tour. Is there such a thing? If there is, I'm betting I could negotiate a good price for it here in Beijing.
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