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Around nine we boarded the plain, a Tupolev 154m, with the identification number RA-85716. We are not sitting at the window, but the the weather is cloudy, so there would not much to be seen. Half an hour later the engines start-up, one by one, and ten minutes later we are in the air. It will be 2631 Km to Beijing. A little more than three hours later, we arrived in Beijing. It was hot and steamy. When we collected our lugage, I noticed that many people were collecting fruit boxes. Whether these boxes really contain fruit was not clear to me. The peaches from Urumqi are well known in Beijing. It also looked like we had the largest suitcases. When we came outside, two cars were waiting for us. One with Aunt, and one with the husband of a classmate of Xiao Zhong, who also happens to be called Xiao Zhong. One car took our lugage and we went with the other car. One car would not have been large enough. The traffic in Beijing looks the most safe compared with Guang Zhou and Urumqi, but still it looks very dangerous. I don't think that biking is such a good idea for us. The roads are wide, and the building look modern (I mean: not very old).
To use the new express-way between Beijing and the airport costed ¥10. A lot of money, but it also saves a lot of time. I noticed that the drivers reduced speed everytime new traffic entered from the right, as if they had not yet developed a "express-way" driving style.
The first thing we did after we arrived at Uncle Lin's place at the National Metereologic Unit, we arranged for the hotel. There is still a possibility we will be kicked out on the 11th. Then we stayed at their place for till the evening. Li-Xia first made some phone calls to all the people we are going to meet in the coming ten days. Of course, we showed them the pictures, and after one of their daughters arrived we watched the video together. They do speak some English, which gives me an opportunity to communicate with some Chinese again.
Our hotel room did have its own shower. Hot water is only on between 20:00 and 21:30. This is considered to be rather good for Chinese standards. We are only paying ¥75 per night, so we should not complain.
After this we went to Sushou Street and from there crossed the mountain to the summer palace. I was rather stunned when I saw the lake, because I had not expected to find a lake that size in Beijing. We walked around there for some time, and took some pictures. We also crossed the seventeen bow bridge. Then I felt like really being in China.
In the evening we had dinner with Uncle and Aunt again. Uncle Lin
searched for a large map of Being, and he and I looked at it.
In the evening we had dinner with Uncle and Aunt,
and around eight o'clock we went back to our room.
Then Mr. Zhou visited us and stayed till ten o'clock.
His parents-in-law only were interested in buying
a large screen television set and otherwise nothing.
It seems that a large screen television is the
status object at the time, as everybody seems want
to have one.
Then we went of to the tax-free shop. If you stay abroad
for some years, you have the right to import some good
tax-free. But because this is not very convenient, there
is a special tax-free shop where you can go to buy things
tax-free. Li-Xia had the right to buy several larger and
medium sized items based on her passport, but because we
did not need anythings, we arranged for several people to
come with us to this show, so that they could buy some
things. First of all was there the other daughter of Uncle
and Aunt with her boy friend, who were going to get married
soon. They wanted to buy a medium sized television. Then
there was Mr. Sun, with whoem we had lunch on
October 28 in Urumqi.
And finally Mr. Zhou.
We arrived at the shop at the end of the morning.
Outside the shop, Li-Xia was immediately approached by some
girl asking if she could buy some rights from her. (From
the clothes Li-Xia is wearing, it is obvious that she has
been abroad.) Mr. Zhou had brought two people with him: a lady
who wanted to buy a washing machine and a man who wanted to buy
a music center. (A good example of how the Chinese are trading
with favours and establishing relationships in this way.)
The TV Uncles daughter and her boyfriend wanted to buy, was
no longer on sale. It took them a long time to make up their
mind, as the other models were either too expensive or too
simple. Finally, the decided to buy a video recorder instead.
Now, that meant that Mr. Zhou could use the right to buy a
TV. He immediately phoned them, to ask them what they like.
Mr. Sun also decided to go for a TV. And the lady with
Mr. Zhou wanted to buy the washing machine. We also looked
around, and decided only to buy some small things: some CD's and
some socks. Then around two everybody started to fill in the forms
for the big items. On these forms, which you have to buy, you
also have to fill in the serial numbers of the banknotes you are
going to pay with. Everybody got in line to hand in the forms and
to pay. We already had borrowed some money to every one except
Mr. Sun, when one of his 100 dollar bills was rejected, and we
had to borrow him some money too. We all were given a coin for
the forms we had handed in. Then after some we were given a printout
in return of our coins. With this printout we had to go to the
otherside of the hall to a small ticket-window. After some time,
we were given tickets in return, and with these tickets we could
go upstairs to get the things we had ordered. (Watermusic/fireworks
from Händel was playing on one of the CD-music installations.)
Li-Xia wrote a letter to her mother and gave this together with
four pair of socks to Mr. Sun. We said goodbey to him in front of
the building. He gave us some bottles with some sauce and a leather
document holder to me. He also gave us a bag with raisins for Uncle
and Aunt. Mr. Zhou already had left. We took a taxi home,
which costed ¥16 (about one Yuan per kilometer).
The rest of the day we just relaxed, and did not do anything special.
Aunt had managed to buy some tickets for going to the Great Wall
tomorrow. Li-Xia made some phone calls.
Our first stop was at a reservoir which had some hand
writing of Mao made in the stones because he helped
building it. We were given the opportunity to look
at a small exhibition about the construction. But
before we continued, we had to take some rather "fake"
ride under the reservoir. Supposingly, we went many
meters below the lake, but actually, it was mostly
falt and going to a small island. The theme of the
ride was related to some lake god.
The next stop was the Tomb of the 12th Emperor
in the Ming dynasty. We had to hurry, because the drivers
had set a time when the bus would leave again. We also
looked at some famous stones.
We went to another Tomb. Because it seemed rather boring
we decided to wait in the bus. The driver did not state
a time limit, but told people to be back soon. Because,
no time limit was imposed, and lunch time was approaching,
some Chinese decided they could take their time to have
a lunch. Then after almost one hour, when the last were
returning, carrying some food, the driver decided to drive
away, and he made them run for a short distance as a
punishment. We really had become a little annoyed by the
whole delay. We went back the road we came en past the
first thomb we visited. All very strange.
Not much later, we stopped at some restaurant along the road.
It was rather messy place. There was only a ticket-window
where you could order some boxes with food. It looked like
the guests before us had just left their leftovers on the
tables, and their was no personal for cleaning the tables.
Li-Xia and I ate the food together.
Then we went on to the Great Wall. But we first
visited a quite fake museum about the first emporer
of China, who was responsable for building the Great Wall.
It was just a series of rooms we a path leading through
them. In each room there was a girl shouting through a
megaphone some facts about the display, which was an
arrangement of some life size dolls representing some
scene from the life of the emperor. (No real artifacts
were on display, so you could hardly call is a museum.)
To my surprise there was even one bathing scene with nude
woman dolls. Li-Xia heard many historical facts put int
the right order for her. The real anticlimax was the exit,
which was at the back of the building without a proper
path leading to the parking place. Yes, why would you serve
your customers once they are outside, and are not going to
come back ever again. (It would not surprise me the drivers
get money from the owners of all the attractions that we
attended.)
It was only around three o'clock that we arrived at the
Great Wall. Li-Xia wanted to buy two tickets for the
cable going to the highest peak of the Great Wall, which
costed ¥35 (25 to go down and 10 to go up), but she
was told that I had to buy another ticket, because I was
a foreigner. I had to buy a ticket at a different desk,
which costed 75 FEC, and I had to take the VIP entrance
for foreigners, while Li-Xia had to take the normal
entrance. We met again inside. The cable was very nice,
build by Japanese and French companies. We took many
pictures on the well, and also got a certificate that we
had been on the peak (costed ¥5 each). We also walked
up to the 7th and 8th North towers.
Before leaving for home, we decided to go to the toilet
near the parking place. There were two men sitting in a
booth selling tickets for going to toilet, and about three
meters further there was a man standing tearing our tickets
and throwing them in a garbage can. At the entrance of the
toilets we were greeted by a terrible smell. It seemed like
the place had not been cleaned for months.
When we arrived home, we were informed that we had to
leave the hotel on the 12th.
From near the zoo, we took the trolley bus number 105 to the
West shopping area. We went to several shops, and bought a
trouser for Li-Xia and two woolen ones for me. We also bought
two raincoats of a strong quality. Li-Xia also bought a pair
of gloves and a pair of black shoes.
We had some fried chicken in a restaurant, and then we
went home. Aunt made some spagetti for us. Then we played with
the keyboard of Xiao Ping. I showed her some pictures and we
talked a little, while Li-Xia talked with Uncle and Aunt.
From the hotel we took the underground to Ten An Men square. (Li-Xia
used to stay with some friends, who lived just some blocks away from
this very famous square.) We crossed the square and visited the Ten
An Men building. We got some official certificate paper again,
which looked quite nice. After this we visited the forbidden city.
(Li-Xia went in on the first day it was opened for the public on
New Years day 1977.) There were many Americans being guided around.
We went out through the North gate. We crossed the road and climbed
the mountain behind. From there we took several pictures in all
kinds of directions. Then we went to the East shopping area. There
we bought three books, two CD's and a map of
Beijing in a bookshop. We walked further South and came across
a McDonalds. So we went in to get some food. From there we took a
bus to the West shopping area to exchange the blue trouser we
had bought yesterday because it had a hole. Outside of the shop we
bought two bags. A small one for Li-Xia and a larger one, a small
back-pack for me. Then we decided to take the trolley bus 105 back
home. It was very quiet in the this bus. From the Zoo we took a bus
16 for one stop to the metereological unit.
As usual, we had dinner with Uncle and Aunt.
Monday, November 8, 1993: Fragerence Hill
We had a simple breakfast in the dinning hall of the
hotel, then we took the bus to the road near the
entrance of Beijing Zoo. There we had to wait some
time for the bus that would bring us to Fragerence Hill,
which is famouse for it red leaves. The bus took us
on a long trip to the west, even going outside of
Beijing. There we also many fields, with had a kind
of greenhouses made of a low wall of earth going
from West to East, with some frame covered with plastic
in front of it.
When we entered the park around fragrence hill, we
did not immediately climb the mountain. First we
walked in the direction of the South. And we came to
the small house where Mao had stayed for some time,
and walked through the shelter place (actually just
a tunnel) made in the nearby mountain. From there
we walked further into the park in the direction of
the mountain. Slowly we climbed to moutain looking at
the many special things that were to see. Finally,
we reached the summit, which was about 300 meters about
the lower part of the park, and we looked around there.
Of course, there were some girls who wanted to be
on a picture with a handsome foreigner. Although there
was a simple cable going down, we decided to walk down
along the path under the cable, which is on the North
border of the park. Talking the cable costed ¥10
per person. We decided to walk down. But about half
way our legs really started to hurt. Going down is
at least as difficult as climbing up, we discovered.
But we came down, and walked around a little bit.
We also bought a few of the fake "red" leaves as
a souvernir, and found a bus that could take us
back into Beijing.
Tuesday, November 9, 1993: The tax-free shop
In the morning, we stayed at the place of Uncle and Aunt.
Li-Xia made many phone calls to all kinds of people. She
confirmed our return flight. Three people invited us over
for dinner that night. We could only accept one.
Wednesday, November 10, 1993: The Great Wall
We left early to the place where the bus would pick
us up. The bus was almost empty when it departed, and
we felt a little happy about it.
While still driving in Beijing we came to a large
round about on which there was a car parked on the
inner lane. Some sweeping lady was walking around it,
and when we passed the car (on the outer lane of the
round about), I saw that the right front wheel was
missing. (Sadly, I was not quick enough to take a
picture of this.) At this same round about the bus
stopped behind another bus. We were told we had to
transfer to the bus in front of us. When we entered the
bus, we saw that all seats were occupied. But then,
by some trick, tip-up seats appeared in the gangway.
Li-Xia and I had to sit behind each other, but we
were on our way to the Great Wall, and that was what
mattered.
Thursday, November 11, 1993: Arranging a new hotel
We spend the whole morning looking for another hotel. Just
from the window of the appartment of Uncle and Aunt you can
see a big American style hotel, where rooms cost around
200 USD per night per person. But that is way above our
budget. It is a rainy day today. We first looked at a hotel
just outside the gate of the unit. They were full we were
being told. Then Li-Xia phoned some friends and friends of
Uncle and Aunt. Then around half past eleven some relative
of Aunt found us a hotel for about 108 FEC per night. Several
people, including Uncle and Aunt, offered us a place to stay,
but we turned down those offers because we did not want to
trouble anybody.
Shopping
After we had lunch with Uncle and Aunt, we went to the city
for shopping. Uncled showed me some books about the average
weather for each month in China. He is one of the experts
with respect to the climate of China, about which he also
published a book in English together with some others. He is the
final editor of a biweekly metereological paper in for all metereological
institues in China. It has about 30.000 subscribers. Recently, he
has been asked by the China government to give some advice with
respect to which time of the year would be the best for holding a
consensus. During the last consensus, some people died because of
high temperatures, because it was held during the summer. He thinks
that October would be the best time. Then it is not too hot
in the far South, and not too cold in the far North.
Friday, November 12, 1993: Ten An Men
In the morning, aunt brought us to her cousin, Mr. Zhang,
and he brought us to the hotel. They only had some cheap rooms
left for ¥80 per night. We went upstairs to check them.
At the desk there was again some problem with checking our
papers. Especially, the interpretation of my visa took some
time. They wanted us to pay ahead. So we went back with to get
the money and collect some of our belongings. When we returned
with the money, it turned out we had to pay some extra money
per person per night. We got room 207.
Problems with our room
After we arrived in the hotel around eight o'clock in the evening,
Li-Xia phoned for almost two hours with all kinds of people we are
not able to visit anymore. Then when Li-Xia washed her hair, the
hot water became cold, and as a result of this her head began
to hurt. Then when I wanted to take a shower, there was no
hot water at all. Also the heating was not working. So,
we both felt very miserable. We both were home sick of
this. I phoned the duty manager, and then Li-Xia phoned
them. They switched on the hot water again, and I managed
to take a shower, just before the hot water became cold
again.
Saturday, November 13, 1993
Complainig about the room
This morning we decided to leave the hotel. And of course,
when we told the management it turned out that there was a better
room available. We checked it. Although it costs the same, it
looks much nicer. So we decided to take it. So, we moved from
room 207 to 105.
Lunch with Mrs. Zhou and Mr. Li
Today, we went to visit Mrs. Zhou and her husband Mr. Li.
While Li-Xia worked with the Academica Sinica in Beijing she
worked in the same deparment as Mrs. Zhou and they had rooms
in the same building. The department is like a
unit1, and thus has to provide a
room for each of the people working at the department. However,
some people, like Mrs. Zhou, also rent an apartment in another
part of the city, and only use their room if they want stay
overnight when they want to save the trouble of having to
travel by bus.
It happened that the apartment of Mrs. Zhou and Mr. Li was very
close to the tax-free shop. Actually, the bus
that we took stopped right in front of the shop and we met
with the same two girls that asked for opportunities again.
One of the girls recognized us, and asked if we had used all
our opportunities. Looks like they come there often.
Mr. Zhou was very happy with our coming. We exchanged some gifts. She wanted us to buy some silk clothes, and gave us money for this. She immediately started cooking a lunch for us, although she did not feel very well. When she was ready, she had to lay down, because she was too tired. The lunch, dinner, I should say, was really very nice. I tried all the dishes, and like all of them. Afterwards, Li-Xia talked with her for a long time.
The boxes with Li-Xia's belonging were large and heavy. When Zhu Hong arrived, we loaded the boxes in his car, and went to Uncles place. Xiao-Hui helped us with carrying the boxes upstairs. The rest of the afternoon we spend unpacking the boxes and dividing the contents in four groups: to be thrown away (the biggest), to be given away, to be send home by mail, and to taken with us (the smallest). Most of the mathematics books we will send by mail. The language and computer books we gave to Xiao-Ping, who was very happy with them.
(My notes are not very clear about what we did during the day. It is possible that we visited Mrs. Zhou again and showed her the video of our wedding. I faintly remember that we took the underground to go there and on the way back.)
In the evening we visited Mr. Zhou and his wife and son. We showed them most of the wedding video. His wife prepared a dinner for us. When we took the bus back home it was very crowdy. It is always like this on Sunday afternoons, because everybody goes home after having visited their relatives or friends. Just when we were going to go of the bus on the next stop, a man behind me asked me in Chinese, if I were also going to get of the bus a the next stop. Somehow, I was not even aware that he was addressing me. It was so crowded that he wanted to find out whether he had to pass me, or could remain where he was standing now. Luckily, Li-Xia heard the question and answered it in behave of me. Not many Western people take the bus, so they expect that you do speak Mandrin if you are on the bus. Tourists always take a taxi. We visted Uncle and Aunt, and had something to eat again. We stayed rather lated and borrowed the bike of uncle to go back to our hotel. Li-Xia phoned with Aunt to tell that we arrived safely.
We bought lots of small gifts in an art shop. We went to a bookshop and bought some cards, a calander and two books about Chinese caligraphy. We also bought some clothes. A trouser for Li-Xia and one for me as well. Li-Xia also bought a shirt. It was a real shopping day.
In the evening we went to Uncle's place for the last time.
They had prepared some special Chinese dishes for us, and
also some chicken. We said goodbey and Zhu Hong brought us
back to the hotel.
Our worries were cleared when the monitors finally gave us the information we needed. In the waiting room where people gathered for several fligts, which were to be taken to the airplanes by means of buses. There were both Western (for the flight to Kopenhagen) and Chinese people (for a flight to some place in Asia). When it was announced that the other flight could start boarding, within seconds a big croud formed in front of some doors. The doors were opened and closed again when a bus was full. At one point people started to shout when the doors were closed. Not much later, it was announced that we could start boarding, and everyone walked very quitely to the doors leading to our buses. When we got in our bus, some official came to catch a lady which in her hurry had ran into the wrong bus. The obvious difference between how the Western and Chinese behaved, definitely prove how chaotic traveling inside China usually is. Apparently, there are reasons for a Chinese person to fear that a bus, a train, and even a plain might leave without waiting for all passangers with a ticket to board.
Our plane left 10 minutes later than planned. For some reason, Li-Xia and I both felt relaxed in the plane, knowing that we were on our way home, and that we had not encountered any serious troubles during our honeymoon. The rest of the trip home went smooth, except for a small glitch concerning our reservation for the flight from Kopenhagen to Amsterdam, which was resolved in a matter of seconds. In Amsterdam, my parents were waiting for us, and they brought us home. We unpacked our suitcases and showed them the pictures.
The End
