As a long time Tai Ji student, one of my biggest dreams has been to visit China and practice; you know, doing Tai Ji in the park like in the travel videos. So here I am. My excitement is only curtailed by my frustration of the limitations placed on my participation because of my broken ankle is not fully recovered, but it gets stronger every day. Needless to say I continue to participate with my crutch in hand and with a positive attitude.
The Set Up
1. Don’t drink the water. Our initial instructions were “do not drink water from the tap including brushing teeth. Do not eat something that has fallen on the table”. My understanding is that the faucet water contains heavy metals and mineral which can be toxic over a period of time. Everyone drinks bottled water; beer is cheaper than water. So restaurant dinning always includes beer and bottled water.
2. AQI (Air Quality Index). http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/aqirecent3.html. “For short stays, disposable masks work fine – make sure they’re rated ‘n95’ or better, and have two head straps”. I purchased a box of “3M 8511 Particulate Sanding N95 Respirator with Valve at Lowes, in other words, I bought sanding masks.
We’re Off
Tuesday, October 15th. Seven of us left Seattle with high hopes and a pretty long but uneventful flight, my only regret was not trying to engage my seat partner in further conversation to test/practice Mandarin but I was too insecure and didn’t try my Mandarin until just before we landed. I didn’t want to be a boorish passenger on an eleven hour flight.
Upon landing I discovered my first challenge as a handicapped person: stairs. We landed at the old airport, small and less traffic but to get to baggage claim and customs I had to climb two long flights of stairs. Fortunately, my rehabilitation had reached the point where I can climb stairs, with a little effort, without using the crutch and with minimum pain. Luggage secured and customs cleared we met our travel guide, Vincent, loaded our 10 passenger Toyota van and were off.
Well not exactly, we are now in Beijing traffic. Technically, traffic jams are the same all over the world but I was not prepared for “meandering/merging” driving. The highways are excellent and marked in Chinese and English which surprised me but drivers meander to get in position. I say meander because it’s not ego driven jockeying for a space they just go where they want, when they want, and adjust in the nick of time to avoid accidents. I’ve only seen a couple of accidents but I don’t understand why there aren’t more. I would never drive here. It takes us a couple of hours to negotiate the traffic and get to our hotel. We landed about 4:30 PM (October 16th) and arrived at our hotel about 7 PM. In Beijing, we are staying at the Royal Phoenix Hotel in Dongsi Hutong. (Hutong defined, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong). Rooms and roommates assigned, we are tired but we are off to our first excursion into Beijing for our first dining experience. Vincent found a little Cantonese restaurant about 4 or 5 blocks from the hotel. The food is good but I found the walk through the narrow alley lined with residences and small shops more interesting, everything and everyone is close.
Because social networking sites are blocked (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) it has taken me some time to get this first piece posted. I had anticipated this and hope to post periodically on the Journal. I’m told that Word Press sites are block but I’m game to try. In the meantime, I have uploaded some unsorted and unedited phone camera photos from our first couple of day which you can find at http://www.phillbriscoe.com/china-october-2013/.
Oh, wǒ de Zhōng lǚ xíng translates to “My China Journey”.
More later…
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