chinas different

no kidding, right? but, i mean really different. sure, theres a subway and cars and we stayed at a 5 star hotel and ate at fantastic restaurants, but its just way different than what i had imagined. beijing is a fast paced ginormous city with lights and shopping and way too many people without the illusion of 'clean' that some american cities manage to have. i had a great time with an uneventful flight, (with the exception of the person next to me taking pills to help her fly that she seemed unwilling to share or even discuss) great friends, worlds best tour guide, ming li and a nice driver we named joe. we shopped and sight saw from 8 am-11:30 pm every day and became down right experts at handling our time sans children and husbands. there are a lot of highlights from this weekend but i will keep it to a few notables::


1. china is a communist country (this is for people like tricia who i know dont have time for real news in their life). this is a fact that is easy to overlook until you realize that amid all of the stores you can shop at, there is not a book store or even book in sight anywhere. or magazines or newspapers with the exception of one paper monitored by the government that very few people were reading. they have limited access to the internet and ours in the hotel was conveniently not working while we were there. on our tour of tienanmen square, we were given a brief history of the communist regime, how its the largest square in the world, how many celebrations are there..blah blah blah. what i, in my admitted naivety was waiting for was a brief mention of what the rest of the free world immediately thinks of when we hear 'tienanmen square'. can you say heart wrenching image of young man standing in front of a tank?? since ming li, who is university educated and in her mid 30's didnt volunteer the information, i asked. her answer was astonishing. those students willing to die for democracy were in fact paid pawns by an opposing political party to disrupt the communist government. i guess what she said next was what i found most surprising...the image of the young man and the tank that has been permanently seared into millions of minds (mine at the tender age of 12) has never been seen by ming li. nope. not a snapshot, not a tv clip, nothing. she has NEVER seen it according to her. without that one conversation, i could have almost forgotten where i was visiting and the power and control that the chinese people live under.



2. we have great toilets in america. if you have never experienced a squatty potty, you have truly never lived. i experienced only one, as i was more than willing to take my chances with a bladder infection rather than risk peeing on myself, my jeans or standing in the filth generously left by those before me. suffice it to say, it was worth hiking the great wall preoccupied with the thought of needing to pee if it spared me from the squatty potty that i could smell 100 yards away. enough said.

3. chinese acrobats are cooler than cirque de solei. if you are triple jointed, 85 pounds, and missing enough vertebrae in your back to bend in highly unnatural ways, you may have a future in chinese acrobatics. truly on the edge of your seat amazing. you cannot go to beijing and not see the show. it was second only to the great wall and my burberry cashmere scarf. :)


4. shopping in china is like a crash course in the art of arguing with a splash of bull s*** and a heap of patience. let me splain...picture a 5 story home depot with 8 aisles across no wider than a grocery store aisle lined on each side with craft fair size stalls. the upside is that instead of americana crafts and porcelain dolls, you have stalls of cashmere, purses, luggage, northface, rolex, polo, silks, etc. the monotony is that in spite of the overwhelming vastness of the place, it is the same 10-15 items throughout the entire building. the superfun part is that as you attempt to walk down the aisles you are shouted at continually by vendors trying to get you in their stall. they are aggressive and annoying and once you are in their stall, they will maneuver their way in front of you to keep you there for the duration of the negotiating process. im telling you, the only thing worth doing this is the possibility of a northface winter coat for $20 or any number of the other treasures that i was willing to work so hard for. i got some amazing deals, but trust me, it was not without significant effort and patience. this is how the process goes...they shout things like "hey pretty lady, you like coach?" while occasionally grabbing you. fun, i tell you. when they get you in their stall, they ask what you like at which time you act like you like nothing, but you may be willing to negotiate for a particular item. they explain that it is 'best quality' (i heard this everywhere i went, so i began just saying it to them first, hoping to just cut out a few seconds of the dance) and try to get you to name a price. of course, you dont offer a price and make them start the process instead. they type in an outlandishly high price like $230 for the north face, and then because they want to give you 'good deal' will let you buy it for just $160. so you type in the calculator an offer of $15. they say things like "youre killing me" "your crazy" "i make no profit" and on and on and on. so they come down to $140 and continue the arguing for awhile longer until you offer a final price of $20 followed by promptly walking away. at this time, they chase you down, grab your arm and sell the jacket for $20. im telling you, it was no nordstroms. it was work that required some serious patience, but it was at times hilarious and the deals were most definitely worth the effort. there were some particularly amusing stories from these shopping days i may share at a later time, but i think you get the picture.

5. the great wall is better than great. i could easily go back to china and just spend an entire day at the great wall. i took a gondola ride to the top with only a minor panic attack and hiked down late in the afternoon under perfect blue skies and a setting sun. the only thing that would have made it better is if patrick was with me (which since he wasnt and since some of you are wondering why...he checked the great wall box years ago when he was stationed here before and has no desire to return. his exact words were something like, 'no thanks, china just doesnt do anything for me'). its hard to explain it in words that dont sound super cliche and tour guidish. suffice it to say, i think every person who can go should go once in their lifetime. and be sure to use the restrooms at your 5 star hotel, because the great wall squatty pottys are not great at all.