Xiao jei, xiao jei! Zhao yue, zhao yue!
- Hawker, Beijing
Second day in Beijing, only one night but it feels like we have been doing so much. This morning was a good cloudy and chilly start as we walked towards Tiananmen Square to check out some pre-visit experience of the crowd in the Forbidden City.
The walk was very charming but by the sweet Lord, the human tidal wave was such a sight to behold that I dare not think what I would do if I do take a small trip on the pavement. This site is huge, palatial expanse in the most unashamed grandiosity that a human mind can capture. This is the site that history was made, tankers crushing the democratic dream, where the last emperor was a captive within his own walls. You can't miss the square or the forbidden fruit that drawn so many visitors, local and foreign alike. Yes, we were hassled to buy anything imaginable, there were funny English translation of the rules on where you should begin the tour. But this is where all the hours of discussing about the finest (and necessarily, cruelest) of the Qing dynasty's hours took place, Of course Yongle built the place but there were many rebuilding as it was then and probably required today. I basked in the moment. As each formidable door barrier took me deeper into the realm of where dreams were crushed and the hope of a nation was held, I drifted away amidst the sea of visitors and felt the silence of that place. That was when I felt the loneliness of the most successful and the least of their rulers in the history of time.
We will be back on another day which I intend to rise extra early to capture (hopefully) a barren square that the morning raising of the national flag will be done. This will be followed by a good soaking one's self in history as I take it further into the city for real.
Meanwhile we broke our journey to Houhai. Pretty funky place but more of an Amsterdamic Lankwaifong for my taste. There were bars, and bars everywhere. In between the girl from Ipanema and chinese erhu music, I had a good Erdinger, got bullied by a cat while checking out Tibetan jewellery before we moved on back to Wangfujing Dajie. Dusk came early at about 5-ish, but that was when the city came alive. These buggers here drive like they don't give a hoot about the traffic, wheels and wheeled beggars and all.
Anyway, we were cruising down Wangfujing Dajie when I caught sight of this row of intense ruby lanterns decorating a massive noisy lane of hawkers. This could be the pasar malam within Bangsar for the Beijingers but I kid you not when I say that they literally shouted down at my face with the utmost intensity to sell me a stick of sweetened strawberries. The competition was heated, Wall Street-like and I found myself mesmerised beyond the sticks of fumbly cuttlefish, chicken skewers, lamb kidneys, and gravitated towards silk worms, mini scorpions, larvae, and centipede satays.
You know what they say "when in Rome..."
Rest assured I made it back to our hotel without any swollen lips and foam in the mouth, but I had lots of fun getting my 15 minutes of fame when interested tourists decided to snap my picture of devouring those fried beer food, shared some of my goodies with some scared but revved up American travellers, and had my cheeks completely wind bitten by the end of the evening.
This was just 6:30pm. Isn't life just so great!
As I made my way to the Red Room bar in the hotel, this was where it took the cake. The door into the bar was invisible. I had this oriental lass speaking in true 1960s Americanised Chinese accent asking "drink or dinner?" but hey, with things rolling the way they did, who really cared! Anyway, the door was this mirror door that swung to the side upon approach and what swept ahead of me was this swanky bar with heck of a good wine. I was a good girl, had a Brown Brothers 2006 Chenin Blanc and went for a short run later.
This is Vivien, signing off in Beijing, with her rice broth waiting.
