Sunday, September 30 (Mel)

Today will be the longest day on earth for us.  Our flight leaves Beijing at 4:15pm on September 30 and arrives at 11:15am in Vancouver on September 30.  We then arrive Seattle at around 3:30pm on September 30.

Ken got up at 6am to watch the raising of the flag in Tianamen Square at sunrise.  Then he took the metro to the Catholic cathedral and did mass in Chinese.  I slept during this, then we joined some of the group for breakfast.  I had a half-Chinese and half-Western breakfast.  Then back up to our rooms to pack.  We came to China with two backpacks and two daypacks.  We left China with two backpacks, three daypacks, and two plastic bags which the Chinese and Russians use to cart everything.  They contain some of our souvenirs.  We paid 17 yuan ($2.12) for both plastic bags!

At noon we checked out of the hotel, gave Jon and Heidi all of our medicines and soap (they have 5 more months of travel before they return to America), then we called Grant to come down for hugs, in addition to Ted and Ivy.  We all hugged each other, and I promised Grant we would write him.  He said he’ll miss my company.  Grant said our group was a great group, and he wasn’t looking forward to the next group, having already met a few of them.  (He said one was a demanding German, and two U.S. couples had cancelled because of the terrorist attacks.)  When we left the hotel, we left Grant standing on the steps in his flipflops (he toured most of China in those flipflops, which you gotta admire), smoking a cigarette and watching the commotion at the post office across the street.  (The sign above the post office says, “Chinese post workers serve the world with happiness”.)

We toured the streets one last time.  People at their small shops or restaurants, men making fry bread, construction workers sitting in the shade for a break, girls giggling and holding hands, old men sitting on a bench and watching the traffic go by, a driver and cyclist arguing on the street with members of the crowd taking sides and joining in.  Today is sunny in Beijing, and the pollution isn’t bad, since it’s the start of the National festival (factories stopped production two days ago).  We tried to soak it all in.


Backstreets of Beijing

We picked up our luggage at the hotel, donned the heavy backpacks and bags, then schlepped it over to the International Hotel.  Since we were carrying so many heavy bags, people/drivers/taxis would stop and ask if we needed help. No help needed -- we’re seasoned travellers and have learned to carry everything everywhere!  We managed to get to the hotel, then buy the tickets for the airport shuttle (16 yuan, $2).  The shuttle was luxurious, clean, and had A/C.  What a change for us.

We had to pay a departure fee, 90 yuan ($11.25), per person to leave the country.  China is clever - free to get in, pay to get out.  Then our bags had to be strapped (too many loose straps) for 30 yuan ($3.75), then we go to the ticket counter to checkin, weigh our bags, and xray the bags.  Our souvenir bag is 13kg (28 lbs), my backpack is 21kg (46 lbs), and Ken’s is 23kg (50 lbs).  We’ve each been lugging at least 46 pounds around China!

The ticket agent told us that we could go to Canada, but no ticket to the U.S.  She couldn’t explain further or tell us why, but when I asked if it because of the terrorist attacks, she immediately said yes.  Okay, so maybe we walk from Vancouver to Seattle.  No problem - with a cart I can do it.

We ate the most soggiest overpriced lunch at the airport restaurant, but it was still better than SeaTac food.  Our lunch bill was a whopping 148 yuan ($18.50), 33 yuan of which was for a can of Coke!  (We only paid 3-4 yuan on the street.)  This was clearly our most expensive meal.

We went to our gate, found Anne (she’s on the same flight as us), and started discussing plans.  In the middle of our conversation, security came over, pointed to my bag, looked at me and said “come with me”.  I was taken to the back part of the area, and my bag was meticulously searched.  Every purse opened, the food bag searched, pockets checked.  She freaked when she found the laser pointer David (Wetherall) gave me.  (Forgot that was in there.  Ooops.)  I was grilled on that.  While this was going on, Ken was behind the glass in the main waiting area, going crazy!

Before the search ended, she took my passport and plane ticket out of my daypack, handed them to me, and said “you must have these”.  She tagged my bag, gave me a number, then took my bag to the ramp.  While boarding the plane (you better believe I was shoving!) I claimed my bag.

We are now flying over Russia and the sun has set early.  Our crew is Chinese, Canadian, and Irish.  The Irish attendant gave me flack about drinking Coke (“it’ll rot ya”).  He’s funny.  Ken is looking out the window at fires in the Siberian forests.  I am sad, because we are leaving China, our holiday is over, our country is not the same any more, we’ll leave the new friends we made I won’t get to talk with Grant as much (still do email though), and Ken and I won’t see each other as consistently (basically almost every waking moment on this trip we were with each other).  Our lives will consist of working, friends (a good thing, of course), bills, dinner, household responsibilities, and everyday life.  I don’t know when we’ll get our next break from it.

The things I’ll remember about China, but may not have written down:

 

Sunday, September 30 (Ken)

One or two last catch-ups in the journal…things may be a bit out of order.

Starting with today.  Set my alarm and got up before dawn, jumped into my clothes and hopped on the metro to go to Tianamen Square to see the daily flag-raising ceremony.  There were several tens of thousands of people waiting.  Just before dawn, a color guard marched out of the Forbidden City gate, the China National anthem (I think) was played over the loudspeakers, and they raised the flag.  The whole ceremony wasn’t as interesting as all the people there at dawn to watch it.  I walked around the square a bit, watched the sun come up, and then hopped on the subway to go to the Catholic cathedral to attend a mass in Chinese.  The church building isn’t all that impressive, but the church community is probably doing well just to survive from year to year.  Anyway, when I got there, they were finishing up the Latin mass, or it might have been some other prayer, but the chant was simple and beautiful, very much like the chanted prayers we heard at the Buddhist temples.  I was disappointed when the chant ended, and the regular Chinese mass started -- it turned out to be pretty much the same as the version I’m used to, just in a different language.  Even the songs were typical western-sounding, which really didn’t work to well in Chinese.  I had a hard time engaging in the Mass, partly because I was sleepy.  But there was one point where the prayer says “we are all one body” (It was in Chinese, but I know the English equivalent well enough).  That prayer really reverberated with me - the celebration of spirit (whatever way one chooses to celebrate it) that connects us all.


Flag ceremony at Tianamen Square at dawn

Went back to the hotel, ate breakfast, packed, said last goodbyes to Grant, Jon and Heidi, and Ted and Ivy, Walked around the block near our hotel (through the Hutongs and back out on the main street) and then caught the shuttle bus to the airport.  The airport went as smoothly as we could hope.  Then we were rolling down the runway, in the air, flying over the mountains, and China disappeared into the clouds below.  As I often end up feeling leaving anywhere, I’m sad to see our time in China end.  We had a great time and wonderful group of people travel with.  But I’m also looking forwarding to seeing my friends at home.

 

Last Days in China (Ken)

Our second to last day in Beijing was cool and damp.  Mel and I went shopping and found the market that several folks in our group recommended.  It was an odd sort of marketplace, a relatively new 4-story building, with lots of separate vendors each with their own stall, under bright fluorescent lights, selling jewelry, clothes, souvenirs, electronics, and all manner of stuff.  We bought some (probably knockoff) North Face jackets for ourselves and family, a bracelet for me and Nick, a Mao watch for Eric, and some other miscellaneous stuff.  I looked at some suits, which were pretty nice and at great prices, until I pulled out the trousers, and they were adjustable, like a rental tux.  The poor salesman, who was determined to sell me the pants, just couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to buy the suit… in fact, to him, the adjustable pants were a good feature. 

After our shopping spree and lunch one last time at KFC, we caught a taxi to the hotel.  Mel decided to take a nap, so I went out on my own.  I decided I would try to see if there was a soccer game at the stadium.  The metro got me within several blocks, and I walked the rest of the way.  Turned out that there was no game, but I saw what I think will be the giant torch that will burn Olympic Flame in 2008 at the stadium.  I hopped back on the metro, and took it a few stops further to the Lama Temple.  This was a very colorful temple, and unlike many of the temples we had seen, it was active.  Unfortunately, the activity was hardly authentic.  Our book indicated that the monks were props of the Chinese government, and that the temple’s activity was all for show.  This was the temple where the Chinese government had installed their own Panchen Lama, after the boy chosen by the Dalai Lama was taken into custody and is currently considered a political prisoner.  Still, it was a beautiful temple, and a place to reflect and hope for things to change for the better. 

On my way out of the temple, I bought a kite, then went wandering around some of the hutongs, savoring my last day in China.  Everywhere we went in China, I loved just walking around the neighborhoods, and this day was no different.  Walking in the cool air, I went down a tree-lined street, then wandered off into a narrower street with no trees.  As I walked down the street, I saw simple little things that told the story of life in this community… several young men in a workshop, putting the final touches on a sculpture of a human figure, a old man repairing a woman’s bike, clusters of kids running down the street, a woman setting out fresh steamed buns.  As with Egypt, the part I love most about visiting China is people and everyday life. 

 

Faith in People (Ken)

During our last several days in China, I had a couple experiences with people, first a couple incidents which saddened me, then a few which made me feel better.

First visiting Mao’s tomb, we were in line, when were intercepted by a woman who said she was a tour guide and that we couldn’t get in with our bags.  For a fee, she would “help us” get our bags taken care of and get us in as a guide.  She did get our bags checked and got us in, but obviously was rushing us along so she could get to her next “customers.”  Since admission was free, I felt scammed, but it didn’t look like we would get in otherwise.  Turned out later that she was probably legit, but at the time I felt taken advantage of.

Immediately after this experience, Mel and I went wandering around Tienamen for awhile trying to decide what to do next.  With weary legs, we sat down against a lamppost and flipped through the guide book.  Two Chinese students were sitting within earshot.  After a minute or two, they asked if we would mind conversing with them a bit, to practice their English.  We traded the usual friendly chatter, found out they were students, where they were from, told them where we had been in China.  Then we ended up talking about what to do next, and decided to walk with them for awhile.  They said they could show us around and that they would enjoy practicing their English some more.  Of course we welcomed the chance to interact with people. 

We stopped for some dumplings.  It was a fast-food-style dumpling place, which was a change from the usual street stands.  We offered the two students lunch, and they politely refused.  They did help us order, though. 

Then we walked through an older shopping district.  I then made several critical mistakes.  First, I admitted I liked Chinese paintings.  Turns out the girl was an art student.  She took us to the gallery that had some of her paintings.  She had done some very good modern paintings, which were very different from any other paintings I had seen.  Then mistake number two was telling her I really liked her work, followed immediately by mistake number three, asking how much.  She stated the price, and since I had already established more than just a simple merchant-customer relationship, I felt I couldn’t really haggle.  Her prices were reasonable by American standards, but were expensive by Chinese standards.  The one painting alone would have exceeded what I had paid for all of the several other paintings I had bought on the whole trip.  Mel also saw a painting by another artist that she liked, at the same price.  We hemmed and hawwed and then said we’d walk around and talk it over and then come back. 

We left the young woman at the studio, and then walked around some older, very interesting antique stores with the young man.  Mel and I in the meantime decided that the paintings were too much, and eventually went back to the studio and told the young woman that they were too expensive.  She was visibly disappointed.  Like many Chinese merchants, I don’t think she understood that even though she knew we could afford it, we weighed the value of what were buying against the price (i.e., the value of our dollars).  I felt terrible about having to turn her down.

We then walked around a bit more with the young man.  He said he knew a place we could get really cheap t-shirts.  We went with him, and it turned out the deal wasn’t that good, but I haggled a little, and bought one (found out later we could have bought three for the price I paid).  Then we decided to part ways.  As we were shaking hands, the young man asked if we had any small American paper money, saying something about using as a souvenir or bookmark.  We didn’t have any small American money, and then I figured out he was just asking for money, as a tip, he said.  Flustered, I gave him 15 or 20 Yuan (a couple American dollars) , I think.  I immediately felt crushed, because I thought he was taking a genuine interest in us, or at least in the opportunity to interact with us.  But it was really just the money.  Talked to Grant later and found out it was a common ploy.  This incident smoldered in the back of my mind for the next 48 hours. 

Thankfully a couple incidents occurred to undo the damage and restore my faith in people a little.  First was an experience at the smaller temple in Chengde.  A student came up and asked if he could get his photo taken with me.  I suppose this kind of thing is not all that uncommon, but it was a simple gesture, and he didn’t want anything in return.  Second, also in Chengde, was the woman who was so cheerful and glad to help as we tried to reach the rock at the hilltop, even though we were basically strolling through her front yard. 

 

October 1, Prologue (Mel)

We had to pass through nine security checkpoints to get into the U.S.  Dogs were released at the baggage claim area (cute little beagles) and one settled on our cart.  They asked to search the backpacks; they were looking for food.  No food in the backpacks, but we explained that we had smashed fruit at the bottom of the pack two weeks ago.  At another checkpoint we were stopped again because of food items.  We explained that I bought the beef jerky at Safeway in Seattle, and we were let go.

I almost got on my knees and kissed the ground at the Seattle airport.  We made it home.

Upon our return, I found out I was laid off at Asta Networks (Asta was my second job, but I'm still at the university), my Uncle Don died, someone in Israel cleaned out my checking account in the past couple of weeks while I was in China, and found out from the dentist that I cracked a filling and need a root canal.

On the bright side, our houseplants thrived while we were gone.  (I’ve always maintained that Ken and I are the Kevorkians of the Plant World.  Apparently our presence hinders their growth.)

I will sorely miss China, but not its bathrooms.  Ken and I have agreed not to eat Chinese food for a month. 

I plan to not step foot in KFC for at least a year.

 

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If you are interested in learning more about China (i.e., you were inspired from our stories), then here's a list of items to check out:

webpages:

movies:

books:

 

We truly hope that you enjoyed our travel journal for China.  We welcome any feedback that you have (email Ken or email Mel).  Thank you for reading this and for sharing in our lives. 

Mel and Ken 

 

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