I think I need to watch the Last Emperor again. I couldn't help but think about it a lot lately, especially today. After all, I first learnt about the Forbidden City from the Last Emperor. Today, I was there. It was something else. I had my own personal guide because, as I mentioned before, Caroline and Til did not join the tour. The guide was nice and sweet, and spoke really good English. So she explained a lot of things to me which I might not have known just being there on my own. But then, I don't think she took me through all that there was to see in the Forbidden City though. Of course, that was because we needed to get back in time for lunch with the others. So we took pretty much the straightest route through the city, and I missed everything on either side. Not that I minded though. The fact that tourist are not allowed inside the buildings (I don't blame them), and that the interiors have mostly all been emptied out anyway -looted?- made me think that I wasn't missing anything unmissable anyway. But still, I would have preferred, I think, to choose what I miss. But since I knew I was going to have a guide, I was not so diligent with my research as I would ordinarily have been. Otherwise, I would have been able to ask to see the things I wanted to see.
The other thing about guides though, is that they tend to have had a lot of experience with a particular type of traveller. Let's put it this way: If you were to profile the sort of person who would use a travel agent or the typical guide, it wouldn't be me. The things such a person would want and expect, would not be the same for me. The last time I can remember travelling with a travel agent, I was 15 (I think) and my aunt booked the trip for my sister and I, and even then, we ditched the tour for a day and did our own thing. There may have been the odd one or other since, but they do not come to mind now. And while I do use guides, they tend to be day trips and random, different tours, like the walking food tour in Istanbul, the desert safari from Abu Dhabi, the free (tips only) walking tour in downtown New York.
I have spent very little time with the guides on this trip until yesterday, but every single one of them have reminded me again of why I don't use travel agents. The first one was really nice and friendly, but was surprised and confused that I might want to take a train or a bus from the airport instead of a taxi like "most foreigners". The second one pushed to get us to the train station hours ahead of our train because she said, it might take a long time because of traffic jams. There was none. I later heard her tell the driver that she was meeting her son at the station and would go back with him. She did not, of course, know that I could understand her. The one today told us about a night market with street food but said that she wouldn't recommend it to foreigners. Like, what??? Upon further questioning, she explained that it's local food which foreigners would not be used to. Yeah, not used to, maybe but isn't that the point? I was there last night (after we had had dinner somewhere else). And yes, there were some things which I would not try. Whatever that preserved sausage thing which stinks to kingdom come is, for one. Deep fried starfish (yes, starfish), for another. Aside from that though, I could easily stuff myself with what was on offer. There's a kind of stiffness and inflexibility that seem to be present in all of them. This might be me being prejudiced. But then again, they have equally preconceived notions about what foreigners like and don't like, and would want to or not want to do, and would be willing to pay for, which sometimes seems I be everything. She also mentioned quite a few things which I didn't necessarily agree with simply because they didn't apply to me. But thinking about it now, what she said is true for a lot of tourists. Many do prefer to visit the place they at in a bubble of familiarity and comfort; seeing but not truly experiencing. My personal opinion.
In any event, it was interesting to have someone local to chat with. When we were at the Tian 'an Men Square, I asked her about what I always call the student protest, but which I suppose is really the pro-democracy protests in the eighties. It was before her time; she was born in 1991. She hesitantly told me that it was, erm, forbidden, erm, to talk about it. There is no information about it to be found through any Chinese medium. We were close to the National History Museum when we were having this conversation. At my question, she said, no, I would not find anything about it in there, pointing at the museum. She knows about it from her parents, she said, and people do talk about it in private but there are a lot of people who have no clue that it happened.
We talked about the Chinese who have lived abroad, as students or for work, who report back on the websites and the information which can be found out there. Some appreciate it and wish that they could stay. But others just want to be home again. She herself had never been abroad but I didn't want to ask if she wanted to. She works exclusively with foreign tourists, and made a few comments about local travellers which suggested to me that she sees there are some things about the Chinese society which she wishes could be changed. She said though, that there was no point trying. Those who did not agree would just not care and would just argue back.
Caroline and I had this conversation after our train taking experience. The lack of queues was frustrating and I wondered if any of the locals get frustrated too. Caroline thought not because if they did, surely things would change. But then if only a fraction, however small or large, of the people want a change, how do you get the rest to change their behaviour? And if the rest don't change, is there a point in changing yours especially if it means that you will just lose out?
Anyway, as it turned out, I think Caroline made the right choice not to go on the tour, especially since she has been before, many years ago though it may have been. The number of people alone would have been a good enough reason. To manoeuvre through that with a pram would have been challenging. The heat was another challenge on it's own. When I headed back to my room at the end of the afternoon, I could smell myself. It was not pleasant at all! Ugh! ....Where was I? Oh yes. Beijing is really a lot more pram / wheelchair friendly that Qingdao and there were a few people with either around. But still, it was not easy. I saw people standing the top of stairs waiting with a pram, having been left behind by the rest of the family who had moved on; several men helping to carry a woman in a wheelchair down some steps. And there were quite many of them in the Forbidden City, even if there were some ramps here and there.
Having said that though, the people and the heat did not bother me too much. Me, who has declared to many time and time again that I do not like people, and would prefer to stay in, thank you very much, if it's more than 30 degrees C. Out there, in the almost shadeless Forbidden City in 33 degree C heat, I was fine. And though I would have preferred to experience it all without the thousands around me, there was so much space in there that aside from the passages and doorways, it was easy to get away from the worst of the crowds. So I actually managed to enjoy it all despite the heat and crowds.
In many ways, the Chinese have been much as I expected. The no queueing, the blatant staring. Almost every time we sit down at a restaurant, I look up to find people staring. And they have no qualms about carrying on staring when they see that they have been caught staring. But then, I suppose the combination of Caroline (blond and fair), me (dark haired and darker skinned) and Til (Chinese) is understandably intriguing. But anyway, at the Forbidden City, there were a lot of really old trees. They looked like giant Bonsai. The guide said though that Bonsai were made to resemble these. I am inclined to believe her, but this is definitely one of the things which I will look up when I am reunited with my good friend, Google. (I will also need to look up red jade.) Anyway, there were signs in different languages telling people, for the protection and preservation of the ancient trees, to please not touch said trees. But every single tree had a shiny section at about the average human height... And it was almost impossible to get a photo of a tree without there being someone also in the picture touching it.
They have however also surprised me in many ways. The helping with the bags on the train, for one. As I walked to meet Caroline and Til for dinner today, I saw a man on the ground having what looked like a seizure. He lay on his side shaking and his eyes were closed. A few of us stopped to approach him to see if he needed help but he was not responsive. A few people had their phones out but some of them, believe it or not, were just taking photos - which really pissed me off. The seizure stopped after a minute or so and he seemed to regain control. I walked away. No more than 5 minutes after that, am ambulance speeded past me and stopped next to where the man was. Obviously someone has rung for help, and it must have been very soon after it happened because the ambulance got there so soon.
Generally, Beijing has pleasantly surprised me. I find myself rather liking it all. It is a city I definitely would not mind returning to.
And the Mandarin is much easier to understand that in Qingdao and people seem to speak much better English and are much more used to foreigners. Well, of course, we have only been to the really touristy areas so far so that can hardly be surprising.
Next: the Great Wall!
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