Japan

Well, I finally made it to China. I stayed there for eight interesting and adventurous days. I say "interesting" and "adventurous" to try to be positive, because to be totally honest, I was a bit disappointed in Beijing.

Of course there are always good and bad points, so I'll get the bad ones out of the way first. Yes, Beijing is very dirty, but not as dirty as I expected as far as the streets and sightseeing places go. HOWEVER, the toilets are a NIGHTMARE! In most places, they have your typical asian style ones, which sometimes require some tricky squatting, but that wasn't the problem because it's the same as Japan, but, in many of the bathrooms they don't have doors! So, there's no much needed privacy (in the most needed time if you ask me), and if there is a door, many times, the women don't close the door!! Okay, so, I'll just have to stop there and you'll have to let your imagination do the rest...

In general, okay, no, keeping totally honest here, 9 out of 10 people were not nice, polite or kind whatsoever (in the Western and Japanese sense). Upon checking in to the hotel, there was no kind greeting, "welcome to China," nothing, just "What's your name" and "here's your key." I tried to change money at the hotel, which clearly they said they do 24 hours a day, but each time, they just said "no," and "we have no money." It's really quite shocking. Having worked in a hotel for four years, I'm going to be even more appauled at this type of "service." Anytime I bought something at the supermarket or any shop, they never say "thank you" and even I know thank you in Chinese. They just hand your change to you and move on to the next customer. At the hotel, once they don't want to talk to you anymore, they just put their head down and start doing something else. Really shocking.

On the first day, I decided to go to the Forbidden City, where all the old Chinese emperors lived. It is the most famous place in Beijing, and maybe, second to the Great Wall in being the most famous place in China. So, I took a taxi there, which was about a six or seven minute ride. Boy do I wish I had walked. I didn't notice that the taxi driver had not turned on the meter. When we arrived, he said, "YOU, GIVE ME MUCH MONEY!" He wanted about 15 US dollars. I was really shocked. I looked at the meter and it was off, but I knew that taxis in Beijing were supposed to be really cheap, so I said, "but it wasn't very far, very close..." He yelled at me again. It was my first day, so I was so scared and nervous, so I just gave him the money and got out.

In every shop and restaurant I was treated with this same kind of attitude. But, after I got my bearings and felt a little more confident about being there alone, I realized I'm just going to have to suck it up and be agressive myself and stop letting them push me around. After about three days, I'd had enough.

My first "Raging Southern American Woman Tourist Monster" incident was when I went to change money again. I went to the desk and asked kindly to change Japanese traveler's checks to Chinese Yuan cash. But again, the clerk said, "No." Just "no." I went off. I raised my voice a bit and said, "Look. YOU are the worker. I am the customer. I don't think you understand this. I need money and I need it now!" She said, "We have no money." Ya know, it's not as if she can't speak good English either because I heard her talking to other customers before and she is fully capable of handling this situation. The Chinese actually speak much better English than here in the Japanese countryside, but I would never be treated this way in Japan, English or no English. So, I was lit up, so I said, "I don't care. That is your fault you don't have any money. I am not going to be inconvenienced anymore. Either you exchange this now, or you go get someone to get it for me." She said, "you can got to a bank." And then I just said, "Get your manager out here RIGHT NOW." She went in the back and I heard her talking to someone and when she came back, she said, "Manager said, no money." I said, "I didn't tell you to ask him anything I told you to tell him to come out here RIGHT NOW." Again, she went in the back and when she came back this time, she said, "Okay, I change money."

AHHHHHHH!!! This situation drove me nuts, but it was a catalyst for my next, "Revenge of the Raging Southern American Woman Tourist Monster." I had to take another taxi that day, and this time, the ride was about 25 minutes. Again, the driver didn't turn on the meter, expecting to bully a stupid blonde western tourist out of more cash. But, no, I had popped. When we arrived he said, "You, give me 150." That's about $20 and that's about 300 times too much money. I had learned by talking to other tourists that they charge about 2 yuan per kilometer. So, I said, "NO. You didn't turn on the meter. That's too bad. I don't know the cost. We'll negotiate. Here." So I gave him about three dollars, which really is about the right amount. But he was so mad. He started yelling in Chinese and I'm sure I'm glad I couldn't understand. Then he said, "NO, very much more money." I said again, "you didn't turn on the meter," and he said, "No meter, no meter." But I then pointed right to in and said, "ON, you didn't turn ON! Bye bye." Then I got out and slammed the door. I thought he might come after me but he just sped off, probably because he did get paid the right amount, but was angry that he couldn't screw me over.

I was also lied to when I took a tour to see the Great Wall. There are several tourist spots to see the wall, but only one was opened to group tours and buses, at Badaling. So, I signed up for a tour that said we would spend two hours at the Ming Tombs and two hours at the Great Wall. I was excited about the Ming Tombs because 13 emperors have large tomb structures scattered throughout the countryside about an hour outside Beijing. The countryside is what I really wanted to see anyway and the history of these places is fascinating. Or so I imagined it would be. On the tour, we actually ended up spending 20 minutes at the tomb and an hour at the Great Wall. Other parts NOT included on the itenerary were an hour visit to a jade factory (which was okay because I love jade) and three hours at some type of market where our tour guide made commission on what we bought. I was so frustrated because I had come all this way to see the Great Wall for one hour. I had imagined myself climbing to the top of a mountain, looking all around at the most incredible scenery I've ever seen, not stuck in a swarm of tourists and not even able to get to the top because of old German ladies trying to climb with their canes and holding up the lines. Considering I only had a hour here, that was obviously impossible.

The next day, I asked the incompitent front desk if they knew of any way to get to another section of the wall, and again, just, "no." I also asked how much it would be by taxi and they said, "I don't know, go ask one outside." AHHHHH! And they are going to hold the Olympics here?!? These people are going to be hosting hundreds of thousands of western tourists. Holy moly. Don't stay at the Howard Johnson Paragon if you ever go to Beijing, okay?? Thank you.

So, I did go outside and ask a taxi, but of the two drivers I asked, one just laughed and the other said, "$200 US dollar." Well, forget that.

That night, I went to a restaurant near Tianmen Square, the center of Beijing, and tried the famous "Peking Duck." It was not what I expected. They brought out a plate of chopped greasy flesh and a questionable brown sauce. I tried the white meat and pealed off the skin. It was really good actuallly. So I ate a bit of it until I saw something stange under the mountain of chopped duck. It was the head, beak and all, and the neck hiding at the bottom staring right at me. I almost screamed. I just couldn't eat anymore after that. When I got up to leave, the waitress looked concerned and motioned for me to come back. I went back to the table and she brought out a huge bowl. The "chef" had made a soup from the duck's bones and probably whatever else they could find. Out of politeness, I tried it, but it was just too scary. The waitresses and cooks kept looking at me and kind of giggling at my shock, but I just couldn't eat it.

Although the duck was scary, all the other food I ate in Beijing was really good. The ramen is soooo good and sweet and sour pork is really really good. I tried duck one more time at another restaurant, but I didn't order Peking Duck this time and it was much better. Jasmine and Oolong tea, which is most famous in China is really good too.

Con't to next entry......

After a pretty crappy three or four days, I was actually quite discouraged. One morning, I kind of just sat in my hotel room and didn't want to go out because it was so stressful with vendors constantly yelling at me everywhere I went: "HEY! HEY! YOU!! HEY! YOU, LADY! HEY LADY! YOU! SHOPPING!! NOW! HEY LADY! CHEAP, LADY, CHEAP! HEY! HEY LADY!!!" A couple of times, a vendor grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me into his shop. It was just a nightmare. I didn't want to deal with it. But, I had four more days and I hadn't really seen the Great Wall and I was just really upset. But, I realized I was just getting beat up and I had to stand up for myself. I was alone and freaked out, but I just had to get agressive and deal with it.

So, I went to the subway station and stared at the map until I got a handle on how to use it and bought a ticket. Then, after riding it a couple of times, I got a good handle on it and used it the rest of the trip. It's only .25 cents each ride, so it was definitely a much better option than fighting with taxi drivers, eh? And then while I was out, I found a tourist center and saw a brochure on a kung fu show!!! My dream!!! I also asked if there was another place to visit the Great Wall that wasn't swarming with tourists. The man said there weren't any buses there and if I'm desperate to go, I'll have to hire a private car, which would be about $100 for half a day. I didn't want to pay that, but, that's the whole reason why I came to China. So, I talked him down to finding someone to do it for $50. I had paid $40 for the other tour, so I thought this was a great deal. I could go there and stay as long as I wanted and there would hardly by any tourists.

That night, I went to the kung fu show. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY MINDBLOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had watched so many kung fu movies and used to watch over and over a DVD of a Shaolin Monk show, and of course, studied Shaolin for over two years,so it was a dream come true to ACTUALLY BE THERE, WATCHING IT, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME ON THE SECOND ROW!!!!! They did all the animal forms and some unbelievable katas with broadswords, bo's and other weapons and broke iron plates, laid on nails and swords.... I bawled. I honestly sat there and bawled so many times at the fact that I was sitting there watching this in real life before my eyes. I saw it again two nights later.

The next day, I met my driver to go to Mutianyu to see the Great Wall. It took about two hours to get there and I got to see "real China." I could see houses and local shops from the car, and the mountains were such an interesting shape. They aren't like Japanese or Tennessee mountains. Their really sharp and it looks like God carved them with such detail to make the lines exactly how he wanted. Gorgeous.

Mutianyu was astounding. There was hardly anyone there, and I just walked all I liked around the rims of the tall mountains where the wall was built. I was content. I felt like all I had been through was worth coming to this place. At Badaling, most of the wall there had been rebuilt, so in reality, when you add the million tourists factor, it kind of looked, and definitely felt, like I was at a theme park. But at Mutianyu, only a part of the wall had been rebuilt and the rest was original. So, of course, I walked to the original part and felt like I was actually in history, walking around almost two thousand years ago. The mountain was so high that I could see miles and miles out into the other mountains, and in the distance, there were several buildings where the guards used to stand post guarding the wall. They looked like mini castles out into the distance. I sat at one spot for about an hour by one of the old army posts and let my mind wonder. The view brought me to tears, which were tears of relief that I had finally done here what I wanted to do and all the drama that let up to this, and tears of joy, that I was sitting right at that moment on the Great Wall of China and I never thought my life would have turned out for me to have a moment like this. Also, it was a moment where I realized, wow, I've lived in Asia for one year on my own. I can't believe I've done that. This is the ninth country I've been to, the fourth in one year, and a little over a year ago, I was a clueless countrygirl from East Tennessee, completely confused and down and out about my life. Truly spectacular. I spent about four or five hours walking around there and met some other tourists throughout the day from Sweden, Pennsylvania, Israel and Germany of course. It was a day I'll never forget the rest of my life. Yes. Definitely one to tell the grandkids.

On the way back to the parking lot, I cringed when I got to the bottom of the mountain and saw a narrow alley filled with vendor sharks. There weren't many tourists here this time of year, but it didn't stop them from setting up camp. They saw me coming and immediately, again, "LADY LADY HEY LADY HERE SHOPPING HEY LADY!!!" I walked quickly through them, but then I stopped when I saw something I just had to have. An official Chinese army hat, ya know, the big puffy brown fur ones with a red star in the middle. I just had to get it. So, I asked the old man how much it is and he said, "Special price for you, 350 yuan." I pretended to choke. Luckily, I had a little negotiating experience under my belt from Thailand and Cambodia, but the Chinese are much more brutal. 350 yuan is about $44. That's insane. So, after my choking spell I walked off, and of course he came running after me. He handed me a pencil and paper and said, "You, what price." I had really had enough of these annoying vendors, so I decided to aggrevate them back. I wrote down 10. He started dying laughing and walked over to a group of old men who had been watching and showed them the paper. They started laughing really hard too. I was just amusing myself and apparently them too. He asked me where I was from and I said, America. So, he handed me the paper again and said, "One more." So I wrote down 20. Again, histerical laughing. Then, he put the hat on my head and held up a small hand-held mirror. It looked ridiculous but he said, "Ohhh, so beautiful." Then, I started to walk away again, and he said, "Okay, special for you, 200." Again, that is crazy, so, I pulled out a 50 yuan bill and said, "only money, no more." When I started to walk away for the last time, he said, "Okay okay, 50 okay." I took the hat. gave him the bill and walked away very quickly, but as I was walking away I heard the old men laughing, and one of them yelled in English, "CRAZY!! CRAZY AMERICAN WOMAN!! HA HA HA HA!!"

The other vendors saw that I had bought something, so I was really getting harassed on the way to the parking lot. There was just no way to escape. So, I figured, hey, crazy is as crazy does. I ran down the alley, covering my ears and yelling, "la la la la la." Many of them were laughing and some of them just staring, kind of freaked out by this crazy American woman yelling and running away from them. But again, I had just had enough and I just didn't care what anyone thought at all anymore. I had to do what I had to do to get by and I learned a lot from all of this.

Although most of the trip was pretty bad and I went a little bazerk, of course I don't regret going there at all. The Wall was so amazing and I just have a whole new appreciation for being American and I am so glad to live in Japan. I was especially grateful when I got back to the airport in Osaka and the Japanese workers put my luggage nicely and delicately on the airport bus and all bowed as the bus rode away. I almost cried at that moment, with an all new appreciation for Japan.