Beijing, China

Beijing Blog
By Maya and Skylar
Grand Hyatt Beijing
The hotel swimming pool was so much fun. It was like a tropical oasis at midnight with lights on the ceiling like stars. It had fake palm trees and coconuts and two hot tubs. It was inside and underground. We went there every day.

Tian'anmen Square
There's a lot of historical significance about this place, but today, there were just lots of people trying to sell you stuff. We mispronounced boo-yow as boo-jow and so they laughed a little, but left us alone. It means "I don't want it, no thank you." It's really big and open with a lot of concrete. It has an obelisk in the middle so it reminded me a little of the Washington Monument, but a lot shorter. There were some really cool statues of people who looked really depressed; my parents said they were revolutionaries in a struggle. Lots of people were flying kites.

Beijing gets to host the Olympics in 2008 so they are very excited and making a lot of construction. They are putting on their best face for everybody. There are drills going at the airport and they are definitely making it look pretty which was nice for us. They're trying to make people obey traffic laws, but it's not really working out so you're more likely than not to get run over by a bus. In Tian'anmen Square there is a countdown clock until the Olympics start.

Forbidden City or Palace Museum
The Forbidden City is really a city, like, it's HUGE. You enter under a really big picture of Mao. This picture is on the money and everything. You walk through a long stretch filled with people who:
A Want to be your guide
B Want to sell you something or
C Are hideously deformed and would like money.
After this, you buy tickets and enter the haven of the Palace Museum with none of A, B or C. It's now called the Palace Museum because it's now filled with the treasures that were not stolen by the British or the French. This place is really Mulan, except the big palace steps that they come down were under construction which kind of ruined the look. The roof reminded me of Mulan fighting the top Hun and Mushu saying, "I'm your worst nightmare."

The last emperor, Puyi was crowned when he was three and he cried at his crowning ceremony. He had a lot of hardships being the last emperor. Then you walk 15 billion miles through scenery and beautiful buildings to get to the Imperial Gardens, but by the time you get there, you're too tired and hungry to go much further so you go back to your hotel.

Chinese words
There are a whole lot of Chinese characters. To read the newspaper, you have to know at least 2000. We don't know any and we only know how to say four words which have pretty much gotten us by. We don't know how to spell them either.
They are:
1. Ni How, pronounced knee- how, meaning "Hello"
2. Boo-yow, meaning "I don't want it/no thank you"
3. Dui bu qi, pronounced doi boo chi, meaning "Excuse me/sorry"
4. Xie xie pronounced shi sh, meaning "Thank you"

Katerina
Katerina was my mom and dad's student in Switzerland. She is very nice and we got to meet her. She's half Chinese and she speaks Chinese and she's bound and determined to learn 2,000 characters. She took us out for lunch to a really great vegetarian restaurant called Pure Lotus where they served watermelon over dry ice. The place mats were banana leaves and you ate out of hollow gourds. The chocolate fondue was really good. They had lots of fruit with melted chocolate. She's really lovely and we highly recommend her choice of restaurants.

Acrobats
So the #1 Top Acrobatics class was AMAZING! They ranged from ages 10 to 20, but looked much younger. You see, it's harder to flip your body head-over-heels gracefully the taller you get. There were 13 amazing acts but the one that sticks out most prominently in my mind was their signature bicycle finale. It starts with three girls pedaling in helmets (a novelty in China) around and around and doing various one person stunts. Then they all get on one bike and do amazing things, such as one lying in the middle part of the bike by the chain, one standing and one being held up and them going around and around on momentum. Then more and more girls come out as does a trick bike with more pegs and two teachers which gives one a feeling of forboding. Through an amazing sequence of events they manage to all get on the bike, all 13 of them, gracefully. With one arm out, all standing, they go around and around with no one pedaling. The other stunts are just as amazing especially with the really young kids. If you are ever in Beijing they are a must see.

Great Wall
The wall is on top of mountains and it goes up when the mountain goes up and down when the mountain goes down. Instead of hiking up, we took a ski lift up and we saw all the trees and flowers below us. There was also a donkey and lots of touts trying to sell you things. It was fun running down the really steep stairs. There were lots of stairs. The guard houses had doors and lots of windows. It only took one man to send a message on the wall. They could light warning fires and could be easily bribed. Towards the end, I hear they took the latter.

On the way down, we went tobogganing. I sat with my mom and she let me drive. When we got down, I said, "Can we do it again and can I go really fast by myself?" I don't think they had that in Mulan's time.

For more photos of Beijing, click here.