Today started out right. We took the subway, which I now love so much because it is clean and so easy to take, to Tian'an Men Square and The Forbidden City. Once again, we were so fortunate to have Leo Meow (That is how her name is pronounced, I do not have the spelling for it) with us as a little tour guide.
This building is the first of many on a long street right off of Tian'an Men Square. We all squealed like obnoxious Americans when we saw the Starbucks. I had to run inside and get something! The highlight of the day was the clean bathrooms in the Starbucks. It was clean, was a Western toilet,had hand soap AND paper towels!
This is a what some of the street looked like. Oh course bikes are everywhere and I love it. While the best part of my day was probably the clean bathrooms, the worst was almost getting hit by a bus crossing the street. Here is the procedure for crossing the street.
1. Get with a group of people.
2. Watch the traffic and look for a gap the size of an inchworm
3. Start walking and pray that the vehicles will stop.
4. Say, "Oh Shit!" when they stop 2 centimeters from your body
5. Put your hand on your chest and feel your heart start beating again when you get the other side.
Today, I literally spun in a circle like a human top on tip toes as we started crossing the street and some people then said, "Oh, watch for bus!" I turned, and there was a flat faced bus about ready to plow me down. I swear, I thought I was dead. I didn't know what to do and various people were yelling but I somehow jumped and was not smashed. Then #4 and #5 took place with a little added vigor.
This is my fantastic roommate Sara. She bought an umbrella in the square because it was so hot and sunny. We all followed suit. So we were 10 American women walking around the Forbidden City with colored umbrellas. We are now true Chinese is what we say, as Chinese women take umbrellas with them everywhere to protect them from the sun. Sara also ran into a high school classmate of her on the sqaure. Small world!
Javan and I thought we were clever to let Chairman Mao join our little photo between us. (He begged us to do it and who says no to Chairman Mao).
After the Forbidden City we went to the Laoshe Teahouse. Which is a famous tea house in Beijing. We saw a little bit of Chinese Opera and some Kungfu. Here is part of our group. Leo Meow is in the pink Micky Mouse Shirt. She had never been to a show before. Watching her enjoy it was probably the best part of the whole show for me!
Here I am with the host of the Tea House. He was showing me his picture in a big Beijing Magazine. I told him he was so famous! He liked that!
I will try later to post a little video I took of the music that was played on traditional Chinese instruments in the lobby.
We are off to the Great Wall today. I am so excited to take a tour bus where I will have a seat the entire time!! :)
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