Beijing - Day 3

I (Jody) started out with a little trouble with the police this morning. Notice the police van on the right.
We were at Tiananmen Square flying a kite (a very common practice). The policemen pulled up and said "hello" so I smiled and said "hello" back. Then they said something in Chinese. I looked over at them and they were still smiling. Then they said something else in Chinese. Lin-Ley came over to help with the kite and then Mary (our guide) started jogging toward me and the police van. She talked to the police and they had been telling me that I could not fly a kite today. Mary asked why and they just drove away. So... we put the kite away... rather quickly....

Mary said she had a secret for us. She was at Tiananmen Square on that infamous day, that we have seen on TV, involving the tanks and in particular the tanks running over a student who refused to move from its path. She said she was very lucky because she grew up in Beijing and she knew a way to get out of the Square and away from the tanks. Since that day she said she stays away from demonstrations!

Next we walked to The Forbidden City. This was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are 9,999 rooms in the palace!

While waiting for Mary to buy our tickets several young Chinese girls (ages 16 - 25) came over to us and asked us to take a picture. We thought they wanted one of us to take a picture of them but they wanted to take pictures with us. We probably took pictures with 7 different girls. They were all giggling. Then one girl asked if she could take a picture with just me (Jody). I stood beside her and she wrapped her arm right around my waist.

Lin-Ley and Mary at The Forbidden City. Mary has been great and offers to watch Lin-Ley for a few minutes if we want to walk through the palace or anything Lin-Ley's really not interested in. Lin-Ley loves her. Mary says it is because she is Chinese. But Lin-Ley told her today that she liked her because she spoke English. ??

This is not a great picture but I thought I would share it. Remember the movie "The Last Emperor" about a little 6 year old boy who became the Emperor of China? Well, this was his bed.

Next stop, the Temple of Heaven. This was probably the most beautiful building we have seen so far. There is one spot on an alter that has a stone on what was considered the center of Heaven. We stood in the center of Heaven today!

Dallas at The Temple of Heaven.

We did not have time to return to our hotel before the last event of the evening so we went to a pearl factory. When we walked in a girl handed Lin-Ley a little red bag and then showed us over the a tank filled with oysters. She asked me to scoop out an oyster and then she opened it. There were over 20 pearls inside. She gave Lin-Ley and me one of the pearls to keep. To waste a little time... we shopped. Lin-Ley finally opened her little red bag and there was a beautiful small pearl bracelet inside.

Finally we went to the Kongfu show that Lin-Ley had been waiting for. First she took a picture beside a young monk from the show.
She loved the show and has given us some demonstrations of her Kongfu moves since we returned to the room.

Currently Lin-Ley and her dad are sleeping soundly!

I thought I would share one other item that Mary told us that I thought was particularly interesting. In China you are considered "rich" if you own certain things. She gave me a breakdown from the 1970's to today:

In the 1970's you were rich if you owned:

1. bicycle

2. watch

3. sewing machine

In the 80's you were rich if you owned:

1. washing machine

2. tv

3. ice box

In the 90's you were rich if you owned:

1. cell phone

2. computer

3. motorcycle

Today you are considered rich if you own:

1. private house

2. private car

3. if you have insurance

This really makes you think about what you have and what so many other people do not have but want and/or need!