Outside In

Getting Gracie Gone

My phone rang at 7:00 in the morning on Saturday.  "Hello. This is Capital International Airport. Please come to collect your mother at Terminal 2, Door 6." With that, I knew that my mom had definitely NOT made it onto the Delta flight to Detroit. I jumped into a cab and headed to the airport, wondering 'now what?'

Getting my mom (aka 'Gracie') in and out of Beijing this year for her 85th birthday was definitely not uneventful.

Through the generosity of a friend who works for American Airlines, she flew over 2 weeks ago on a 'buddy pass.' Said friend had originally planned to travel with her, but she wasn't able to get time off from her other (and real) job to make the trip. Never mind, we thought, Gracie has done the trip before, and she'll  be in first class, so they crew will take extra good care of her.And I would be at the airport here to meet her.

Unfortunately, about an hour before her plane was scheduled to land on the night of the 18th, a thunderstorm parked itself over the Beijing airport, forcing the pilots to divert the flight to Shanghai. Of course the airline put her and all the passengers up at a hotel there, but she didn't have a way to get ahold of me. Fortunately, even though there was NO information about the flight being dispensed at the airport, I was able to find out through my friend in the US that the plane had gone to Shanghai, so I finally left the airport and went home around 330AM.  My mom prevailed upon the kindness of a hotel worker to use his phone and was able to finally call me around 5AM.

She finally arrived in Beijing at 7:30pm on the 19th, 21 hours late!

Once here, the question was how  and when to get her home. 'Buddy passes' are standby tickets, so we had to try to figure out when there might be seats out.  AA looked full all weekend and into this week, so a couple on the trip who are Delta employees said they'd give her a pass and escort her home on the 28th. We all loved the idea of her not making the trip by herself. What we didn't count on was the seats that were empty the night before the flight being bought up at the last minute, leaving my mom (and numerous others) still at the airport when the flight took off. The friends who were to travel with her got the last 2 seats, and had to take them since he has to turn around a fly a plane back to Japan this afternoon.

My mom went to a customer service counter and asked them to call me. The gal at the counter said she'd have to ask her supervisor, but never was able to tell my mom if the call came through.  It did -- this was the call I had received at 7AM.  My mom then prevailed upon a sweet security guard to use her cell phone to call me and got through to me while I was still in the taxi.  I told her to go to Starbucks and have a cup of coffee and sit tight. At about 9, one of our favorite drivers who was doing an airport run for someone else, swung over to Terminal 2 and picked us up and took us back to the hotel.

Since my AA friend had sent a text saying that the AA flights didn't look good for quite a few days (it's a holiday weekend here), and since neither of us could face the uncertainty of standing by again, I got on the phone with Delta to see what options they had for getting her home. I was particularlly interested in getting her on the flight to Detroit on April 30 since a family that has been on this trip would be on that flight.

The Delta agent told me that they could get her home for 160,000 miles +$34.00. That's an insane amount of miles for a one way ticket, but I could do it since for some strange reason I had allowed 184,000 miles to accumulate in my account.  Then the agent said, "oh, and because you have to use so many miles, we will automatically upgrade her to BusinessElite class."

"BOOK IT!" I said. Then we could relax and enjoy the extra 48 hours we had.

She left this morning, confirmed BusinessElite class boarding pass in hand, with dear friends who will see her to her connecting flight in Detroit.

As for the 160,000 miles, here's my thinking.....if I'm not willing to use them to get my mom home, then I don't deserve to have them! 

 

Beijing at Its Best

After 5 days of awful weather in Beijing, today my visitors got to experience Beijing at its best -- blue skies, wispy clouds, visible mountains -- all thanks to the cool northwest breezes.

This is what the city looked like from the 63rd floor lobby of the Park Hyatt Hotel.

A Birthday Fit for an Empress

Last night (the 22nd) we had a birthday banquet for my mom at the Bai Family Courtyard Restaurant. It was originally a palace for a Qing Dynasty prince, but is a delightful place to get a taste of Qing food and culture.

Because of a scheduling conflict by the restaurant, they put us into a private room for no charge, which was a big deal since the cost of the private room is normally $1500 and there is a requirement to spend a minimum of $900 per table (yes, those figures are USD).  Being in a private room also meant that we had a private performance -- Beijing Opera, traditional music, dancing, and mask-changing.

The food was fantastic, and, of course, Gracie got the royal treatment!

UPDATE/CLARIFICATION:  Just want to make something clear here.....WE DID NOT PAY THOSE PRICES (OR ANYTHING CLOSE TO THEM) FOR THE DINNER. That's what made it so fun!

Birthday Tour

Five years ago this week, my mom arrived in Beijing, along with a dozen or so friends to celebrate her 80th birthday. We spent a week seeing the sights, visiting friends, and of course eating wonderful Beijing food.

At the end of that week, my mom announced that it would be her last trip to China. My sister and I looked at each other and said "yeah, right!"

Tonight my mom is flying into Beijing to celebrate her 85th birthday. 15 others are flying over the next few days to join the celebration.

This will be her 3rd trip here since announcing her last trip in 2009. 

Let the Birthday tour begin!

(No, this is NOT her car.  It belongs to a friend of a friend.....)

The Joy of a Ball

The power of a ball to delight a child knows no bounds, especially on a glorious spring day!

100 Fun Things to See and Do in Beijing

A number of years ago I put together a list of 100 fun things to see and do in Beijing for a new teacher orientation program that I was working on.

This week I'm getting ready for a group of visitors to arrive from the US and UK for a week, so I thought it would be a good time to update and re-post it. The list reflects my own interests and experiences.  I also hope that it will be useful for first-time visitors as well as folks who visit China from other parts of the country, hence the inclusion of western eateries.

What else would YOU include on the list?

 

 

 

 

1. Attend a Chinese Acrobat performance
2. Attend a concert in the National Center for the Performing Arts
3. Attend a folk or jazz concert at the Sanwei Bookstore
4. Attend a Peking Opera performance
5. Attend a show at the Lao She Teahouse
6. Attend services at one of the Catholic Churches
7. Attend services at one of the Protestant Churches
8. Attend the flag lowering ceremony at Tiananmen Square (sunset)
9. Attend the flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square (sunrise)
10. Climb the Great Wall at Jinshanling and hike to Simatai
11. Climb the Great Wall at Mutianyu and ride the alpine slide down.
12. Climb to the top of Coal Hill in Jingshan Park (just north of the Forbidden City)
13. Climb up the mountain at Badachu Park and ride the alpine slide down
14. Dance with locals in the park in the morning or evening
15. Drink ‘bubble tea’
16. Drink Shaken Iced Tea at Starbucks
17. Eat a bowl of Jia Zhang Mian (special noodles)
18. Eat baozi on the street for breakfast
19. Eat Beijing Roast Duck
20. Eat candied fruit on a stick (bingtang hulu)
21. Eat at the Schoolhouse near Mutianyu
22. Eat jianbing on the street for breakfast.
23. Eat scorpions on a stick at the Wangfuing night market
24. Eat snacks on the street in the evening
25. Eat youtiao (oil sticks) on the street for breakfast
26. Eat a green pea pie at MacDonalds
27. Eat a Whopper at one of a handful of Burger King restaurants
28. Eat at an outdoor café in the lakes area
29. Eat at Element Fresh
30. Eat at Hutong Pizza
31. Eat at Peter’s TexMex
32. Eat at the Bridge Café at Wudaokou
33. Enjoy a tea ceremony at a teahouse
34. Get a ‘dry hair wash’
35. Get a facial.
36. Get a foot massage
37. Get a medicure/pedicure
38. Go boating at Houhai
39. Go boating at the Summer Palace
40. Go to the top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace to look out over Tiananmen Square
41. Go up into the tower at Deshengmen
42. Hang out at The Village at Sanlitun (tons of Western restaurants; Apple Store)
43. Hang out in an exercise park
44. Have a suit or dress made
45. Rent a bike
46. Ride a subway line to the end. Get off and explore the neighborhood.
47. Ride the tourist express train from Xizhimen to the Badaling Great Wall
48. See the pandas at the Beijing Zoo
49. Shop at Beijing Glasses City (low priced frames and lenses)
50. Shop at Jenny Lou’s imported foods market
51. Shop at Jingwuxing Wholesale Market
52. Shop at Ladies’ Street
53. Shop at Panjiayuan Antique Market
54. Shop at the clothing wholesale market across from the Beijing Zoo
55. Shop at the Harley Davidson store
56. Shop at the Liang Ma Flower Market (across the canal from the Lufthansa Center)
57. Shop at the Pearl Market (Hong Qiao)
58. Shop at the Silk Market (Xiu Shui Jie)
59. Shop at the wholesale fabric market at Muxiyuan
60. Shop at IKEA
61. Shop at the Yashow Market (Ya Xiu)
62. Shop at Tianyi Wholesale Market (Christmas Central in November and December)
63. Shop for antique furniture and reproductions at Gaobeidian
64. Shop for computers/electronics in Zhongguancun
65. Shop in the Xidan area
66. Take a boat ride along the canal near the Summer Palace
67. Take any bus to the end of the line.  Get off and explore. 
68. Visit The Bookworm (restaurant and bookstore—lots of current western titles)
69. Visit an art gallery
70. Visit a temple fair during Spring Festival
71. Visit Beihai Park
72. Visit Chuan Di Xia Ming Village (2.5 hours west of town in the mountains)
73. Visit Nan Lou Gu Xiang (cafés and nightclubs)
74. Visit the 798 Art District (galleries and restaurants)
75. Visit the ancient observatory at Jianguomen
76. Visit the Art Muesum
77. Visit the Bell Tower and Drum Towers
78. Visit the Bird’s Nest (pay to go inside)
79. Visit the Botanical Gardens
80. Visit the Capital Museum
81. Visit the CCTV Tower.  This is best done on a very clear day.
82. Visit the China Minorities Park
83. Visit the Confucian Temple
84. Visit the Forbidden City
85. Visit the Fragrant Hills
86. Visit the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao at Tiananmen Square
87. Visit the Military Museum
88. Visit a morning market
89. Visit the Museum of Ancient Chinese Architecture
90. Visit the Old City Wall at Chongwenmen—Go into the Dongbianmen Tower at the east end to visit the Red Gate Art Gallery and view photos of Old Beijing
91. Visit the Cishou Pagoda in the west at Xibali Zhuang
92. Visit the Planetarium
93. Visit the Temple of Heaven
94. Visit the tomb of Matteo Ricci.
95. Visit the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest Olympic venues
96. Visit the Yonghegong Lama Temple
97. Walk around Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace
98. Walk around the lake at the Old Summer Palace
99. Wander around the old Legation Quarter (near Tiananmen Square)
100. Wander the old streets of the Da Zha Lan (Da Sha Lanr) district

 Leave a comment and tell me what you would add to  the list.

 

Buckeye Bell Foundry

In my continued quest for more specific information on the bells we found in Sichuan and for more general information on church bells in China, I've been doing some research on the Buckeye Bell Foundry in Cincinnati. Apparantly, the foundry was owned by the E.W. Van Duzen Company, another name that we also found engraved on the bell.

On a site called Brosamer's Bells, I ran across a couple of interesting articles.  One is from a Van Duzen Bell catalog published sometime in the1920's.  It is titled "Just a Little Bell  History." It gives the history of bells and some information on Van Duzen bells in particular.

This section caught my eye:

We have furnished over 60,000 bells used in churches, schools, and public buildings. We have bells in some of the most remote corners of the world, in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, Mexico, and a great number in Canada, and in nearly every city, town, and hamlet in the United States.

I wonder if they knew that one of their bells was hanging in a church in a remote corner of Sichuan Province.

Related Posts:

A Tale of Two Bells

Mr. Upham and the Bells

Big Screen Bells

1907: The Bell Begins its Journey

Apocalypse Advertising

I wonder if they know something we don't know......

Kid in a Basket

I love these bamboo child carriers we spotted in Sichuan last month. The kid in the basket can either sit or stand.

City Gates, Ancient and Modern

Everywhere you go in China you see walls and gates; around courtyard homes; around factories; around government buildings; around schools; around university campuses that comprise ten city blocks and house 50,000 people; around high-rise housing estates.  It seems that every community in China is a gated community.

In an insider/outsider culture such as this, walls and gates play a very important function. Without them how is it possible to delineate outside from inside; outsider from insider; them from us; good from bad?

Historically, all Chinese towns and cities were surrounded by walls.  This was true until the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, when almost all of them were torn down in an effort to modernize and rid Chinese culture of all that was old. The walls in a few cities, such as Xi’an and Pingyao somehow survived and have now become popular tourist destinations. In other places, there are only preserved remnants of the former walls that stood guard over the towns.

When I worked in Zhengzhou in the mid-1980’s I remember visiting a mound of dirt that was said to be a remnant of a wall that dated back 3500 years!

The wall surrounding Beijing (built during the Ming Dynasty) was torn down in the late 1950’s to make way for what is today’s 2^nd Ring Road and the #2 subway line. Only one piece of the wall remains today – a section that runs east to west from Dongbianmen to Chongwenmen. It has recently been restored and now provides a lovely setting for a city park.

Of the dozen or so gates that used to mark the entrance into the city, only 3 remain. The tower at Dongbianmen used to mark the southeast corner of the Inner City, and was known by locals as the Fox Tower. This tower features prominently in the murder mystery “Midnight in Peking” by Paul French.  The other remaining gates are at Qianmen (on the south end of Tiananmen Square) and Deshengmen, along the north 2^nd ring road.

So modern-day Chinese cities no longer have walls and gates, right? Well, not so fast.

Last month, when Noel and I did a fair amount of our travelling around Sichuan by car, I began to notice something.  Every time we approached a city or town, there was a toll booth where we had to stop and fork over some cash. When we left the city we forked over some more cash. Nearly every major road that leads into a Chinese city has a toll booth.

It struck me that these toll booths are the city gates of today -- different form, same function.

Here are two photos of the Huili city gates, ancient and modern:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: the sign above this toll booth says "Huili Pomegranate, World Pomegranate." Obviously, Huili pomegranates are famous all over the world.

Did you know that?