Mandarin for beginners in Beijing
Restless of Auckland
Roland and Consie Lennox-King
Tue 29 May 2007 00:24
Ni
hao? I'm putting in a log from Beijing amongst the Atlantic crossing
logs. I hope you are all enjoying
James' emails, it sounds as if they are having a great voyage, and thanks
to all of you who have been sending tuna recipes. You can stop now. To read more
about Beijing, go to Livi's blog, with dozens of
photos.
I
arrived in Beijing on 7 May to stay for a month with Olivia, while Restless
sailed from Bermuda to the UK and I stayed in Olivia and Debi's flat with
them, in Wudaoko. My twin (Xwang bao tai) Feyona and her daughter Anna came
for 2 weeks, and stayed in a hotel at the other side of town, which meant a taxi
ride of 1 to 1.5 hours every day to meet up. We fitted in as much
sightseeing as we could, with Livi as our translator/ bargainer. First things
first - shopping! (How much: Duo shao qian? Too much: tai guai
le!) Tailor, silk market, pearl market, antique market. We bought a few things
to make the flat a bit more homely, red cushions, towels, painting, lamps,
plants, a goldfish, a coffee plunger. Olivia
had the worst food poisoning I have ever seen, and I was lucky to have James'
doctor dad in NZ on skype to advise me.
At last I
met Feyona's friend and Livi's fairy godmother, Bei Bei who helped Livi to
settle in to Beijing, she is opening a health spa. Feyona painted 3 large
paintings for her while we were here, and brought some of her sculptures to
display in the spa. Bei Bei took us to many restaurants and we ate Beijing
dishes we had not eaten before, as well as Peking duck in a restaurant,
Quanjude, that serves between 2,000 and 5,000 ducks a day, with plum sauce, rolled in pancakes,
soups, sauces, salad.
We
went to the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall (Chang Chung - we
went to Mutienyu), the Hutongs, the 56 Cultural Minorities Centre, the
National Art Gallery and Tian'anmen Square. Beijing is huge, the new buildings
are as impressive as the ancient ones. No matter what you have heard about
the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City or the Great Wall, they are better in real
life. You could spend a week at each and not see everything. You could see a
thousand pictures and still not have seen everything. (Feyona and I took over 1,000
photos.)
The whole
city seems to be under reconstruction for the Olympics, will it be ready in
time? The new stadium looks like a birds nest. Schools have been set aside to
teach English, and half a million people will have compulsory holidays in the
country. All the hotels are fully booked. Many thousands of people have
volunteered to help, including Bei Bei. If you are coming, learn some Mandarin,
you will need it. Olivia will be here until the end of August, then she goes to
Hong Kong.
Peking duck
is very nice, but how about some seahorses, scorpions and beetles on a stick
(still wriggling)?
Tienanmen
Square gives you a strange feeling, how could one man have so much power.
Shopping in
Beijing is great for bargains, if you have the weight
allowance.
But you
need a translator? Who you going to call? Olivia!
Zai jian!
Gei tian jian!
Love
from,
Consie.
