China: Day 2

Day 2

When you are in one of the largest cities in the world, with only 4 days to explore, sleeping in is not an option. With that in mind, we woke up fairly early to find a Chinese Tea House to visit for some morning tea and dumplings. The one we came across was called the Confucian Tea House, which happened to be up the road from the Confucian Temple.

We ordered a few types of tea to get a good sampling, and a very nice, but difficult to understand, woman taught us (or tried to teach us) everything about the different types. I was pretty excited about this since I take my tea seriously. Tea pots are beautiful and it was interesting to learn a little about the different types, why they are used and even the purpose of different tea cups (taller, narrow cups are used for more fragrant teas). There is a whole art to making the tea that includes rinsing and warming the pot with boiling hot water, rinsing the leaves (the first time you pour the water in you are supposed to dump it out! Who does that?) and even washing the tea pot with a paintbrush.

The other factoid that I am very aware of now, is that men and women are supposed to hold their cups differently (Who knew??)

Here I thought you just steep a bag of Lipton’s and call it a drink…

Once our bellies started sloshing around, we walked over to the Confucian Temple to educate ourselves on Confucianism.

Confucius was born in Shandong Province, south of Beijing, during an age of uninterrupted war. Confucius (551-479 BC) was prompted by the suffering around him to develop a practical philosophy built on the principle of virtue. He died unrecognized because no one would apply his rules of governance.

The temple was first built in 1302 during the Mongol Yuan dynasty. Around 200 ancient stelae stand in the courtyard in front of the main hall, inscribed with the names of those who successfully passed the imperial civil service exams.

(stelae)

Overall, the temple was pretty standard as far as temples go. There was a small museum in one of the halls that provided details about his upbringing and his struggles as he tried to win over followers.

After the morning lessons, it was time to SHOP! It was also an inspired idea because walking around temples in near-sub zero temperatures is not the best way to see China. An indoor shopping market is MUCH, much, MUCH better!

The Silk Market, more properly known as Xiushui, is one of the most popular tourist destinations next to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. The reason is most likely the abundant surplus of cheap knock-offs.

When we arrived I was not disappointed. Four floors of everything that you could ever want. I easily could have spent all day dickering and haggling with the shop owners, but they do close at 5, sharp. A song started to play over the intercom and everyone got very excited. It’s probably why I got such a good deal on my jacket! OR, it could have been that they were just really excited for the Lunar New Year. It happened to be a wise choice to visit that day since the New Year celebrations started that evening and the Silk Market was closed for the next two days.

As for the New Year celebrations, I can best describe them as being caught in a war zone. I have never seen so many fireworks in my life. We opted to grab a drink and stay as warm as possible before heading to the madness. As midnight ticked closer, we started walking towards the commotion. Moments before the new year we came across the drum tower and hundreds of people standing around a court yard, setting off fireworks. There was never a countdown, but it was evident when the commotion a few moments earlier turned into complete chaos.

Rob and I pushed our way to the front for a better look and before I could even get my camera out there was a bright flash, Rob jumped back and BANG! It took a moment to register that a firework (a loud one, not a pretty sparkly one) flew into Rob’s leg, ricocheted over to me and BLEW UP ON MY FOOT! I couldn’t feel my toes for a while and I started getting really scared. My shoe looked fine but when the feeling came back I thought my toe was broken.

Since the party didn’t seem to be slowing down, but rather amplifying, we began looking for a cab to take us home. The Great Wall trip was planned for the following day and our pickup time was 7am, just a few hours away. Like New Years in the states, cabs are hot commodities after midnight and we had no luck. Instead we wandered the streets, dodging the random fireworks being set off in the middle of the street every 20 yards or so. By 2am we were headed down the road that lead to our hostel and I was thankful for the cold that numbed my throbbing toe. We finally did catch a cab and he drove us the last 100 yards to the hostel door.

Pretty good for Day 2 of the Tour de Beijing, and a great way to welcome the Year of the Ox!