China & Tibet (cont...)

April 27th

I've got the whole set completed now! 707, 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, and today, my first ride on a 777. That's a huge-ass plane! 2-5-2 seating! Landed in Beijing and went up to the Air Canada office to see if I could fly out on Saturday instead of Sunday, but no dice.
Here's how the rest of this crazy day unfolded...
I hopped into a cab and made my way towards the same hostel I had stayed at when I got here. I suddenly had a dreadful feeling of having misplaced my passport. I had made a habit of placing it my leg pocket, but because I had my large pack on my back, and my day-pack on my chest, I had kept it accessible in my breast pocket when I got to the luggage terminal. I had to produce the baggage tickets to exit the area, and I had placed these along with my boarding pass in my passport.
I got to the hostel, and looked over and over again through my bags and jacket and pants and couldn't find my passport. Yikes! You can't check into a hotel without that document, either. Instead of panicking, I grabbed a BIG bottle of beer, broke out a cigar, and sat on the steps of the hostel contemplating my next move. I figured I must have inadvertently pulled out the passport in the airport when I showed the baggage tickets. I came to the conclusion that I should consider it unrecoverable, and made my way down to the Canadian embassy.
I waited, and waited as the bureaucratic machine ground its cogs. There was an Australian businessman with two Chinese companions trying to get a document notorized as per TSX regulations. Each page had to be stamped, but the Chinese girl behind the glass insisted that she could only stamp the first page, and that the remaining stamps would be subjected to further fees. The Aussie, who it seems had done this countless times before, argued with her saying that she could check his previous documents showing that the proper procedure was to stamp every page. The two Chinese girls behind the glass were obviously new to the position, and the Aussie knew the 1st Minister, and threatened to call him, and he did. One of his Chinese cronies blew a gasket at the girl behind the glass, and there was a lot of giggling from the other Chinese sitting in the waiting room. The Aussie appologized to all in the room graciously. It was really an amuzing sight to see, considering my circumstances. I ended up chatting with the Aussie for a while as his predicament was dealt with. He suggested I at least try to go back to the airport, and hit the lost and found desk - he said passports showed up there all the time!
I got all my pertinent documents together (thank Christ I had written down my passport and visa numbers after having lost the photocopies in Shanghai!), and set off to go get a picture done. With the picture done, I headed back to the airport and lo-and-behold, my passport had be turned in! So I didn't need to file a police report, I didn't need to waste the last two days of my trip jumping through governmental hoops... The relief was enormous. I mused to myself that I had been fortunate to lose it here in Beijing, and not Shanghai... I'd probably be up on charges of drug-smuggling or something if that had been the case!
It took 75 minutes to get to the hostel this time, and fortunately my booking was still valid. I met Margie from Japan/Seattle by chance, and we strolled through the Hutongs to get her oriented to the area. She had organized a private guide with a vehicle, and so I jumped on the chance to join her the following day to see the last tourist destination I wanted to take in - the Ming Tombs.

April 28th

Up bright and early to meet up with Margie in the lobby. We were soon joined by her guide and driver, and we set off for the Great Wall. This time, the destination was Juanyang. This portion of the wall is rebuilt, and very much more touristy than Jinshanling and Simatai, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The weather was absolutely perfect: 24 degrees! We made a circuit around the eastern section of the loop, and I was amazed to find an American with so many similar thoughts and beliefs as myself. I think Margie attributes her opinions on her experiences of being married to a Russian scientist. I believe he's an ornathologist. In any case, he suffered the fate that seems to plague foreigners that emmigrate to North-America. People treat people with accents as if they are slow and stupid. True, maybe a degree from India or Turkey may not carry the same weight that a degree from an American or Canadian university may hold, but that does not make that person stupid. I try to keep an open mind about this, with the exception of Romanians. It has been my unfortunate experiences in my dealings with Romanians in my line of work that has made me a biggot to those people. I've been told it extends beyond Romania's borders to the entire "Eastern Block" of Europe. It just seems that these folks are simply born into arrogance, and they have a knack of looking at others down their noses. Another topic Margie and I explored was the troubling disease spreading across the North-American continent of non-responsibility. If someone shoots somebody, or robs somebody, or cheats somebody, or uses personality-altering drugs, it's not entirely the fault of their upbringing. Wake the hell up! There is always a choice, and there is more often than not help for people estranged from "normal" society. Margie was a breath of fresh air, and without a doubt one of the most intelligent Americans I have ever spoken to.
Whoa! That was a side-track! But it demonstrates the level of conversations we had.
Juanyang has been restored to perfection, and is built over the ruins of the original wall. Here's a shot showing the pristine walkway, hand railing included! We spent a couple of hours on this portion, and then made our way to the Ming Tombs.
There are 13 tombs in this valley, three of them open to the public. The first one we visited was Changling, built for the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, Chengzu Zhu Di and his Empress, Xushi. (It is Zhu Di who commissioned the great inter-continental explorations documented in the fore-mentionned book "1421" - again, I highly recommend this read).
Changling's location is at the very back of the valley shown in this map to the right. It covers just under 30 acres. There is a wonderful museum showing the ornate jade necklaces, belts and head-pieces, vases and pottery, and hundreds of jewels that the Emperor and his wife took with them to the after-life. Here's a shot of the entrance to the Changling tomb. As you walk through this gateway, you enter a large garden, and another archway in the center of the walkway called "The Gate of Eminent Favour". Then, further on, a larger structure called "The Hall of Eminent Favour" graces the center of the walkway. A little further down, there is a small (by comparison) arch called the "Ling Xing Gate". There is a large pedestal for offerings to the Emperor just before reaching this structure pictured below, the "Soul Tower"

We marched up the Soul Tower and took in the view. Originally, this structure was built of wood, however, when it was rebuilt in the 1700's stone was used. Behind the Soul Tower is a large mound of earth, now covered in trees and brush, where burried beneath lies the burial chamber of this tomb. We couldn't access this tomb, however, the second tomb we visited does have access to the burial chamber.
This second tomb we visited was named Dingling. Dingling, that's right, pretty funny name right? Well, there was this idiot with his guide who kept on repeating it, quite loudly, and laughing. Margie and I were appalled at the rudeness of this moron, most likely North-American, and I felt ashamed of being within ear-shot of this goomba.

Dingling is the final resting place for the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun and his two empresses. This emperor was enthroned at the age of 10 years, and reigned until his death at 58 years old.
The underground chamber was the first to be excavated. There are five halls: the center, rear, front, left and right. There is a total of around 12,800 square feet of space down there, and over 3000 cultural relics were found. We had to pass through a metal detector not unlike the ones found at airports before decending several flights of stairs into the chamber. Here's a picture from the rear chamber looking down the length of the entire tomb. After the Emperor and his Empresses' bodies had been place into the center chamber, this wall was then bricked in, and the tunnel to it back-filled. It was through this tunnel that archaeologists accessed the chambers in 1956.

We decided to pass on the third tomb - Zhaoling. We wanted to see the "Sacred Way", and the afternoon seemed to be racing towards evening.

The Main Sacred Way is the walkway that leads to the Changling mausoleum. All the other tombs have a "sacred way" that branches off this one. We passed through the north gate to the Dragon and Phoenix Gate. Dragons symbolize the strength and power of man, and the Phoenix is the female equivalent. Beyond this gate was the walkway flanked by statues on either side, and behind them large weeping willows. The first four statues we pased (two on the left and two on the right) represented Meritorious Officers, shown here in the picture to the above-right. The next pairs were Civil Officials, and finally Generals.

Next came the beautiful animal statues. We passed by horses, qilins (a mythical animal similar to a lion, pictured here above), elephants, camels, more mythical creatures called Xiezhi (again looking like lions), and finally the lions. There were two statues for each animal - one standing, and one sitting. It was about a kilometer walk to pass all these beautiful beasts.

We then came to a pavillion housing a stele being carried by another mythical creature, a turtle with a dragon's head. On this giant tableture were engravings of the acheivements of Zhu Di, and poems written by subsequent emperors in the Qing dynasty (the dynasty that replaced the Ming). We doubled back to find our guide and drove back into Beijing.

Margie wanted to have some Peking Duck, and so we circled an area of town looking for a restaurant that the guide knew of. The guide hadn't been in this part of town for a while, and so we were going round in circles for a while trying to find the restaurant. Beijing is an absolutely enormous city, and this area in particular was changing rapidly due to the hutongs being bulldozed. We finally managed to find the restaurant, and sat at a table with two Chinese girls. The place was absolutely packed, and so seating was shared with strangers. We enjoyed a succulant meal, and then had a hell of a time finding our way back to the hotel.

I had a card from the hotel giving directions from the airport. I knew we were only a mile or two from our lodging, and that may have also been a contributing factor to our struggle. I was losing my patience by the fourth or fifth cab, slamming their doors in disgust after rejection. I didn't believe the cabbies didn't know where we wanted to go, I thought they were just hunting for better fares. To me, this was an indication that I was getting at the end of my rope, and looking forward to returning to Canada. We ended up taking a bicycle rickshaw back, and it cost much more than a cab would have, but I was glad to be "home" to treat me feet and do some packing for my flight on Sunday. I finished up some laundry that evening, and called it a day.

April 29th

I had a wonderful sleep last night. I walked up to the bank to find a crisp 50 quai note for my collection, and then dove into the Hutongs to try and find a large hard-shell suitcase. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any hard-shells, but I had seen a couple at the airport the other day. I guess I'll have to do some packing on the move!

I finished up my shopping today. Picked up a chop and ink for Mike and Steph, as well as some beautiful scrolls depicting the four seasons. I also had a second chop made. I chose a stone called "blood-stone" for mine. It is a dark, rich red, and at the top of the chop is a dragon and phoenix intertwined. I chose to have "Taipan" as my seal. It took a while for the engraver to figure out how to spell Taipan in Chinese... I'll have to show the chop to somone Chinese back home to see if it makes any sense! For all I know, it may say "dead fish" or something to that affect!

I stopped into the store where the two large red and gold vases were, and I got contact information in case I would purchase these treasures. I hoped to purchase them through my company, but if not, I would purchase them privately. They are so exquisite.

I spent the rest of the day completing my e-mail updates, and saw that my Sens were up 3-1 versus the Lightning. I hoped to land in Vancouver with the sports section of the paper reporting the Sens moving onto the next round of the playoffs.

I'll miss the smiles of Beijing, the great people I met in Tibet, the cliffs of the Three Gorges, and the lights of Shanghai, but it's time to go home. I already know the spots I want to see on my next trip to China: Guilin, Hong Kong, Macau, the Yellow Mountains, and the list goes on! Until then, I hope to see other corners of the world...