jacketwatch

Here is Sue getting her "don't mess with me look on" However the reason for this pic is look at the store she is in front of. its a shoe store in Wangfujing basically around the corner from our hotel and this little place had ten, yes ten sales girls. I dont think one level of Macy's in our mall which is perhaps 100x this size has it seems more that 15 people on the floor as you can never find help!
OK folks but lets go in order so my brain can stay on track. .

jacketwatch

Entrance to the summer palace.


Sue and I by the lake there.


Inside the palace


Our brilliant guide



The tallest building in Beijing I was told.
Sept. 16th. We began our day with a different guide from a different company. Lets say he was the anti Leo. Though I forgot his name unfortunately this guy was wonderful. He picked us up on time with and off we went to the Summer Palace. along the way we got to know him a bit and he revealed he lost his true love to someone else but still thinks she's the one for him. Well I did my best to talk to him, say the right things and so on. All in all I wa every impressed with him not only as a guide with the best knowledge of his subject matter but also as a kind human being.

jacketwatch

I always said if I ever got a tattoo it would have to be meaningful. Well after about 50 years of being a Cub fan and so many close calls and heartbreaks this one meant a lot. .
After we left the palace we stopped for lunch at some local place. At our communal table we met couple who lived in the states and they had lived in Chicago. His construction company had build the sears, now Willis Tower so we had a nice chat about all things Chicago. He too was a Cub fan so I had to show him something. .

jacketwatch

But the day was not done. This was a half day tour and in the evening we went to see a show friends had seen and highly recommended. It was at some sort of amusement park theater an dit was called the Golden mask show. I purchased on line and had to meet a man to exchange my voucher for the actual tickets
Golden Mask Dynasty Show - OCT Theatre Beijing Discount
We took a cab vs. the subway. Our guide had given us detailed instructions and how to take the train but we decided to cab in instead. The show was one of the most spectacularly staged productions we've ever seen even including a flood scene with controlled amount of water of course.
Unfortunately I took videos of this and many others too which Fodors won't accept, something about incompatible format. Too bad.
Normally of all the stage plays and shows we've seen here the audience rises at the end to give a standing ovation and if performers ever deserved this it was them. However the only ones doing this were the tourists like us. Once the show ended the locals simple got up and left like they were getting off a bus. . Of course we thought that was a bit odd but C'est la vie.
By the time we finished it was getting dark and I was a but worried about finding a cab but one came along fairly soon an dI learned that you have to have the name of your destination written in Chinese so I had a card from the hotel. The driver was a bit slow but we were grateful to have him and he it was much less costly that the car the hotel arranged which wasn't much, about $17.00 vs. less that half that to get back.

Tomorrow more pouting from Leo and the Great wall. Our day included a stop at a jade factory after lunch and seeing the Summer Place. Leo didn't like this. Stay tuned.

jacketwatch

Inquest:
Glad Istanbul was as I remember it form 7-8 yrs. ago. There was some hard times after that which is such a shame as its a beautiful city.

Kathie

I have been awaiting the next installment - happy to read it. It sounds like you had some of the usual issues with Chinese guides...

Percy

Hi jacketwatch

Why is your guide Leo pouting??

Nice pictures of Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace.

and the 17 Arch Bridge..... were you able to take a boat ride on the Lake ?

Yes, I also took pictures of that tallest building in Beijing.

Good work and Thanks for posting.

How are you transferring the pictures from your camera to Fodors..... or are you using the Cell Phone !!

jacketwatch

Have to run out now but I'll quickly answer one of your questions. Pictures taken with our iPhones or iPad auto transfer to pictures in my desk top Mac so thats how that works.

More later today or tomorrow. Pretty busy today but not work busy for these retirees. . Lunch out with her former work friends and dinner out courtesy of the ortho surgeon she worked with the most. Most kind of him.

Kathie

My congrats to Sue on her retirement!

Percy

Glad you are busy seeing as much as you can.

Ok I see you have a desk top Mac with you also.

Percy

I am waiting to see you walk the Great Wall !!!

When will you be back to ==**

jacketwatch

Sue at the entrance.




Now!
Sept. 17th. So Leo picked us up on time as usual and the tension began. He wanted to take us to a jade factory but we declined as we had been to one the day before. This info sort of changed his mood I'm afraid. He asked if we had spent more that 1000.00 which of course is none of his business. The truth is we spent well less than that but sensing if I said that he would try to steer us to go I said we actually spent "a lot more than that" just o get him to leave it alone. It worked but he sort of left us alone too. He was usually chatty but now was much less so as we drove to the Great Wall which as I recall was nearly two hours away.

The wether there was cooler but rather nice to me compared to the humidity in Beijing and fortunately as this was a Monday it really wasn't too crowded.

jacketwatch

Now Leo was a bit distant. Literally too. He walked well ahead of us so really did not do much in the way of narration or simply perform his duties and steered us away form shops we wanted to go to instead going to others. Thats ok really. We just wanted so souvenirs for friends and family. I did find that one must bargain! You can get the items you want for about 50% off the asking price by sticking to your offer and then walking away. It usually worked.

Lunch was next and by this time we were tired and wanted to go back but Leo said we could get a foot massage first. That sounded ok so away we went.

We were soaking our feet in some really hot water and a lovely lady came into our room and began to explain all about Oriental medicine. OK. She said she was 70 but her skin was amazing, like she was 35. Then she did that cupping thing on our backs, you know where they apply a cylindrical suction tube and leave for about 10 minutes. I do recall olympic swimmer Michael Phelps doing this. He had rows of those marks on his back during the last summer olympic games.

After the cups were removed came the hook. An MD came marching in white coat and all to analyze our general state of health based on the marks on our backs. He spoke no English but there was a translator. Then he tried to sell me about $600.00 worth of herbal medicine! . Theres an old saying. I was born at night but not last night.

I declined the offer of course by saying I could not get refills but he offered to mail them to us. I just had to formally but politely say I'm not interested.

To me as an RN this is wrong on many levels. First of all I did not come here to seek treatment except for aching feet. Then there is the matter of not doing a physical exam, of not having any hard data like lab results, perhaps a CXR and an EKG. I mean if you are seeing a patient for the first time you need a data base. Then there was no attempt to find out what meds I'm on which I told him about and how these may interact with the herbs he is prescribing. I dont even know what they are.

So the line was set but the fish didn't bite you could say. Better luck next time.

Now its back to the hotel finally. We had one more excursion with Leo the next day, an evening trip to a Chinese opera. We discussed this back at our hotel and decided to skip it. We had to be at the train station the day after the opera for the bullet train to Xi'an and by the timing we would have gotten back pretty late so for that reason and frankly having had enough of Leo we decided to skip it. I called the tour company who need an email from me stating we decided to skip it so they are off the hook for the voucher we had. No problem.

The next morning after breakfast I went looking for some new shoes. I'm afraid the ones I brought were too heavy and uncomfortable so basically right around the corner from our hotel were a lot of shops and malls. Well folks I had no idea it would be so hard to find a mens size 12. I mean its a country of what about 600 million men so you would think it would not be difficult. But it was. Shop after shop reacted as if I was some sort of freak of nature which some may say is true but no luck. Finally I went to an Ecco shoe store. The young sales lady reacted to my foot size as if she saw what the glow was in the briefcase Vincent and Julius had in "Pulp Fiction." Wow. However she managed to find a comfy pair of shoes but for $200.00. Well I did not want to pay that much but had no other choice it seemed so out come the Visa. And they don't take cc's! Other stores in the mall which included many designer brands didn't either. Now what?

So we walked some more and found an UnderArmour store. First of all I found out they did take plastic and thank God they had several shoes my size. And for $100.00. Great success!

That night we went to a place Leo had recommended for dinner, Dadong specializing in Peking Duck. Well he did one thing right. The place was nice and the duck was delicious and the presentation was well done. Very nice meal indeed, our last dinner in Beijing.

Tomorrow off to Beijing west train station for the bullet train to Xi'an.

Stay tuned.

thursdaysd

jacketwatch - I don't see where you put up a planning thread for your trip, other than the train. If you had done so, we would have explained that a significant chunk of Chinese tour guides' income comes from kickbacks from merchants and restaurants. If you are not going to shop you need to be very clear about that upfront, so that the price of the tour can be adjusted. Not doing so, and not shopping, or at least visiting the shops, means that you are depriving the guide of expected income. Of course he was unhappy.

Percy

Thanks for the pictures and that you made it to the Great Wall.

I think I heard you puffing a bit ( ) as you were walking up the steep section of the Wall.

I have been lucky with tour guides ....only twice in all my travels has a tour guide side tracked me without asking or telling me that he was taking me to one of his "kickback" places.

Hope you get to walk the wall in Xi'an, and perhaps the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show !

Stay safe and happy journeys.

jacketwatch

Thank you Percy. The huffing and puffing came when we climbed those 108 steps in the drum tower. ��.

We didn’t make that dinner show but that Peking Duck was very good though I must say we also had it in KL and we thought it was better but then again our friends there know where to go as she is a food critic.

Upcoming will be a pic of me attacking chili crab which was my first time trying this and all I can say is it’s messy but delicious. And guess what I had for desert? The smelly but sweet durian. Fruit.

Our TA procured the guides thru a company in the UK I think. The vouchers we had in Beijing showed “Palace” and “Peace” International. The cost was reasonable and I think Leo was just one of those guys so to speak. To me it’s a question of some personal immaturity. You can see that anywhere. C’ est la vie.

Percy

I had a Private Tour guide in Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai and they were all superb.

They got tickets ahead of time for places I wanted to see and I did not have to pay in advance...which is rare !!

I saw that picture of you eating the chili crab...but do post it here.

Do try to walk that great wall in Xi'an as it is right in downtown .

Where to after Xi'an?

jacketwatch

The chili crab pic will come a bit later.
No we didn’t go to the wall in Xi’an.
Afterwards we spent a week in KL and loved it.
More to come later.

jacketwatch

Sue boarding the billet train.
Sept. 19th off to Xi'an via the bullet train. I thought this would be a cool experience as we don't have these in the US. Our hotel (Nuo Beijing) concierge arranged for a taxi and off we went. The train station, Beijing is quite large and imposing. We were dropped off at a lower level where one can park so now what to do to exchange our voucher for tickets? I asked on person who pointed me in the direction of another man. This fellow spoke no English but after he used an app on his phone he figured out what we wanted so he most kindly took us to where we had to get the tickets and waited until I had them and then took us to the entrance we needed to use. This was very good of him.

We went early to account for traffic, delays etc. and had time to kill but the huge hall where our train and others left from was packed and there was no where to sit. However we found a little cafe, got some tea and coffee and waited for our train to depart which it did right on time.

The train cruises at about 185 mph or 300 kph. The ride was smooth and no at that speed the views are not a blur. All in all it took about 6 hrs. We struck up a conversation with a Dutch man and his son who were on a bachelors holiday. Thats one nice thing about traveling is meeting people from all over the world. We were in a 1st class car anti was comfortable though I think the seats could have been more padded but it was ok. Food was available for purchase. It was ok, not great, not bad but filling.

I called our hotel in Xi'an as we neared the station to find out how long the ride was and was told 20 mins. Well no as it turned out. We lined up for a cab after refusing the gypsy cab offers for a highly inflated fee. I showed our driver the website of our hotel in Chinese I put on my phone and off we went as he seemed to know where to go.

About 30 mins into the ride he asked for my phone again to check the website so now I am beginning to wonder if he knows where to go. I asked him in as simple terms as I could how long and he put up 5 fingers. About 10 min later I asked again and he put up 4 fingers and seems to be getting angry, speaking at me in a way that showed he was clearly annoyed. So I called the hotel to have someone there talk to him. After being cut off twice I got a hold of the concierge and had him speak to the driver. Well an argument ensued and i cild hear the driver yelling and the concierge yelling back. About an hour after we left the train station we got to the hotel where the concierge met us and then he and the cabbie renewed their "discussion" and then the cabbie was yelling at me again. I dont know what he said as it was all in Chinese but I don't think its was complimentary. Oh well we arrived but the yelling did not stop quite then.

We had a pretty nice room on the 15th with a bedroom and separate sitting area. Sue took a shower and by mistake misdirected the shower head so the bathroom floor got wet. We used all the towels to soak it up and had to call for the housekeeper to help us out. Well when she came she was pretty mad and was speaking at us angrily and gesturing aggressively about how the shower should be properly used. OK thank you. . Then I handed her a bag of clothes which needed to be laundered. She out them down, sort of stared at me and called the front desk so I told the receptionist what happened and she spoke to the house keeper who then took the bag though she was clearly still annoyed and showed this to the hotel guests. Poor form of course.

After I showered being very careful to not flood the floor again we went to dinner at one of the restaurants at the hotel. Wow! We ordered Hainanese chicken and Hawaiian pizza. Well folks in all of places China the pizza was way better than the Chinese dish. The chicken was bone dry, unseasoned and it seems to me it was cooked days ago. We returned it and was taken off our bill. Also I wanted a beer and had one. However the operative word being one as they only had one beer on there menu, a local brew which was actually ok but I am very surprised thats ll they had.

After that it was time for bed as we had tours arranged. Tomorrow the famous terra cotta warriors. Amazing. Stay tuned.

thursdaysd

Where were you staying that was so far from the train station?