May Labor Day

The Chinese are celebrating a "golden week" for May Labor Day, as a result so are we. We have a whole week off and because AF only had three days off we stayed in Beijing while most of my co-workers left for Malaysia, US, or Taiwan. Traveling in China would be a nightmare with the crowds as we witnessed when we biked near the back of the Forbidden City (it was wall-to-wall buses and mobs of Chinese tourist).

We did spend half a day with a local guide (Tony Chen) that BF met through acquaintances. He had two apprentices with him (Katrina and Penny) as he is trying to build his business http://www.stretchaleg.com. BF and I decided to have him give us a hutong tour as something that kind of interested us to better understand the locals a little more. It was a very nice walking tour.

Below are some of the things that we saw along the way. Any one who wants to visit we know who to hook you up with to show you the town, Tony was great. So here are some of the sights that we saw with a little caption underneath on what you are seeing:
One of the many homes we visited.There is a lot of restoration happening in the hutongs and these courtyard homes. Above a craftsman is hewing a beam to be used in the restoration of a home (while he is using an ax, he did have cross cuts made with a chain saw). Racing Pigeons, now there is a profession............
The Source Courtyard Restaurant, we had heard of it. After looking at the menu we will definitely be back. An old hitching post and millstone.
Time for lunch, so Tony recommended this fusion restaurant (Luogu)
Believe it or not this is the entry way from the downstairs to the roof top for dining. Hi Penny.
Rooftop view from the restaurant.
Check out all the Chinese flags, it is Labor Day and a law that you must display your colors, how cool............
For JPM bikers, Tony used to work for REI here in China to do both road and mountain biking tours in China. Which made the conversation with him even more interesting for me. Then we ran into the local police station standard issued bike........nice blue and white

Beijing Pub Crawl

Now here is a real Expat sport for you . . . . . . . a pub crawl on a Chinese bicycle in Beijing. We have some good friends from the apartment building who were willing to partake in this sport (BF and I tried it a couple of weeks ago).
We started at Morel's our favorite Belgian bistro that serves an awesome Flemish beef stew (refer to Creatures of Habit blog entry http://jpmcchina.blogspot.com/2007/02/creatures-of-habit.html ). BF had her usual Belgian beer.............too sweet for me so I stick with the local draft Beijing beer which costs us less than $.50 for 630ml home delivery (which is 21.4 oz for the Americans). There actually is some city street biking involved which has a skill all of its own and the ladies seem to be the most aggressive and experienced at it (TF and Rob bringing up the rear). Pub # 2 was the Goose and Duck which is a favorite western Expat bar.
At the G&D we played a game of 501 which Rob our South African friend introduced us to. We played pretty even (horrible). Pub # 3 is Dirty Nellies Irish Pub. For some reason we never find this cool pub in the basement all that active. We did find in our first pub crawl (only BF and me) a pretty cool New Zealander who was visiting from Japan. We struck up a good conversation about skiing in Japan (we will see if we get together again for skiing in Japan next year).

Here is the sights from the Irish Ratskeller (I know that is a German term but not sure what the term is for a below street level tavern is). Since we did an above ground outside German beer garden next, I think I will use the term anyway.

Pub # 4 is Pauliner which is at the Kepinski Hotel. This is by far the most expensive brew house that we visit. Can't go back here at $32 a round for weis beer. Nice outside beer garden but not worth the hotel prices versus the other venues.

Stopping for Pub # 5 Schillers German Brew Haus.

I have Beijing's favorite and the ladies are having German pils.
The last pub which is another German haunt, Shindler's. It is time for some real meat and dinner.

Masters of Mother Earth

It is amazing how often we run into a belief in fate or luck in Chinese culture. Things like lucky numbers, lucky colors, the naming of your children, horoscopes, etc. So how do you explain the Chinese beliefs in being able to control mother earth, especially rain (maybe the Chinese are Masters?!?). Here is an article published by the AP:

China to Force Rain Ahead of Olympics
Chance of showers during the 2008 Beijing Olympics: 50 percent. But Chinese meteorologists have a plan to bring sunshine. The meteorologists say they can force rain in the days before the Olympics, through a process known as cloud-seeding, to clean the air and ensure clear skies. China has been tinkering with artificial rainmaking for decades, but whether it works is a matter of debate among scientists. Weather patterns for the past 30 years indicate there is a 50 percent chance of rain for both the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008 and the closing ceremony two weeks later, said Wang Yubin, an engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

The forced rain could also help clean Beijing's polluted air, said Wang Jianjie, another meteorologist with the bureau. "When conditions permit, we will artificially increase rainfall," she said. "Rainfall is a way to naturally clean the air." In 2003, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences questioned the science behind cloud-seeding as "too weak." But China frequently uses artificial rainmaking in the drought-plagued north. Last May, Beijing boasted having generated rainfall to clear the air and streets following the worst dust storm in a decade.
Technicians with the Beijing Weather Modification Office said they fired seven rocket shells containing 163 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide over the city's skies. They claimed it provoked a chemical reaction in clouds that forced four-tenths of an inch of rain.

Beijing's air pollution is among Asia's worst. Officials have shuttered several chemical and steel plants on the city's edge, and many polluters will shut down ,or cut back, during the Olympics. But the city also has 2.9 million registered vehicles, and the number is expected to reach 3.3 million by the Olympics, a 13 percent increase.

Wednesday Hiking

A beautiful, sunny, warm (65 degrees) day and an opportunity to get outside of the city and the fog. The name of this village is Jie Shi. I believe is was built near to the 1900's.

This is a village about 2.5 hours outside of Beijing. These are the folks who greeted us at the entrance to the village. They were very interesting and friendly. Leslie is discussing how to get a hold of the headman to let him know we had arrived. She had made contact ahead of time. Her plan was to take a look at this village, hike over the mountains to another village and then back. We hiked over to another village, through two villages for a total of 5 miles. It took us about 6 hours, needless to say, we didn't hike back.
The headman arrived. He told us that a party secretary from the local county had visited and perhaps they will fix up this village for folk art tourism. He told us there were about 40 plus courtyard homes worth saving with 20 some with the four original buildings. That is fabulous.
Here the group is discussing the route over the mountains to the village of Yan He Cheng. I hear lots of "no way". They were concerned about us getting lost even though there was a trail. They said it has happened before. Leslie agreed to a guide and to the route to take. They commented on her plan to go over the mountain and down and then back again. They said it would be too far and it was very steep on the other side.
The headman took us to a courtyard home. This woman was sitting and stripping leaves from elm and we believe willow branches to eat. She will boil them. They looked nice and tender. We were all hungry at this point but decided it was too much work to climb the trees to gather more leaves.

The headman is 53 years old. He has been headman of the village for 3 years. The term of office is almost at the end and he hopes to be re-elected for another 3 years. He told us that he had left the village and took a job in town. He returned after a year. He said that he worked long hours for little pay and likes this village. He told us about the courtyard we were standing in and showed us the high officials courtyard home as well.

We saw a tree that is more than 1000 years old and stories of the local spirits written on the walls around the tree. They tell of a faily that sat on the branches of the tree. There was a grinding stone near the tree. We were treated to fresh walnuts a specialty of the town and how they provided income for theirselves many years ago.

This is our guide. I have no idea how old he was but he was a hearty chap. He is standing outside of a walled garden plot.

He carried a bottle of liquid to drink and a small hatchet. We were happy to have the walking sticks he made for us, especially on the way down.

We are leaving the village of Jie Shi behind us now.

We stopped for lunch on the outskirts of a small village named Shu Zi Ling. I am looking back on it here. The village is left of center..look closely. We are going up.

All of the way to the top.

A beautiful blue sky day and lot of rocks. I thankfully wore pants and borrowed my daughters new hiking boots. Our stury guide treks on.

Just a beautiful tree. The picture does not do it justice.

At a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley. Nice to be at the top of something.

If only for a moment. Here we trek up the next face.

We arrive at the top and spy the village of Dong Ling. It is a long way off but..thankfully downhill.

We take a few moments to decide whether to leave our guide and follow the path ourselves or have him continue on with us. We pay him and leave. I was worried about shoes. Look closely and see the repairs made on his.

As we draw nearer and nearer to the village we wonder if it is abandoned. The we come upon a couple working in their garden. They tell us that the families with children have to go into a nearby town for school. One of our hikers is asking the way onto our final destination.

Their garden is very well organized and notice the fence made out of sticks. Lots of labor.

She is drawing water from the well that is located in the pile of rocks behind her head. The man is bring a harrow over toward us.

We ask how old he is (I didn't ask); he is 81 and shakes very much. He will attach the rope to the harrow and place a rock on the lower end. By dragging this over the dirt, he will smooth the ground out.

A Look back at where we came from..yes, all the way from the top!

An ingenious way to support electical lines.

A short walk down the road and a left down a dirt path and after a time we spy our destination. This village is called Yan He Cheng. It is considerably older than the rest.

In the front is part of the original city wall. We are not sure if it was a garrison village or not. On the other side of the town is the river. You can walk along side it all the way to Beijing. I would opt for that as I believe it is flat.

As I was walking this animal rolled around by my feet. It is two lizards mating.

Finally, after many, many rocks and many more rocks and guessing where the path really was, we turn and look at where we have been. My oh my. Yes, from way up at the top!

Leslie talks to a woman who is carrying dirt for a project in town. She scoops the dirt into the basket that is to her right and carrys it on her back.

Beer break...20cents in US dollars. 1.8yuan. Boy was it good! I don't even remember if it was cold or not. It didn't matter.

A walk through this village. This is a place where a donkey is attached to the wheel and he walks around the stone dish and grinds the grain. I love the roof inside.

What a day!