Afterwards, I asked our guide if he knew anywhere close by that had good dumplings. He took us to a hutong and showed us a dumpling restaurant that we never would have stopped at, but the dumplings were great…and cheap! Less than $3 for a basic plate of pork and scallion dumplings.
Meanwhile, I am learning to take adventure as it comes. After lunch, we were looking for the subway when a man came up and persistently tried to get us to ride his bicycle hack. I said I would take it if he would take me to the bank (which was on the map we were looking at) and then to the subway. I should have just asked him to take me to the Temple of Heaven, which is where we wanted to go. I asked him how much it would be and he held up three fingers. I wasn't really thinking straight (what did that mean? I was thinking 300 yuan) when we got into the bicycle thing (you face backward while he pedals). As we were whizzing down the street and other vehicles were tailgating us, I started to realize that 300 yuan was quite a lot of money—about $43. Meanwhile the driver was on his own mission. I think he felt he had to take us on a tour, so we went into some hutongs (which we had just biked through on our own), and pretty much took us on a long ride. Eventually he brought us to the subway...but I never got to the bank. When we got out, I pulled out a pen and wrote a yuan sign on my map. "How much?" I asked him and motioned for him to write down the price. I think any hopes he might have had for 300 yuan went down the drain. I could tell he didn't really want to write anything down, but he put down 60 yuan. It was a good compromise. I willingly paid him the 60 yuan for an adventurous ride.
By then, it was about 3 pm when we got to the Temple of Heaven. I was not highly optimistic about going to this sight, but it is one of those Top Ten Sights in Beijing, and I am not ashamed to admit that I am one of those List people.
Do I love lists? Yes, I do. I’ll buy any travel list that tells you the top 10, 100, 500 or 1001 things you should be seeing, doing, eating, or visiting. I love to read them and I love to do them, but I am learning how to really do the list. And so this is what I discovered at The Temple of Heaven, number 2 on the Eyewitness Travel, Top 10 Beijing list.
The Temple of Heaven site is separated into two parts: a park which surrounds the actual temple sites and costs a small admittance fee, and the historical sites themselves, which cost a larger fee. The public park has become a gathering spot for many of the local Chinese. We came on Saturday afternoon, so many people were already there. The first group we encountered was the ballroom dancers—a large group of usually middle-aged or older Chinese couples who were dancing quite enthusiastically to a makeshift sound system. There were all sorts of complicated moves, quite a bit of posturing, and no one was very good, but they were all quite un-self-consciously dancing and having quite a good time. We watched for awhile and then moved on.
Not far away, we suddenly encountered a long, narrow pavilion full of singing Chinese people. I think it must have been a community choir of some sort, but they all sang full-throated and in good cheer. A few steps later, we came upon a woman singing Chinese opera to a good crowd. I saw someone else singing later. I think that’s their idea of karaoke. After that we saw people kicking a giant badminton shuttlecock like a hackysack, and a woman who was teaching everyone how to twirl long colorful streamers.
We moved on to the sites, took pictures, read plaques, marveled, and kept walking. Finally, we reached the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the piece de resistence of the monuments.
We climbed to the top and sat on the top step in the much-needed shade. A few minutes later, a woman accidentally bumped Kinsey with her foot and apologized in English. She was sitting with her back to the wall, her shoes off, having a tourist break. By this time, I was starved for some English, so I sat back next to her and started up a conversation.
We introduced ourselves. She was from New Zealand (very evident from her accent, and she looked part Maori), and was with a tour group from Intrepid Tours that had been visiting China for two weeks. She was quite surprised to learn that Kinsey and I were on our own.
“But how do you know where to go?” she asked.
“Well, just research,” I said.
But as we talked, it was like having someone answer some of the questions I had been asking myself about the madness we had started on. Already, after only three days, most of the initial nervousness had subsided, but there were still difficulties. Traveling like this can be pretty isolating, especially when you do not know the language of the locals. Going on trips without a tour is tiring, when you have to plan and make all of the arrangements. And when things go wrong, there is no one else to blame but yourself. Also, there’s no one else to make it right, but you. And so I had kept wondering…would it have been better to take a tour?
“What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned on your trip?” I asked her, thinking she would tell me something about the Chinese people.
“Keep it all in, until you get to your hotel room,” she answered promptly.
At which, her grown daughter chimed in, “And then fight like cats and dogs and clear the air.”
We all burst into laughter, and two other women from their group heartily agreed.
At the end, my new New Zealand friend leaned in towards me confidentially. “I can’t recommend Intrepid Tours,” she said. “I feel they’ve ripped us off. Taken our money. We had to bring $300 US dollars for an extra payment, but I don’t know what for. We’ve had to tip our guides, pay for our rooms, pay for all the sites, pay for the food.” She shook her head regretfully as she put her shoes back on.
We said goodbye, and later when we got up to move on, I felt a lot better. I think we can make this work.
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