How do you say "help" in Mandarin?

Today was nothing less than eventful. Beijing is definitely the tourism capital of China from what I can gather and lucky for us we chose to travel during a public holiday. Yipee! That meant larger crowds and more people to stare at the out of place Westerners.

After a series of early morning the opportunity to sleep-in until 7:00am was a treat! We met our tour-bus driver and headed out to pick up all the other people who would be apart of our "team" for the day. Leo our tour-guide was great and the day was full of excitement.

Our schedule for the day:

1. Tiananmen Square/ Forbidden City
2. Silk Factory
3. Temple of Heaven
4. Lunch
5. Pearl Factory
6. Summer Palace

Our group for the day was an interesting mix. 8/11 spoke Spanish and ignored the 3 of us who were English speakers. The most entertaining group member by far however was the lady I call Bimbo. The first question out of her mouth before we started our two hour walk through the Forbidden City was how do you say help in Mandarin? She clearly knew something we didn't and halfway through the tour we found out that she is prone to getting lost. She got lost within the first hour. Losing a member of our "team" didn't stop our tour however. Leo had warned everyone that if they got lost he'd see us tomorrow because there was no chance of finding one lost Westerner in a crowd of thousands.

Matchy Matchy tour groups

Leo was not kidding! The city was jam packed with people (mostly Domestic Chinese tourists). We became an attraction ourselves as people approached us and asked to have our picture taken with them. The forbidden city was huge and I learned a lot!

Leo- Our tour guide

For starters I learned about the Chinese architecture and the reason the majority of ancient Chinese buildings were made from wood. Because China is in an area prone to earthquakes buildings were constructed from wood to increase the likelihood they would withstand an earthquake. I also learned about how the emperors used to heat/cool these gigantic buildings. In the winter time, giant blocks of ice were taken from the rivers and stored deep below the ground. Once summer hit, the giant ice blocks would be brought up from the cellar and placed in the Emperors room and slaves would then fan the ice to project cool air towards the Emperor. Very early methods of A/C. Heating was a little bit of a simpler process and giant tunnels beneath the buildings were heated by fire and the heat then projected up through the floors of buildings.

11 Roof Guardians

Not only did I learn a lot about ancient culture, but it was also interesting to observe locals of today. They were as fascinating to us as we were to them.

funny hats that everyone was wearing

Observations:

1. I saw a family snacking on full sized cucumbers- definitely different to the bag of potato chips or candy bar a Westerner would munch on.

2. Babies often do not wear diapers but instead have slits in their pants (for obvious reasons). This supposedly decreases the potty training time.

We were also lucky enough to come to the city on the same day a diplomat was there. This made for some great pictures as guards roped off whole areas in order to make a clear path for this VIP.

Reaching the end of the city we finally found my favorite Bimbo who had somehow figured out how to get help from Chinese police officers. She was completely ridiculous about the whole situation, and had no problem posing with the officers that "rescued" her. 

Next stop on our tour was to a silk factory which as expected was a huge tourist trap. Some people shopped for what seemed like hours but Mom and I put our feet up and got a cold coke instead. After the factory we headed to the Temple of Heaven which is located in one of the most popular parks in the city for locals. The Temple of Heaven is also the building that Disney mocked in EPCOT! 

Locals enjoying an ice cream in the park

After a disgusting lunch. I ate rice and sipped some coke (Fi couldn't even really handle that much) we were driven to a pearl factory. This again was another tourist trap but one much more appealing to Mom and I. We got to watch an oyster get opened and each received a souvenir pearl and then we went upstairs and made a few other purchases too!

The summer palace was the last stop on our tour. The day had been long but the last stop was definitely worth the wait. The summer palace which is not actually a palace at all and in Mandarin the original name is actually Garden of Harmony was gorgeous. There was a giant lake in the center of the gardens which we rode across on a dragon boat.

Longest undercover walkway with gorgeous paintings, constructed for the Empress

After a long day we arrived back at the hotel and gave into western food-McDonalds. I'm pretty sure I will not touch another McDonalds for years after my stint in Asia.