Night 3

It is officially our third night here, and nobody has been kidnapped, robbed, mauled by cougars, or infected with Japanese Encephalitis (I mean what are the odds really...besides 1/2.4 million). Good start.

Today was a pretty chill day, considering yesterday consisted of activities that simply made very clear that our bodies could not withstand the Great Wall's test. Instead, today was a day of begrudgingly trudging our ways through cultural sites while our hamstrings slowly gave way beneath our gradually sinking upper bodies. We first visited the Tanzhe Temple, which is a Buddhist temple that was established over 1700 years ago, and is still standing. Within were many chambers dedicated to different dieties and Bodhisattvas of Buddha, and also a "Tiger cave." The cave itself was altogether creepy and disappointing, but the rest of the temple was beautiful, and the view from the top was amazing, since it was situated on the peak of a mountain. The weather was amazing (on the mountain) because it was relatively free from the smog that covers the rest of Beijing. One of the more eye-catching features was a tree called the Bai Shi Ru Yi Tree, which translates roughly into "Everything as you wish" or something like that. The trees are actually a thick tree that is basically growing directly adjacent and almost entwined in a thinner tree, giving the impression of two lovers entwined for eternity. It is said that new couples who touch the trees will share their love for a hundred years.

Inside the temple there was also a chamber dedicated to Guanyin, who is, with the exception of Siddhartha himself, the most influential figure in Chinese Buddhism. Guanyin is the Chinese adaptation of what Buddhists in India originally called a Bodhisattva, one who has attained enlightenment by following Buddha's teachings (specifically, her Hindi name is Avalokiteśvara). She is depicted as sitting upon a giant lotus leaf, with a jar of "pure" water in one hand and a willow branch in the other. In much of Chinese mythology, Guanyin is seen as the intervening force that guides people towards the morally valorous path.

The second place we visited was the Temple of Heaven. This temple is directly south (I think) of the area where Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City are located. The Temple of Heaven's main two areas are the Altar of Heaven and the Hall for Prayer of Good Harvests. If you've ever heard of the Temple of Heaven or seen a picture of the gigantic structure, it's likely what you saw was the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. In order to understand the significance of the site, it is necessary to first go into some small detail regarding the Imperial culture in China.

The Emperor to the Ancient Chinese were not unlike the Pharaohs of Egypt in that they served as a link between the divine and the mortal. While they were not viewed as the direct descendants of gods, the Emperors were responsible for maintaining a balance between Heaven and Earth. In Heaven of course, there lives the Jade Emperor, and his court of 10,000 buildings (the reason why the Forbidden City only houses 9,999) who oversees all divine and mortal doings. The Temple of Heaven was the most instrumental site for this kind of communication between the Emperor and Heaven. IN order to ensure that the country would receive a good harvest for the coming year, the Emperor was required to travel to the Temple, and perform rituals and sacrifices (NOT humans) in order to please the Heavens. There are many stages involved in the sacrifice, and many things are repeated. For example, there is a first and second offering of wine as well as meat/animals. The Emperor must make the sacrifices on the Altar of Heaven, and then continue to pray and burn incense inside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. If all went well, then it meant the Emperor was worthy of the Mandate of Heaven, but if not, the Emperor would be seen as illegitimate.

The Temple is simply beautiful--the colors have all been restored of course, so it gives a wonderful depiction of the true majesty with which it stood in the 1420-1500s when it was first built. The site is in fact one of the first places in China visited by an American President (Richard Nixon). The altar is a gorgeous and impressive piece of architecture, and is pretty much perfectly symmetric, as is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Anyway, I wish I could post pictures, but blogspot is, as my friend Di has pointed out on facebook, one of the many sites blocked by the Great Firewall of China. I'm going through a proxy right now, so I can't actually utilize the image upload and embedding service. :( Sad times. But I promise pictures will be available upon request. Those of you with facebook can certainly look on the group website and pictures will be available.

First Post. Because we suck.

So because we traveled 12 hours into the future, this is actually our first post, coming to you three (four?) days after we first left for China.

The first thing we did yesterday was eat breakfast. Which was, in a word, hilarious. Because the menu at the place was so poorly translated into English that it bordered on absurd. Examples:

"The agricultural wife and child cooks the hairtail"
"Is addicted to the scalloped kidney (picture above)"
"Atherosclerosis burning mixed seafood"
"Three fresh stuffed pie"
"Best quality seafood gruel in a jug (quite literal translation)"
"The onion explodes the mutton"

So far, we have visited the Ming Tombs, which is an entire city (ish) dedicated to the burial of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The Tombs hold a vast wealth of historical and cultural significance, but unfortunately, most of the things on display inside the tomb were replicas, as the originals were already removed because of decay.

BUT the big thing from yesterday was still the Great Wall. The Great Wall is divided into segments, because of decay over time and erosion--the segment we climbed was called the Ba Da Ling Great Wall, and what a climb it was. I've been here once before, but I'm pretty sure I quit halfway up because there were popsicles being sold. This time, we forged on with great vigor, and made it to the highest point. Along the way, there were fat people to entertain us with their trudging along (they too stopped at the popsicle stands) small children slowing their parents down with their physical inferiority, and blatant racism being displayed by Chinese visitors (a black child = "a small, black ball"). A pretty cool new addition to the Great Wall is a Hollywood-esque sign that shows the Beijing Olympics Logo, along with the motto in both English and Chinese (One World, One Dream).

Also, we passed a largely out-of-place area called the Bear Paradise right in front of the Great Wall. There were actually bears there, and plates with which you could feed them. Of course, the signs were all in Chinese, and me being basically illiterate, I had no idea we had to pay. Thus, Alex was tricked into throwing an animal cracker off the ledge, which led to a hilarious moment involving an old woman who refused to speak (or could not speak mandarin) and ended in Alex handing her a random amount of money, and her handing him a random amount of change. Also, apparently bears have bright red penises that look like the ends of garden hoses.

Pictures of yesterday will follow later--Antonio is expelling me from his laptop.

--Morgan.

T minus 11 hours...and I am bored.

Sleeping is overrated. Or at least unnecessary at this point, since I'll have to literally reverse my sleep schedule in approximately one to -1 days later (time travel?). Anyway, I thought I would basically outline a preview of where we'll be going on this trip. It's as of yet kind of uncertain due to the earthquakes and the pending aftershock that has the nation trembling in fear.

SO here is our tentative schedule (future changes at the whims of God, Xenu, Zeus, etc.)

Arrive in Beijing, REST because we will be exhausted. Also eat.

In Beijing, for the following week or so we will be visiting the Forbidden City, Great Wall (all must-see attractions) and dining at the Lao She Teahouse, a prominent and authentic Chinese teahouse. We will also do some shopping (not too much...because we're poor) wherein I will be searching for a cheap and affordable modded PS3...and if my parents are reading, by that I meant informative LSAT study materials. Beijing is also home to Cixi's summer palace. Cixi was the last Empress of the Qing Dynasty (the last Dynasty). She's what we'd call a bitch.

Then, we will be taking a train to Henan province, and we will be staying in the city of Zhengzhou. In Henan, the main attraction will be the Shaolin Temple, where I will certainly pay any amount of money to elicit a mortal duel between masters of Chinese gong fu.

Then, instead of heading to Xi'an as originally planned, we will be riding a train directly to Shanghai. The reason being that Xi'an is reasonably close to the epicenter of the earthquakes, and the people are living in fear of aftershocks, and literally sleeping on the street rather than going home. As such, it would be undesirable for us to go there.

So we will spend the rest of our time in Shanghai, and we will be visiting a whole slew of places--One of which will be Huang Shan. Huang Shan is one of China's five sacred mountains, and regarded as divine and is a point of worship for both Taoists and Buddhists. Also in Shanghai is the Pearl Tower, the Bund (formerly Western-occupied area consisting of banks run by Jews). Nanjing Road is also an attraction to see, and shopping in Shanghai is going to be like an orgy of consumerism. This post has taken me entirely too long, so I'm going to leave it at that. That's a basic outline of our time in China, and we will be trying to bring daily posts about the previous day's shenanigans + photos/videos if possible!

Opening Post - Insomnia + Packing

This is the official establishment of the China Trip blog for Morgan, Rachel, Alex, Shacka, and Antonio--comments are welcome, but if you're going to be rude, remember that Jesus hates liars, thieves and people who blog in rude fashions.

That having been said, it's currently 5:46 AM in the morning on Sunday, May 25th and I have just finished packing because I know for goddamn sure that I won't be doing it when I wake. We leave TOMORROW. I am mentally going over my basic knowledge of the Chinese language, including the phrases duo shao qian (how much money), tai gui (too expensive), and ji nu (prostitute).

In all seriousness (no, we will not be eliciting brothels--any wishes for vicarious happy endings through tales of back rooms in smoke-filled bars or makeshift beauty parlors will have to wait for some other, less morally rooted friends), we hope that you will enjoy our chronicling of our time in China. We will be visiting a slew of historical, cultural, and plain wonderful places, and I hope that those who read the posts will be able to find the same appreciation as I have and always will for the great amount of growth and progress the country has experienced after a long half century of tumult. Please enjoy reading at your leisure--I hope we can open a window to a world, culture, and people that are as close to us as the jeans we wear on our legs, yet an entire world away.