It's ending...but I will definitely come back someday. It's too fabulous of a place to not.
Today we did a lot, so hold onto your hats!
If you remember, today it was just Matt, Karen, Luling (our translator) and I. Denise and Robert went to the zoo, shopping, and out to dinner together.
We met up with Denise and Robert for the breakfast buffet in the lobby of our hotel this morning, and then met with Luling at 9AM to start out on a busy day.
Luling hailed a cab for us, and we headed off to see The Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is a place where the Emperors used to pray to the heavens for good weather, health, winning wars, etc... They would make ritual sacrifices there of animals to please the heavens. Luling told us that the highest sacrifice they could make would be a calf, and that they would spend a lot of time picking out just the right one, it had to have it's legs the same length, and it had to be handsome=) When we arrived we saw a lot of kung fu, group dancing, singing, and giant calligraphy being done in water on the the sidewalks. Karen and I also tried out our hand at giant calligraphy=) There were many interesting aspects about the temple, there was a point in which you could stand and speak and your voice would be amplified to everyone around you, this is where the Emperor would stand and speak to the heavens. There are three parts of the sidewalk next to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in which you can stand on the third one furthest away from the Hall and clap and you will hear three claps, you stand on the second, and two claps are heard, and one on the last. Also, within the square area surrounding the Hall you can have someone stand on the opposite side of the square and speak to you, and still hear it if you stand far away from them on the other side. So fun! I learned from Luling that the square around the Temple was built round around the top and back of the temple (symbolizing the sky), and flat and square around the bottom (symbolizing the world being flat). Also, the lucky number 9, special to those who practice fung se, is the multiple for all sets of stairs in the Temple area. The most amazing feat of all is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, it is 125 feet high and 98 feet around and it was built without a single nail! Huge trees brought in from the rainforest make up it's columns and beams. Talk about Jenga!
After finishing with the Temple, we headed off to eat lunch, and then we went to a market to buy some last minute gifts=) They were not like the Pearl Market the day before, everything had it's price and a label. You could negotiate a little, but not much. They had a lot of Olympic goods, and jade. We saw a jade bracelet worth 2.8 million kuai! Next we headed to The Hard Rock Cafe to get a t-shirt for my Brother in Law Kevin, we always get him one from every city we visit=) He likes them, and they are fitting because he is a musician. On our way to catch a cab to go to Hard Rock, Matt and I were pulled aside by Chinese Central News Station for an interview on what we thought about the Chinese government finally allowing the Chinese citizens to see the special meetings on laws and leaders on the tv. Despite us dissagreeing with their goal of making the Chinese feel more comfortable about their Communist Government, we did say "it's good for China" and left it at that. Talk about uncomfortable! But it was cool since we'd never been on TV before. Once we got a cab, we got the shirt from Hard Rock. Our cab driver was very friendly, and spent his time with Matt learning and practicing his English, and Matt his Chinese. I can count to three "yi, er, san"! (because we heard it so many times while they took our pictures the first day!)
Next we headed off to a spa called Liangzi for some massages. The spa was nice, and the staff there spoke some English, but not a lot beyond being able to tell Matt that he was handsome=) Of course! This wasn't the first time during our trip that a Chinese woman, or many Chinese woman, had told him this. I'd better watch out! I might lose him here! Just kidding... We all opted for one hour long body massages. They had us change into pjs, tan for Matt, pink for us. They would give us our massages through these pjs, so no nudity involved like in the states. Then all four of us went into a private room with four tables to get a simultaneous massage. I really enjoyed having everyone there, especially Luling because she could tell the massuses what we needed, harder or softer, hurts or ok.
After our massages we ran off to grab a drink before the Chinese opera. Luling took us to a place called the Lan Club. It was a brand new club on the bottom of a big office building. It opened in late 2006, and was designed by Philippe Starck, who is an amazing contemporary designer. If I had to choose common words to describe it: luxurious with an exotic touch would do. I told Matt that if you could fall in love with the design of a space, this would be it! When you walk in the first thing you see is the "High Tables Dining Area", with four long tall tables and bar stools. Each of the four tables is designed to represent the local flavors of France, Mexico, India and China. My favorite was the France table, it had glass cases lining the sides and they were each filled with decadant desserts! You really just have to see it to believe it! After walking past this space you saw the Lan Club Lounge, a cosmopolitan of luxury, meticulously decorated with the most luxurious fabrics, furnishings and amenities. You can have drinks there, coffee, pastries, sandwiches, caks and ice cream there. Past this space we saw the Cigar Lounge with it's plush, rich surroundings of dark oak, leather sofas, and winged chairs surrounded by rich carpets, furnishings, and completed by a fire place topped with the head of a rinosaurus. A real manly space! Go past that and you'd see the Classical Bar, with black and white motif, art deco style, and the best part was the banquet bar stools with custom-made fabric with human eyes on them, sooo cool! It looked like the chairs were starring at you! After stopping by the bar for a drink you'd find yourself near the restrooms naturally, each one decorated exactly the same, but with different colors. The walls were covered in colored glass with starburst patterns on them, there were marbel islands with duck faucets over marbel bowl sinks, big recliner chairs in leather, and a big toilet that looked a lot like a throne rather than a potty. Skip past the restrooms and to the VIP Rooms. They have 35 VIP rooms, each can accomodate 2 to 10 people, and each is designed different than the other. each of these "rooms" was separated from the other with large painted canvases hung from the ceilings. My favorite room was called "The Angel Room", it had a long king's table with pink glass top, pink Italian glass chandeliers, white cushy banquet chairs with hand-made fabrics, loads of glassware at each setting, and delicate white, pink, gold, and silver china. So delicious! So etheral. Beyond this we saw the banquet and function room which was set up for a wedding ceremony and reception! Brilliant space that can be customized to be your own! Custom menus can be tailor-made, and rent of the space is about 10,000 kuai a room, the whole restaurant about 150,000 which is around $21,000, not bad considering the space, but this of course isn't the food and beverage minimum, and it would most likely cost you bunches more for those two things added on! I told Matt that if we renew our vows, it had to be there! Want to come to China family and friends? Really though, if you are looking for a destination wedding location, here it is!!! I love it! Going on, we saw their oyster bar, a glowing white glass-topped bar with a shaved-ice trough all around it's perimeter, here you could enjoy oysters, lobster, king crab legs and seafood with champagne. Right behind the bar was the pearl of the location, the Lan Club Restaurant which celebrates Chinese and Western Cuisine and pairs it masterfully with wines from around the world. They strive to serve high quality ingredients in creative combinations of foods from China and around the world. The space is so sophisticated, and classic, but gothic and ornate at the same time. They boast their own wine room, and private rooms where you can dine and see the kitchen at the same time through glass walls surrounding your table. We enjoyed our tour of the space, finished our drinks, and then headed to the opera on the subway. The subway was only two kwai per person, and while it didn't look much nicer than one in the US, it didn't smell like BO and urine! We did have to smash into the subway with about a thousand other people, but Luling said that we weren't even experiencing rush hour! It wasn't all that bad as we only had to travel one exit.
We got to the opera about 30 minutes late since we had taken so much time at Lan. A Chinese opera is much different than one at home, there isn't a ton of singing, rather it's a more like a play, and acrobatics rolled into one! We wanted the story of a young girl who was embarrassed to have received a gift from a gentleman caller, and the story of the monkey king, who was really trickey and good with weapons. As the story tells it, the monkey king was undefeatable by many of the Emperor's best warriors. My favorite part of the opera was the gentlman playing he monkey king because he had the best facial expressions, and he was so nimble and quick on his feet! He played with a long stick-like prop that he twirled, tossed in the air and caught, spun swords on, hoops on, and so much more. It was great!
After the opera we headed to dinner in a cab at TGI Fridays! That's right! Gotta warm back up to that American food! Karen had the loaded potatoe skins, Luling the shrimp salad, Matt he pulled pork sandwich (with loads of ketsup), and me, shrimp, fries and veggies. In good American style they brough us huge amounts of food. In fact, Karen and I ordered sodas, and they looked more like buckets of soda! Huggge!
After dinner we hopped back in a cab and went to the hotel. We had Luling come up to my and Matt's room to help us mark on a map of Beijing where we had been each day so that we wouldn't forget. Then we told Luling how much we absolutely loved having her show us around and how it wouldn't have been possible to do and see so much, and learn so much about this glorious place without her help! She is truely one of our new best friends! Deborah, thank you for introducing us to her! We love her dearly! It was so hard to hug her and tell her goodbye, I almost cried! In fact, as I sit here now in our hotel room, only hours from taking off in our plane, I'm saddened that this is all coming to an end, but luckily the places won't go anywhere and we can come back and see them later, perhaps even go to the Olympics if we want, and the people we have met here like Luling and John and Kate will always be in our hearts and minds, and hopefully we'll see them again soon. We've invited them all to come to the states and enjoy our hospitality much the same way they have done for us. We hope they take us up on it!
Well, signing out for now. Long, long flight ahead! Wish us all luck! We'll see you soon!
Love,
Nicole, Matt, Karen, Denise and Robert
