The Forbidden City

We devoted today to the Forbidden City, which is right around the corner from our hotel. Well, the East Gate to the city is right around the corner from our hotel. Getting to the front entrance is actually a bit of a slog. This is because the Forbidden City is massive. Only part of it is open to the public, and it took us 6 hours to see that part.

I know a little about China's emperors and the city, a subject I have long been fascinated with. Most Chinese people never saw it, hence the name. The front half is where important people got to enter—ministers, foreign dignitaries, people taking the state examination. The back half is where only the emperor, his family, the servants, and the hundreds of concubines and eunuchs got to go. The eunuchs ran the place. They were tutors, performers, cooks, stewards, etc. The entire city is set up more or less symmetrically, with the important buildings on the central axis and smaller palaces on the east and west sides. This perfect symmetry made visiting all the buildings kind of boring, though the curators spiced it up a bit by putting different exhibits in the different palaces.

We came in through the North Gate, which was the private end of the city. North is the direction for important people. We walked through some peaceful gardens, pavilions, and a tower. At the center was a hall of peace, where the emperor went to pray. At one side was the two story building where an English tutor gave the last emperor, Pu Yi, lessons in English (that's in a movie called The Last Emperor). To be honest, given the crush of people it was hard to imagine it. When we ducked into the side courtyards, we got away from some of the crush. The living quarters of the emperor and empress were more or less preserved behind glass, and we could peer in. There were a couple of houses for imperial concubines that we saw, though there were many more in areas we could not access. The emperor had hundreds of concubines, all of whom were ranked. Concubines had the joy of waiting around all day and night to be summoned. They spent a lot of time dressing themselves, playing games, writing, and (I'm guessing) playing in the cutthroat politics of women who were competing against each other. It must have been a horrid life, and the whole time these women's families on the outside (whom most never saw again) wrote to them about how privileged they were, to quit whining because their neighbors starved to death last winter. I wonder how many of them committed suicide.

In some of the halls were displays of imperial dishware, jade, and pictures. We saw Pu Yi's telephone, the first and only imperial telephone. We saw the concubines dishes, painted according to ranking. We meandered down to the center area. I wanted to come up through the southern route, so we walked around the outside to the south side if the city. When we passed the meridian, the buildings became distinctly more awe inspiring. We saw some displays of weaponry, armor, and imperial gifts in little galleries along the side. When we got to the south gate, we saw a massive and imposing structure. There was an artificial stream in front in the shape of the emperor's bow. We walked through a couple of gates to the hall of supreme harmony, which is the impressive hall where the Emperor made pronouncements and met dignitaries. Behind it is a preparation hall where he got ready to see the outside world, and behind that is a banquet and entertainment hall. They were ornate and majestic, but it was so crowded that it was hard for me to picture the emperor there. We had some dumplings right next to the hall of supreme harmony. We walked through the center gate, which most people passed through only once. Even princes were not allowed into the Emperor, Empress, and concubines' living area. After this, we were pretty tired and the park was closing, so we headed back out to Tiananmen Square. We discovered that behind the massive gate we saw earlier, there are two more gates. It's hard to imagine breaching it.

Visiting the Forbidden City was exhausting, and after a very forgettable dinner we called it a night.

A pagoda in the gardens

Our private courtyard in our hotel

The exterior wall and moat

The North Gate

A tower in the gardens

The hall where Pu Yi was tutored in English

Not sure, but it looks cool

The Hall of Supreme Harmony

An imperial lion

Not sure, but it looks cool

Huge doors

The South Gate

The Temple of Heaven and Behai Park

Today we wanted to go to the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, two more “can't miss” sights of Beijing. I think that four days is an impossibly short time to stay here, because as you can see, we didn't make it to the summer palace. I see tour groups powering through the sites; they can see the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and the Forbidden City in one day, but they miss all the little side buildings, which are less crowded and a pleasure to visit. We didn't see everything, but I'm glad we took the time to peruse the sites we did visit.

Anyways, we went to the Temple of Heaven in the morning. It's about 5km away, so we took a cab. Beijing has terrible traffic. It took us about 20 minutes to get there. We entered through the South gate and saw the main ceremonial pavilion, which included a giant green oven where they burned shaved calves for ceremonies. All the big structures were on the central axis, just like in the Forbidden City. We walked down this axis from the pavilion to the Imperial Vault of Heaven, where we saw imperial ancestral tablets. The Emperor would walk from this shrine up this ceremonial path to the main temple, where he would perform the ceremony. We decided to let the crowds follow the Emperor, while we ducked out and headed left, towards the Palace of Abstinence. We were not sorry! There was an additional 20 rmb entrance fee (about 3 dollars) for the two of us, and apparently that kept almost everyone out. It was almost our private palace! This is where the Emperor used to fast in preparation for the ceremony. There was a “pillarless hall” that contained portraits of the later emperors and these huge structures that held the tablets. We saw a bell tower which would ring when the emperor entered and left the fasting palace.

We returned to the main axis, where we saw the awe inspiring Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which was where the Emperor performed this ceremony to heaven. We saw an exhibit on the ceremony, which spelled out the intricate and precise progression of events required to appease the gods. We followed a covered walkway to the kitchen and butchery, where the calf was prepared for the slaughter. At this point, Bobby discovered that we had missed the music hall, which was all the way across the park. Fortified with cream filled saltines (they're actually pretty good), we headed back across the park, which was about 1.5km. It was worth the walk. The music hall was incredible and also not crowded. There were displays of several traditional Chinese instruments, all of which had a large model in the center that we could try. There were also pictures of the ceremonies and dance costumes. The entire compound, which resembles a palace, housed the musicians and dancers who spent their days rehearsing for the ceremony.

We grabbed another cab back to our hotel (cabs are like $2 here), where we ascertained that a trip to the summer palace was unfeasible. Instead, we grabbed some dumplings at a wonderful shop around the corner, where (according to the sign on the wall) the owner's family used to make dumplings for the Emperor. On the way back, we checked out some ruins that turned out to be from the East Wall of Imperial Beijing.

We decided to visit Behai and Jinshan park instead. Behai Park is where Kubla Khan set up his palace. It has a huge lake with an island in the middle made from the earth excavated for the lake. The island had a Temple of Jade Flowers and, further up, a white dagoba that was built for a Dalai Lama's visit. We had a nice view from the temple, but I wanted to see the view from Jinshan park before it got dark. We cut our visit short and walked back across the lily filled lake and out of the gate. Jinshan park was a leisure ground for the imperial family. It has a huge hill in the middle created from the earth excavated from the palace moat, with a couple of pagodas on top. We saw the spot where an emperor hung himself (there was a peasant rebellion, he killed his wife and some of his concubines and sisters, travelled to Jinshan park with a eunuch, and wrote his suicide note in blood before he hung himself). We hoofed it to the top for an unparalleled view of the Forbidden City right at dusk. On the other side of the hill, I could see the old North Gate. The old South Gate is at the bottom of Tiananmen Square. The square is all lit up at night, and we saw some of it from the hill.

We walked back to our hotel, where we had ½ hour before we left for dinner. We had made reservations at a place called Huang Ting, a fancy Cantonese restaurant that was highly recommended. The interior was constructed entirely from bricks from old hutongs. The food was incredible—we had one last taste of Peking Duck and the chef's specialty, crab over asparagus.

I was sorry to leave, but I imagine we'll visit China again in our lifetime. I hope so.

The ceremonial oven where they burned calves

Many imperial structures had three entrances.  Only the Emperor could go in the middle door.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven

People dancing in the park

The Hall of Abstinence.  The vats are filled with water in case of fires.

The bell tower.  They rang this bell when the Emperor entered and left the hall.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  

The Hall of Music.  The screen on the right side is to keep evil spirits out.

The ceremonial pavilion.

The White Dagoba in Behai Park

The Forbidden City at Dusk

Area 1

I went to Dongducheon to visit the Area 1 libraries earlier this week.  The USAG Red Cloud enclave is a sprawling series of bases that spans 2 cities--Dongducheon and Uijeongbu.  It is the northernnost garrison on the peninsula; it's where we keep an eye on our neighborino to the north.

Dongducheon is a lovely area of mountains and rivers.  It's not as staggeringly urban as Daegu, Seoul, and Busan, and there are a lot of open spaces with trees and pasture.  Well, not a lot for a North Carolina native, but significantly more than I am used to in Daegu.  The air is also noticeably cleaner.

It's worth noting that the Seoul subway system goes all the way up to Dongducheon, which is about an hour north of the city.   It's a 1.5 hour ride, but most of it is aboveground.  The subway turns into a light rail.

Area 1 is transitioning from an unaccompanied to an accompanied location.  This means that soldiers can now bring their families to the area, whereas for 50 years or so they have been coming alone.  They are slowly building the infrastructure they need.  I attended a popular storytime with grateful parents who have been eager to have more children's activities in the area.

It was a nice visit, but definitely overshadowed by our impending trip to China.  China has been a long obsession of mine, and I'm so excited to finally see the place.  We leave in a week!!

On an unrelated note, two people tried to talk to me on the mountain today and I understood none of it.  This isn't from lack of trying.  I study Korean every week, and sometimes I benefit from this.  Pieces of conversations are comprehensible, and now sometimes I can understand what I read on the signs.  If only everyone spoke in Rosetta stone phrases, "the dog wants the meat" or "the grandmother has more juice than the child."  Oh well.

The Health Police

I'm currently contemplating an apple a little smaller than my head. This, along with an even larger pear, is Mr. Pan's Chuseok gift to me. Koreans value health above all else, and their gift baskets contain fruits, nuts, and sometimes ginseng. Bobby and I have been marveling at the W70,000 gift boxes of nuts we have been finding at the grocery store. These gargantuan fruits probably came in a box that cost at least W20,000. Ginseng is the most expensive health treat, running around W100,000 for a gift box.

These massive fruits are items I would sometimes find at the Harris Teeter, and shun because I figure they are a product of hormones and genetic engineering. I wonder how these apples grew. Nonetheless, they are incredibly tasty, and I made a valiant attempt to finish one this morning (I got halfway through).  Something this massive was meant to be shared.  Sadly, Bobby doesn't like apples. Koreans are always accosting him for his obviously unhealthy eating habits. That's another thing about Koreans—they consider it their duty to let you know when you are doing something unhealthy. Mr. Pan tells me that when he and his wife go to a family dinner, his family tells her not to eat. Mr. Pan's wife is far from obese—I'd actually put her on the high side of normal weight. Sometimes I wonder if Koreans really are “naturally thin” or if what I'm witnessing is institutionalized anorexia and bulimia. Somehow, drinking soju to the point of extreme inebriation is okay, as is weaving a scooter in and out of traffic with no helmet, but that donut will kill you.

I learned last week that the #1 item procured illegally for Koreans from our PX is vitamins. That's right, they bypass the duty free European chocolates and perfumes and the liquor shelf and go straight for the multivitamins. Such things exist over here, but they are massively expensive, just like the fruit. I guess we're witnessing Adam Smith in action here: Koreans value vitamins, thus they have a lot of monetary value here. The country is only a generation or two from widespread extreme, starvation-inducing poverty, so I guess I understand.

I enjoy healthy food, and I like to eat here. I like knowing that there's probably not high fructose corn syrup in anything I consume, and that I am not facing down a small mountain of french fries with every plate I purchase. (Over here, you can buy fries separately at American restaurants, but you will usually share an order). I like knowing that my food is made from actual ingredients instead of things doctored to taste like actual ingredients. I am glad to find that I was right in defending my love of white rice all these years. A billion Asians can't be wrong—white rice will not make anyone fat.

Nonetheless, the relentless obsession with health and resulting evangelism I experience here annoys me. I enjoy donuts, damnit, and don't take kindly to being judged all the time. What's a holiday without carbohydrates? Not that America has it right. We have a similar dieting obsession, but with an expectation to find a shortcut that leads us to gobble absurdities like low fat cheesecake. Americans tend to be too fat or too thin, but rarely in between and always hating ourselves. I want to find a place where people eat unhealthy foods in moderation and delight in doing so. I think I would like to try Europe next.

How do you like them apples? They come in little skirts with ribbons around them.

Happy Chuseok

Aside from Korean New Year, this is my first big cultural holiday. Chuseok is a major holiday over here. It started as the harvest festival, when Koreans gave thanks for a bountiful harvest. Nowadays far more people live in cities than on farms, but many of the rituals are the same. Everyone goes to visit their families, dress in traditional costumes, eat huge meals, and tend to the graves of their ancestors. Americans here call it "Korean thanksgiving"

Chuseok to foreigners is a day off work (more if you don't work for the U.S. Government), lots and lots of traffic, and avoiding major grocery stores for a week. We didn't follow that last little bit of advice and ended up at a crazily crowded Home Plus with an inflated grocery bill. I guess stores over here jack up their prices for the holidays as well.

It's way too wet to go anywhere today, but as the grave tending starts about a week in advance, I did see some neat stuff. I found a variety of foods on graves, from glasses of makkoli to opened yogurt cups. I imagine the mountain wildlife loves Chuseok. New graves have also materialized in what I thought were patches of wildlife.

We're celebrating our day off by eating and watching House. The big plan was to make a Korean American feast, but I wasn't really in the mood for Korean when I started cooking, though I did add a buchingae (pancake).

Tomorrow, I start conducting interviews for my job opening. I have had more interviews than I can count, but I have always been on the other side of the desk. I'm pretty nervous about it. I have always viewed a job interview as a special form of torture, and now I'm the inquisitor. I know one thing—I won't be judging anyone by his or her clothing. I have always found it particularly asinine that someone interviewing for a $10 an hour shelving job has to shell out $100 bucks for a suit that they will never again wear to work.

Soup, buchingae, yogurt salad, and a chicken

Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain

I was excited that we managed to sign up for the best CAC trip I have seen so far. This was a day trip to Geoje and Oedo islands, two beautiful islands on the south end of Korea. When we left at 6:45 am, it was overcast and a little threatening, but the bottom didn't drop out until we arrived at our destination 3 hours later. I remember that I mentioned monsoon season starting in July. Well, these past couple of weeks, we have seen some serious weather worthy of the moniker. There have been torrential rains, high winds, and lots of flooding. Nonetheless, the weather was lovely for some mandatory staff fun on Friday, so I was hopeful about Saturday. It was not to be! (Of course, the whole time I was thinking, “why couldn't it have rained out the mandatory fun?” Which was, I begrudgingly admit, better than working.)

So we did manage to go to the POW camp, but the rest of the trip was cancelled. Oh well. As many experienced travelers will tell you, you win some, you lose some.

The POW camp was pretty cool. Geoje Island was where UN forces kept North Korean prisoners. It was a huge camp, with thousands of prisoners. The designers made an effort to bring the camp's history alive for us, complete with life sized dioramas with moving pieces, special effects, and video footage. There were a few sentences in bad English for tourists, though I was sorry (like I am at least 5 times a day) that I don't understand Korean better. This was no whitewashed kid-friendly version of history, either. There were bloody prisoners and naked prisoners. (People brought their kids. I'm certainly not implying that kids shouldn't see history as it really happened.) There was an outdoor area with a reconstructed kitchen, lots of tanks, guns, and helicopters, and the ruins of an American PX and chapel.  Bobby was especially fond of the machines and explored them all while I stood there and complained.    We were soaked to the skin, but we did get a nice Korean lunch afterwards.

I like the statue.  I'm sure it means something.

POW latrines

I really like how this was designed.  It was a huge camp.

An uprising of communist sympathizers.

Bobby took lots of pictures of the equipment.

Our PX doesn't look like this one.

Me in the kitchen, very wet.

Yeah, it rained pretty hard.

Happy Anniversary to Us

Our anniversary once again falls on labor day weekend, so we decided to take a day trip. Busan is my favorite city in Korea and it happens to have a much-lauded aquarium, so we decided to head back there. I feel like our anniversary actually started on Friday, since I wanted a night off from cooking so we went to a new Japanese restaurant by Camp Walker. It was fantastic! We had great sushi, our own private dining room, and the whole thing set us back 20,000 Won (about 17 dollars). The chef came out to shake our hands after we finished. We didn't understand what he was trying to say to us, but he gave Bobby a card so it was probably something along the lines of, “please tell your American friends about our good food.” And we will!

The next day, we headed to lovely Busan. We went via KTX, which takes a little over an hour. I have had a love-hate relationship with trains over the years (I hate Amtrak), but I love the KTX. It's really fast and always on time.

The aquarium is right on Haeundae Beach, but underground. It has some really neat stuff that we haven't seen before, like unhatched shark eggs and a shark tank with a variety of toothy sharks. There was also an extensive jellyfish collection. Overall, we decided it was probably the second coolest aquarium we've been to, after Atlanta. Not that it wasn't trying. This aquarium, like Atlanta, had a tunnel through the shark tank as well as an additional two story tank with massive rays.

The aquarium took about 2.5 hours, so when we came out we were looking for something else to do. We took a walk on the beach, which has transformed into full summer mode, with lifeguard stands, rentable floaties, and rows and rows of identical beach umbrellas. Sadly, neither of us had swimsuits. Summer comes a little late here, I think, as it didn't start getting really hot until July, and temperatures remain in the mid 90's. Haeundae Beach is still an enclave for westerners, with western style beach bar-and-grills and tons of foreigners wandering around. We got ice cream and no one pushed us to share it. (This happened in Daegu. We each got an ice cream and the server brought us ANOTHER ice cream with two spoons as “service”. Gee, thanks.)

We saw some tour boats coming out of a dock at the end of the beach. We love boats, so we bought a couple of tickets. It turns out the boat was going to this neat rocky island with a lighthouse on it. There were quite a few fishermen on the rock, though I didn't see any boat docks so I'm not sure how they got there. The tour guide explained everything, but in Korean so we had to make up our own stories.

We had dinner at Gecko's again, which is still a great restaurant, not so much for the food but for the patio overlooking the water. I got to see Haeundae after sunset, and it didn't disappoint. The whole beach lights up like Vegas. I still love Busan, and it was a great anniversary.

A fountain by the train station.  

I kid you not! I believe we call this the African penguin

Aquarium car!  See the ray on the dashboard?

The lonely lighthouse

I just thought these were pretty

A quiet part of the beach

Haeundae from the boat