Miscellaneous Items

Thursday when it started raining the Damoudes decided to head for dryer ground. However the rain had already got their lunch bags wet and Tanya's ended up ripping and her lunch fell to the ground and the water bottles headed down the stairs. One of the attendants got on his walkie-talkie and announced "bottle coming down, bottle coming down". (The relating of this at the back of the bus (our usual seats) sent us into hysterical laughter and we again were the center of many looks and wonderment as to what we had been drinking (Mediterranean dejavou)).

The Sunday of the convention we had to go back to the hotel and pack up for an early morning flight. It was decided that during lunch of the convention to get some food we could eat at the hotel (cost of room service requires a small mortgage). We got spicy noodles (a cousin to top ramen), some bbq pork, peaches and a bag of dried cuttle fish. Carl was so proud of this find he brought it out of his bag on the bus and was showing different ones and decided to open it offering samples. Within seconds there was a large commotion as the smell from the dried fish bodies was equal no doubt to what Martha feared when she said of Lazarus "surely by now he must smell!" Back of the bus was in trouble...again.

Our bus captain made a large yellow and pink hand for us to be able to quickly find him in the large crowds we were always amidst. This got quite a few smiles, chuckles and even some serious questioning by the guards/police when in Tianamen Square and the Forbidden city.

China Town in China? While in route to our hotel Carl looks out the back window and sees a sign for China Town. He cracks up laughing and is rolling on the seat turning red and having a hard time breathing (this in itself is a unique and humorous event) as to why there would be a need

for a China Town in China! Sleep deprivation.

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After the Forbidden City while walking back to our bus not only did we face an onslaught of people selling items we also were faced with women begging for money. To say that some in our group were assaulted by these women is not an exaggeration. Carl and Aaron were physically punched several times in the arm by these women begging for money for the children they had in their arms. One woman hit so hard she caused bruises! A little more physical than we have experienced elsewhere.

While waiting at the Portland airport for our ride home periodically there are announcements over the intercom. We heard just such an announcement for a person to pick up a phone and dial 0. It was in very understandable English with a slight southern accent. Then it was followed by the same announcement in Spanish, or at least it started out in Spanish. The woman had a very gringo way of pronouncing her Spanish but did ok till she got to the part of pressing 0. Instead of "cero" it came out "y" followed by a long pause and then in her southern accent "zero". Due to our sleep deprivation this caused us to roll and double over with laughter, even Carl. Apparently Spanglish is spoken at this airport it is part of the integration process.

Here are some more pics:

a resting spot after 2 hours of walking the Forbidden City

feet pics, wouldn't be my blog without them!

Day 4 The Never Ending Journey Home

Up at 5 to find Tanya already dressed and reading the paper, again. Down to breakfast and out the door to the bus where we had yet another opportunity to shop. It was akin to a shark feeding frenzy as the friends saw one last opportunity to BUY!!! And buy they did! Silk bags, Rolex watches (that have so many dials and knobs which don't seem to do anything...hmmm...and some didn't even work, they were dubbed Folex watches).

In preparing to leave one in our group did some laundry the night before. Unfortunately the clothes (i.e. socks and chonies) did not dry. Well true love to the rescue. His wife went over and used the blow dryer to dry them. At breakfast he proclaimed this true love's great act . (The names have not been revealed to protect the couple from needling. (Does that work C & T?))

Still Day 4

Got to the China airport and found a wi-fi connection however my blog and facebook were both blocked so could not get blog loaded up. The flight was an hour late taking off and we had to rush just to get the connecting plane to San Fran (I was sure they would hold it as there were quite a few of us that were scheduled to be on the plane from China). In S.F. almost got in on an earlier flight but only one open seat and could not leave my peeps behind. The S.F. airport charges for wi-fi so still didn't get blogging done. Instead we spralled out and tried to catch some zzzz's. Our plane into Portland got in early and I called my taxi service (that's how my brother answers his cell phone now) and he is delayed in Beaverton. So now we are again crashing out on catches waiting to get our ride home and still no wi-fi to load blog.

We didn't get much of a chance to say goodbye to everyone. The bus ride to the airport from the motel was filled with "Thank you"s for and from our bus captain and assistant captains and for and from our tour guide and for our bus driver who did not get in one accident. We were asked even to sing a kingdom song by our guide who "knew who we were". There were quick hugs in San Fran around the luggage carousel for the few that had made it that far and we dispersed to our seperate gates to catch connecting flights.

By the time you read this we (Damoudes & I) will be home and on our way to a full nights sleep and maybe a little more than just a full night. Even with the long travel I don't think there is anyone in our group who would say that they would trade the experience.

Day 3 The Great Wall of China

The day was cloudy, foggy and misty so the view of the wall was not real clear. The wall has watchtowers at various points along it. Many of our group ventured to the first tower up the stairs that varied in height, some steps about 18" high, others 6". A few less ventured to the second tower, fewer to the third and fewer

still to the Fourth tower. Along the way you would find people stopped to get their breath and a few sitting on the stairs sure that they were going to die. Five brave souls ventured to the 6th tower. It is said that if you reach the fourth tower that you are a hero (one sister on the other bus coming down looked at me and said "I'm scared!" to which I repeated my friend Tanya's saying "you are not brave unless you are afraid" so this saying of being a hero to climb really is true). It use to be that they would give you a plaque saying that you had climbed it. Now you have to pay for it and you could even get one at the bottom (the pressure of capitalism and laziness).

Two of our group took the royal ride up on a couch. There are two men who walk up a stone path carrying the royal chair up to the third tower and drop you off to walk down to the bottom. When I saw two of our group coming down with not a hint of a sweat as I was nearing the top sopping wet I was chalked it up to my being really out of shape. Then the truth is

revealed on the bus.

We had two wounded. One sister dropped a camera lens under the bus and scraped her knee trying to get it. The other was Angela. She made it up to the second tower and started not feeling good. She is ok now but she was carried down on a sedan couch (charge $30+) and was checked out by a medic (charge $14) and they were sent back to the hotel. Having her back with us...PRICELESS!

Me after reaching the third tower. The sign says "If you have brain or heart disease advance the great wall according to your capability". A little late.

Lunch and shopping and a tour of a cloisonne factory followed. The artistry of cloisonne is awesome! The process starts with a metal object and copper wire is adhered to it creating a raised design. Then smaller metal pieces are added and then paint. The paint is repeated over and over again until it is even with the metal wire and creates a smooth surface. The process also includes putting the item into a fiery hole and when it comes out it is red hot but quickly cools down. Of course at the end of the tour there is a store to give you the opportunity to purchase cloisonne pieces.

What followed was the optional foot massage. This is what the Great Tribulation might be like. There was torture followed by relief and relaxation. It was quite the experience. We were taken into a room with six lounge chairs and placed out feet into hot herbal water. Then came in our masseurs. Six Chinese men. They sat down nearly in sinc and started on rubbing the feet, again in sinc with a few added comments between themselves, probably about the size of our feet.

There was acupressure and grimaces with whimpering involved. There was slapping, cupping and spanking all in a very primal rhythmic beat that caused some to start chair dancing. Then they moved up to the thighs again with slapping, cupping and spanking and some blushing thrown in. They put our stinking socks and shoes back on our feet (this caused more blushing) and moved onto our neck, shoulders and back which instigated more moaning and grimacing. (All that shopping really gets the muscles in a knot! And perhaps the Great Wall of China added to it.)

Back to the hotel, a quick dinner and off to the Silk Market for one last shopping trip (or so we thought). We had only 30 minutes to try and locate last minute items as the store was closing. The vendors where ready to deal and then we were herded out the door. To the hotel and packed our bags and tucked into bed at 10:30, setting a 5:00 am alarm.

Day 2 Beijing

Went to use the pool this morning and followed the arrow to "Pool" (an obvious decision). Came to an isolated hallway with a locked door and a door leading to service elevators. Roamed around and thought maybe the pool might be in the gym. Not seeing it (it ended up being behind the frosted glass) I went wandering aimlessly without finding another human. Happened upon a motel staff woman but we did not understand each other. I showed her the sign which was in Chinese and English and did the international sign for where and even tried to panomime swimming (don't know why I tried that since it was uncessful when playing Cranium at Rob & Rachel's). At last I ran into a sister and she said it was in the gym but the doors were locked. Finding a phone I called the "guest services" (a tool that I've had to use quite a bit for instructions on "how to"). She called the pool and said that it was now open.Upon entering the locker room you are given a rubber bracelet with a number corresponding to a locker. Found the locker and was faced with another dilema. How do I open it as there were no handles and no keylock? I was near to giving up as I was convinced I needed some technical degree to do anything but sleep at this hotel! Finally it occurred to me maybe this rubber bracelet somehow would open it. Putting it up to the locker number and the door popped open. Out to the pool after a cleansing shower (this also was an effort to figure which of the three knobs turned on the shower which was directly above my head (note: not good to look up while you are trying to turn on the shower)). The swimming thing I hoped would be a no brainer, but here too I apparently need some sort of eductation as for some reason I could not float in this pool.

The pool area is decked out with lounge chairs, some of which are tiled ergonomic loungers that are heated! There is relaxing spa like music playing. The locker rooms are themselves spalike. There is a hot tub and sauna, more extravagant showers, hairdryers, mirrors, comfy slippers and rolled towels. Discouraged by the earlier experienced I merely showered and left too fearful to try and figure out any more technology. (Sidepoint: All this technology and yet you can't drink the water nor even brush your teeth with the tap water at this hotel!)

Off to the Temple of Heaven. People regularly gather here to engage in a wide

variety of activities. Line dancing, ball room dancing, Indian dancing (here the

men put on fake bushy mustaches), Chinese traditional dance, singing, playing

games and all this is a regular occurrence. A couple of our group got to join in

briefly in some dancing as we were quickly moved from one area to the next.

Lunch was a Peking/Beijing Duck (they are one in the same as the city

of Beijing was formally Peking). There were quite a few side dishes

including a general tsao chicken, fried fish, something we think was

seaweed, greenbeans, rice (of course), meatballs and other dishes including one that

Aaron and Carl say was a fried hot dog (I'm not thoroughly convinced of that, although it was a familiar taste the shape wasn't). We were

throughly stuffed (SEE PHOTO).

After lunch we went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. This place is huge! Just when we thought we were at the end there was yet another courtyard area that the emporer lived in. The extravagance was somewhat lost on us as we were hit by the vanity of it all. Carl commented on how they built this thing on the backs of all these slaves in order to seperate themselves from the people, gathered all this wealth and then lived in fear of loosing it all and being assassinated.
Tianamen Square is an extremely important place to people in

China as it represents a change in the country and for the people. People come from all over the country to visit this area and many have never seen outsiders before. Several came up to us to ask if they could take a picture with us. A couple of young girls even tried to sneak pictures of themselves with us. When we discovered them they were going to run away but we invited them to come and actually get a picture with us.

Even though this area is so important there were many peddlers pushing their

tourist trinkets at us. This occurred at the Temple of Heaven also. Rolex watch?

Prada bag? Hats? Chinese version of a hacky sack (this one has feathers)?

Postcards?

Here is a picture of our bus number 9. The best bus in the bunch! TTFN! lj

Day 1 in China

View out our window. Many bldgs have grass on the roofs. People in the picture cleaning are fake, although we saw the real window washers dangling from skyscrapers several times.





Well we arrived after a very short flight and were served some form of Chinese food on the plane. Not quite (by this I mean not at all) the spiciness of Korean cuisine. The airport was uneventful, except for two of our brothers that is. The airport has these super sensitive temperature detection machines which you don't even know you are being scanned by. They had enough of a high temp that they were pulled out and taken to a hospital, quarantined and had tests run. Fortunately they were both returned (one is on our bus and the other on another bus). The rest of us made it to the hotel where everything is pretty techno-geekish. In order to turn on the lights you put your key in a slot and the lights come on and you can turn them off individually. Take the key out and none of the electronics work. It took a little bit of time to figure out that we needed to leave the key in to keep the power on.

Very lush and spacious rooms (bathrooms fully stocked). Very cushy beds and a big flat screen tv. We have the afternoon free and will be venturing out after a little rest. The time is an hour behind Seoul time. Many buildings, including the airport and the hotel we are staying at was built for the 2008 Olympics. Very impressive.

7:30 pm Beijing Time...
We keep finding new things in our room including a scale in the bathroom, bathsalts, blinds and curtains on remote, tv in the bathroom as well as a phone, really long bath towels. A fancy coffee maker that requires a bachelor's degree to operate (too bad for us).

Went out to eat and see if I could find a battery for my watch that stopped and for a xd card for my camera to replace the one I lost with all my pictures for this trip :( but didn't have any success at either even when we found a Wal-mart in Beijing, China! This Wal-mart has a tea shop, herbal shop, Chinese food stand, but prices that rival the states. No deals there.

We went to dinner at a noodle restaurant where the food brought sweat to Carl's face, a yummy smile to Tanya's, and amore for the pot stickers on Jacob's and frustration to mine as I attempted to master the art of eating with chopsticks. Grrrr. I'm hungry!

Walking about you would think you were in New York. The stores are teaming with goods and sport some high price tags. Hopefully we will get directed to the areas where the prices are what we have heard tell of (silk ties at $1-2, suits for $30). Well TTFN! lj