Beijing: big, boisterous, beautiful…

This posting is being brought to you by the Dragon Lady and the Bunny. More on that later.

We have just completed a whirlwind tour of Beijing that has left us slightly breathless and wanting more. We managed to check off several “bucket list” items, but two days in Beijing is nowhere near enough time. It could take two days just to appreciate the magnitude of the city and to make a list of all the thing one wanted to do while there.

Before we begin, here is a reminder of just how large China is. It took us almost four hours to fly from Hong Kong to Beijing.

We pulled into Hong Kong (HK) mid-day Sunday and were immediately whisked away to the new HK International Airport. After a three and a half hour flight to Beijing we went straight to our hotel, the Four Seasons Beijing. Between the time it took to get to the airport, the waiting time to board, the time it took to get everyone’s luggage, and the time to drive from the Beijing Airport to the hotel, it was almost 10:00 at night by the time we were in our rooms.

Our first glimpse of Beijing from our hotel window the next morning.

The map indicates the location of the hotel with respect to many of the sites we visited. This is key to understanding why it took an hour to go only several miles at times.

The next morning our guide, Martin, laid out the schedule: drive to Great Wall; cable car up to Great Wall; explore Great Wall; drive back to city center the Temple of Heaven; drive to Tiananmen Square; drive to hotel; dinner in hotel; crash into bed; up early next morning and check out; drive to Forbidden City; explore Forbidden City; drive to airport; plane back to Hong Kong and sail for Vietnam. Whew!

I put the items about driving in the above schedule because when Martin was asked by one of our group how long it would take to get to, say, the Great Wall, he responded by saying about 45 minutes to an hour – or depending on traffic an hour to two hours… So you can see that traffic is one of the “big” issues in Beijing. There are over five million cars in Beijing and it seems that they are all on the roads at all times. The city officials have a clever way of trying to control traffic: they bam vehicles with certain digits as the last number of the license plate on specific days of the week. To me, that is akin to the Dutch boy trying to hold back the water story…

The map indicates the approximate location of the section of wall we visited. It took us over an hour to get there on a day with relatively light traffic - we were told...

The Great Wall as seen from the approach road. We were about 10 kilometers away (6 miles, more or less) and I managed to get this through the bus window with a 30X zoom.

Well, anyway, we made it to the Great Wall. We went to the Badaling Section…that’s Badaling, not Bod-a-Bing… There is a cable car that goes to the top of the wall and you can either walk down or ride back. We got off the car and felt, for the first time, the cold and the wind. It was FREEZING! Although the air temperature was about 25-30 degrees, the wind chill made it feel a lot colder. They announced that the cable car would soon be stopped due to the wind so we took one final look and several last pictures and took the cable car back down.

Another bucket list item gets a check mark!

 Crowded, windy, cold, steep - we loved it! Next time in the Spring or Fall...

 Our view from the top of the Great Wall.

We managed to get the cable car back down before they stopped it due to high winds - what fun riding a swinging cable car hundreds of feet in the air over inaccessible rocks...

The most surprising thing about the Wall was the steepness of the stairs and ramps. We had been told that walking and  climbing would be difficult, but were really put to the test. We want to return and spend some time really exploring – but we will probably do it at another time of year.

It is fascinating to realize that this structure was begun several thousand years ago with no machinery or tools except for hand labor and hand tools. The original wall was over 13,000 miles long and is over 2300 years old.

The Badaling section was restored beginning in 1957 and has over 60,000,000 visitors a year (most of them on the day we visited…). There are many steps, not stairs but individual steps, and steep ramps that make walking difficult. In addition to the geometric constraints of the walkways, the hordes of people taking selfies and the Oriental concept of personal space (or lack thereof) makes it quite difficult to just mosey along or linger in any one spot.

After leaving the Great Wall we proceeded to our lunch spot. The “restaurant” was on the second floor of one of the largest shops I have ever seen. We were driven to the Runze Jade Garden. We were guided through a demonstration workshop showing how jade is carved, polished, and otherwise decorated. As we left the workshop we were taken through the main shop area and led upstairs to the restaurant. We decided that this was outstanding marketing genius: they  give you lunch and then let you digest in the showroom… We found a few trinkets that we couldn’t live without and then back to the bus and our next stop.

The Temple of Heaven is located just to the south of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

The Temple of Heaven is the symbol of Beijing. The stair step pagoda appears everywhere as a sign of good luck. The Temple was the exclusive place of worship and animal sacrifice of the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is now a public park and filled with people enjoying the atmosphere, playing games, exercising, and visiting the revered sites. We saw many older people playing an incomprehensible card game that involves a lot of slapping of the cards on the table, shouted remarks of the kibitzers, and scowls of those whose cards were bested by others. Fun! There were also fierce, fast games of hacky-sack played by people who looked to be in their sixties and seventies! Amazing how these spry oldsters made the game look easy.

 This is the hacky-sack game. The man on the left jumping up to make a pass with his feet may look young from this angle, but when I passed him and looked back, it was apparent that he was well into his older years - I hesitate to guess, but at least in his sixties, I'd say. The man in the white cap is even older, and the lady is as well.

The high energy card games are the main attraction. Gambling is not allowed, but all scores are kept in memory and no one ever forgets...

we were so taken with the children we saw. We were also keenly aware of the family interactivity. Children are doted upon in China and most of the Far East. This little girl was just having fun with her Mother and I believe the Mother was having as much fun as she. Mom was very proud that I wanted to capture her and her daughter in a picture. As she tried to get the little girl to pose, I snapped several candid shots and this one just got my heart.

Our original schedule called for us to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City the next morning; however, early March is the annual meeting time of the government representatives from the provinces and the Great Hall of the People is the spot. That spot is in Tiananmen Square, so the square was closed to ordinary people – including tourists.

Tiananmen Square serves as a "gateway" to the Forbidden City, but because of the constraints on access the day we visited, we could not do both at that time.

 The north gate and reviewing stands.

The Great Hall of the People. Unfortunately, we were on the east side of the square and it was late afternoon, so the sun was setting.

The good news is that we could still walk along one side of the square and get our views of the Great Hall and the infamous location of the student-tank confrontation (that is not mentioned, but is known to all…). In addition, we were able to get to the Tiananmen Square north gate that is the site of the military reviewing stands and is the location used for most news broadcasts from China. Remember that is was VERY cold and windy. We had to walk for about a half-hour to get from where the bus dropped us to the square and another twenty minutes or so to the north gate.

Back to the hotel and a hot shower. Our dinner was a choice of set menus in one of three restaurants in the Four seasons: a “typical” American; an Italian; and a traditional Chinese. Seventeen of the nineteen of us opted for the Chinese. The meal consisted of six courses (from suckling pig to shrimp and scallop fried rice in lotus leaf wrapper) with wine, beer, soda, or tea. Excellent!

Early the next morning we checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden /city was the home of a series of 24 emperors dating back to 1368. It consists of a series of palaces totaling 9999 rooms and many ceremonial buildings that were forbidden to any but the emperors family, immediate circle of advisors and friends, and invitees. It is no longer forbidden and is one of the top tourist attractions in Beijing. It is so popular that they have to limit the number of tickets sold in a day – to 80,000. That is not a typo: 80,000! It took us a little over two hours to walk through from the south gate to the north gate. Martin had given us little “voice boxes” with earpieces so that he could provide a running narration and we could hear him over the noise of the crowds. Keep in mid that it was in the 20s with a steady strong wind – COLD!

Looking across the main inner courtyard of Forbidden City. This will give you some idea of just how large it is.

This is the moat surrounding Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is as popular with Chinese tourists as it is with foreigners. In fact, we discovered that many of the Chinese we saw were from far away in the provinces and many of them had little, if any, interactions with westerners. It was an interesting cultural experience to be on the receiving end of so many inquisitive stares and furtive glances at our faces.

After we left Forbidden City we had a lunch stop on our way to the airport. This time we stopped at a hotel know for its lunch buffet. What a buffet! If I had known what we were going to see, I would have taken more pictures, but we were hungry and I only managed to get one shot of our chef making noodles for noodle soup...mmmmmmm, good!

The master noodle chef. He starts with a ball of dough and uses his fingers to manipulate it into smaller and smaller threads - no machines here.

During our many bus rides, Martin kept us entertained and educated with history, cultural mores, language, and fun facts. For instance, did you know – or realize- that the city limits of Beijing are about the same in area as the country of Belgium? Did you know that the “official” census of Beijing accounts for about 24 million people, but the unofficial numbers are in the range of 30-35 million? Many people disregard the government edict to report their new address when they move from one place to another, so it is difficult, if not impossible, to accurately determine the population of any place at any specific time. This is complicated by the need for workers to move frequently to follow the work.

Among the topics Martin discussed with us is the Chinese lunar cycle and the generally recognized belief in fung shui as a guiding force in much of daily living. Among these concepts is the assignment of animal symbols to each year in a 12-year cycle. For example, my birth year is assigned to the rabbit and Bonnie’s is assigned to the dragon. Thus, we have my introductory comment regarding the Dragon Lady and the Bunny!

We left Beijing with mixed feelings. We were so very pleased to have been there and to have seen and done the things we saw and did; however, we want to return and take more time – in warmer weather – and we want to learn more about this absolutely fascinating and fabulous place. The one excellent thing about the weather was that even though the wind was clod and biting, it was so strong that it swept much of the pollution that hangs over the city away for the two days we were there. The skies were clear and the air was not visible. Beijing measures the daily air pollution on a scale from 0 to 500. Anything under 100 is considered quite good. For the two days we were there it measured 87! Martin told us that the average measurement is around 200-300. Good, cold weather indeed!

We now have a sea day and then on to beautiful Ha Long Bay and Hanoi in Vietnam. Stay tuned…

A quick tour of Old Manila

We are in Manila, Philippines for a day.

 The really neat thing about this stop is that most of the crew will get to see their families and loved ones. Many of our fellow passengers chose to stay on board and look in on the crew reunions. Bonnie and I discussed it and decided that that is the crew’s special time and much as we wanted to meet a few of the children and relatives of some of our favorite crew members, we do not want to infringe on their limited time alone.

We opted for a half-day tour of the old city – Intramuros, the old Spanish city within the walls – and a quick glimpse of part of the "American" city, that is outside the walls of Intramuros.We had only four places scheduled for the tour: Fort Santiago; San Augustin Church; the Jose Rizal monument; a refreshment stop.

The old fort was interesting in that the Japanese used it as their last stand during WWII. Over 600 bodies were found in a dungeon, many of whom had been starved or suffocated.

 The entrance to Fort Santiago.

A view across the old parade ground which is now a park.

San Augustin Church is, as you might expect, dedicated to Saint Augustine. The church is a “working” church, but the church complex also houses a museum, a monastery, and a soup kitchen. We saw the inside of the church and part of the museum. The trompe l’oeil ceilings and doorway arches are incredible. The museum has a relic collection that we found hard to understand, but many people of the Catholic faith would probably find them much more interesting.

 That is a FLAT, painted ceiling! Quite an eyeful...

The detail around the doorway is also a flat, painted work of art.

After we left the church, we crossed the street to a kitschy tourist restaurant – “Barbara’s Restaurant and Dinner Show” – that is strictly for tourist groups. We had originally been scheduled to have that refreshment stop at the famed Manila Hotel, but there is a marathon race being held and traffic is a nightmare.

After our rest stop, we toured several of the more recent landmarks from the bus: the Coconut Palace; the US Embassy (the most heavily fortified embassy in the world); the Cultural Center of the Philippines; the Jose Rizal monument and execution ground.

The Coconut Palace was originally built by Imelda Marcos as a private hotel for Pope John Paul II to stay on his visit in 1981. He felt it was too opulent for a Pope and declined. It is currently used as the Vice Presidential Palace.

The Coconut Palace is indeed constructed from all coconut palm materials.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines was built in the late 1960s by then-President Ferdinand Marcos. It was to showcase Philippine culture, history, and arts. Unfortunately, it has evolved into a rather large, unwieldy, exhibition center with some theatre and arts programs, but is not used nearly to its potential.

The Jose Rizal Monument and Execution Ground are remembrances of the man considered to be one of the Philippines greatest heroes in that he was the loudest voice urging the overthrow of the Spanish occupation of the Philippines in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. His monument is guarded 24 hours a day by uniformed Philippine Army personnel and a smaller monument nearby commemorates the exact spot where he was executed in 1896 (at the age of 35). Rizal Park is, however, a beautiful oasis of parks, playgrounds, and other monuments to which Manila’s populace flock when possible.

 A view across Rizal Park.

The monument and its guardians.

We were back on the ship in time for lunch!

Tomorrow we have a sea day and then Hong Kong (HK). HK is the last stop on this leg of the trip and we will spend two nights overnight there. Actually, the ship will overnight there, Bonnie and I will be taking off for three days in Beijing. I will write that up on our return.

The next leg of the voyage – HK to Singapore – will be tough to keep up with the blog. In two weeks we will visit five ports and have overnight stays in four of them. There are only four sea days from this coming Sunday until March 21st.

Soooo…stay tuned and expect a lag between notices.

Orangutans and monkeys…what a combination!

We are docked in Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia today.

Sandakan is on the northern tip of Borneo, almost off the map above.



This blowup of Sabah shows the location of Sandakan, Sepilok and Labuk Bay.

We chose to take one of the ship’s tours to an Orangutan rehabilitation center and a Proboscis Monkey preserve. Last year we had a stop in Kota Kinabalu on the north side of Sabah. We also had an opportunity to see Orangs and Proboscis Monkeys at that time, but it was in a zoo-like controlled environment. The stop we made today was the real deal – both animals in the wild.

 Jane of the Jungle. Not really, but Bonnie of the Jungle just doesn't have that ring to it...

Forget about us, but look at the trees and vines. This area must be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.

Orangutans are found only on the island of Borneo, the fourth largest island in the world, and are an endangered species. They share about 94% of our DNA and are one of the most fascinating creatures we have ever encountered. The Proboscis Monkey is also endangered and is also a native of Borneo. While not nearly as close an evolutionary relative as the Orangutan, the Proboscis is nonetheless as fascinating.

The day began early with a short bus trip to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (“Sepilok”).

Sepilok consists of about 30,000 acres of virgin rainforest. The Centre has separate areas for adult Orangs, juvenile Orangs, and injured or sickly Orangs. Our visit began at the nursery. There were about six or seven juveniles and two adult females in residence. We were able to watch them from a glassed-in observation area adjacent to the “play yard.” This is the only outside area of Sepilok that is in any way artificial. By artificial I mean that is closely monitored and easily accessible by the handlers and biologists.

Sepilok is basically open forest. There are no fences, roads (except for the entry road and several maintenance paths), or other vestiges of human impact. The object of the Centre is to take these animals and let them return to the wild. They have a feeding schedule – and we were fortunate to be there at the morning feeding – but as soon as they stop coming regularly to the feeding stations, the biologists know they have been successfully acclimated to the wild (because the find their own food). They are then  re-captured and released in another part of the island in a natural habitat.

This youngster is about two. Orang mothers keep and nurture their offspring until they are about 8 or 9 and then send them off on their own. They do not mate while they are nurturing one youngster, but only when they are "single" again. Unlike most other primate species, Orangs may only have three or four offspring in their lifetime. That is why it is so important to keep them protected. They are in danger of dying out.

We could have stood in the viewing room for hours watching these close relatives. Orangs have four arms and no legs. The handlers, the biologists, and the locals call their limbs as “upper arms” and their lower limbs “lower arms.” When you watch them closely for a while it becomes apparent that they have the same number of fingers (toes?) on each limb and they are also one of the few animals other than humans that have an opposable thumb. If you don't think that is important, try to do almost anything without using your thumbs…

To see them effortlessly move among the trees, vines, platforms, and cables in the open areas is to marvel at how closely they seem “almost human.”

After spending about an hour in the nursery, we moved to the viewing platform.

This was where the feeding took place. Several handlers went up to fixed platforms and dumped baskets of fruit and vegetables. As soon as they left, the Orangs started coming out of the trees and began their feast.

Each Orang is tattooed upon entry to the Centre. The handlers and biologists use the tattoo number to keep track of who eats, how much, when, etc. As soon as they determine that the Orang appears to be feeding significantly away from the platform, they arrange for the animal’s return to the wild.
I should point out that the Orangs that are at Sepilok are either found injured, orphaned, or have otherwise been set apart from their natural environment.

After another roughly another hour of viewing the Orangs we returned to the bus and made our way to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary (“Labuk”).

Labuk is part of a private reserve. It was begun by a palm oil planter who was taken by both the plight of the monkeys and the desire to assist the local wildlife community. Labuk is also in a natural state, but is somewhat smaller than Sepilok.

Proboscis Monkeys (“PM”) live in mangrove forests and can swim as well as move among the trees and vines. They are the “Jimmy Durante” of the animal world. They have faces that only a Mother could love and they have social habits that only Casanova would be seriously comfortable with. They can grow to about 60-70 pounds (of solid muscle) despite their rather frail appearance, pot bellies, and prominent nose (whence the name “Proboscis”).

A group of PMs is called a tribe and is headed by one dominant male. The male can have as many females as he can handle (insert joke here…). Solitary males live near tribes as a group of bachelors. There are no solitary females. Without going into too much graphic detail for the sake of the younger readers of this blog, suffice it to say that an adult PM can, and does, try to mate with any and all females within his harem as often as possible. He also spends a lot of his “off” time defending the harem from any of the bachelor males who might challenge his rank and authority. That happens quite often, so as you can imagine the dominant male is a pretty busy fellow – doing one thing or another…

 This mother and child are typical of the harem.

Bonnie does not have a monkey growing out of her head. The alpha male leapt onto our viewing platform and was checking to see if he could add to his harem...I think...

 his will give you an idea of just how up close and personal we were able to get with these wild animals.

Uh...cover your eyes...

 Hey, Mom...what's he doing over there??

The alpha male made it very clear to the smaller upstart on the stairs that he was not welcome to join them on the platform.

We stayed at Labuk for about an hour and then returned to the ship in time for a late lunch.

Tomorrow is a sea day followed by a day in Manila, Philippines. Stay tuned…

Balinese cuisine is so different – flavorful, spicy, comfort food…

Today we went to a cooking school in the small town of Kuta.

There were fifteen of us and as we left the dock in our minivans, we couldn’t help but be curious as to why they split us up into three groups rather than just putting us in a small bus. It became evident as we crossed the new Benoa Harbor Bridge and Viaduct into the small waterfront town of Kuta. The wide boulevard soon started to narrow and alley once we turned into what I thought was an alley. The alley was actually a two-way street that threaded its way between two rows of high walls punctuated by ornate doorways and occasional shop fronts. We stopped in front of one such wall and were led out of the vans into a small courtyard.

The courtyard was the entry to the Anika Guest House and Balinese Cooking School. We climbed a rather steep set of stairs to the upper deck. There before us was a long table for us to sit at and settle in. At each place there was a small booklet with a listing and description of the various spices and herbs we would be using along with recipes for all of the dishes we would be cooking that day.

Our instructor was Mr. Komang, the resident chef. He wasted no time as he introduced himself and picked up a small dish from a platter of small dishes, leaves, shoots, and stalks set in front of him. What followed was about an hour of Mr. Komang reviewing all of the items on his tray and telling us about how each is used in Balinese cooking. He also had many asides regarding how many of the items could be used as herbal medicines and folk remedies.

Mr. Komang then showed us our work stations – this was to be a hands-on course in local cookery and we were again split up into three groups of five.

Each group had its own table of work stations and sets of foods to be cut, chopped, ground, and otherwise prepared fro our lunch. Each group also had an assistant to Mr. Komang to give us guidance and to provide smaller demonstrations. This was one of the more interesting aspects of this class since the assistants had very limited English. Their presence confirmed to me that cooking is universal and that one does not have to be fluent in another language to make cooking a shared experience.

This is what we started with.

For the next three hours we cut, chopped, ground, and stir-fried. The cutting and chopping were not so bad, but all of the finely diced ingredients had to then be mashed using mortars and pestles cut from volcanic rock to make a soupy paste for the seasonings for each dish. The cutting and chopping were what we expected. The grinding – typical in every Balinese home – was not.It took real muscle power to get all those bits and pieces mushed together to make a fine paste. The techniques looked easy enough when demonstrated; but, wow, do your arms get tired quickly when you are not used to making those types of rocking, grinding motions using your entire upper body to get some oomph behind it.

This is what we ended with before we started on the mortar and pestle.

These are the volcanic rock mortar and pestle "appliances" that we used to further process the diced vegetables, herbs, leavers, and spices. The mixture had to be ground to a smooth paste - HARD WORK!

What we would up with was a seven-course luncheon that was one of the best meals of the trip so far. It was good not only because we helped prepare it or because we knew the provenance of the ingredients, but because Balinese cuisine is distinctive among eastern cuisines for its use of herbs and spices, a number of which are not found even in other parts of Indonesia. We have had Indonesian food before, but this was a revelation!

The top picture is a look at our finished dishes and the bottom picture is one of the Chef's assistants cooking our dessert.

Here is our menu for the day:
Balinese Beef Satay
Grilled Fish and Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves
Chicken Curry
Spinach in Tomato-Chili Sambal
Gado-Gado (steamed vegetables in spicy peanut sauce)
Nasi Goreng (the Indonesian national fried rice dish with a Balinese twist)
Mei Goreng (another Indonesian specialty, but with stir-fried thin noodles rather than rice)
Pickled Carrot and Cucumber Salad
Sambal Olek for seasoning (this fiery chili condiment is also well-known in the east and really spikes the flavors in many foods – HOT, Hot, hot…)
Dessert was actually two more courses:
Green Pancakes filled with Coconut and Palm Sugar
Sticky Black Rice Pudding with Coconut Cream

It turned out that the assistants were Mr. Komang’s Mother, Father, sister and daughter. Mr. Komang on the left; Mother next to him; daughter next to Mother; brother next on right; sister on the right.

Several shots of the apprentice chefs hard at work and with their finished product.

After filling ourselves to the brim, we rolled down the stairs and back to the ship. This was probably the most fun five hours that we could have spent even though we really had to work.

After we arrived back on board and were cleaning up in our suite, we heard a lot of noise from the verandah. We went outside and saw an entire flotilla of boats – all sizes and shapes and all with banners and slogans draped. We found out from some of the Indonesian staff that the issue has to do with some local politicians desire to reclaim land in the harbor and erect the usual conglomeration of high-rises, casinos, and island estates. The locals are incensed over this “land grab.”

Just a few of the hundreds of small craft that ran back and forth in the harbor.

We now have a couple of sea days and then on to Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia (that’s one address: Sandakan is the city; Sabah is the state, Borneo is the island; and, Malaysia is…well, you know) to visit with the Orangutans and Proboscis monkeys. Stay tuned…