Elbows up, side to side...

We slept in a bit the next day and grabbed a quick bite to eat from our favorite Asian restaurant, 7-11, then headed off to explore the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square (with our detailed directions, in English, from the hostel).

Immediately upon arriving in China, we noticed two major things:

• It is incredibly dirty. Garbage floats around streets covered in dirt. Men spit EVERYWHERE (which really annoyed me… what on earth is in your mouth that’s so terrible, but not a single woman has an issue with? Gross). The air quality is horrendous due to the pollution… “Made in China” at it’s finest. It almost hurts to breath. It’s stinky and causes immediate sinus issues. You get used to it, but it’s unlike like anything I’ve ever seen, and I never would have guessed it be so bad. People watch the pollution levels and plan their days accordingly like I would check the weather from bed on a winter morning. “UGH, -25 AGAIN? Better stay snuggled up forever.”

A car looking like this is totally normal. I bet it wasn't parked on the street more than overnight. I'm serious... it's DIRTY!!

• Our other main observation? The people are VERY determined to get wherever they are going. De-boarding a plane? So much for the front of the plane to get off first, row by row. Whoever grabs their bags quikest and can push their way up the aisle the fastest wins. Want to check out at the grocery store? Be prepared to be budged, pushed, and trampled. Waiting for the bus? That line you waited in is a joke, as you’ll be hurtled right over by some anxious woman. There is a severe sense of urgency that almost is silly. Really, why are you lining up to get on a plane 82 minutes before take off? It’s not going anywhere until we all get on. It was so, so, SO hard to get used to this being the norm. I don’t think anyone was trying to be rude, it’s just the way it is. But it was INFURIATING. I really struggled with this, and did not bite my tongue at all, letting sharp, snarky, sarcastic comments fly out of my mouth anytime I was shoved out of the way: “Oh I’m sorry, you TOTALLY deserve to shove me in the face and get off the bus first. What on EARTH was I thinking to exit in an orderly fashion?!” Oops, sorry China.

So, we walked through the stinky, dirty streets, and breathed the heavily polluted air on our way to our days adventure. Even with the smog and spit, it was an enjoyable walk and not hard to find our destination (again, English signs, English announcements, Engligh spoken).

Tiananmen Square is the walled area right outside the Forbidden City. You my recognize images of a brave soul, standing down an army of tanks while participating in a pro-democracy protest. Sadly, the protests ended unfortunately brutaly, resulting in what is now known as The Tiananmen Square massacre, after Chinese troops smothered the pro-democratic movement. The Chinese government attempted to conceal the events that unfolded on that June day some 25 plus years ago, but the image of that brave soul, fondly called “Tank Man” is widly known today, along with the real story of what occurred. It really is a neat spot.

Of course, we brought the selfie stick, as to capture more than just Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square look-alike images we could just download from Google Images (well, not from China, but later when we get home), but also shots with us in them. And, as Will is quite particular and like to frame up a photo a certain way, a selfie stick was our one and only answer. So, we popped that sucker out and snapped away.

While posing for our first iPhone-timer-selfie-stick-photo, we heard a few snickers. Didn’t think much of it, fixed our hair, posed again, and heard a few more giggles. Then saw some fingers pointing our way. And saw a few more… until we realized we were the only people in China with a damn selfie stick. WHAT? How is that even possible?! There is no way those things aren’t made in China, and they were so popular in Japan and Korea. So, we just smiled and snapped away. And thought we should have imported some from Korea. Those would have gone like hot-cakes!

We got in the gate and explored the square, was pushed and budged in front of to buy tickets to enter the Forbidden City, and walked through the gate. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace for about 500 years staring in the early 1400’s, from the Ming dynasty until the end of the Qing dynasty. We easily could have spent 2 more days just wandering around. It’s MASSIVE. Truly a whole city surrounded by walls, preserving the greatness that comes with being, or knowing, an emporer.

Although a kind gesture, that little girl hated Will. He bashfully took the flag back, stuffing it into his pocket, later losing it.

Every shrine, room, gate, or semi-point of interest had a hoard of people in front of it. And guess what? We had to very AGRESSIVELY push our way to the front in order to snap a pick or see the site. And, right as we arrived to the main site, a little old woman would elbow or jab us and INSIST she stand directly where we were. No waiting turns. No orderly fashion. Just pure chaos. We quickly coined the chorus of ‘Lean like a Chollo’ as our anthem in situations like this, and would push our way to the front, ‘elbows up, side to side.’ It got so bad at one point, that I barely survived the crowd and I abandoned the effort before even seeing whatever room people were peering into.

“UGH! I need to get out of here. I’ll meet you in back.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get a picture,” Will replied, yelling over the heads of the pushy population. I sat and waited, and a few moments later, Will sheepishly approached:

“I did a bad thing.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I shoved an old lady. She was pushing so hard, so I just pushed right back.”

See what this non order does to nice people?! He still feels bad, and I still laugh. I would have loved to see my patient husband smash the rude old woman… of course, it wasn’t nearly as violent as he made it initially sound, as really he just leaned on her a bit, but he still feels badly, and I’d still love to have experienced it.

We wandered through the walled City, and stopped to see some ancient Chinese collectables on display at the Palace Museum. Will especially enjoyed an exhibit of ancient Chinese stone Drums of Qin from 600-300 BC. Each had a poem etched into the stone, sharing a story about the king and life in the kingdom. It was the oldest thing we had seen thus far.

After all that history, pushing, and walking, we were beat. Although we took the subway to the Forbidden City & Tiananmen square, it was a nice day and we decided to walk the 4ish km home. We stopped for a bite, did some research for the rest of Beijing, which consisted of using Yahoo Search instead of our beloved Google, as Google is considered evil and full of lies and is blocked from use, went back to the market to feed my apple obsession, and went to bed quite early.

The next day was a big day, the biggest day of the trip thus far. We were going to see one of the most well known sites on the planet. If there is other life out there, surely this must be the icon of Earth… it’s big, old, and ended up being one of the coolest experiences of my life. In fact, I stated numerous times “this is the best day of my life” while climbing its greatness…

The Great Wall of China awaited us the next morning. And boy oh boy, was it a great day!

From Beijing, With Love,

Sara + Will