Beijing , September 27, 2007
Free day – Silk Market but too much badgering; I don't play the game well. Nice lunch with Lindsey and Kelsey, finding internet café, HAIRCUT – 2.5 hours including the back, head, arm and foot massage. Nice haircut to boot, but would have enjoyed the sidewalk barbers, too – being able to sit out in the sunshine with your neighbors walking by and speaking to you both as the work is done.
Beijing has wonderful sights, and a few challenges. First, they are really getting ready for the Olympics. Eyesores are being torn down, or if they're low, walls with tiled roofs are being constructed in front of them. Everything street-side is getting a fresh coat of paint (if not all 4 sides). Flowers are everywhere and new subway lines will be coming on line soon. The “birds nest” stadium is visible from the highway as is the aquatic center.
But the plight of the tourist is still to be schlepped around from historic site to historic site and bundled into restaurants where all you see is other European, American or Australian tourists. We find it insulting, since we, of course, are “different” – we are here to study and be part of things, not just to take pictures and gawk. That's from our perspective; unfortunately we look like, often act like, and end up going where all the rest of the tourists do. I am proud of us, however, in that we use the internet café in the Merry Mart No. 8 a hike down the street from our hotel, and buy fruit at the small stand across the street, bargaining down from tourist prices to what we should pay prices (usually). That is offset by the trips to the “Silk Market” where several spent plenty of money on gifts, replacing grease-stained tshirts (watch those dumplings – they squirt liquid grease every which way no matter how important the shirt is to your limited wardrobe), and jade jewelry.
One of the best things about Beijing was three lectures given by Rachel Stern, a PhD student from Berkeley , who is working on her dissertation research on environmental litigation in China . She reviewed what we've learned to date and moved on to how Beijing is working toward a green Olympics and her own work on environmental protection in China .
On to inner China…