Ain't No Mountain Safe Enough

I started a list of my day excursions I planed to pack my last month with visiting all of these sights, I really wanted to see some Chinese mountains that are in the Chinese paintings.  I wanted to go to:  Jingdong Forest George Scenic Area, Jingdong Karst Cave, Jingdong Grand Canyon,  Yunmeng Mountain National Forest Park, Shenglian Mountain Scenic Area, Qinglong Gorge Scenic Area, Jiufeng National Forest Park, Shangfang Mountain National Park, Guyaju Scenic Area(Ancient Cliffside Residence) and Tanzhe Temple. 

I planned to see Yunmeng Mountain National Forest Park today.  Yes past tense, as all these plans are foiled by unsafeness that I should not be allowed to travel outside the city alone for fear of being adopted(I think this is their weird way of saying kidnapped).  

My in-laws are too old to travel, nor do they want to go anyway.  Really how am I to make friends when I'm accompanied to and from picking the boys up straight to the school and home again.  I see pregnant women and old nosy women on a regular basis.  The 2 women I met that do speak English and were friendly I only saw a few times in passing even though they live in the same complex.  You are not supposed to talk to those you don't know.  As I don't want some nosy old busy body knowing my business, just how am I supposed to make a friend?

So now I'm p-i-ss-e-d and want to go home.  Really how safe is the National park when it costs 60 rmb to get in, vs all the nooks and crannies in the vast Metropolis of Beijing that a person could be stashed?  I think staying here is less safe.  But I'm just the foreigner here.

How I miss my beloved Japan and being able to travel freely and not feel they are all out to get me.  34 more days and counting.  And now you know why I've made friends with retail therapy.  

Jingdong Stone Forest Gorge Scenic Area

Jingdong Karst Cave

Jingdong Grand Canyon

Yunmeng Mountain National Forest Park

Shenglian Mountain Scenic Area

Qinglong Gorge Scenic Area

Jiufeng National Forest park

Shangfang Mountain National Park

Guyaju Scenic Area

Tanzhe Temple

Xidan

So instead of saving one of the biggest bookstores for myself, I decided we would go there this weekend.  Xidan bookstore and I wanted to check out the world's longest escalator in Joy City Mall less than 2 blocks away.  

My mother-in-law tells us it's time to get off the bus.  I pull out my map and tell her Xidan is down farther, we have to go past Tianmen Square.  No we go here.  Okay, well as we started to go down a street that looked like Wanfujing Street(it was).  I didn't want to come here, I want to go to Xidan, Xidan bookstore.  Oh.  We get back on bus.  Bus drops us off right in front of the bookstore.

It's a dreary cold day, 20% rain turned into light sprinkles.  But inside the 4 floor book store not including the basement it was hot, no air conditioner and filled  with people(weekend).  People brought their own stools to sit on.  They were eating their lunch right there amongst the books that were scattered all over the floor.   Well the boys didn't last to long looking at books.  Too crowded, toys and game tablet like things to play with instead, so we left.

It's lunch time, so she's trying to stear us toward home.  I said several times we want to go to Joy City Mall to ride the world's longest escalator (so the website says).  We take subway back 1 stop and eat there.  I caught on to her little trick.  No, we go back, you want to go home, you won't come back here to ride escalator.  Hmm.  So as I was further showing on subway exit map where I wanted to go, we start walking.  I would think a big mall like where we are heading has tons of food.  I don't know, lets eat here, 77th street, as we are passing.  Ok.  There is hardly any selection on what we walked through, we ended up with yucky pizza. (I really am looking forward to real pizza.  For people who  like to taste the flavors of food, they don't like any flavor on pizza.)  The boys see a sign for ice skating rink.  In the B3 level we go to look at the rink.  It was cold down there.  Interesting to see people skating in shorts, tank tops,  skirts and dresses.  Very few that I could tell actually knew how to skate, but the rink was too small for them to enjoy.  

Finally we get out and as she points us back to the main road.  I kept saying I want to go to Joy City Mall for the world's longest escalator.  This way.  W hen we are back outside of the starting subway exit.  I stop and say we need to go the other way.  We finally pass a bigger city section map on the street that shows Joy City.  So we go.  She decides it's a good time to go into a bakery store and get some treats for the boys.  Mind you we have this same bakery across the street from home.  This one is packed.  Me plus 2 stay outside.  Now she is too tired to ride escalator with us.  Aidan didn't want to ride it.  So we took the escalator from from ground floor to the 6th floor.  Only one way(up), lots of smaller 1 floor escalators all over the place.  

We tried to get on to a glass elevator in the mall center, but it was over weight twice, so we kept walking.  Found a better elevator, glass going down the outside of the building with a street view.  

Obviously didn't get to explore the book store withe the kids, so I go back the next day.  I did get the complete novels of Sherlock Holmes(I'm loving the BBC's Sherlock and our Elementary) and a chinese watercolor book on landscape.  I am surprised they have quite a few children's cassette tapes.  People are very nosy, I had several customers come up to me and try to look at my books.  Maybe they figure I'd be buying the expensive foreigner books, they all had cards(possibly a point card?) and wanted to ....Who knows, I just turn and walk the other way.  They are not store personnel.  (In stores before people would be asking for people's receipts, some sort of scam I assume.)   But overall not that impressed with this bookstore.  I rather liked the bookstores on Wanfujing St. better.

Honey comb walkways at 77th street

Way too many malls

World's tallest escalator

Joy city mall lounge

I have an app for that

As a kid, I never got carsick in busses or cars.  But as I get older, I find I get a sour stomach if I'm not in the front seat.  Good thing I'm not that way here!  Course it could be standing on a bus, moving around freely, even with all the sudden stops.

When I was waiting for the bus, I heard a fairly familiar wailing of a siren.  I've not heard many ambulances, but no one moved over.  Whether there just wasn't any room, they just don't, or couldn't hear it over the construction I don't know.

As a moving van drove by, the back was left open, on purpose so the people riding in the back wouldn't die of heat!  

Saw the coolest thing go whizzing by when I was on the bus.  All I can describe it as is an electric standing unicycle.  I really wish I could've seen him stop and start.

Black n Tan, it's not to drink, it's the color of children's teeth.  I finally got an app for brushing teeth and it goes much better.  I love that floss picks are for kids too, they are really good about letting me floss their teeth.

Fashion update:  It is okay to wear your fanny pack over one shoulder or like a sash.  Men included.  Men can wear bedazzzled shirts too.  Sun umbrellas.  In fact most skin care here has whitening agents in it.

So my mother-in-law takes me to a different market mall.  Not cheap.  We did see some stuff that I have either gotten at our haggler alley or at Qianmen.  Everything was more money here until you got to the food court.  Lots of dishes selling for 2 -5rmb.  We picked a place that you pick 2 meats and 2 veggies plus rice for 15 rmb~$2.50!  It was okay.  But I'm sure the food court people work a lot harder than those working in the stores.  It was amazing to see the quanities of food coming out of those tiny little kitchens.  

What I did like about this market, is the staff wore their stores clothes, tags hanging out.  I wonder if they forget to cut off the tags when they buy clothes?

This small melon tastes a bit like honeydew, but with a thin rind you can eat.

My favorite drinks.

Just the tip of the yogurt iceberg.

Silk Worms

I went back to Tiantan(Temple of Heaven) area today.  Went via subway instead of bus.  Took about the same time.  Sometime it just feels faster to keep moving, instead of sitting waiting for buses.  

I wanted to check out the Silk Factory Market.  I jumped in on an Australian couples demo tour of silk worms.  We saw the life cycle of the silk worms as well as some live ones eating mulberry leaves in varying ages of days.  

Silk worms only eat mulberry leaves, this means their poop is good.  Smells like tea(bitter) so they say and can be used in pillows! If they allow the silk worm to turn into a moth and it breaks out, the silk cocoon is ruined and cannot be used to make silk stuff with.  So they put the cocoons in an oven and kill the pupas living inside.  When there is just 1 pupa inside the string has 1 begining and 1 end, easy to find and easy to take to spin for thread. 

When their are two pupas inside, they call it twins and their thread is tangled together, so they use this for making comforters.  They have to boil the hard cocoons to soften them, then put in cool water before undo them.  The twin cocoons are broken open and stretched over a small hill shape, 10 times.  Then moved over to a bigger hill shape from to dry.  These stacks end up getting stretched by several people to be the size of whatever comforter you want.  12 times.  They said 1200 cocoons went into 1 comforter, but I think they ment 120(12x10).  But really it would be double due to the twins.  

The pupas are eaten, a preventative for rheumatoid arthritis.  So they say it's a very green resource as every part of the silk worm is used.  They say silk is like human hair and should only be washed in cold water with shampoo.  The silk worm poop is put into tubes on 1 side of the pillow.  Apparently good for your eye sight.  These pillows supposed to be good, no sweating, but that is what they say about the traditional barley pillows.  They say the pillows will last 7 years at 220 rmb a pop.  Don't wash the whole silk comforter as this will wash away faster the natural oils on the silk(like our hair).  Only spot wash.  If want to wash after 5 years, take to dry cleaning.  Why they would think dry cleaning would be better, especially when they use even harsher chemicals is a mystery to me.  They use duvet covers here, no top sheet.  

  Behind was a Lifestyles Market building.  It was kind of creepy as half the lights were off, only me and the security guard.  I just took a quick look and left.  Some interesting lamps, wall hangings and lacquered pieces.

Next to the Beijing Fine Art Exhibition Hall.  Thought it would be more like a museum.  But no, super fancy "stores" with large jade carved sculptures,  carved ivory tusks,  and old looking vases.  I walked through and out the side to a small alley that curved back to the street lined with small shops of more fine art.  Nothing you would see at the fine art side of any craft show I've ever been too.  In front of the closed stores where flea market like vendors with their blanket spread out and stones, nuts or tarnished copper pieces on it.  

I decided I had to enter the 4 floor jewelry market to say I went in there.  They had some pretty red coral sculptures on the first floor.  What I saw was expensive so I went to the basement.  1 floor of fake flowers, 1 floor appeared to be wholesale souvenirs.  This must be where other stores come to get their stock because the walls were lined with tied up bundles.  They didn't want to give me a good price at the few I went into, I only got a small cloisene owl shaped container for 25rmb, everything else she kept giving me higher and higher prices.  

Back to Toy City for hopefully the last time.  I found old fashioned roller skates here.  Yet another heavy thing I picked up I need to lug home.  Oops.  But at least I can roll with the boys when they go skootering now.  Picked up a few more presents before going to KFC for lunch.  They have a good spicy chicken sandwich I like.  I tried their mash potatoes here.  Very small portion, very instant, watery tasting.  Gravy okay, still peppery like it should be.  But they gave me a hard time trying to cash my 100rmb(this is less than $20).  I'm like that is all I have unless you want my 10.

Bus 25, where are you?

Found this site listing all the cons or tourist traps to the Beijing area.  

http://www.tour-beijing.com/blog/beijing-travel/beijing-tourist-traps/

  I was so happy to find there are actually a lot of mountain places outside of Beijing that I'm going to try and do myself as day trips.  The first one I found was Shilinxia(Stone Forest Gorge) Scenic Area also known as Jingdong or Pinggu Forest Gorge.  Sounds easy enough take long distance bus 918 from Dongzhimen bus depot to Pinggu and change to bus 25.  

  I got a late start, thinking I better get the hanzu(kanji) of the names before leaving.  Then I waited outside for over a half hour for the bus to come by, so by the time I got to Dongzhimen it was 1 hour wasted.  Didn't wait long for the 918.  The bus says to Pinggu, the town.  But there is no stop named Pinggu.  Hoping I needed the last stop named:  Pinguqichezhan.  

At this bus stop there are no bus# listed as to whom stops.  After the 2 hr bus ride for 6rmb, I just walk a bit further, find a public bathroom, get some drinks from a street vendor and go back to wait.  I was told bus #25 stops here.  

I'm thinking there aren't going to be any food available to buy at the park, so I enter a small store and get some snacks.  Go back to waiting.  I see multiples of lots of other buses, but no 25.  Finally a small silver van with tinted windows has bus # 25 and 29 in their window stops and wants 20rmb to drive.  There is one 1 small bench row in the back.  I think this is definately a fake "bus" so I don't get in.  They keep dropping the price.  

The taxis here also look different than in the colorful Beijing taxes.  They are silver with the taxi beacon on top.  I have no clue how far it really is to these destinations so I don't get into any taxi.

Realizing even if the bus does show up, it's a 1.5 hr route at the park and getting back would put me in very late.  So I hop on the 918 back to Beijing.  Wasted day, wasted money.  I waited over an hour and didn't see the bus 25.  As we are going down the road I finally see the elusive bus 25!

What I did notice on my long bus ride, is Pinggu is more like Lansing, smaller town(of course compared with Beijing), lots more bikes, bigger sidewalks.  

I'll need to do more research before I venture back.  Really a pity as there are several attractions on the bus 25 route:  Jingdong Grand Canyon, Jingdong Karst Cave and the Jingdong Stone Forest Gorge Park.

Good thing I decided to go home, my father-in-law was sick and had to be taken to the hospital.  So I take the boys out for dinner.  The choices were McD's or Porridge.  They chose Porridge.  We got a bowl of red bean porridge, a pork and leek pancake, cold dish of garlic spinach and peanuts and kung pao chicken for 49rmb, that's under $9.  Cheaper then McD's!  So we got icecream afterwards.  I tried a rose lychee icecream.  Eh.  

While we were in the restaurant, it's on the 2nd floor with window view over the parking lot, the boys notice a group of people standing below.  Finally the police show up, there are 2 girls being held up by other girls, like a total of 5 girls and about 10 men standing around.  I don't think it was a fight.  They were in different restaurant uniforms.  Finally the police whisk them away.  I told the boys they got hit crossing the street because they were talking and not paying attention.  

These are much bigger than in Beijing

Watertower with a tree growing out of it.

Garbage picker, I mean recycler.

I just watched several men rolling this big thing up into this truck.

More silly sights

Twice now I've seen 2 groups of 4 people on their electric bikes.  A family of 4.  So how is this accomplished.  You know where the 2 adults sit, one kid stand in front of the driver holding onto the handle bar, the second smaller child is held by the back adult sitting.  I wonder if they still attempt this once the children get bigger?

We pass lots of construction sights and I've not seen anyone wearing goggles.  But at least they wear hard hats.  I've even been in underground shopping, where they are just welding right there in the open a few feet from customers walking by.  So safe!

A man sitting on the curb with his turtle.  This one I'm really puzzled by, it was getting dinner time, was he trying to sell it?  Is he resting going home with his dinner(the turtle)? Or was it a pet?

At the super market, they had stalks of 4 or 5 asparagus wrapped up together.  I guess they don't eat it like us.

Opened bulk bins of rice, flour, sugar, peanuts, beans, grains, fried bean snacks.  No cover, people stick their hands in them all the time.  Gross, especially when it's a snack food that doesn't get cooked before you eat it!  you know they don't wash their hands proper here and there is rarely soap!

My father-in-law has a friend who works at City Bank here and wanted the kids to come to one of their kid activities on the week end.  I turned one down as it started at 9 am and would take a while to get there.  Well this one was at 1:30 supposed to have refreshments, play small banker, see different countries currency and paint.  Okay, sounds good.  

So by the time we got there, we had to find a restaurant for lunch.  They of course by passed the non-chinese place and a mall is out of the questions.  We found a dive, no bathroom, no place to wash hands.  So the boys peed outside, me I'll have to hold it.  I seriously think they had rat poison sprinkled around the wall around the room we were sitting in.  

My father-in-law leaves us once we are at the kids workshop.  It was nothing they promoted, but filled with different sales pitches.  First by the bank,  then by the toy company who provided the entertainment of tinker type of toys, then by the bio farm that provided the snacks.  So we left early.  Luckily we were driven home.

Got Milk?

Milk until opened doesn't need refridgeration here.  But that doesn't mean I want to pick some up outside the super that has been sitting out in the 88+ sun all day.  Would you?  Since the milk tastes different here, our kids(me included) don't want to drink it.  Butter is not common to find and cheese if you are lucky to find it is mostly  processed.  Luckily they have many flavors of yogurt drink juice boxes; strawberry, blueberry, green apple and sour.  I prefer regular yogurts in cool flavor combos like bean and blackberry, peach and aloe, coconut and mikan.  Finding a bean in my yogurt still gives me the creeps.  And I've yet to try the blueberry yam combo.  

They still deliver milk or yogurt milk door to door.  Every once in a while we see their delivery cart downstairs and milk in glass jars sitting outside my neighbors door.

Been a bit more adventurous and eating out more.  Got a super spicy noodle bowl  that put my mouth on fire, so I just ate the veggie side dish and drink.  They like to eat a lot of veggies that to me should never be heated.  Like lettuce and cucumber.  The warm smell of these two is just wrong and makes me sick. I got fried starch with garlic dipping sauce.  I love the sauce that the cube starch comes in and dip everything I get at this restaurant in it.  Their menu is a clipboard with a check list of foods(think sushi lists).  The first time we were here I took a page and made note of which dishes I liked.

Some more fashion trends:  sock nylons.  While a good thought when wearing dress shoes with pants.  Many old people wear it(it makes them look like their skin is falling off) instead of real socks, and now I see all ages embrace wearing them with their shorts or skirts.   Everything is bedazzled for both sexes.  This one I don't mind, but now I think I need a bedazzler when I get home!

The streets are our garbage bin.  I haven't seen any dumpsters since I've been here, garbage carts make the rounds and pick up trash daily.  I have seen one 3 wall garbage hut while riding the bus.  The garbage over floweth into  the streets.  Part of the problem is garbage pickers, picking through it for recyclables to get money.  

They are redoing the inside of a restaurant across the street and putting all their garbage on the sidewalk for all to step.  Insulation laying there out in the open on a windy day, dumped out pails of nails and shards of broken tiles and glass.  

This building is a sort of restaurant, we buy yotel(fried dough sticks) here in the morning.  Of course I ruin mine with cinnamin sugar!

This meal cost 30rmb~$5.  I love the sauce the cube starch is in, in the middle. Plum drink.

Traditional fried starch.  Think overly greasy and thick chips.

Yeah, I found shoes to fit me!

They don't cover up the opeing when riding through the dusty streets.  Just don't think about this, especially when you eat their salty crepe sandwich wraps.

Spring time

Spring brought some of my favorite flowers.  And greenness!  I'm amazed how little rain they get here, they are forever watering.  It took 2 days for each side of the apartment complex to fill their water areas.  They let it be 2 days and put in fish.  Ranging in size, all bigger than you'd put in your fish tank.  I don't know if they put new fish in each year, or does someone get pets during the off season?  

They only tested 2 of the several fountains in our side 2 times.  After that they've never been used again and now I think the water level would be too low.  By 2 weeks up and running, the water is down 3 inches.  I don't know if due to a crack in the cement flooring or too hot and dry here?  

The workers do go out each day to skim off dead fish, cotton wood and other garbage floating that they can reach from the side.  And some non-smart people let their kid be a fountain and pee in it!  Yuck.

One day we made the discovery of frog eggs and when they turned tadpole, we took a jar out and caught several to watch on our table.  These are black tadpoles, I only saw the adult frog once and it was ugly.  Maybe a toad actually as was black and spiny or bumpy looking.  I really don't want to see a whole group of them hopping around.  Maybe it's used more as fish food.

I do enjoy walking around these gardens!

Kids exercising at school

Playing Hooky

Today is the boys birthday.  I knew I could convince the in-laws to go to the zoo on a week day since it's always too crowded on a weekend to do anything.  So the boys got to play hooky and go to the zoo!

The boys went to bed real good last night knowing their birthday was the next day, wanting it to come faster.  They always end up sleeping in on these type of days, it's the ordinary (everyday) days when they wake up early.  So I get to wake them up for a change with skype in hand for my husband to wish them happy birthdays too.

We got down to business and they've opened presents before 7:30am.  For their party favor I made them wallets and put it in their subway map card and their picture cards we took at Chuckie Cheese before we came.  They got their birthday crowns and a slew of more Berenstein bear books in Chinese.  The tinker toy type of game I got was a dud, luckily I had a back up toy on hand!

We took 3 buses to get to the zoo and finally got breakfast at McD's by 9:45.  Why can't they make a happy meal for breakfast?  

Trip two to the Beijing Zoo to see the aquarium.  Not only do you need to buy the main zoo entrance, but tickets into the aquarium too.  They wanted me to take the kids in by myself while they sit and wait, but they decided my father-in-law better accompany me.

I thought it was a pretty cool aquarium, we got to see the end of the sea lion and dolphin show, they had many fish I've never seen before, the tanks where clean.  An extensive jellyfish collection.  

We finally exit the aquarium by 1:30, with 3 starving and thirsty kids.  Drinks are immediately opened upon finding nainai (grama).  It's quite hot now, so the kids ask for icecream.  This brought us to the building we ate lunch in at the zoo.  My mother-in-law insists we re-wash our hands in this bathroom, because their water (they have no soap) is cleaner than the bathroom water in the aquarium(who did have soap)!   One pork and one fish dish among several non-meat dishes.  They really are afraid to eat any beef or chicken.  I've eaten little meat and only these types of meat in their house in over 2 weeks.  (So glad McD's is across the street when the kids are in school! Ha,ha.)

We take the subway home because I want to get the boys cake from Bread Talk at the mall.  They make a cute car cake.  Well my in-laws don't want to go there with the kids, so they try to convince them that it will take too long and I should just go get the cake by myself.  Well the boys are upset, Aidan got to pick his birthday cake out, they want to pick their cake out.  So I will take all 3 by myself(I'm fearless).  My father-in-law comes racing off the subway to again accompany me, because I can't do it alone, and I need to take a taxi home not the bus....

Well today they didn't have any car cakes, just lots of hello kitty cakes and they won't make them(take an order).  Just as well the cake wasn't chocolate(they can't conceive making it any other way).  My father-in-law tries to steer the boys to the Black Forest cake, his favorite, which Aidan ended up getting for his birthday.  No.  So the kids got to pick out 2 slices of cake they wanted, the adults only got one.  So he still got his Black Forest cake.  I got a cake that had the name cherry in it, but had red currents on top of it.  Yum,  I really need to get some current bushes so I can make my own current sauce!

A dumpling dinner, perfect for Wensen.  He ate more than me!  Happy 5th Birthday me sweet boys!    

Ultra man

Super sized fish

Cool scales

Cool blue fish

This fish was giving a kiss

These fish remind me of the "Yup, yup, yup, yup" monsters from Sesame Street!

Really colorful starfish

Big sea turtles in not so big of a tank

Whales

Fish-o-rama

I've never seen a black jellyfish before.  Not see through