A Real Burger

Wednesday June 9
Out late so Jake slept late (the bum). We packed everything up except 3 bags of Jake's school stuff which the hostel guy was very happy to keep for us when we were gone. He also kept our 2 backpacks so we can tour the city today in light mode and then come back and get them before going to the train station. Our first job was to get the tickets for the last leg of our trip. Amazingly easy subway ride to the Beijing South station, which is completely different from the other station we went to (Beijing West station). Very modern and clean, and the people there were all business folks and city folks. A few country people but a gleaming modern station. Jake did his Chinese thing and 2 tickets emerged from Xian to Beijing. We then (at my request, maybe demand) went to Micky Ds for a cup of real COFFEE and a real hamburger. I had been going over how this hamburger is going to taste, watching it on the grill in slow motions, bubbling in grease (natural juices). Sad I know, but I need a break from noodles and pork. Jake would disagree.
Still in a junk food daze, we then went to Tienanmen Square and visited the Forbidden City. We walked around the square in the shade (pretty hot and sunny), bought ice-pop thingies (1 RMB = $0.15 ea) and enjoyed the immense outdoor square. The statues are stirring pictures of proud people working together. Lots of pomp and marching of crisply dressed guards. The taller you are, the better jobs you get in the guard sphere of influence. Grandmothers see us and prompt their babies to say “Hello” and the babies then smile and hide when we answer. These kids are really cute and their grandparents and parents dote on then endlessly. It seems that everybody likes to say “Hello” when they see Anglos and get a big kick of us returning the hello, which I enjoy doing, just to see them smile. Gotta keep up that friendly American image, genuine in this case.
We then toured around the NCPA (National Center for the Performing Arts) which is a huge dome of aluminum and glass surrounded by a circular moat of water. This means you go under the moat and look up through the water at the sky when you enter (for RMB40 which we are too cheap to pay and have no time for).
We did a lot of sitting in the shade, people watching, catching up on everything, then back in the subway where Jake showed his tough guy side when one of our cards stopped working with about $3.00 on it. Jake lost and we had to buy another card. Caught lunch in town of blueberry porridge for dad (no noodles or grease in it), lentil porridge for Jake, cold coke and beer. Hot water is a national right here and it is served like cold water at home, free and automatically. The train station has the men's room, the women's room, and the hot water room. They serve hot water on the train.
We went back to the hostel, picked up our packs and headed for the train station. Jake got some tea for the train so we are ready to go. Another great day in Beijing.
And now on to tonight's train adventure...