Day Two: Have I got the Massage for You!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

What a day! Summer Palace... in the winter. The wind was a little harsh. We wandered around for four hours, or so, checking out all the temples, pavilions, galleries and houses that were destroyed by the Anglo-French forces in 1860 and rebuilt by the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1886ish. She was a powerful lady, and even put her son, the emperor somebody or other under house arrest after the Reform Movement... I'm oh-so knowledgeable about Chinese history, wouldn't you agree? No. Yeah... We saw a lot of bronzework from the16th-11th centuries BC, though and that was pretty neat...

DRAGONS GALORE!! Did man and dinosaurs live together at one point maybe? What's the deal? Because a lot (read: all) ancient civilizations seem to have a fascination with dragons and if they couldn't interact with each other because they didn't know they were there how'd they all know about dragons? I was going to go ahead and say that dragons are real, but then, there isn't any fossil evidence... maybe that's because dragon bones turn to dust when they die. Yep. I'm going with that one.

The views were pretty spectacular, too. My camera couldn't really capture the essence of the ancient mixed with the modern, but hopefully my memory can preserve those images for some time to come.

I think my favorite thing about the Summer Palace was walking across the empty (iced) lake, even with all the dust that flew into our eyes, it was good. We even got to do a seated sled thing across it. Good times.

After all that hiking and trekking we got in a cab in search of a Beijing duck dinner, after two failed attempts in our "Wild Duck Hunt" we settled for a hot pot dinner - which was a tasty treat, indeed. Like Japanese shabu shabu, but two different soup types separated in one hot pot.

Then, since in my rush of last minute travel items I forgot my PJs, we went to Lotus (China's answer to Wal-Mart, though I think someone said they have those there...) and I picked up some long underwear in addition to fruit and gum - all for the low-low price of $15 - HOLY MOLY ME OH MY!!!

Oh, man. Here comes the strangest/sweetest part. Briana and I went to get massages - 60 yuan for 45 minutes (not shabby; a little under $10): 30 minutes of a pinching massage and 15 minutes of those hot-suction-y cups... the cupping one sounded like fun until my lady had me watch Briana get it done. (Oh yeah, this "massage parlor" was in a back room with three small beds, and our room could see into the next room over where a few older Chinese ladies were playing a dominoes game of sorts.) The glass cups are lit on fire and then suctioned to the skin, a blanket is placed over the cups and you're left for 10-15 minutes. While I was getting it done I imagined the cups were sucking all my skin up in 'em and that cups would explode and glass would fly everywhere, or just stick into me because the blanket was covering them from showering the whole room - YIKES! This didn't happen. Briana was convinced that she'd catch fire. That didn't happen. Thank goodness on both of those accounts. Though bad news, we both walked out of there looking like battered housewives; there were bruise/hickey-like marks all over our backs, and 4 on the front for the collarbones and shoulders. Mine were a lot darker than Briana's, and Yie Xichen said it meant that I had a lot of toxins in my body and that I really needed it... I think it's all from my Christmas celebrations, perhaps, but I also think that's a lie and they just left them on me too long.

Then we went back to Tony's to figure out the game plan for Day Three, and ended up playing a long and hilarious game of Chinese Monopoly ("Uncle Wang's") on a paper board. One of the "? Chance" cards I happened upon was a Strength Challenge where I had to do 5 push-ups for 200 yuan or 10 for 500. I went for the big bucks. Oh, China, you're crazy.