China Experience in Beijing: Day 2

Day 2 today is Monday, May 12, 2008.  We had a good 10-hour restful sleep last night.  We woke up eager to explore the Forbidden City.

We started the day with a delicious complimentary breakfast buffet at the Made in China Restaurant as part of our Regency Club accommodations at the Grand Hyatt.  An array of breads, pastries, hot and cold meats, fried rice...etc...etc... made our mouths water with anticipation.  The waiters served drinks and brought additional food of our choice to our tables!

The Hyatt staff knows how to spoil its guests!

The concierge suggested for us to take the 15-minute walk to the Forbidden City.  It was a good advice.  It allowed us to enjoy the scenery of flowers along sidewalks and different kinds of architecture along the way.

The Internet, of course, will tell you that the Forbidden City is made up of two courts:  Outer and Inner.  There are three courts in each of the Outer and Inner Courts.

Instead of joining a tour group or picking up audio guides of 60 rmb each, we opted to hire a personal guide for only 100 rmb which is actually less than $20 for the whole day.  As the tour progressed, we learned that our guide Tom Zhang is a professional guide of a tour company.  Today and tomorrow are his days off.  He sidelines on his days off as a private guide, approaching people and offering himself as a guide.  He speaks impeccable English, having a degree in Foregin Languages with majors in English and Russian.  He and his wife have one daughter and could not have another child by governmental decree.

Tom, in addition to the expected narration of Forbidden City information, shared anecdotes.  He said that the Emperor's three thousand concubines had to be thin because after their names were picked from lottery, they needed to pass through a narrow door opening.  If they could not get through it, they were dismissed from the much-sought favors of the Emperor.  He described in detail how the Emperor's successor was selected.  We had a good exchange here because I am aware of the process.  What I forgot was that the name placed and hidden in a box was written in two dialects: Mandarin and Manchurian.

He spoke of the pomegranate as the wedding fruit of the Emperor because the seeds of the fruit symbolize having many children.  In jest, he said that nowadays nobody eats pomegranate because a couple is only allowed to have one child!  He pointed out that the doors of the palaces and gates have nine rows of nine door knobs each because the number nine symbolizes good luck; that nine times nine is eighty one; eighty-one is eight and one which are nine, still a lucky number.

Ces and I were glad we opted to have a personal guide and felt lucky to have bumped into Tom Zhang.  Tom took us to a restaurant that specialized in serving hot pots.  What an amazing tiny restaurant!  The hot pot was extra-ordinary.

After lunch, Tom volunteered to continue guiding us through our shopping expedition at no extra cost.  We took a cab to the Silk Stores and picked up the new True Religion jeans that friends ordered and gold jewelries for other friends.

The Silk Stores are actually made up of small, privately operated stalls of jewelries, watches, elecronics, clothes, etc. in a four-storey building.  The fun part was in the bargaining.  If I understood it right, the stores sold imitation products.  So, when the sales person starts off with a price, a prospective buyer should really negotiate for a much lower price.

Ces and I are good in this.  I always offer to buy the produc at 10% of the offered price and go no higher than 25%.  If refused, I walk out, the person grabs me back and we play the game some more.  If the person lets me go, then I know my bid was really too low.  I would proceed to go no more than 30%.

Ergo, I paid $25 for a Rolex watch priced at $500 at first offer.  That is what? 5%?  Now, I can give my son a Rolex watch!

One thing, I learned today at the Silk Stores was that there are three quality levels of these imitation watches.  Before, i bought the watch, the owner showed me how.  He brought out a device that measured quality of materials.  He put it on my diamond ring and it showed the highest level of quality.  He put it on a cubic zirconia ring andit showed the lowest level.  He, then, put it on three different Rolex imitation watches of the same model.  The gadget identified the quality level of the watches.  Not trusting him, I picked watches myself and put the gadget on them and did it on my own Bulgari watch.  Sure enough, the gadget worked differently with the different watches.

Did I hear you ask a question?  Ahhhh, yes, my Bulgari is real.

So, Steve, I will have to write about the Peking Duck later tonight or tomorrow because we still have to eat dinner.

Tomorrow, we're off to the Great Wall with Tom guiding us.