Floozy Speak!

Agent Dan experiances Dental Trauma at the hands of the Chinese industrial machine.

--The Shadow Keepers

yesterday we visited temple of heaven, behai park, tinamian square, and the forbidden city

i was just a few feet away from the center of heaven, lotta people standing on the center stone, kinda reminded me alot of the elevator factor in china, u can never have too many people in an elevator, they just keep packin them in, same went with this center stone for heaven, a small 2' wide stone that resembled the center of heaven or something and it had like 9 people standing on it or trying to at all times

in the vast park like areas of the temple of heaven there are tai chi folks, one woman i caught on video was really good, her moves made me recall the many cool chinese kung fu movies ive seen, we saw people excersising balance and forms of yoga as well, others play chinese chess, in another courtyard one plays an instrument, another sings, further along the path awhole group of singers, then a beautiful structure, a temple, and then... ice cream vendors

the placement of vendors on these historic landmarks is always suprising to me, just when u think youve reached something truly amazing to behold, you are reminded at that same instance that ice cream is present as well

the divine kitchen, just seeing the words divine and kitchen together makes me chuckle, we get to an open area where a man makes a "growling" like sound with a yoyo like instrument, the client tries it out, then he decides he wants to buy one, now the tour is stopped and the haggling as begun, afterawhile i think its funny that its still going on, the pointing, the haggling, all for what a 5 dollar toy?

a family walks up to me, the father nods at me and gives me his 5 yr boy, gee thanks,... heh, oh yes.. i know this part, he wants me to stand with his kid, the big american and the small boy thing, sure ok, again im part of the attraction for a minute, i get a ton of stares here, i typically answer them with a nod or notion of yes, i see you, and thanks for the awe like stare, but part of me is tied of standing out, i long for being back in the states where i fit in (to some extent)

we arrive at the echo wall, chen quickly informs us that the wall is not working at this time, out of order eh? heh, lots of renovation happening at these landmarks, ive read online that they are constantly fixing them, probably even more so due to the summer 2008 olympics

now were at behai park, one of the first things to greet us is the "dont even think about it" sign, 12 no no's for the park, no shooting, no dog walking, no skating, no taxis, no motorcyles, no picking of flowers, no dropping of small squares, no sitting on railings, no horn playing, no firecrackers, no fire, no soccer... the basics

chen leads us to the top, the white pogoda? or temple, its aged heavily, beaten by the elements, many steps, many many many many steps, small steps, 4 steps to 1 dan step, some awesome staircases carved in stone, cool tunnels, we get to the top and make our way down to the little lake, various paddle boats out there, chen wants us to eat some imperial food, we follow her to the water dock area complex, now i feel like im on the set of a kung fu movie, actually in the hallways of these temple like structures, around a corner, thru a archway, and now into the resturant, all golden, yellow, oooo ac in here... lunch

we get a feast for about 600 yuan, a little of everything, i kinda like this way of eating, many small plates with things to try,

now were headed out, leaving the center of any attraction headed for the exit means brace for the onslaught of peddlers, watch? tshirt, cards? boooks? u want dvd? we all crack up about our dvd experience

tiananmen square, big place, didnt realize it was also near one of the enterances to the forbidden city, we cross the square headed towards the forbidden city, chen recalls the 1989 fateful day to us... "we were there" she says.. "my husband and I were here earlier before the event occured" she says and then stops for a brief second....distracted we all keep walking, kite flyers, well kite peddlers really, fly big kites in the air, camera guys with portable printers strapped to their backs offer photos, and people, lots of people, soon the client and i start talking about what the event was all about, and as always i cant recall, i ask chen, she giggles, she doesnt remember either, we talk about the generations of youth that probably dont know either, "student protest about change" she recalls, yes, change

now the enterance to the forbidden city, wow, youve all seen this picture, the big picture of mao, er that guy, the big temple picture, the huge archway tunnel into the city, well its there, and its far more magical never actually seeing it in person, heh, by far the coolest part of what i saw yesterday but still add 400 people craming thru it, and you lose a bit

what kills me most about this historical piece of serious frickin history is that at a distance its awesome, when you think of the time it was built, the real history of this place, u dont really get all that down easily, course again it all just gets me when you climb the next set of steps and enter the temple of....vendor heaven! ice cream, water, hackysack! giant archways and huge doors retrofitted with the onslaught of vendors, there is nothing sacred here, well a few things off limits, and tons of reconstruction happening, we take a rest, the heat is picking up, i snap off a few pictures of some tibeten monks sightseeing i suppose, i ask chen about monks, she says more and more of them are appearing in beijing these days,

we're in the heart of the frobidden city sitting on a bench, sweating, just a bit before us is a stone railing and then gorge of space, workers down below reconstruction work going on... a bit of breeze blows thru, i catch a glimpse of the "big american" stare, a tour goes by, i say outloud "and to your left, big american..", another breeze and then music hits us, loud, big booming drums and clanking instruments, at first i think its coming from the structure behind us, and it sounded ancient musical clanging, some of it was waay too loud.. wait a sec, we peer down below into the construction, oh its just a big truck with metal pipes unloading.. nice tune there for a sec

just as we passed thru the exit gate of the forbidden city i'm hit with this huge hill or mountain, im dumbfounded for a sec, how, what, where was this thing hiding the whole time? "highest point in beijing" chen says, in all the vastness of endless buildings ive seen in this city, this, hidden mountain was just wild to see, all green, like a mini forest in the center of concrete

leaving the forbidden city, the client wants to visit an offical beijing 2008 olympics store, and get some nice chopsticks, we snag a cab and head into another part of town

soooo much can be bought for sooo little in china, i bought a full sized olympic towel for 7-10bucks, i didnt bother asking them about shirts, i know the answer already, we all joke about just exactally how were gonna get all this stuff back to the states, ive picked up only a few things and im concerned with how im gonna get them all back, the others have a ton of stuff, we debate going back to the silk market and picking up some cheap luggage, i think if we do go back im gonna risk it and snag that 1 gig duo pro memory stick for 100 usa bucks,

we arrive back at the hotel about 7pm, hot, i slam 2 cold cokes.. i think they have more sugar here or something, ten minutes later i chip a tooth on a pringle.. sigh, and sleep