Musings

It has been such a long time since I have written I am not quite sure where to begin. So maybe I’ll try a little James Joyce and see how it goes.

On my many trips around Beijing I couldn’t help but notice the number of couples who wear the exact same clothing or colors when they go out together. At first, I just thought it was a coincidence; but when one of our house guests (

a college friend of Matt’s) noticed this too, I realized it probably was a trend. My suspicions were confirmed the

other day when I walked past a shop and found this set of T-shirts in the window. If you can’t read it, the shirts say Happy Family, with the same shirts in men’s, women’s and children’s sizes.

I thought this was particularly surprising in that it seems customary that most Chinese men and women do not to wear wedding bands. I asked a group of my colleagues at work about this because none of them wear wedding bands. I thought they were all single until one day, in the course of a conversation, one of them talked about her husband. Over a period of a couple of weeks, I learned that almost all of the wedding bandless women were married with children. I asked one day at lunch if the Chinese wedding ceremony included an exchange of rings because none of them wore rings. It turns out that there is an exchange of rings as part of the ceremony; but no one really wears their rings. One colleague said it showed i

ndependence. I guess I could have argued that independence and commitment aren’t mutually exclusive. I decided that that was a conversation left for another day. Maybe people wear T-shirts instead?

We’ve done a bit of site seeing recently. We took a rail trip to a city called Shi Du, which in Chinese means 10 crossings. It is an area of gorges with a river running through it and at one time, when the water levels were much higher, there

were 10 places to cross the river. Now, with water levels much lower and modern transport, there is no need for 10 crossings. We did cross the river on a rope bridge suspended about 30 feet over the water. A bit nerve racking as it was a windy day, the bridge swaying because of both wind and people traffic. The area is a day outing from Beijing to hike in the gorges, do some river rafting or bungy jumping. We did some hiking (no bungy jumping for us!)and found a quaint little restaurant where we had fish freshly caught in the river and grilled on an outdoor set-up right before out eyes. Some of the best food we’ve had in

China.

We took an overnight trip to the Great Wall when Matt was visiting and slept on the Wall

under the stars. We hiked a portion of the wall know as Simatai. It has refurbished areas as well as areas that are original. It was a demanding hike and if it had lasted any longer than it did (4 hours), I think we would have needed assistance to complete the trek. My upper thighs were sore for about 5 days following our trip! The steps on the wall are not necessarily uniform in height, with some rises 1 1/2 or 2 times higher than the normal step rise. Also, many steep slopes and incline ramp areas. Very few level areas. But we made it to the end and saw some incredible views and met some very nice people. The trip was organized by a group called China Culture Center. They have a reputation for providing good tours and they didn’t disappoint.

Pets have a position of prominence in Beijing. I suspect is has a lot to do with the one child policy; the elderly, in particular, are looking for an object for their affection. In our neighborhood, dogs seem

to be the visible pet of preference. Owners proudly walk their dogs (with and without leashes) that have been primped and coiffed, often in outfits resembling clothes in which you would dress a small child. The most interesting “outfit” I have seen is the ow

ner that had his dog’s coat died shades of green and yellow and sheered in a shape to resemble the shell of a turtle. (see photo). When I saw this ( I have become bolder in my photo taking) I asked the owner if I could take a photo. He beamed and posed for the following photo. When I showed the photo to some locals, they said they had never seen anything like it! Haven’t seen too many cats. I think they are kept inside which makes incredible sense given the traffic patterns (or lack there of) on city streets. This fall and winter, I intend to take pet fashion photos. I’ll keep you posted.