After an entire evening of stinky muddy rain, I could actually see blue sky instead of grey fuzz. It took me all day to learn that the people of Beijing will not tell me no, they don’t know, when it comes to directions. When asked, “where is this place and how do I get there from here,” I learned the typical answer is, “not here.” This means they don’t know and they are afraid to tell me they don’t know. They are being very polite in taking the time to respond but this creates foggy communication and vagueness in directions means lots of time spent going in circles. As a rule of thumb when it comes down to asking for directions, I always ask three different people and when all three gives me consistent answers, it’s a go. Asking others for directions was easy but the directions given were confusing. I often find myself taking detours. I just have to give myself a lea way of an extra 2+ hours for taking detours. It's a good thing I am not on any time constraint I can adjust my own schedule.
I went to Fa Yuan Shi where they have an excellent collection of Buddhist Images that goes way back. It was such a treat for me. It’s better than most museum displays. I really enjoyed details on the sculptures and stone tablatures. It is interesting to see the old and the new. The new guardians for the doors are a pair of bronze lions of the new modern world. They look like robotech lion guardians. The new fish bell replacing the old also has similar feel of strength and power that screams “Look at me, I am here, hear me roar, better not mess with me.”
As I wondered around taking my time to look at each artifact closely, residents kept a distant close watch of me. A lay female volunteer chewed me out for taking my jacket off in front of a sacred image. She could have used such an opportunity to educate me but instead she decided to use the Dharma as a whip and I ran as far away as I could from her. Knowledge is power, she hung onto it herself so that no one can question her knowledge and no one else can have knowledge to correct, to change, to adjust but to remain stuck, ignorant making the same mistake over and over again. In a monastery of male monks, I guess this was how she hung onto measuring of her self worth through. I didn’t count this against the monastery or the Buddhas. This episode did not tarnish my joy in visiting the artifacts.
I was given directions Tiantan, a.k.a. Temple of Heaven where Emperor Qianlong made sacrificial offerings and prayers for behalf of country's well being. I ended up going in circles. During one of my detours I came across a high school just out on a break for lunch. There were two Islamic veggie wrap stands outside the front gate. I stood in line for a wrap and watched how the students waited in line while school staff cut in front of them without any questions or struggle. It was a right, a kind of exercise of authority without “excuse me, or thank you”. The students kept their eyes on me and their body language closely huddled in around the vendor. They were prepared to let me cut in if I choose to inflict authority based on age, but if I didn’t they weren’t going to give in and offer to let me to go first. They maintained their stance and worked around circumstances. I decided to stir things up by communicating to the female vendor what my order was and putting 1/2 yuan for me order into the coin can. I watched how she being a good business person politely acknowledged my order while repeating the students order to them to affirm their daily relationship. It was all very smoothly handled. It was fun for me to watch this and learn from it. For lunch I had a veggie Islamic wrap without the fermented tofu paste. It was very delicious.
Having eaten my fill, I walked around trying to locate the site. I found myself walking in circles. An hour plus later, I was back at where I started. I came across a street sweeper. He was a nice middle aged man with crooked teeth who helped me locate the right bus to get on and also the right bus stand to wait in. He stopped sweeping and trained me on how to physically walk in a crowd, ride on buses alone as a single female from out of town. He made sure my day pack was in front of me. He tipped me on how to stand in a crowd and pay attention to all my belongings that was on me. I felt the Heavens put me on this detour so I can come across this nice man who gave me a quick training on travel safety. He stayed with me until I got onto my bus. Even through the window he was still running through the drills he just trained me on. It was a heart warming scene to part in.
At the Temple of Heaven, I was told the most important sight was the sound wall which was under construction. I visited the sacrificial offering preparation site, I found it to be odd that the Emperor goes into a fast and then kills all these animals at the end of the fast. Didn’t anyone have the brains to say, “this doesn’t make sense?” Well, I walked all over the site and found myself a bit bored. Having walked so much that day I had to stop to give myself foot massages under beautiful pavilions.
I noticed that native Chinese people like to go to the park to play instruments and sing classical Chinese opera. I can't quite say I enjoy it. It sure is interesting to watch and has a distinct sound. They bring tea, fruits, and seeds to munch on during their performance breaks.
Afterwards I visited the Hong Qiao tourist market. Wow, if Beijing was my last stop, I’d stop at these markets and buy lots of gifts.
On the way to dinner I stopped by a travel agency to buy a plane ticket to Datong, Shannxi to visit the Yungang Grottos. I didn’t check the change that was given to me, it was only later right after I left I realized the young male agent kept an extra 30 yuan to himself. I had wondered why he was going all out to be extra nice to me. He had counted the change correctly back to me except there was the shortage of 30 yuan I didn’t catch. I was paying too much attention to the confusion in trying to figure out what his body was communicating to me and I didn’t understand then but it was all new to me. I later learned it was about, “I am going to keep some of the change for myself and this will be our silent agreement.” I didn’t go back to demand 30 yuan from him. I decided to let this be a 30 yuan lesson of checking my own change in the future.
For dinner I found an Islamic Sichuan Sour Spicy noodle stand. It stood in front of a Islamic eatery that was empty inside and had posting of, “not Islamic, no entry”. I was shocked. This little noodle stand was busy, people ate here and ordered packed food to go. I watched the ingredients for this dish and new I could eat it. I asked for no pungent or meat ingredients incase there were grounds or shredded meat added that I didn’t detect. One of the worker decided to make a scene of it with what I requested by screaming my order out loud. There was only one other worker in this tiny little stand and she was standing right next to her. Then I saw her eyes communicating something to the other worker and at the corner of her lips grew a smirk. I was a bit worried, “What will they add to my food? No, they’re not that lame to take the time to do that.” My order showed up topped with two tiny little pieces of meat. I knew this was made especially for me since this style of noodle is vegetarian. I understood the smirk. I could have request for them to remake my food but with such a sign of pride to not serve anyone who is not Islamic inside, I would give them an excuse for being their entertainment for the evening and their trash can. They both stood and stared at me waiting for me next move. I decided to remove the two pieces of meat off my noodles and ate the noodles. “What’s the sound of one hand clapping.” The noodles were delicious and authentic. I think I will pick up the courage to come back for more tomorrow night and request the same order
Today was filled with lessons in learning how to ask for direcitons and also receive directions from others, it was also a day of physical training in walking on foot with all the detours I took, all and all, I end up running into people who taught me something with their kindness or hardness.
