Bike Accident and Bei Hei Park

It was bound to happen--a minor bicycle accident on one of our cycling excursions. This time, Laraine and I were on the way to a beautiful, historic park in the center of Beijing called Bei Hei Park (literally means North Ocean or in this case--large body of water).

So what happened? We were traveling north and were still about 10 minutes away from the park. I came to an abrupt stop because the road ahead was blocked by a van being unloaded. It was then I heard a crash and felt a shove forward. I had been back-ended! In all the chaos of bike riding in Beijing, I got rear-ended by the only American in sight. It was a woman with a very familiar-sounding name--Laraine. Yes, THAT Laraine! My own wife rear-ended me. She got her handle bars stuck in the basket on the rear of my bike. No harm done, but it was pretty hilarious that of all the thousands of close encounters and near misses happening literally every few seconds, the only person to actually hit me was my wife.

So we met up with Sharae and Todd Forsyth, who are teaching at Beijing University. They traveled by subway to meet us at the park. We were absolutely blown away by what we saw there. Enjoy the pictures below:

We found a very serene area of the park--With a legend about two philosophers who were once in this section of the park.One of them looked in the water and saw the fish. He said, "That fish is certainly very happy." The other philosopher replied, "How do you know he's happy?" The first replied, "You are not me. How can you know I don't know how fish feel?" Apparently, this was a famous happening at this part of the park. 

Crossing the bridge to Jade Island.

On Jade Island, a beautiful shrubbery display and entryway to the Buddhist Stupa in the style of Nepal's religious buildings. 

Same spot with both of us. 

We love the integration of art and architecture

At the Nepalese Buddhist "Stupa" reminiscent of Quetzlcoatl (winged serpent deity) in South America.

Not the typical Buddhist structures you see in China. That's because this was built after the Buddhist traditions in Nepal.

Various temples highlighted our descent from the main temple on the top of the hill. 

Most imperial buildings have a bell tower and a drum tower, to tell the time by night and by day. We are sitting in one of those. 

Various grottoes on the descent from the top temple.

Having fun up and down stairs.

Brilliant yellow flowers on bridge over to "round house"

A look back at the Stupa.

Sharae Forsyth posing

Winding down our Bei Hei experience

Surprising find -- the "Studio" (office area and palace just for those who worked anciently in the office) of the main palace

Another section of the "studio" or office area of the palace. All of this area was part of the studio.

Final Stop: Xi'an-- City of Western Peace

We flew from Dunhuang to Xi'an, a major city. Our hotel room in Xi'an had our first soft mattress. It felt good. We stayed two nights in Xi'an. The first day, we went to the Xi'an wall, a 9-mile long massive wall around the old city. It is reminiscent of the Great Wall of China in many ways.

We went to the Terra Cotta Warriors during it's busiest week, but managed to see everything--so incredible, it's hard to imagine an emperor with that much power. He had nearly a million people working on the project to memorialize himself. His actual tomb is still buried, along with what many consider to be room after room of treasure. They are waiting for technology to find a way to preserve these treasures once opened up to the air. The warriors that were uncovered lost their color within a few days because of the oxygen in the air. All but one of the 8,000 warriors were smashed by a mob of people anciently, and archaeologists have painstakingly put them back together. It's still ongoing, and the massive pits where they're buried show a large number of broken warriors. They're housed in aircraft hanger-like buildings.

Neil Thompson, being very tall, was a huge hit at this site. Families couldn't wait to get their picture taken with him. He was a rock star.

In the evening of the final night, we had front row seats at a cultural dance event. It was absolutely wonderful, extremely colorful.

At a store and workshop outside of the Terra Cotta museum, they have these photo opportunities. Should I get this new suit? I showed this picture to my students and they thought it was hilarious.

The largest, most complicated Chinese character "biang" which is a "noodle."

Laraine trying to get a glimpse of the warriors.

Her first glimpse, now how do I step away and move to another viewpoint?

Warriors who are still in pieces.

Rock Star, Neil Thompson

This is how the Chinese potty train their kids. Usually, there is no diaper. Typically, they teach the child to squat and use the potty through this split in the pants, and they don't deal with diapers. This is unusual. 

This farmer was paid $100 US dollars for finding the warriors. However, because Bill Clinton wanted to meet him, he became a celebrity and it changed his life. 

Up to the Xi'an city wall. 

Jody Boulton and Laraine at the wall

The wall is quite wide. Here Laraine stands on top. You can rent bicycles and ride around it.

Some of the many unusual treats at the Muslim market in Xi'an. We only had about 20 minutes to explore.

From our front-row seat

This man did things with this instrument and with his voice that I didn't think were humanly possible. 

A view of the Xi'an wall guard station at night. 

Grottoes in China--We Had No Idea!

Also in Dunhuang were the MoGao Grottoes (or Caves). To call them "caves" is like calling the National Cathedral a village "chapel." We were unprepared for what we saw. Our tour started with two films (with translation headsets) showing the history and importance of these grottoes. There were over 1,000 caves carved into the hills between 1,600 and 800 years ago. Half the caves have elaborate paintings covering every square inch of space. They depict in surprisingly well-preserved paint the various "Sutras" or Buddhist scriptures. The detail is incredible. It's possible that in a single cave you'll see everything in Buddhist heaven (such as flying Buddhas called "Asparas") as well as an ancient family having a mundane, earthly kind of picnic in the park. There are massive maps painted on some of the walls depicting sacred areas. In addition to painted walls, most of the caves have painted statues of Buddhas, Bodhisatvas, and Buddhist disciples formed in elaborate detail from clay. This is an UNESCO International World Heritage site that has only been open to public for a couple of decades. For over 500 years, these caves were simply buried in the sand, which fortunately preserved them, keeping them from light, air and moisture. I kept pinching myself, thinking in my head, "This incredible, unrefurbished painting or sculpture was made a thousand years before Christopher Columbus even thought about coming to America."

It was well worth the trip.

Unfortunately, taking pictures inside the caves was not allowed.

Just a few of the caves from a distance. These caves were not included in those on the tour because they did not have paintings or statues.

This modern wall protects the caves. Behind each numbered door is a cave.

This was a "library" cave made by the ancients.

The caves were on multiple layers.

The main, iconic cave of Mogao caves.

I didn't take this picture. I found it on the internet, but it is typical of the paintings and statues found in the caves. All paint is original. 

The night market after our long day.

Night Market food court. We had several couples join us for skewers. Donkey meat was on the menu, and we should have gotten some but didn't. There's always next time.