Beijing By Porter Fairbourne

Fairbourne's at the Forbidden City

After a very long plane ride from Kenya we landed in Beijing where we stayed in our tour guide’s apartment. When we were in Beijing, we visited Tiananmen Square where the government sent tanks to kill the Chinese protesters in 1989.     When we asked our tour guide about it she didn’t know much about it. In China it is forbidden to talk about the incident.

 The first thing our tour guide said to me was,  “you are very beautiful, you could be a male model for women cosmetics.”  Also during several occasions people asked if they could take a selfie with me.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

In Beijing we recognized the cultural differences. Like when the boys are at a restaurant they take of their shirt to eat. So I bought a McDonald’s ice cream without my shirt on. Also the people walk really fast.  We could hardly keep up with our guide.

So much yummy food!

 People in China like every food they eat spicy.  Also, everybody drinks alcohol.  Even kids my age! I was offered beer a couple of times. I noticed most people prefer the iPhone.  Even if they don’t have enough money, they buy a cheaper rip off version of the iPhone.

Lunch in Hutong Village

 The food in Beijing was the best.  Out of all the places we went, the best food was at a villagers house in Hutong Village.  I had the best dumpling of my life! 

Hot Pot

We also went to this restaurant where they have this thing called a hotpot.  It’s a big pot that is in the middle of your table and they light the stove underneath it on fire. After they have it’s lit they pour a spicy soup/sauce and a non spicy soup/sauce. Once the liquid is hot they give you thin sliced raw meat and raw noodles. You dip the meat and noodles into the liquid.  The hot liquid cooks the meat and noodles. Once you take it out the noodles are cooked and very delicious.

Acupuncture 

Also, by the place we were staying, there was this Chinese doctor.  My dad decided to try to fix all of his many injuries with an acupuncture treatment. After the doctor put the needles in his arms, I went in to look at him. He was sweating and looked like he was about to pass out. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple people died in that room since the person being treated next to my dad had towel on her head that was lit on fire. After the acupuncture my dad had little blood drops on him. By the way, the acupuncture did nothing to my dad.

 We also went to this place called the Temple of Heaven.  The Temple of Heaven was a place where the Emperor would go to pray for good harvest, but the Temple wasn’t the best thing there. We went old person watching.  There was a big park at the Temple where retired people came to “play”.  There was an exercise park that looked like a playground, but it was full of seniors, not kids. It had pull up bars, monkey bars, stationary bikes, and other equipment.  We saw a 75 year old doing loops on a pull up bar!  There were old grandmas doing monkey bars.  We also saw some old guys doing other crazy stuff I though only 20-30 year olds could do.  Another cool thing we saw was these grannies in a circle playing hacky sack, and they were really good at it.

Where the seniors go to "play"

Overall, Beijing was a very enjoyable place.  If I were to live some where in China I would probably choose Beijing.  It had nice people, nice communities, and delicious food.   I was impressed with Beijing for sure.