Two days before we get Cao Ai Hua
By Terry R. Cassreino
BEIJING - After visiting The Great Wall, our tour guide and several Holt International Children’s Services families toured a hutong (or a local neighborhood).
We toured by rickshaw in which a gentleman pedaled a bicycle while Pam and I rode in the back. We passed through narrow alleys of the hutong and stopped at one house.
There, we learned that a woman who is in her 60s has lived there her whole life and shares the extremely small quarters with her husband, son and daughter.
All total, they probably have 1,200 square feet or less in an aging, cinder-block building heated by radiators and cooled by breezes. The kitchen is a hot plate; they have little else.
But they do have their pride. This family allowed total strangers into their home, answered questions about her life (she’s a retired factory worker) and showed them around.
and not much else.
Stray dogs
I saw my first stray dogs today.
While traveling Saturday, or rather stuck in stalled traffic, on the expressway in Beijing, we saw our first stray dogs roaming the streets. We even saw owners walking their dogs.
Later, while touring a hutong by rickshaw, we saw more pets walking the streets with their owners or protecting their owners by barking loudly.
Our tour guide explained the reason for so few dogs and cats: The government requires owners to buy a $500 pet license or risk having their dog or cat taken to the Chinese pound.
Owners also have to renew their license once a year by paying $100 to the government.
Chipping away
Pam and I found out why you can’t buy those special-flavored Lays potato chips in the United States - you know, the ones we talked about earlier in the week.
These are potato chips flavored as Swiss cheese, Mexican tomato chicken, beef and cucumbers. And man do they suck. They are terrible, nasty, foul tasting.
We bought the chips out of curiosity a couple of hours ago from a neighborhood grocery (after we decided to bypass a local Korean restaurant because of the line).
The store was nice. The chips weren’t.
Orientation set
On Sunday, we will join Holt families here at the Kunlun Hotel for orientation at 9 a.m. that is scheduled to last about three hours.
We should learn more about Cao Ai Hua as well as travel plans this week for Beijing to Nanchang and from Nanchang to Guangzhou.
After orientation, we are scheduled to take a tour of the Forbidden City - the place where 24 emperors and two dynasties rued for more than 500 years.
If you remember, this was also where director Bernardo Bertolucci shot his Oscar-winning film “The Last Emperor,” the true story of Pu Yi. This is an incredible film that I highly recommend.
Finally, Pam and I need to buy an extra piece of luggage to check on the plane to lessen the load she as in the suitcase she brought. If not, we’ll pay a huge fine for packing 60-plus pounds.
The limit in China is 44 pounds; the limit domestically in the United States is 50 pounds.
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino
I love your pictures . I also love the beautiful dolls. you need to by one of those dolls in the picture. I miss you son. Love Mother
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