A few from today

The Forbidden City is gigantic. It really is a city. It has 9,999 rooms.

I walked around for 4 hours today, probably saw 1/4 of it.

Its very impressive, and very crowded.

I saw bronze water pitchers and serving dishes today that are 4 thousand years old. - Its hard for me to wrap my head around how old things are here.

Hooray for Roomservice!!

Yum.

Eating

Okay, so here's the hard thing.
Eating.
I can only eat what I can point to.

So - I ate at a street vendor last night. It was good, but nothing to go back for.
Tonight I wanted to go to a restaurant that I saw last night. (The Peking Roast Duck restaurant.)
I walked in. There was a hostess. I couldn't talk to her.
If I was able to get across that I was one for dinner, I couldn't understand her reply.
I probably could have worked through that - but, I didn't know if the menu would have pictures. Without pictures, I could be ordering squid in bean paste with a side of seahorse. -
(Last night, I saw a street vendor selling seahorse on a stick.)
So, I walked out.

I wandered the street more and looked in stores and listened to bands. Then, I decided "I can do this." I went to a cafe that I had passed three times. Its very busy, so I figured its good.
I steeled myself and walked in.
I watched for a while.
There was nothing to point to to place an order.
No way to learn the way of saying "dumpling".
Not really a way to point at what others were eating.
And, it was the type of restaurant where they call your name or number and you go get your food.
That won't work.

So, I walked out.
Have I mentioned that I haven't had a real meal today?
I've only had snacky stuff: trail mix, a bean scone from starbux, dried fruit...

I considered McDonalds or KFC - they were both on the same street. - But, I would really like to eat local. -I finally came back to the hotel for room service.
Not a place with local color, but at least its not a big mac.

Great Wall

It was hot and muggy. But really, really cool.

Beijing - This is so crazy!

I walked around the Forbidden City today, and then over to Tian'anmen Square.
Surreal.

I still haven't gone inside the Forbidden City - because, it was....forbidden.
I got there after closing time.
I plan to go back. Probably on Tuesday.
Tomorrow I'm going to go on a tour to the Great Wall of China. -- 6 hours. Take your own lunch.

I'm staying at the super-swanky China World hotel.
I rode the Beijing subway tonight (piece 'o cake!).
I'm really tired.
It's 9pm here, so I've got a few more things to do, then I'm going to call it a day.

Spooky is....

Being cram-packed onto a subway car.
At least 100 people with you and you're touching 4 or 5 of them.
(some inappropriately - inadvertently)
Hurtling underground.
No one talks.
Its absolutely quiet from 96th to 51st.

Friday, er, saturday poetry

east river morning

A faceted shimmer glistens
in front of a red brick facade.

The brick building faces south-east;
basking in the morning autumn light.
Bricks are orange, red, pink, brown and every variation.
Windows and fire-escapes at close-set intervals;
shadows in sharp relief in the bright morning.

A regular pattern of black and white
flecks shimmer in front of the red.
Swirling back, forth, around and upward:
Whites glinting in the sun;
Grays and blacks fading to the background.
Living patterns move.

The pigeons fly up and out -
flock travelling as one.

Friday Poetry

Little girls in a boat.
Watching the lady come into view.
Mama with a tight hold on her treasures as they stand by the rail.

Liberty ahead.
Beacon high.
Home ahead.
Full of hope unseen.
Danger ahead.
Social safety nets left behind.

The fast-flowing stream of assimilation
pulls and tugs on the family.
Ties to the old world are stretched as the tide quickens.
Ebb and flow of joining a new society.
Cultural aid societies are pools of refuge.
Help offered by new friends
from the same corner of the map.

Little girls in a boat.
Breathless as the skyline and statue loom closer.

Last years pocket

You never know it is
the last time
in the season
that you will
hang up a winter coat.

Maybe you didn't.
Maybe you threw it over a chair-
but the days got warmer
and the coat was hung
in the back of the closet.

Time passes;
the chill returns;
the coat comes out.

The pockets:
a window back
to what was important
on that last
chilly day of spring.

Ticket stubs from a movie night.
A receipt from a date for afternoon coffee.
Cheerios.
A kleenex from your late-spring cold.
The thing to look in a toddler's ear,
a distraction for the wait in the pediatrician's office.