Our last morning in Beijing, we woke up early and headed out on another yogurt mission. This time, our objective was these tiny jars that people seemed to be sucking down outside of the shops try had just bought them in. Any time of day, there would be a ton of empty jars lined up in window sills and make-shift shelves outside of stores.
I opted for some walnut biscuits – fragrant and fragile, according to the label. Delicious, according to my stomach.
We popped a straw in through the rubber banded paper lid of the yogurt and sucked it down. We both liked it better than the royal stuff from yesterday! My mom decided the jar would make a great souvenir (she has a couple of small jars and cups from other trips), so I put it in my day bag for her.
Our hostel was right on the outside of the Forbidden City but we hadn’t been there yet, so we headed that way. It was unbelievably crowded at 7:30 am! Within the Forbidden City, there are military barracks (although the guys marching through the crowds looked pretty young – maybe a communist version of JROTC?) with a workout area and their dress uniforms hanging out to air dry.
Then we crossed the street to the equally crowded Tienanman Square. When we were with Victor, he told us that he lived in a hu tong near there during the protests and subsequent massacre in 1989. While the students were protesting, Victor and his family would take food to share with them. He said that because the news is so heavily censored that it was only reported that soldiers died during the incident – not even a mention of the civilians deaths. I was shocked to hear this. As a westerner, I can’t even begin to comprehend this sort of public manipulation. I tried to look it up, and was even more surprised to learn that the numbers of casualties is still disputed, as the Chinese government has never released any official information and research regarding the incident is prohibited there.
Click here for a 360 view of Tienanman Square: http://360.io/cXcEgK
We thought we’d get a snacky and then have late lunch at the airport, since our flight to Bangkok was four hours long and had us landing at ten pm. We were strolling through the neighborhood around the square and got another jar o’ yogurt to split. I had also decided I needed one of those jars as a souvy, too.
We got to the airport and checked out the food before security but decided we’d feel better if we got closer to our gate. I was only running on some yogurt and fragile crackers at that point. It was much further than we thought to our gate, especially after a tram ride and some serious footing. We threw our packs in a cart for the long walk, but one of the yogurt jars I had so carefully rinsed out in the bathroom smashed all over the tile floor. Then I discovered the other one had leaked yogurt leftovers all over the inside of my bag. Yuck.
I’ll spare you any more whining, but take my advice – if you’re ever flying through the Beijing airport, eat before security. Maybe even get a massage while you’re there, or buy an entire Peking duck for the flight. But know all the cool stuff happens before security. We ended up sharing white rice and watermelon …. less than ideal. It was enough fuel to get us to the plane, and that’s about it.
After a four hour flight, we used wifi at the airport to find a hotel in Bangkok, hopped in a taxi and were at our hotel in thirty or so minutes. The receptionist didn’t speak a lick of English, and my Thai was a little rusty (or nonexistent, if you want to be specific), but we got checked in and in bed for our early train ride in the morning.
Meredith R. Allen 