Famous Days

Todd came to see me into my 60th year and we had a wonderful week together - what my college friends and I used to call 'famous days' because we knew that time would pass and we would celebrate our youthful adventures later in our lives.

The weather had turned cool but the view from our apartment was as satisfying as ever.


We went for a sampan ride around Aberdeen harbor, the original Hong Kong. Hong Kong means 'Fragrant Harbor,' and, according to popular wisdom, is so named because of the incense once stored in warehouses in what is now Aberdeen.

The sampan belonged to a Tanka woman. The Tanka are an ethnic minority who mostly make their living fishing and traditionally lived on their boats, though few do today. They wear bell shaped straw hats like the one next to this woman.

We went to Temple Street Market one night where Todd had his fortune told by a bird.


The bird picked out the card and this woman interpreted it for us. He'll live to at least 96!

We had a beautiful birthday lunch on my 60th.

We ate pulled noodles.

They represent long life!

The next day, we ate roast goose and Cantonese barbecued pork at this very kinetic place on Stewart Road in Wanchai.


It was a typical daipaidong and we drank iced yuanyang, a mix of coffee and tea with milk and sugar.

We went swimming and then had beer and squid on the Stanley waterfront while waiting for Anna.

Then to Beijing, where Todd stayed in a wonderful courtyard hotel on a narrow hutong.

We took a cooking class and learned, among other things, about broad bean paste.

Here we are making ganbian sijidou, a Sichuan green bean dish.

We got in line with about 20,000 other people to see Mao Zedong's mortal remains.


It was the longest line I've ever been in, but it moved quickly.

Mao was still there ...

... lying just where he was when I saw him ten years ago with Sky.

Later, Todd and I walked through Tiananmen Square to Tiananmen and then in through the gate.

I had a guide take us through the Forbidden City - or Purple Forbidden City, as it is known in Chinese - once home to the emperors. That's Todd with the guide in the lower right.


There was a lot of walking.

This is the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor lived in this building, which was divided into nine rooms on two levels, with twenty-seven beds. For security, the Emperor changed beds randomly each night.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng moved his living quarters to the west where subsequent emperors then lived. The Palace of Heavenly Purity became the Emperor's office, where he held court, received ministers and emissaries, and held banquets. The furniture, including the original throne, was moved out in advance of the Japanese occupation in World War II and was eventually taken by the Kuomingtang to Taiwan. The throne seen here is one that was found in a storeroom and refurbished by the Communists.

The tablet above the throne reads right-to-left, "zhèng dà guāng míng," a Chinese idiom that means roughtly "be decent, honest and magnanimous." According to tradition, the Qing emperors hid a document behind the tablet naming their successor.  The intrigue surrounding that document has been the subject of many Chinese novels about the succession of Qing emperors.

We had lunch after touring the Forbidden City. The food was disappointing, but this tripe, radish and pepper dish was good, as were the tea tree mushrooms behind it.

Later, we drove to a place called Panlongshan, which means Coiled Dragon Mountain, arriving after dark, and hiked up a stone path to an unrestored section of the Great Wall. 

We were southeast of Mongolia and southwest of Manchuria.

Northeast of Beijing.

We camped at the arrow.

We had rented tents and sleeping bags from a local guide. This is the watchtower we slept in.


Before turning in, we sent off a sky lantern to mark Dad's 85th birthday and nearly a year since his passing. We almost set the forest on fire, but that's a story best told a decade or two from now.

Bedding down in the watch tower.

Waiting for the sunrise.

There were many battles fought here throughout history because this stretch of wall protected Gubeikou - or Old North Pass - which emperors crossed to reach their summer hunting grounds in Chengde and which invading northern armies would try to breach to reach the capital.

Most recently, the Chinese fought (and lost) on this section of the wall against Japanese troops advancing on Beijing from the north.

Looking north toward Mongolia.


Sunrise.

This part of the wall is older and narrower than other areas close to Beijing. It was built during the Northern Qi Dynasty beginning in 556 AD and expanded and reinforced during the Ming Dynasty.

The last construction on this section was done in 1567. It has not been restored since then.

But it is beautifully constructed with notches for storm drains.

The arched ceiling of the watchtower in which we slept.

Our camping site.

A local woman who rented us the tents and sleeping bags made us each a bowl of noodles when we got back down to the road.

Next, we hired a driver to take us to another, more developed section of the wall.

It was a long way up, but they had a gondola ride to get you close to the wall and from there it was an easy walk.

It was a restored section and so Todd got to see what the original wall looked like.


It was a beautiful day - mercifully cool.

When we got back to Beijing, we ate Peking Duck at a branch of the famous Quanjude Peking Roast Duck restaurant near my old stomping grounds. I ate here when I was in my 20s.

It was fun and, of course, delicious.


We ate the whole duck and drank duck soup, too!

We had these odd walnut shaped pastries for dessert, filled with a sort of sweet walnut and red bean paste.

All in all, it was an epic week.