TRAIN AND TIANANMEN

Day 2, March 23rd

I have to admit, thanks to Patton, getting to the hostel was the easiest it has ever been.  The driver was waiting for us, grabbed our bags, took us straight to the place to check in, then on to the actual place we are staying, The Red Lantern West Yard.  It didn’t suck.

The courtyard at The Red Lantern

We had had a pretty long 25 hours in transit and all we wanted was food, a shower and sleep.  Mind you, I am now in charge and am basically making this up as I go along.  That would explain why we had what the three of us are convinced was pig ears for dinner, including the cartilage.  I didn’t see sweet and sour chicken on the menu.  Oh well. 

Day 3, March 24th

This is business day.  Gotta secure train tickets from Beijing to Hanoi, Vietnam.  Our hostel could do it for us, but why pay them to do it when we could do it ourselves?  Ummm, to save us the hassle.  Doing it ourselves seemed to be a bad idea at first, but turned out to be pretty good in the end.  To get to the train station we first had to learn how to navigate the Beijing subway system.  Not too bad.  The only problem is on occasion one of my “kids” isn’t paying attention and wonders off.  I am thinking about putting them on one of those kiddie leashes.  Now I know what it feels like to be a parent. 

Tiananmen Square

The main train station is pretty overwhelming and we finally found an English speaking booth.  We wanted the express sleeper train to Hanoi, but I think it was full and we ended up with the slower train.  At least, that is what I understood.  We’ll find out on Sunday.  As long as it is a soft sleeper, we will be fine.  We asked the people at our hotel and they had no clue about the express train to Hanoi.  So I guess we did OK on our own.  Train tickets, check.

Next was Tiananmen (translated means Heaven's Pacification) Square.  The history of this place is well known, specifically the murders of many unarmed civilians by Chinese soldiers in 1989.  But, no sign of that history anywhere, in the form of a memorial or anything.  China would love to erase that bit of history altogether.  There is this odd air of tranquility that feels forced. They have two giant screens with dancers and music to fill the square.  There seems to be an effort to convince people that something so tragic could never have happened here. I’m glad we got to come here.

Mom and Dad in front of the train station

This morning when we left, as we walked out of the hutong (alley), dad and I looked at each other and pointed out a marker so we would know how to get back.  We both pointed out the obvious yellow and red sign that said “Good House Hotel.”  You couldn’t miss it.  Now, after visiting Tiananmen Square, it was time to retrace our steps and find our way home.  However, during the day our marker was taken down.  We were flying blind.  Not good.  We ended up walking way past our hutong and got lost.  After stopping for a quick bite where we had to cook our own food, we finally made it back to the Red Lantern and called it a day.

Flying blindly yours,

The Parent

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