Drake Librarian in China

["Commenters" are asking for MORE PICTURES, but please keep in mind that, of course, I took many more pictures at the Beginning of the trip than near the End, so, it's only natural that the "End" (which you are reading now!) has fewer pics than the "Beginning" (which is yet to come!) In short, hang in there!]

On your right, the Meridian Gate to the "Forbidden City" (or "Palace Museum" as it's officially deemed these days) in Beijing, my goal for my final full day in China.

The day begins with breakfast-in-hotel, then a visit to the Tourism Office, where I learn what I'd expected.. that it's too late to get a trip to the "Great Wall" today. So, no Great Wall for this traveller, on this trip. Oh, well, it was just Mao who said that "You aren't a man until you've climbed the Great Wall," and it's been a long time (as in, never?) since I worried much about his definitions of humanity.

So, just as on my first day in Beijing, I set off in a westerly direction for Tianmen, and am soon sweating profusely. Now, however, I am much better prepared, in one sense: I am ready with my "Wo bu yao" (pronounced "Woe boo yow," or thereabouts) whenever a street-seller approaches me. Some of the same people, I am convinced, are trying to sell me the same things, but "w.b.y." cuts them off much more efficiently than my first trip, when they would follow me for a block. In fact, a real highlight: the street-seller who is trying to sell me a watch (what? My Timex isn't obvious enough?) and who obviously speaks fairly good English, comes up short after I say it, and says, "Wo bu yao? Wow!" (I'm not making this up!)

Again, once I reach the south side of T. Square, I walk on the east side of it, not on the square, but across the street (which fronts aforementioned shops and TCM facility)



{More to come....}