When the woman at the desk asked me how many I had in my family, she just stared at my reply of "five". I tried, "wu wei," thinking that she didn't understand me, but she followed that up with a toothy head-shaking laugh. She shuffled the passports, and shaking her head again she grabbed the phone and shouted in Chinese. Within seconds a firm finger wag shot in my direction from her fast approaching supervisor. "Diplomat is 1! Family wait here." He pointed, indicating the long line that I had pulled them out of twenty minutes earlier in order to try it. The wait wasn't too bad though, and in a few minutes time we reunited on the other side of the security checkpoint. As we started our stroll to gate 51, I gave a parting shout to Stretch, who was headed on a different flight back home to Birmingham. "Stretch, am I doing it right?" He laughed and nodded, "yep, just follow them around and say yes dear." As a seasoned traveler with this group of fabulous women, he was echoing the fatherly advice that he shared with the boys and I throughout the week - you can either be right or be in a relationship. We shared a parting laugh and then I followed my five lady friends, Granny, Joan, Lynn, Sandra and Carol through the airport. At gate 51 we sardined into a stuffy bus for a ride to the bottom of the jetway leading to our plane to Singapore.
The ladies and Stretch arrived last week and we took our regular family trip over to the airport to scoop them and bring them to our home in River Gardens. We love when guests arrive as it is quite exciting to be their first familiar face in China, but that day we did make one adjustment to our normal routine - the cruiser. With the size of the group, Joanne had the great idea to rent a bus for a few days; it was nice to be able to pack up our cooler of snacks and visit the Beijing sights in cruiser style without the stresses of traffic or parking. Predictably we spent most of the week retaurant and bar hopping, but we did mix in a few sights as well. We took a beautiful-day walk on Mutianyu and rode the tobagan to the bottom of the mountain. We bartered for goods at the Hong Qiao Pearl Market and the girls bought pearls from Cathy; Granny is already a first-name regular at Cathy's Shop! We spent a five-star weekend on Wangfujing people watching and photographing a wide range of wriggling "snacks" and buying braclets and gifts. We piled into the cruiser on Tomb Sweeping Day and had a look at the the Summer Palace amidst masses of Chinese citizens on holiday. On the short walk back ot the cruiser we ended up with 6 Gucci(Fucci) purses bought from a hungry lady seeking spending tourists - she hit the jackpot that day. While Joanne, the boys and I took a break for school and work, we sent them out with driver Sam. Between Sam, the Cruiser and few cabs they visited The Temple of Heaven, Hou Hai Park, The US Embassy, Tien An Man Square and The Forbidden City.
Back to the bar hopping - we did eat our way around town. We took a table at Tavola, my favorite dining experience in the whole city, hired a private room at the Wimasu Bierhaus for Easter dinner and to celebrate Joan's birthday, and had another private room at Malaca Legend on Roma lake. We made a large pile of Yan Jing bottle caps at Steak and Eggs(with some foods mixed in), ate a pub dinner at The Swan with Two Necks, tasted wine at the School House at the Wall, enjoyed The Atomosphere Bar on the 80th floor of China World, and elbowed our way into a closed Great Leap Brewery in Hou Hai hutong for a draught. And then there was my favorite, the morning and night friendship and gathering at 1201 River Gardens.
Sitting here on the plane I do already miss home, my bride and my boys, but I am pretty certain that if I just heed Stretch's wisdom and do as I am told, the girls and I are going to have a blast feeding our way around Singapore as well.
Sent from the iPad of
Paul R. Koch
http://dugahole.blogspot.com/
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