| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Calm
Spirit/Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2006 Beijing | | | | | |
| The
Prime Hotel is a confusing name to Chinese people. It's Chinese name is Hua Qiao
Da Sha which means "returning overseas Chinese people". The hotel closed
for remodeling last year and I have to say it's not as nice as it was. The wonderful
traditional Chinese lobby has been reduced in size and doesn't have the comfortable
"lobby" chairs for visiting and even conducting business. The rooms
are more worn, and there was something wrong every day,like no towels, no soap.
They still have the old style box on the wall hair dryers that have no power and
takes forever to dry hair. And the staff doesn't understand English very well,
but it IS a Chinese hotel. The hotels displays a 5 star rating, but it is really
a 4 star quality. If you don't care for Chinese food for breakfast, stay in a
Western owned hotel. | | |
| | | | |  | |
| | | | | |
| | | Tom
went on his tour of the Great Wall, which is an all day tour if you go to Simitai,
as it's a three hour ride each way and offers the opportunity to hike on the wall
for 2-3 hours. I met up with my friend
Dr. Charles Li and we went to a Japanese villa for his gong fu lessons with
children 18 months to 5 years old. Charles is a traditional
Chinese doctor and gong fu master and combines his knowledge and experience
to provide training for all ages based on their developmental needs. He engages
the parent in the lessons so they can reinforce the lessons later and benefit
from the lessons, too. | | | | |
| | | | | | |  | | | | | | | |
| | Then
we went to his studio and tea house, which is an old Beijing style courtyard home
that he has renovated and made into a studio, tea house and spa. He ordered a
foot massage for me from his foot massage specialist who learned a cultural style
that is practiced near Beidaihe. It's more gentle and for relaxation and circulation,
good health, than some of the styles learned for business and profit. She also
did a hand massage and the combination helped balance and made me feel really
good and ready for the Chinese medicine lunch, foods Charles chose for my health
needs. We hadn't seen each other for a year so there was a lot to catch up on.
He's collected some fabulous antique Chinese furniture and we went to some of
the furniture stores and looked at (drooled over) some very unique lovely pieces.
The photo is a contemporary stool with storage drawers in it, comfortable and
versatile. | | | |
| | | | | | | |  | | | | | | |
| Then
off to give on of his American students her tai chi lesson. Paula's been learning
tai chi from Charles for a year, and I've been doing tai chi for 7 years, but
I could see right away that she has learned much more than I. Her form has power
from the feet, legs and back and a flowing way of moving that I never learned.
My form is also the 24 form Beijing style, brought to the US from Beijing by my
qigong teacher, who taught it to one of his students, and then passed to another
student, who taught it to me. The way it's done can be different, as it is all
over the world, but if you learn the basics correctly it doesn't matter the sequence.
I didn't learn the basics for a powerful form. Charles calls it my "old lady
form". Anyone can learn and practice tai chi for relaxation, but for good
health and balance of body, mind and spirit, you need to learn it from a base
of power and mind control. He showed me a better way for stepping, walking, and
it made a big difference for me.
| |
| | | | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| | | After
I returned to the hotel in the evening, Tom was just getting back from his tour
and we walked around Wang Fu Jing street. It was cold and raining, so we had dinner
near the hotel, a restaurant that actually had an English version of the menu
on the door, and edible. I have to say we don't care much for Beijing style food.
It's a little too greasy and gristly for us.
I called Verizon Wireless
before I left to find out if I could use my cell phone again in China like I did
last year, and they said I could, be sure to program it to pick up the towers.
But my phone just would not work in China, which is a real problem when I need
it for business and calling my contacts. Verizon is like the IRS: every time you
call them you get different information and most of it is wrong. I must have been
lucky last summer because it didn't work the entire time I was in China during
this trip.
|
| | | | | | Return
to Travelog Home Next:
Tianjin Ying
Yu Jade Web Site Calm
Spirit Web Site Contact
Us | | | | | | | | |
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |