Old Beijing Neighborhoods

Family,

Today was out last day in Beijing and we were ready to stay for many more. There is so much to see and do in this huge, sprawling city. It was smoggy today - worse than I have ever seen in my life - a problem that the Chinese leadership is worried about. Today we went to LDS church meetings (sorry no photos) with the Beijing International Branch that meets on part of the 4th floor of an office building downtown. Though the speakers this time were local students studying Mandarin (one from Kansas City) and were less than electrifying, I still found the experience uplifting. Here in the middle of China, ex-patriots from all over the world gather together to meet in a pattern that is familiar and comfortable for LDS people worldwide. They know the drill and can run the plays without coaching. Our opening prayer was a wonderful prayer in German. The rest of the meeting was in English. The Communist government will not allow proselytizing and I'm not sure of the status of the Chinese branch, though there is one that meets in the same place later in the day, but is critically important, apparently, that they not mix - so that the foreign Mormons are not in any way teaching or proselitizing the Chinese nationals. As I wrote earlier, Chinese nationals wishing to join the church must currently travel out of the country - to Hong Kong usually - to be baptised.

Our friend in Beijing, Gail, was there with her two darling Chinese daughters she adopted while living in NYC. She was 30, unmarried and wanted children so decided to start the adoption process and get on with her life as she wanted it. Recently, adoption rules have changed and a single mother would not be able to adopt from China. Also unsatisfactory prospective parents would be gays and people overweight and people over 55. So she feels blessed. Here in Beijing, she has two servants at home, a car and driver provided by Deutche Bank, her employer, and so her life is better for her than living in the suburbs of America trying to raise her daughters alone. We were so luch to have her as a resource and to have her car and driver at our disposal at all hours of the day when she did not need him. I felt like a charactere in a 1920's movie where the rich English in China have servants and drivers to carry them about and above the rabble of common people.

After church we visited one of the more well known Hutangs or old neighborhoods to wander the streets. Unfortunately, the alleys and streets are full of people hawking watches, clothing and Rick Shaw rides. They were very annoying and we walking away into less traveled alleyways. Pictures are enclosed of some of this to give a flavor of the place. To alleviate the din of marketing, we decided to rent a small electric powered boat and cruise around on the lake. A closing picture of the day is of huge new high rise buildings in Beijing on the way to the airport.

We liked Beijing very much. It has a much more open feeling that Hong Kong - very spread out - with endless things to see and do and buy. I would like to return there some day but, of course, that is unlikely. I hope one of you can make the trip. Do you realize that the great majority of the world population is Asian - either Chinese, or south Asian, or South East Asian including Indian and surrounding nations? China has had different Emperors over the centuries, but has been around with language that is still written and spoken from times before the Roman Empire. Seeing something of this very old and complex culture is an eye opener. I loved learning bits and pieces of the language, though very difficult for a caucasian like me.

We managed to get our lovely vase packed and shipped with baggage on the plane to Hong Kong - it was quite a project to get it to the airport (it's large and heavy and doesn't fit in a luggage we could buy) and get it packed at the post office in the airport which has obviously had this problem before and has stacks of cardboard boxing materials and newspaper to accomodate tourists. We paid 90 Yuen to have it boxed. The flight was an unconfortable 3 hours back to Hong Kong, which strangely, felt like home after the strangeness of the "real" China. Elaine's taxi service picked us up at the airport in a van and for $450 Hong Kong dollars, we were given a Mr. Toad's wild ride from the airport on Landau Island, through Kowloon and Hong Kong to Stanley Park on the south of the Hong Kong Island were Mark and Elaine's high rise apartment is located.

Beijing weather, being in the northern latitudes, was pleasant for Oregonians - in the 60s and 70s, but Hong Kong is just inside the latitude of the tropics, humid and in the high 80s.

It is hard to believe after all we have seen that we are really only half way through our trip here in Asia.

I hope you are all well.

love,

Dad