Getting entombed

 

Entrance to the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall 

I had a rough night last night, getting very little sleep, and then waking up in the morning to find my heart chamber going through some twists and turns, and my breath feeling short at times. When the heart eased up, the acid reflux kicked in, before the cardiac organ resumed reminding me of who is ultimately in charge. At one point I considered visiting the ER but seeing as I already had a scheduled appointment with my cardiologist this afternoon (talk about fortuitous timing) I opted to wait things out. One examination by stethoscope later, followed up with a blood test and ECG test, determined there were no signs of a heart attack, and I was sent on my way with a refilled prescription for medication to deal with arrhythmia.

It goes without saying, but I'll state it anyway: I didn't go into the office today, the day following the Veterans Day holiday weekend. So now is as good a time as any to catch up on happenings in China's capital in the weeks since the wife and I returned from South Korea at the end of a long R&R break. And I'll begin with the most recent, our brief overnight trip out of Beijing 北京 this past weekend, with the decision to leave not settled until Sunday morning. On our way out of town we stopped at a highway service area for a quick lunch. Compared to what drivers can enjoy in Japan and Taiwan, food offerings at these rest stops in China are comparatively spare. I ended up settling on a donkey meat 驴肉 sandwich:

And where we ended up on Sunday was Xiahuayuan 下花园, a district of Zhangjiakou City 张家口市 in Hebei Province 河北省, around a two-hour drive from our home. From our room on the 10th floor of the Rezen Hotel Bluewish we had a nice view of Jiming Mountain 鸡鸣山:

 

Our accommodations were located in the newer part of the district, a rather soulless strip of identical condo towers and row houses. Soon after checking in, and with sunlight beginning to fade, we set off toward the mountain, passing by several blocks of virtually unoccupied apartment buildings, one of many of China's "ghost cities". The road goes as far as halfway up the mountain, from where fit hikers ascend on foot the final route up to a temple on the top. We were content to remain at the entrance to the parking lot, enjoying the view:

Shu-E took this shot of the sun going down on a smoggy day, one of many the past few weeks in this part of China:

Back in the hotel room:

Going out from the hotel in search of dinner:

Frog meat is a specialty of the area, but we settled on a Korean-style BBQ restaurant. The beer selection was limited to Tsingtao or Yanjing - the latter is normally especially bland, but the V10 actually proved to be a flavorful white beer:

晚安下花园:

Monday morning, and an ominous portent of how bad the air quality would be yesterday:

Another bad omen:

Our destination that morning was the Huailai Jiming Ancient City 怀来县鸡鸣驿古城, a walled town that is China's oldest surviving post town, part of a system that enabled communication between palace officials in Beijing and far-flung bureaucrats scattered about China. My wife was less than impressed, saying it reminded her of where her uncle used to live in Taiwan:

This academy dating from the Ming dynasty 明朝 gave local girls a rudimentary education:

Stockpiles of corn could be seen everywhere both inside and outside the city walls. I assumed it meant people were amassing food for the coming bitterly cold winter months, but my more astute spouse believed they were meant for either animal feed or as a heating source, or both:

At Taishan Temple 泰山行宫 could be seen Jimingyi's largest collection of Ming-era murals. According to my guidebook they were whitewashed during the Cultural Revolution 文化大革命出, allegedly for "protection". I wondered, however, if the gouges in the wall were evidence of something more sinister from that insane period of modern Chinese history:

Shu-E photographs a Chinese opera stage. The adjoining house was for sale if anyone is interested:

According to my wife, the Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧太后 fled to Jimingyi where she spent a night in this building while running from foreign military forces in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion:

A pawnshop:

The God of Wealth Temple 财神庙 is also home to some interesting Ming murals (as well as to senior citizens eating bananas):

According to my guidebook these five figures in the lower-left corner of the mural above were foreigners coming to China to do business. Shu-E couldn't see any resemblances:

The West Gate:

It was here we ascended the wall. The view toward the North Gate, where our car was parked:

My wife tries to get a glimpse of Jiming Mountain, obscured by the smog:

A freight train rumbles through the countryside:

A pair of dogs play in a courtyard, watched over by two largely disinterested cats:

The North Gate watchtower:

We had planned on returning to Jiming Mountain after finishing in the walled city, but the pollution cover altered our plans. So instead we headed back to Beijing, making a brief stop at the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall while en route:

Despite what the above photographs might suggest, we didn't actually pay to go inside. Jaded China hands that we are, we've both been to several areas of the Great Wall 长城 (Shu-E, in fact, had taken a friend to see Juyongguan while my daughter and I were in Japan last year), and considering Juyongguan and the more popular nearby Badaling 八达岭 sections have been "restored" to the point of being dangerously inauthentic, we decided to give it a pass and head back home before rush hour. Though it was a Monday afternoon, there were a lot of foreign tourists at Juyongguan, which might explain why McDonald's was the only option there for lunch:

And that was the "highlight" of this recent holiday weekend. What follows are some photographs from the past several weeks, like this one of the Liangma River 亮马河 after dark:

Our Siamese cat Timi plays host to Meow-meow, visiting from next door:

Lunch at a local izakaya 居酒屋, which I washed down with an appropriately shaped glass of Fujisan Beer 富士山ビール:

Okonomiyaki お好み焼き:

Swans in the Liangma:

The days shorten as winter approaches:

As it says on the label - Belgian Witbier:

Following some landscaping work done behind our house, Shu-E had some patio furniture delivered to the patio, just in time for the winter chill. This was the first time we let Timi in the backyard without a harness:

The Liangma riverside recently played host to an international sausage festival, which was exactly as billed, and not a gathering of male nudists:

Trying some Yak milk tea:

My wife was fascinated by this robotic dog being taken for a "walk":

Lunch at a recently renamed Taiwanese restaurant, though as it turned out the menu hadn't changed:

We've been trying to get Timi more accustomed to being outdoors, but to mixed results - he did not enjoy being in this carrier at all:

The arrival of autumn colors at Chaoyang Park 朝阳公园:

As I wrote earlier the pollution levels have been horrendous since flying in from Seoul (where the air was clean) in the middle of October. The highest AQI level I've seen so far these past weeks was 352, but most days have been above 150, with only the occasional respite:

Unfortunately the poor quality air coincided with a visit from Shu-E's brother and sister, who visited us along with a family friend*. My wife kept them busy for a couple of days in Gubei 古北, which was the site of our first overnight trip almost two years ago. I had to work and so couldn't join them:

Another smoggy afternoon in Chaoyang Park:

A statue of Mozart. A historical fact of which I was unaware was that the great composer was the victim of a horrendous accident or attack that left his head split down the middle:

Despite the pollutants in the air, the fall foliage brought out the crowds:

On a rare respite from the smog that fortunately fell on a weekend, I was able to join the troupe from Taiwan on a visit to the Ming Tombs 十三陵, the final resting place of 13 Ming dynasty emperors in the northern reaches of Beijing. We began our visit with a stroll along the Spirit Way:

I've seen these kinds of depictions at other historical locations in China, but the reasons behind why the animals are being subjected to these bone-breaking positions are lost on me:

Mao Zedong 毛泽东 was here...:

...as was I:

And so were these four gentlemen...:

...whom our group attempted to emulate (that's my brother- and sister-in-law bringing up the rear). For the record the four leaders above are Zhu De, Li Fuchun, Nie Rongzhen and Yang Shangkun. And, yes, I have no idea who they were, either:

It's almost impossible to make out in the photo, but between the two trees a pagoda can be seen atop the ridge in the distance:

The five of us stopped off at a "northeastern home cooking iron pot stew" 东北家常莱铣锅炖 restaurant to have lunch:

Of the 13 tombs, only three are open to the public. We visited just one, Ding Ling:

For some reason visitors were constantly being warned against using cell phones during thunderstorms, even though the guidance I found online suggested they're safe as long as they're aren't plugged into any outlets:

Ding Ling is the only one of the tombs where visitors are allowed into the underground chamber itself, though there wasn't actually much to be seen in it:

Most of the artifacts displayed in the two small museums at the tomb were replicas, which begged the question as to the whereabouts of the originals. Safely stored in another museum? Carried off to Taipei at the end of the Chinese Civil War? In the hands of a private collector in some foreign country? Destroyed during the Cultural Revolution?:

According to my brother-in-law (the accompanying caption lacked any English) this gold headpiece was the real deal, however:

On one weekday evening Shu-E also took her charges on a tour of Beijing, for which I was too tired to go along (they were going to return home late and I had work the following day)...:

...as well as to the Great Wall on another day when the smog lifted:

Our visitors have since returned to Taiwan after having a great time with my wife. I only wish I could've joined in on more of the fun, but the demands of the office and the limitations of my body (read exhaustion) prevented me from doing so. At least the five of us were able to get together on their last evening in China when we all had dinner at an izakaya:

karaage から揚げ

I'll end this entry with a few words about work. It's bidding time again, when I compete with others in a quixotic quest for a desired onward assignment from my current post. And in keeping with my previous experiences, this time around is also proving to be an exercise in frustration, as once again I learned I am not a leading candidate for my first choice of jobs (almost all of them in the Asia-Pacific region). As with my last bout with bidding during the height of the Covid-19 crisis, there are more candidates than available Consular spots, so the odds have never been in my favor. And then there's the dreaded "corridor reputation", meaning in the end it comes down to less on merit and more on who you know and who can say great things about you. While I'm not aware of any bridges having been burned, I don't have a large coterie of people in my corner who can influence assignment decisions and attest to my being the greatest thing since the proverbial sliced bread. Finally, my long-planned R&R trip to the U.S. and South Korea from early September to mid-October unfortunately ended up coinciding with the bidding period, and technical snafus on the department's end (not mine) prevented me from accessing vital work emails and websites during the crucial first 2½ weeks of the bidding season. 

The end result is an exhaustive, draining and stressful process that's been taking its toll on both my mental and physical health (see the opening paragraph above). The saddest part of this whole shitshow is that the next tour will be my last, and I had been hoping to go out in a Consular blaze of glory while remaining in this part of the world. That's very unlikely to happen (though try explaining that to my wife), and a more realistic end result will be in a job someplace where no one else wants to go or, worse, a seat in an office in Washington, D.C. 

If it wasn't for the fact my money and my daughter are currently in college, I would be preparing to retire at the end of our time in Beijing. Instead...

What I had for lunch welcoming two new members to our office. On a positive note the new regime has been a marked improvement over the previous junta, and I haven't had to face any inappropriate remarks about my age and heath. 

*"Unfortunately" meaning it was a pity our visitors couldn't have had cleaner skies while they were here (though they did get lucky on a couple of occasions). My in-laws have shown nothing but kindness to me over the years and are more than welcome to stay with us wherever we are in the world. 

From The Decline of Western Civilization. "I swear, I hate cops to the max!":