Real Concepts' China Series
Above: Forbidden City Imperial Residences
Before arriving in mainland China, I had not considered the many things that would be necessarily new to an emerging and exploding world economic power. As a current powerhouse that spent many of its recent sixty-year history in a cocoon state, if not a literal Dark Age, China is evolving as a new player in the tourism industry. It is a subject very much top-of-mind for the Chinese government and people and is now a favorite major in the universities.
China is so immersed in its business activities that tourism seemed to take a back seat to the pursuit of the next deal. The Olympics is likely to change that and to also change the tourism mix. The lack of visible western tourists, particularly women, in Beijing was striking and surprising. When I related this observation to someone back in the U.S., I got a look that clearly conveyed I had just lost any credibility I ever possessed.
There were plenty of businessmen obviously from all over the world – the Russians, British, and Americans seemed to make up the majority of the suit population outside of the Chinese themselves. But the tourists at the most popular sites in Beijing, were mostly Chinese.
Domestic tourists account for 95 percent of all Chinese tourists – as compared to the U.S. where the local/foreigner tourist split is 50/50. And domestic tourism is growing by 10 percent per year. This information from the Urban Land Institute quoted in a recent article entitled Beijing Beyond the Olympics (subscription required) supported what I saw in person - mostly Chinese people at the tourist locales and shopping venues.
Farming family from Southern China visiting The Forbidden City
Now on to the matter at hand and a personal story of touring in China. This true account is meant as another warning and as a travel tip. If you’re traveling to China and not touring with a group, you might want to consider the services of a driver and a guide if you are visiting outside of the Olympic venues and activities. Remember if you choose a taxi you must have your destinations at all points clearly translated into Chinese. If you are an intrepid foreign tourist and looking for an extreme adventure, if you have boundless energy and patience, and if you don’t mind a few blind-alley experiences, you can pass on assistance, otherwise have your hotel book a licensed guide and driver.
The operative word here is licensed. I am not entirely clear what licensed means in China and whether it gives you any level of protection in the event of an accident, but it has to be better than our non-licensed experience. The large hotels wield a great deal of power over the tourist companies they use and their ongoing livelihood depends on their satisfied customers.
For our stay in Beijing we contacted a business associate, not the hotel, for a connection to a tourist guide company. All was arranged in advance and we would be contacted at our Beijing hotel on our arrival. A woman by the name of “Tiki” called and said she would meet us at the hotel first thing the next morning with our guide and driver. At our appointed hotel rendezvous we were introduced to William, our guide. The driver was dutifully waiting outside with the car. After a few minutes discussing the first of our three-day plans, we follow William out for a day of Beijing highlights.
Our driver was obviously a very young fellow, dressed in a comfy jogging suit, and proudly standing by his no-dent white compact Nissan. Maybe this is how they do things in Beijing … when in Rome … so we climb in the back seat, fold our legs up and off we go. The two amigos in the front seat, William and Driver, immediately crank their CD player up and are laughing and singing and occasionally William is chatting with us.
William and Driver’s (we never knew his name – he didn’t speak English, didn’t like English we were told – no problem) story gradually unfolded. They live in the same college dorm and William had to do some pretty fast talking to convince Tiki that Driver should be at the wheel. As we were leaving the hotel we found out why some fast talk was necessary. He drove as only someone newly arrived at the wheel can drive – with little of the confidence that comes with the lifetime benefit of the family driving experience. We’re exiting at about 10 mph and all of a sudden Driver slams on the brakes, HARD, and we go flying against the front seats. Turns out Driver’s driving experience was only with a stick shift and we were in an automatic. This brake action happened at regular but lengthening intervals as Driver settled into the automatic transmission. I don’t know how we avoided a rear-end collision in Beijing traffic.
At this point we’re still optimistic as we crawl through traffic and pollution to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We are not dropped off at the Square but consulted, we go with driver to find a parking place. We pass several pay-lots and go many blocks into a neighborhood where we park on a back street (three attempts at a straight-on curb park). William tells me to watch my purse and keep it close. It’s early and I still have some patience in tact. We trudge to Tiananmen Square in all its gray glory. William pulls out his notes and commences to educate us.
Tiananmen Square looking towards the Forbidden City
We take several wrong turns in underground tunnels to get to the other side of a very busy highway separating Tiananmen Square from the Forbidden City. William does his introduction to the famous palace, which is only standing today because Mao lacked the funds to tear it down (my notes, not William’s). It is 11:30 now and William announces that we are going to walk back to the car, go to lunch (Peking Duck), and then come back to the Forbidden City. DO WHAT? We are standing in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City and you want us to backtrack 2 miles that we just traversed and then do it all over again. I don’t think so.
But William had his orders and he was not supposed to vary from "the plan". “William, no offense, but that doesn’t make any sense. We’re going into the Forbidden City.” William had no choice so all four of us press on. Never had a driver stayed so close. Probably another mile or so within the Forbidden City and a couple of hour’s tour. It was fascinating but I bought “the book” because I knew there was a lot of information missing from our tour. The book was a grand idea. Click here for additional photos of the Forbidden City.
The Imperial Gardens at the Forbidden City
By now we knew to question William’s tour plans. What next boss? The Temple of Heaven Park. OK William, where and how far. William insists it's a short walk through a residential area. We ask William to send Driver the long trek back to the car and to meet us at the entrance to the Park. On the way, we see a restaurant on a corner and by now it is 3:00. We want to stop in and have a tea and a cup of soup – anything. William has panic attack and so we trudge on. It was not a short walk and it was not scenic, so I hailed a cab. By now we’re thirsty, hungry, and our feet ache. The park is absolutely beautiful but not so large and we did the tour in short order. There are few parks in Beijing so the people are understandably proud of this gem. You won’t be surprised to learn we had a long wait for Driver.
Local musicians entertaining visitors to the Temple of Heaven Park
William had further plans for us but we pull the plug for the day. “Back to the hotel!” He is shocked. His plans were to take us God knows where else and then we were going to dinner and bar hopping. We barely contained an “ARE YOU CRAZY? BAR HOPPING???” His favorite restaurant was Kentucky Fried Chicken!
On the way back, Driver gets pulled over by the police and gets a traffic ticket for an illegal left turn. Like I said, China is new to driving so the police just stand at an intersection and pull drivers over one behind the other – just like fishing from a barrel. We were eternally grateful to finally reach our hotel. Here's our cop:
At this point we’re not completely suspect and we really want to see the Great Wall so we plan to regroup the next day for the 1.5-hour drive outside the city.
By Day Two, Driver is doing better without a clutch and we doze most of the way to the Great Wall, then we suddenly realize we’re getting pulled over by the police again. This time Driver panics because he can’t find his driver’s license, but finally locates it. William gets out too and immediately comes back and says, “This is serious! Stay put … don’t get out of the car!” and rushes off again. We look out the back window and the police are marching a group of men down the road en masse, obviously to give them a group driving lesson on traffic circles (something new to the Chinese apparently – we were going the wrong way in the traffic circle). William soon comes back to reiterate the seriousness of "our" situation. “We can go to prison for two years!! And they're going to confiscate the car!” What's this "we" stuff? And he runs off again completely wild-eyed. We figure we’ll just get a taxi, but we’re in the middle of nowhere and couldn't beg, borrow, or steal a taxi.
Everything unravels at this point. William practically screams that they can’t prove who the car belongs to and why we are all out joyriding in this car none of us owns. He says the car belongs to Tiki’s mother and that he doesn’t know Tiki’s last name and can’t get her on her cell phone (she can’t answer because she’s at work). “This is really serious. Don’t get out of the car!!!” We ask “Who do you work for?” now more suspicious about what is going on. “I work for you,” cries young William contemplating how he’ll look in prison garb. We realize just how tenuous our employment relationship is since we have no idea who any of these people are and that we are not under the aegis of any licensed agency.
So we call our “business connection” that got the ball rolling for the tour. He didn’t seem to be in the least bit concerned and William put him on the phone with the police. I don’t know what he said, but it did the trick and we were soon on our way sans a roadside-issued prison sentence a second traffic ticket in as many days.
Note: Chinese officials including the police are very foreign tourist friendly. They are very hard on their own Chinese population but they have been carefully groomed for the Olympic coming-out party. No need to fear the police as a tourist - they're the good guys.
I’m sure you see the transparency of the scam now. We later learned that we really did have a tour guide arranged through a licensed agency but he cancelled the day before. Tiki being an enterprising young Chinese woman, decided to handle this on her own outside her employer. She came up with two college students to provide services as guide and driver and her Mom contributed the car for three days. William and Driver are paid a pittance and Tiki pockets a very handsome profit charging us retail tour prices.
Nevertheless we were not too bothered by all this, but rather thought it pretty funny and shame on us. Insurance matters are such a gray area in China that we don’t think there would have been anything in the way of liability insurance even with a licensed agency. (We never verified the insurance question, the horse was already out of the barn at this point.) We managed to see the Great Wall and we saw the Olympic venues and then, we were done, not with China or Beijing but with our tour trifecta!!!
We thanked the two young entrepreneurs (after all it was not their fault) but explained that we did not need their services for the next day. Undaunted, William and Driver show up the next morning for day three of “services contracted for”. We could see where this was going. Yeap, that’s an E for Effort. Tiki hunted us down after she got “off work” to collect her hard-earned money. When confronted with the situation she looked duly shamed and repentant. Needless to say we settled on a price less than retail and she considered herself very lucky. She said, “ I learn a very big lesson” as we stood in the hotel lobby in the shadow of a massive security force for the Olympic Committee conference. But she had the nerve to ask us about the guides she had booked for us in Shanghai. I guess there really was no shame.
After the fact, we wouldn’t give anything for this experience and all the insights we gleamed from William on what it is like to be a 24-year old college student in China - preparing to launch the rest of his life. We didn’t have the kind of in-depth knowledge we’re used to in a guide, but it wasn’t dull, we obviously didn't die, we saw our most sought after sights, and we had a one-of-a-kind experience.
But we were lucky. Things could have been different, which is why I am relating this story. In Shanghai we had a very, very good guide and probably the best driver I’ve ever had anywhere, and a very comfortable car. I’ll share a few photos, but no one-of-a-kind stories like touring in Beijing with William and Driver. (I defer from including their photos here for obvious reasons, but they'll be in our personal photo albums for all eternity.)
Caveat Emptor.
Related Real Concept blogs on China:
Planes, Trains & Automobiles: Infrastructure as Asset Class
On Leaving China ...
Hong Kong a Bright Spot in a Red China Awash in Gray
Macau: China's New Las Vegas China Pushes the GO Button: The New Beijing Airport
The Ugliest New Building in China, Perhaps the World
Olympic Preparedness and Beijing's Astounding Boom
Tourism and Touring In China
Big Bang Theory Applied to Beijing's Infrastructure Growth
China's Property Rights
Last Stop - Shanghai
So now that I have completely disparaged what will probably be a a lovely building when finished (if Beijing clears the air so the building can reflect a blue sky) I will share some information gleamed from the web on the design of this groundbreaking structure.
The relentless construction, in practically every corner of Macau, was easily evidenced beside the Venetian and it was a 24-hour a day enterprise. Below is a photo taken from The Venetian's pool area of the Four Seasons Casino and Hotel under construction where a lighted crane continues its work throughout the night. Lighted cranes and 24-hour construction seemed the norm on many buildings in Macau and Beijing. No union worries.
Last year I witnessed the view from Victoria Peak and even on a cloudy day it is spectacular:
The Hong Kong skyline is equally impressive at night. Imagine what it must look like for the Chinese New Year celebration.
And high-quality beautiful architecture and parks:
The longest, tallest escalator in the world for the ride up for the top-side apartment dwellers, but you have to walk down. No gyms along the way:
But this trip it was hard to see across the Hong Kong harbor, so socked in by fog the city seemed blanketed with fine raw silk. I chose the wrong day to venture outside the city via Hong Kong's très sleek, efficient metro to see the tallest Buddha in the world. Here was the result...
Homeward bound.
