Something's Afoot!

Did I ever tell you about the time my dad called me a slow learner? It happened between the time I could understand English and some point in the not too distant past. I have no idea what he was talking about. Have I mentioned I have a bum toe? Helluva blister. Anyhoo.

I went on a nice adventure today to see the Temple of Heaven and the surrounding park. I walked to the bus stop a quarter mile away, then took the bus 4 stops to Wanda Plaza, a huge mall with seemingly billions of so far unexplored things to do. I walked past that about a half mile to the subway stop and then entered that whole maze. I had to go 7 stops and then transfer to the same line (they break it up to either make me walk more or make it so all 1.5 billion people don't end up in Tiananmen Square at the same time).
Then I took the train a few more stops and got out and transferred to line 14, which seemed to take forever. Can you believe Beijing has 20 subway lines? Insane.

When I got to my stop, Tiantandongmen, I walked the half mile to the Pearl Market and went downstairs and had dumplings for lunch. It was only 11:30, but I knew I would need some energy for the walking in the park, and those beautiful little dumplings didn't disappoint!

I walked back the half mile or so to the gate to the park and paid for my ticket where the adventure unfolded. Holy shizz, those peeps can build a temple. And they did it in the 1400's, using all kinds of mathematical stuff and the number 9, because there are 9 levels of heaven, allegedly. If it were left to me, we'd still be working on the wheel, so this is a good thing they've shared with the rest of the world. I assume they've shared it...

I will tell you what, Jaweh himself must have been listening in on my plans, because the day was smokin' gorgeous, blue, breezy, and I must admit, still a little hot. (Not Africa hot, but hot, hot). I did a whole lotta picture taking and a whole lot more walking.. It was like the day was made for it, unlike my shoes.

I walked in. I walked around. I walked up. I walked down. I walked that way and this way. I even went way down there! You should have been there! They even had like a big echo chamber building that they built using, you got it, mathematical stuff.

When I was a kid I would stick my face in the big fan in the window and go, "EeeeeeeIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOO." They made a thing in the 14 or 15 hundreds that made it so you could talk to a wall in one spot and it would bounce completely around to the other side and the other person could here it. You don't have to yell. You just talk. They pretty much win this round. But I digress.

So, I walked a bunch more and had to throw a whiz. I found a path to a bathroom and took it. It led me to a quiet area of the park where I saw guys using tractors and big rollers in a pretty thick patch of trees. It was like they were massaging the ground. Probably more ancient stuff.

That led me to a bench where I sat for a bit to muster the strength to do that one, last, long, hot push back to the gates. And sure as shit if it wasn't long and hot. I felt like a gypsy with that prediction. I was able to stop near the end and pay entirely too much for a little bottle of cold water, but to tell you the truth, I would have paid double. There they go with that math and figuring crap again.

All told that was about 6 hours of walking, and I then had to walk and wait around for a buddy of mine who was going to meet me back at Pearl Market to get my tablet case, some dinner, and an iced coffee from Starbucks. They have one here!

Oh, and I want to cut my feet off.