THE ROUND ROBIN ENDS TODAY

Good morning Canada. How are you? And good morning Rebecca!

It is a sunny and fine morning here in Beijing. The sky is clear and
the mountains clearly visible in the distance. In those mountains are
sections of the Great Wall which we visited yesterday.

The round robin phases of the team competitions conclude today.
As mentioned before, your Women's Team will require a combination
of some big wins and favourable results amongst some of the teams
ahead of us, to be able to climb to a qualifying position.
Today we play the Phillipines, Serbia and Australia.
The Senior Team is virtually assured of finishing in the top eight of
its group and therefore moving on the the Knockout Round of 16.
Our Open Team is in a real dogfight to remain in the top four in its
group which is required for qualification in that event.
Everyone of course is hoping for the best in today's play.

Yesterday was a day off for all participants.
A group of sixteen of us (Karen, Pamela, Martine, Pascale and myself
from the Women's Team - Dave, Marc Andre, Kamel, Vince, and Nick
from the Open Team - John, Billy, Stepehen and Jurek from the
Senior Team - and two other friends) set off at 8:30 am for our day's
journey in a comfortable bus.

Our guide was "Michael" - a friendly young man in this twenties who
was very personable and spoke English very well, although certainly
not perfectly. We were ultimately heading to the Great Wall of China,
but with several stops along the way.
During the trip Michael was very informative, sharing with us many
little insights into Chinese culture.
We learned about the unlucky and lucky Chinese numbers. Number
four is the unlucky number, as it represents death. (To May Jackman,
my friend from my bridge club, and who recently attended the Olympics
here - I now understand why you never like to start at table #4)
Michael said that many hotels do not have a 4th floor, just as in North
America, the 13th floor is often non existent. The numbers 8 and 9 are
the lucky numbers.
Michael quizzed us all as to which are the three lucky animals. With
guesses on our part and with Michael's coaxing, we eventually were able
to come up with the correct three - the dragon, the lion and the phoenix.
The Panda is the national animal of China and if we were to go to the
Beijing Zoo we would see some Pandas.
We did have a little difficulty understanding some of Michael's English.
At one point he was talking about what some of us heard as
"the five erections." One of the guys mentioned that this was a whole
year's worth of activity for him. As Michael continued it soon became
apparent that he was referring the the "five directions" - North, South,
East, West, and in the middle. Another one we struggled with was what
sounded like "chess." For a while some of us thought that Michael
was under the mistaken belief that we were all participants in the Chess
part of the World Mind Sports Games. Again, after a while, we came to
the realization that whenever Michael said "chess" that he was really
saying "Chinese." A third was "amber" which over time we learned was
actually "emperor." As I said, Michael was a great guide and spoke
English very well. His few pronunciation foibles just made the trip even
more enjoyable for all of us.
We learned that the lucky colours of China are red and yellow.
80% of Chinese are Buddhists. Buddhism had its origins in India and
Thailand. 20% of Chinese are Taoists. Taoism derived from Cunfucious.
About an hour out of Beijing our first stop was the "Ming Tombs."
This complex contained shrines in which many of the Ming Dynasty
Emperors are entombed. Also on display are many varied treasures.
We saw trees in the yards there of up to eight hundred years of age.
Our next stop was at a Jade factory where we had a quick lesson on
how to distinguish real jade from fake, glass jade. Jade comes in a vast
panorama of colours. This little lesson was really just a prelude to us
entering the huge store containing jade items of all kinds. There were
many very attractive items and many of us made purchases.
The 16 of us had an included lunch there which was the best meal I had
had to date in China. It was nothing fancy, but a succulent variety of
appetizers, vegetables, seafood and meats. Beer and pop were very
inexpensive.
Another hour of driving and we finally arrived at the Great Wall.
Michael told us that we would all be taking a cable car to the Wall at the
top of the mountain. We turned the corner to get on and soon were
met by the fact that the cable car was really just a chair lift - but no
turning back now. During the steep 7-minute ride to the top I came to
the realization that gripping firmly to the restraining bar would actually
be of very little use if disaster were to occur. So, I tried to relax and
enjoy the spectacular ride. At the top, again the views were wondrous.
About 2/3 of our group continued the adventure by trekking for about
30 or 40 minutes to the uppermost fortress installation. This trek was
first steeply downward and then the majority of the rest, steeply upward.
I was not amongst those who completed the journey. I started out, but
then came to the conclusion that if any calamity befell me, that the team
might be left without the services of its Non Playing Captain. So with
bitter disappointment I turned back, taking one for the team.
After a bit, I worked up my courage and took the chair lift back down.
At the base are lots of little stalls or shops with trinkets and clothing for
sale. I bought Rebecca a number of items and part of the fun of the
Chinese shopping experience is bargaining with the shopkeepers. They
say 150 RMB and by the time it's all said and done, you might get the
item for 20 RMB. Probably still overpaying, but the thrill of the trans-
action makes it all worthwhile. And whatever you pay, it is far less than
we would pay in Canada. There are some great bargains here in China.
On the downward trip most of our intrepid band took the "toboggan,"
which is an alternate mode of return. The "toboggan" is a luge-like
descent in a single person sled along a snaking, metal sided run.
Gravity of course does all the work and one has control over the speed
of the descent. After all the tardy ones returned to the bus, we were off
on what we thought was our return to our hotel.
But there was to be one more stop somewhere in Beijing. At something
like the Chinese National Institute of Natural Medicine. This institute
specializes in such treatments as massage, accupuncture, accupressure,
natural diagnosis and herbal remedies. We were shepherded into a room
where we all sat along the sides of the room and immersed our feet in a
bucket of warm water. Sixteen young Chinese trainees then entered the
room and we each were given about a fifteen minute foot masssage while
a doctor described the principles of their type of medicine. The foot massage
was terrific and we were all expected to tip our attendants about $3.00.
Following the foot message we each were examined by a doctoe and his
assistant. The doctor took one's pulse, looked at one's tongue and skin and
asked a few questions. At the conclusion of this brief examination, herbal
remedies/treatments were recommended. With myself having a plethora
of ailments according to the doctor, the recommended herbal treatments
I so desperately needed would cost me only about $500.00 a month. But
because I have bought Rebecca so many gifts, I have no money left for
such indulgences. Therefore I left - unherbed.
Finally we were on our way back to the hotel, about half an hour away.
We passed several MacDonalds on the way and Vince suggested he would
like a Big Mac, as he had been given a clean bill of health at the Institute,
and could therefore afford the unhealthiness of such a meal. I learned later
than indeed Vince did go out last night for a Big Mac, although I do not have
first hand confirmation of this fact.

Karen, Pamela, Stephen, Jurek and myself ended the day's activities with
a fine buffet dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel. Since all the wines were
about 480 RMB, I ordered the house red for 100 RMB and we quite liked
that wine. So much so that we ordered three more bottles. Turns out when
the bill arrived, the wine was 480 RMB ($80) a bottle, not the 100 RMB
that I thought I had read. The 100 RMB was for one glass of wine. But
everyone accepted my error and paid his share of the bill. The dinner was
a fine conclusion to a memorable Beijing day.

I have the pact with myself that I don't read Martine's blog until after
posting mine, so that I don't plagiarize her ideas. But now I am done. I will
read Martine's blog. And then off to breakfast.

We are all hoping for good bridge results today - Friday in Beijing.

Bye, all.

John