Category: Travel

The cinema of my dreams – It continued in London – Episode 31

An interview with Alessandro

…

The disguise was almost perfect.  Detective Inspector Johnson was that typical policeman, based in the man who taught me, the suit, slightly crumpled, the while shirt with tie not completely knotted. The sort a wife, if he had one, would have fixed before he left for work.  The shoes, practical, the overcoat, seen better days but well looked after.

All that was missing was the slightly overworked and frustrated look, hair slightly askew, a ritual cup of coffee in a cardboard cup almost drunk.  The man looking back at me in the hotel window was almost the epitome of the Detect Inspector I modelled myself on.

It was just another day at the office.

I got out of the car and told the two officers Anothony had arranged to meet me, ic case there was trouble, to sit tight until I called them.

I went in and crossed purposefully to the reception desk and pulled out my warrant card.  When the clerk looked at me, I showed him the card.  “Detective Inspector Johnson, Metropolitan police. Can you tell me if Alessandro Burkehardt is in the hotel?”

The clerk looked at the warrant card, then excused himself and went into a back room where no doubt the man in charge was lurking.

A few minutes later, a woman came out, the clerk following her.

“What is the nature of your business with Mr Burkehardt?”

“The disappearance of his sister-in-law, the Countess Burkehardt.  You might be able to tell me, when did she check out?”

“I’ve told the police already.”

“Then you’re going to tell me again.  And after that, I would like to know where Mr Burkehardt is, and then a detailed explanation as to why only the CCTV camera in the areas where the Congress would be noticed coming and going were conveniently non-functional.”

“Who…”

“Told me?  I asked the security company that installed your system just how many cameras there were and their locations.  You haven’t been very helpful in our inquiries which is why I’m now here.  Now, if you have any objections, I will have you arrested for obstructing a police officer.”

Then I glared at her.

This was a very high-up manager, used to treating anyone under the status of King like dirt under her feet.  I knew the type.

“Mr Burkhardt is dining in the breakfast room.”

“Thank you.  I’ll be back.”

I had no doubt at some point Rodby would learn of my arrival, and if she was a friend of Mrs Rodby, that would make matters worse.  There was an old boys’ network, but there was also an old girls’ network, and they were not people to cross.

It wasn’t hard to pick him out among the diners, sitting at a table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper.  It was the same man I had seen in the hotel when bringing the countess back.  For a moment I wondered if he had seen me arrive with the countess, and he had asked about me.  This would go badly if he knew I was not a Detective inspector.

Only one wat to find out.  “Mr Alessandro Burkehardt?”

He lowered the paper a fraction and looked at me.  Nothing like the man in the tuxedo the other day, and no recognition in his eyes.

“Who are you?”

“Detective Inspector Johnson, of the Metropolitan Police.  I have come to ask you about your Sister-in-law, the Contessa.  She had been reported as missing.”

“That’s absurd.”

“Then you know where she is?  Thank goodness for that.  People are worried.  Tell me, where is she now?”

“If I knew that, I’d tell you.  But she is not missing as you say.  If she was, my family would know.  She has security you know?”

“I didn’t.  Where can I find them, or at least a representative who could tell me her location.”

“That’s none of your business.  If I say she’s not missing, she’s not missing.  Now go about your business.”

I smiled wanly, as the good Inspector did when he was about to deliver bad news.  “Fine.  But out front there are two officers waiting to take you into protective custody.  The fact you cannot tell me where she is, tells me that there is something going on in relation to her safety.  This will unfortunately create a scene for which I apologise in advance, but it is necessary.  Unless you have a more truthful answer to my question.”

“Are you accusing me of lying?”

He stood up quickly dropping the newspaper on the table and bumping his chair.  People around us were curious, to begin with, but now it had developed into a showstopping event.  All I needed was a newspaper photographer or reporter to be nearby and this would go viral.

“You are not being straight with me, nor were you with the first police responders when they asked if you knew where she was.  Once in protective custody, you will have the opportunity to talk to a superior officer if you feel you have been treated incorrectly.  But I warn you, the fact the countess is missing has caused concern at the highest levels, and they only call me when the situation is serious.”

I was trying to keep calm and the tremor of fear out of my tone, but this was getting out of control very quickly.  I had expected pushback, but not to the extent that he was giving me.  I knew he knew something about her whereabouts and was using bluff to get past me.  If I had to take him back to the office, Rodby was going to have a meltdown.

“Let’s take this to a conference room.”

He too had noticed the furore it was creating.

I had won a momentary reprieve.

© Charles Heath 2023

Searching for locations: The Longjing Pearl Factory, Beijing, China

The Longjing Pearl Factory is located at:
No.2 Zuoan Gate Inner Street, ChongWen District, Beijing 100061 China.

This Pearl Centre specialises in both freshwater and seawater pearls, with a reputation backed by the government of China, and a big selection of the highest quality.  There were all kinds of jewellery made of pearls in different colours, shapes, and sizes.

They also had, as an interesting sideline, famous Chinese traditional cosmetics such as pearl cream and pearl powder, reputed to make your skin smoother, tender, and most importantly, younger.

We were advised of all of this well before we arrived at the factory, and of course, one suspected the glowing review, with emphasis on the fact it was a government operation and therefore trustworthy, suggested we should buy, which meant the tour guide would receive a commission on each sale.

This is nothing new; it’s the same the world over, so it’s up to the visitor to buy or not to buy.

As soon as you get in the door, you are taken to the group’s guide for the tour (and afterwards, available for help on making purchases). who gives you a rundown on the different types and colours of pearls.  This is briefly,

Pearls come in two main categories: freshwater cultured pearls and saltwater cultured pearls. Various types of pearls are the result of the environment in which they live, and different cultivation techniques used by the pearl farmers. 

Freshwater cultured pearls are grown in lakes and rivers, whereas saltwater cultured pearls are grown in bodies of saltwater such as bays.  The most commonly used pearls are Freshwater pearls. 

Freshwater Pearls come in various pastel shades of white, pink, peach, lavender, plum, purple, and tangerine.  
South Sea cultured pearls come in shades of lustrous white, often with silver or rose overtones. 

Black pearls are known as Tahitian pearls and come most often in shades of black and grey. While a Tahitian pearl has a black body colour, it will vary in its overtones, which most often will be green or pink.

Then there’s a demonstration, where one of the tour group is selected to pick an oyster out of the tank, and then there’s the guessing game as to how many pearls are in the shell, with the winner getting a pearl.

Guesses ranged from 1 to 23, and the answer was 26.  Nearest wins, and one for the person who picked the oyster out of the tank.  After this demonstration, we move on to the ways we can tell the difference between real and fake pearls.

It seems strange that they would, but we were guaranteed by both the tour guide and the lady delivering the lecture that the pearls we were about to buy were real, so how could we suspect there was anything dodgy about them?  Besides, now we can tell real from fake!

We then move onto the showroom floor, where there are cases of pearl products, in the form of necklaces, earrings, and any number of variations and uses.  And, just to let you know, the prices are very, very high, even if they say they have a special.

Perhaps the best products, and those that found favour with many of the women on the tour, were the pearl creams and powders.  These were not expensive, and, as we discovered later, actually worked as described.

Searching for locations: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China

Some interesting facts before we get out of the bus…

Tiananmen Square or Tian’anmen Square is in the centre of Beijing, named after the Gate of Heavenly Peace, a gate that separates the square from the Forbidden City.

The Square contains,

   The Monument to the People’s Heroes
   The Great Hall of the People
   The National Museum of China
   The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

The square is about 109 acres and was designed and built in 1651, and since then has been enlarged four times, the most recent upgrade in the 1950s.

The Monument to the People’s Heroes

This is a ten-story obelisk built to commemorate the matters of the revolutions.  It was built between August 1952 and May 1958.  On the pedestal are reliefs depicting the eight major revolutionary episodes.

The Great Hall of the People

This was opened in September 1959, and covers 171809 square meters.  The Great Hall is the largest auditorium in China and can seat up to 10,000 people.  The State Banquet Hall can seat up to 5,000 diners.

The National Museum of China

This is one of the largest museums in the world and the second most visited museum in the world after the Louvre in Paris.   It was completed in 1959, and sits on 65 hectares, and rises four floors.  It has a permanent collection of over 1,000,000 items.

The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

This was built shortly after his death, and completed on May 24th, 1977.  The embalmed body of the Chairman is preserved and on display in the centre hall.

My own observations
This is huge; one of the largest public squares in the world, and if you’re going to walk it, like we did, make sure you’ve been exercising before you go.  It covers 44 hectares, borders on the Forbidden City, and has a memorial to Chairman Mao in the centre of it.  But you cannot go near it; it’s fenced off, and it is guarded.

That’s both the statue and the square, as random guards are marching in random directions, all the while watching us to see that we don’t misbehave. No one wants to find out what would happen if you jumped the fence around the statue, but I’m guessing you’ll have a few years to contemplate the stupidity of your actions with some very unhappy government officials.

Around the edges of the square are huge buildings, and on one side is the museum 

and on the other is the Chinese equivalent of parliament.

Around the sides are also large gardens

At one end, where the Forbidden City borders on the square, there’s a huge flag pole flying the Chinese flag, and this, too, like the monument, is fenced off and guarded by members of all of their armed services.  No tanks rolled out during our visit, much to our disappointment.  There is no entrance to the Forbidden City from the square

At the other end is the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, which was closed the day we were there, as was the museum. 

There are four sculptural groups installed outside the mausoleum.

Other than that, it’s just another square, albeit probably one of the largest in the world.  It can, we were told, hold about a million people.

The cinema of my dreams – It continued in London – Episode 30

Vittoria and Juliet

…

What was it that found me finding ways to run into a woman that I really didn’t want to run into or see again?  And yet, it seemed everything I did, since Rodby reappeared in my life, revolved around her.

And it crossed my mind, while I was trying to find where she was living in London, that having a mother like Vittoria might have contributed to her ‘downfall’.  The biography of Vittoria wasn’t that of a society angel, more the pretender who was little more than a petty criminal worming her way into a field of rich pickings.

She’d been in service in the count’s residence, and as much as I hoped wasn’t a continuation of the old practice of masters having their way with their employees, or servants back in the old days, he might have forced himself on her, but I suspect it was the other way around.

If she was a grifter then she would have made him aware of the girl he sired, and if he was good about it, would have adequately compensated her, if only to keep it quiet.  Very adequately and for a long time until he died.  I suspect the countess didn’t know, and like most women in those sorts of marriages, probably didn’t want to know.

The reason why there was no surveillance in Juliet was because no one had found a starting reference point.  In other words, no one knew where she was.  And Cecilia was right, London was a big place if I wanted to pound the pavement looking for her.

The file said an internet search on her was performed, but the only information relevant to her they found was her fall from grace and very little beyond that date range.  It seemed Juliet Ambrose only existed for three years before I first met her.

That meant she had been someone else before that, most likely Juliet, the name of her mother at the time.  That, of course, suggested one of two eventualities, that she wanted to escape her mother, or the Count’s family because of her mother, and changed her own name, or her mother had informed on some fellow criminals to leverage a free ticket and going into a form of witness protection.

Knowing Juliet as I did, the former was more likely than the latter.

Now there was a new possibility that wasn’t a scenario in the file.  Had the count told anyone about the daughter, and the mother’s no doubt incessant demands?  That could be a reason for a hitman to remove the problem or problems.

I looked at the biography for Vittoria Romano again and noted she had a number of aka’s, Gallo, Rossi, and her birth name Moretti.

A quick search told me the Italian version of Juliet was Giulietta, so I put Giulietta Moretti into the search engine and waited all of 35 nanoseconds to get the obligatory 20,000,000 hits.  Popular girl.

But…

There on page three of endless pages on a fading Italian Rock and Roll singer, there was a picture, albeit of Juliet in her younger days, taken on the grounds of a mansion in Sorrento.  The Count had a place in Sorrento, and I looked it up in the list provided.

Yes.  It still belonged to the family.  I tucked that away in the mental notes stored at the back of my mind.  It would be worth a visit when I went looking for the Countess.

A further search through 32 useless pages of items found another.

Giulietta Moretti published a paper in a medical journal about a year ago on the effects on the human body caused by car crashes, and it was getting recognition by her peers.  So much so, that she had been asked by a group of surgeons to talk about it at a conference in Blackpool.

The day after tomorrow.

And…

It had an address where she worked in London, a morgue in one of the larger hospitals.  I now had a starting point.

My curiosity then switched to Alessandro.

I wondered if he knew the background of Vittoria.  Surely his brother would have alerted him to the trouble she was causing him.  Or, and this was a huge leap, had the Count not told anyone about her, thinking he had alone contained the problem.

If Alessandro knew then was he in cahoots with Vittoria in removing the Countess from the playing field.

What bothered me was that I saw Alessandro at the hotel at the same time as the countess, and I had no doubt he was the problem she needed to attend to.  How had he managed to spirit her away, if he did?  If not, why would she sneak out of the hotel and disappear?

Was it something to do with that meeting between her and Alessandro?  All good questions for a Detective Inspector.

It was particularly troublesome that our surveillance on the main players managed to lose two of them for a lengthy period.  No one had thought to stay in the hotel and were relying on the hotel’s own CCTV.  That, of course, showed nothing other than the countess and Alessandro arriving, and nothing after that.

There were a dozen CCTV camera feeds and I had them sent to my phone and that afternoon went through all of them, looking for anomalies, people ridiculously disguised, large crates or cases that could hide bodies, anything to show she had left, albeit disguised.

What she would want to be seen was anyone’s guess, but it may have had something to do with Alessandro.  What bothered me, though, was a report from the people who installed the CCTV system at the hotel.  It was interesting that it found its way to the Department, but not as interesting as the fact the number installed, and locations, didn’t match the number that had returned video for the time.  A second sheet noted that seven of the CCTV cameras were not in operation at the time, with no reason given.

As for Alessandro, he and I were going to have a talk sooner rather than later, and I was going to use my Detective Inspector warrant card for the second time.

Long ago, when developing guises, I got the chance to follow around a real detective inspector and learned the ropes.  He was a good detective and a better teacher.  It was my first item on the list for the next morning.

© Charles Heath 2023

Searching for locations: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China

Some interesting facts before we get out of the bus…

Tiananmen Square or Tian’anmen Square is in the centre of Beijing name after the Gate of Heavenly Peace, a gate that one separated the square from the Forbidden City.

The Square contains,

   the Monument to the People’s Heroes
   the Great Hall of the People
   the National Museum of China
   the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

The square is about 109 acres and was designed and built in 1651, and since then been enlarged four times since, the most recent upgrade in the 1950s.

The Monument to the People’s Heroes

This is a ten-story obelisk built to commemorate the matters of the revolutions.  It was built between August 1952 and May 1958.  On the pedestal are reliefs depicting the eight major revolutionary episodes.

The Great Hall of the People

This was opened in September 1959, and covers 171809 square meters.  The Great Hall is the largest auditorium in China and can seat up to 10,000 people.  The State Banquet Hall can seat up to 5,000 diners.

The National Museum of China

This is one of the largest museums in the world and the second most visited museum in the world after the Louvre in Paris.   It was completed in 1959, and sits on 65 hectares, and rises four floors.  It has a permanent collection of over 1,000,000 items.

The Mauseloum of Mao Zedong

This was built shortly after his death, and completed on May 24th, 1977.  The embalmed body of the Chairman is preserved and on display in the center hall.

My own observations
This is huge; one of the largest public squares in the world, and if you’re going to walk it, like we did, make sure you’ve been exercising before you go.  It covers 44 hectares, borders on the Forbidden City, and has a memorial to Chairman Mao in the center of it.  But you cannot go near it, it’s fenced off, and it is guarded.

That’s both the statue and the square as there are random guards marching in random directions all the while watching us to see that we don’t misbehave.No one wants to find out what would happen if you jumped the fence around the statue, but I’m guessing you’ll have a few years to contemplate the stupidity of your actions with some very unhappy government officials.

Around the edges of the square are huge buildings, on one side is the museum 

and on the other is the Chinese equivalent of parliament.

Around the sides are also large gardens

At one end, where the Forbidden City borders on the square, there’s a huge flag pole flying the Chinese flag, and this too like the monument is fenced off, and guarded by members of all of their armed services.  No tanks rolled out during our visit much to our disappointment.  There is no entrance to the Forbidden City from the square

At the other end is the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, which was closed the day we were there, as was the museum. 

There are four sculptural groups installed outside the mausoleum.

Other than that, it’s just another square, albeit probably one of the largest in the world.  It can, we were told, hold about a million people.

Searching for locations: The Golden Mask Dynasty Show, Beijing, China

The Golden Mask Dynasty Show was located at the OCT Theatre in Beijing’s Happy Valley. 

The theatre was quite full and the seats we had were directly behind the VIP area; as our guide told us, we had the best seats in the house. 

The play has 20 different dance scenes that depict war, royal banquets, and romance.  There are eight chapters and over 200 actors, and throughout the performance we were entertained by dancers, acrobats, costumes, lighting, and acoustics.

The story:

It is of romantic legend and historical memories, the Golden Mask Queen leads her army in defeating the invading Blue Mask King’s army, and afterwards the lands return to a leisurely pastoral life until the Queen forges a ‘mysterious tree’.  When the tree has grown, the Queen has a grand celebration, and releases the captured Blue soldiers, much to the admiration of the Blue Mask King.
This is followed by monstrous floods, and to save her people, and on the advice from the ‘mysterious tree’, the Queen sacrifices herself to save her people.  The Queen then turns into a golden sunbird flying in the sky blessing the people and that of the dynasty.

Billed as the best live show in China, described as a large scale dramatic musical, “The Golden Mask Dynasty” it lived up to its reputation and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

It was not just singing dancing and acrobatics, it had a story and it was told so that language and cultural issues aside, it worked.  There was a narration of the story running beside the stage, but it was hard to divide attention between what was happening, and what was being related.

Then came the peacock dance, with live peacocks

And this was followed by a waterfall, well, I don’t think anyone in that audience could believe what they were seeing.

I know I was both astonished and in awe of the performance.

What a way to finish off our first day in Beijing.

Oh, sorry, that high was dented slightly when we had to go back to our room.

The cinema of my dreams – It continued in London – Episode 29

Cecelia and I make a plan

…

Ceceilia had the need for a decent cup of coffee, not the wishy-washy stuff they had in the canteen.  I got tea, and very nearly ordered toast and marmalade.  It was a nostalgia thing, it was where Violetta and I had our first date, according to her.

“You’re looking a little distracted?” Cecilia said, sitting down after going over to the cake display and picking out a French pastry.

“I just had an old memory pop up.  Now it’s gone.  How did you get roped into this caper?”

“We’re both in Rodby’s bad books.  He wasn’t pleased with the way the Larry thing ended.  Did you ever get to see Juliet?”

“Once.  It might have been a thing, if she wasn’t aiding and abetting the man trying to kill me.”

“That does put a bit of downer on things.  I thought you had retired again.”

“So did I?  Seems Mrs Rodby was trying to do a bit of match making with an old school chum and didn’t know she’d end up in the middle of a family brawl.  I thought I was going to the opera as a plus one.”

“Well, I didn’t get to punish that producer, so you might get a call, after this gig.  What’s first?”

“Tea, and coffee.  Read the files, see what they tell us.”

It was clear she was like me, she hated reading papers.  It rarely matched the reality.

My understanding, an hour later, was that the brother the inheritance would go to if the countess went missing, was too obvious a choice for the guilty party.

What also piqued my interest was Juliet.  Again.  Yes, she was the daughter of Vittoria, the wronged and vengeful mistress, but she and her mother had been parted not long after that photo was taken and neither had seen the other since.

There was also the international lawyer’s assessment that the brother did not have the first claim on the inheritance, that went to either the spouse, or the first child of the count, whether it was by his legitimate wife, or not.  It was the first time I had seen a ruling where an illegitimate child could get anything, given how tightly some countries worded their inheritance rules.

But Vittoria was a nasty piece of work and probably was guided by some fortune-hunting half lawyer who had told her she had rights and interpreted it as meaning if the countess was no longer in the running.

The brother, on the other hand, was most likely oblivious to the fact his older brother didn’t have children, based on the fact that his brother’s marriage did not produce any heirs.  It was probably mentioned in the will that if there were no heirs …

A report from the surveillance team of Vittoria advised that she was spending a lot of time schmoosing Alessandro, possibly believing that he would, in the end, inherit a fortune, and if she landed that fish, well, there was going to be flow-on effects.

She didn’t seem to think that her long-lost daughter was a viable means of getting the fortune.  Yet.

“I think I’ll dress up and apply for a loan.”

“I don’t think it’s that type of bank.”

“They have branches.  It says so in the brief.”

“Merchant bank.  They handle much larger clients than mums and dads and small business.”

“Well, it was a good idea.  Perhaps I’ll just crash their circle of friends and ingratiate myself into their society.  I did an audition for a society bitch who was wronged and was going to kill the whole family.  It was an interesting role, but unfortunately, I didn’t look deranged enough.”

“A posh hotel, expensive clothes, an aloof manner, and, just a thought, you could set your cap for Alessandro.  If Vittoria is chasing him, maybe you could cut across her bow.”

“Do you always speak in idioms?”

“When I can.  Violetta never understood them and frowned at me all the time.  Sorry.  Bad habits never go away.”

“But a good idea.  I’ll insert myself into the surveillance team for a few days and them make a play.  You going to see your girlfriend?”

I can see she was not going to let go of that relationship, even if there wasn’t one.

“It might be interesting to see if she remembers her mother, or if she has seen her recently.”

“She’s going to think it a bit suspicious if you just turn up on her doorstep.  You’re going to need an angle.”

“Or just bump into her.  I said I was going to be in London.”

‘Right.  Do you know how big London is?  Running accidentally into her in Stowe-on-Wold would work, but not here.”

“Stowe-on-Wold?  What’s there?  Where is it?”

“Cotswolds.  I shot a few scenes there.  Memorable only for swimming naked in the stream.  Not my finest hour, but it paid well.”

I shook my head, trying to get that image of her out of my mind.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” I said.

© Charles Heath 2023

The 2 am Rant: When everything goes according to plan, or has it?

We managed to arrive early at the airport.  Rather than wait three hours for our flight, we decided to try to get on an earlier departure.  This will depend on our ticket type and whether there are seats available, preferably together.

We line up in the service queue, which by its very description means you have a long wait, as service is mostly between difficult to impossible, depending on the request.  We wait for twenty minutes.  There’s a long queue behind us.  Our request is taken care of quickly and efficiently, making it almost seamless, certainly painless.  I’m sure our request was one of the very few easy ones the staff will get.

Today, it seems it is our lucky day.  The transfer to an earlier flight is free, and there are two seats available together.  All we have to do is alert the pickup driver at our destination that we are going to be an hour earlier.  Done.

Checking in bags is usually the bane of the traveller’s existence.  No matter which airport in whatever country you are departing from, the only difference is the length of the queue, from incredibly long with a half-hour wait to the head of the line, up to an hour.  Our queue is 15 to 20 minutes.

One assumes this is why intending passengers are asked to go to the airport two hours ahead of their flight.  There are times of the day when the queues are horrendous, and that not only applies to Heathrow.

And if you are late, just panic.

And if your bags are overweight, be prepared to have your credit card hammered.  Especially if you’re flying Air France from Venice to Paris.

Now it’s time to relax.  There is an hour before we have to be at the gate, so just enough time to get coffee and a doughnut.

And be horrified at what shops charge for simple items like sandwiches.  I think $10 is very expensive.  But if you’re hungry and forgot to eat before getting to the airport, then be prepared to pay more than you usually would for the same fare.

It’s also time to observe our fellow passengers, and there is always the one who has a last-minute dash for a plane that is just about to leave, passengers with panic-stricken looks.  We all know what happens if you miss the flight even as you’re downing that last cocktail in the airline lounge while thinking, yes, they’ll hold the flight for me!

Apparently not, these days, because airlines want to keep their ‘on time’ record.

Even so, there are still three more calls for the missing passengers and then nothing.  If they missed the plane, then their problems are just beginning.  It’s the same feeling you have when your name is called out before the flight starts loading.  Only once have we been called up and given an upgrade, and once in the US, to be told we could take another flight because our flight was overbooked.  Business class was greatly appreciated and was worth the extra hour we had to wait.

The next bottleneck is the scanners, and sometimes the queue here is very long and moving slowly because the scanners are set to pick up belts and shoes, so people are scattered everywhere getting redressed and putting shoes on.  Today, being a weekday, the queue is not so bad.

Loading is painless and reasonably organised except when the passengers in high-numbered rows try to board by the front door instead of the rear door and clash midway in the plane.  After they untangle themselves and get to their seats, we’re ready to go.

This flight still has a manual safety demonstration, which most people ignore, but it is slightly better than the video demonstration.  Let’s hope we don’t go down over the water.  I’ve charted my path to the emergency exit, and I have quite a few people before me.  I guess there’s more than one way to be last off the plane.

Sometimes you get to pick who you get to sit next to, especially if you are travelling with your partner, which this time I am, but in a three-seat arrangement, you have no control over who takes that third seat.  We are lucky this time because it will not become a tight squeeze, but unfortunately, our fellow traveller has a cold and in a confined space for several hours, it could turn out to be a problem.

But, in the end, the flight is smooth, and the snacks are edible.  Unfortunately, there is no liquor service like the full-service rival, but that might be a good thing.  No air rage on this flight.

Time flies, pardon the pun, and we have arrived.  Even though it took forever for the baggage to be delivered, we still got home early.

Until the next time we fly.

Searching for locations: The Golden Mask Dynasty Show, Beijing, China

The Golden Mask Dynasty Show was located at the OCT Theatre in Beijing’s Happy Valley. 

The theatre was quite full and the seats we had were directly behind the VIP area; as our guide told us, we had the best seats in the house. 

The play has 20 different dance scenes that depict war, royal banquets, and romance.  There are eight chapters and over 200 actors, and throughout the performance we were entertained by dancers, acrobats, costumes, lighting, and acoustics.

The story:

It is of romantic legend and historical memories, the Golden Mask Queen leads her army in defeating the invading Blue Mask King’s army, and afterwards the lands return to a leisurely pastoral life until the Queen forges a ‘mysterious tree’.  When the tree has grown, the Queen has a grand celebration, and releases the captured Blue soldiers, much to the admiration of the Blue Mask King.
This is followed by monstrous floods, and to save her people, and on the advice from the ‘mysterious tree’, the Queen sacrifices herself to save her people.  The Queen then turns into a golden sunbird flying in the sky blessing the people and that of the dynasty.

Billed as the best live show in China, described as a large scale dramatic musical, “The Golden Mask Dynasty” it lived up to its reputation and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

It was not just singing dancing and acrobatics, it had a story and it was told so that language and cultural issues aside, it worked.  There was a narration of the story running beside the stage, but it was hard to divide attention between what was happening, and what was being related.

Then came the peacock dance, with live peacocks

And this was followed by a waterfall, well, I don’t think anyone in that audience could believe what they were seeing.

I know I was both astonished and in awe of the performance.

What a way to finish off our first day in Beijing.

Oh, sorry, that high was dented slightly when we had to go back to our room.

Searching for locations: The Jade Factory, Beijing, China

The first stop is at a Jade Museum to learn the history of jade. In Chinese, jade is pronounced as “Yu” and it has a history in China of at least four thousand years.  On the way there, we are given a story about one of the guide’s relatives who had a jade bracelet, and how it has saved her from countless catastrophes.It is, quite literally ‘the’ good luck charm.  Chinese gamblers are known to have small pieces of jade in their hands when visiting the casinos, for good luck.  I’m not sure anything could provide a gambler with any sort of luck given how the odds are always slanted towards the house.

At any rate, this is neither the time of the place to debunk a ‘well-known fact’.

 On arrival, our guide hands us over to a local guide, a real staff member, and she begins with a discussion on jade while we watch a single worker working on an intricate piece, what looks to be a globe within a globe, sorry, there are two workers, and the second is working on a dragon.

At the end of the passage that passes by the workers, and before you enter the main showroom, you are dazzled by the ship and is nothing short of magnificent.

Then it’s into a small room just off the main showroom where we are taken through the colors, and the carving process in the various stages, without really being told how the magic happens.

Then it’s out into the main showroom where the sales are made, and before dispersing to look at the jade collection, she briefly tells us how to tell real and fake jade, and she does the usual trick of getting one of the tour group to model a piece.

Looks good, let’s move on.  To bigger and better examples.

What interested me, other than the small zodiac signs and other smallish pieces on the ‘promotion’ table, was the jade bangle our tour guide told us about on the bus.  If anyone needs one, it is my other half, with all the medical issues and her sometimes clumsiness, two particular maladies this object is supposed to prevent.
Jade to the Chinese is Diamonds to westerners, and the jade bangle is often handed down to the females of the family from generation to generation, often as an engagement present, to be worn on the left hand, the one closest to the heart.

There are literally thousands of them, but, they have to be specially fitted to your wrist because if it’s too large, you might lose it if it slips off and I didn’t think it could be too small.  
Nor is it cheap, and needing a larger size, it is reasonably expensive.  But it is jadeite, the more expensive of the types of jade, and it can only appreciate in value, not that we are interested in the monetary value, it’s more the good luck aspect.

We could use some of that.

But, just to touch on something that can be the bugbear of traveling overseas, is the subject of happy houses, a better name for toilets, and has become a recurrent theme on this tour.  It’s better than blurting out the word toilet and it seems there can be some not so happy houses given that the toilets in China are usually squat rather than sit, even for women.
And apparently, everyone has an unhappy house story, particularly the women, and generally in having to squat over a pit.  Why is this a discussion point, it seems the jade factory had what we have come to call happy, happy houses which have more proper toilets, and a stop here before going on the great wall was recommended, as the ‘happy house’ at the wall is deemed to be not such a happy house.

Not even this dragon was within my price range.  Thank heaven they had smaller more affordable models.  The object of having a dragon, large or small, is that it should be placed inside the main door to the house so that money can come in.

It also seems that stuffing the dragon’s mouth with money is also good luck.  We passed on doing that.

After spending a small fortune, there was a bonus, free Chinese tea.  Apparently, we will be coming back, after the Great Wall visit, to have lunch upstairs.