Beijing, Day 2
Day Two of our Beijing trip has drawn to a close...sort of...the day so exhausted me that I fell asleep right after we returned and snacked (around 5:30 pm), then I woke up just long enough to eat "dinner," (9:30 pm), then promptly fell back asleep. It is now 4 am, and I'm wide awake. Not sure how much of it is jetlag and how much of it is just that I was just plain exhausted from our day - probably a combination of both.
Yesterday, we spent most of the day at Beijing's Silk Market, which would probably be more appropriately named Beijing's Flea Market. It is clearly a tourist trap - enclosed in a relatively fancy building, and composed of six floors of booth after booth after booth of merchants selling everything from fake designer purses, fake designer clothing, fake designer shoes, fake designer cosmetics, (noticing a theme, here?), jewelry and watches of all kinds, Chinese souvenirs (the ubiquitous Mao books, jade, name stamps, chess sets, chopsticks, Buddhas, etc.), electronics, and so much more. Despite the proliferation of fakes, though, it is a really fun experience, if you can stand the incredibly aggressive salespeople. You have to bargain heavily or you'll get ripped off (one salesperson told me the price of an item was 480 RMB (about $60 US), and by the time I was walking away from her stall, she was shouting after me that she would sell it to me for 50 RMB (about $6.30 US!)). They all repeatedly refer to you as "Peng you" (friend) - as in, "Friend, I will make it cheaper just for you," and "I will only give you this price because we're friends.") It is an experience not to be missed - I think we will have to go back there one more time before we leave.
Today, our brother's very sweet driver, Jack, took us to see the Forbidden Palace, Tienanmen Square, and two nearby parks, Jingshan and Beihai. It is Jack's dream job to become a tour guide one day, so he was determined to show us EVERYTHING - which was both fabulous and exhausting, especially since we never found a convenient time to stop and eat lunch. Here are a few images from the day...
The entry into the Forbidden City. Check out the teeny person right above the portrait of Mao Zedong - it gives you an idea of the scale of the place.
The palace of the Forbidden City has 9999 rooms and took twelve years to build.
Yesterday, we spent most of the day at Beijing's Silk Market, which would probably be more appropriately named Beijing's Flea Market. It is clearly a tourist trap - enclosed in a relatively fancy building, and composed of six floors of booth after booth after booth of merchants selling everything from fake designer purses, fake designer clothing, fake designer shoes, fake designer cosmetics, (noticing a theme, here?), jewelry and watches of all kinds, Chinese souvenirs (the ubiquitous Mao books, jade, name stamps, chess sets, chopsticks, Buddhas, etc.), electronics, and so much more. Despite the proliferation of fakes, though, it is a really fun experience, if you can stand the incredibly aggressive salespeople. You have to bargain heavily or you'll get ripped off (one salesperson told me the price of an item was 480 RMB (about $60 US), and by the time I was walking away from her stall, she was shouting after me that she would sell it to me for 50 RMB (about $6.30 US!)). They all repeatedly refer to you as "Peng you" (friend) - as in, "Friend, I will make it cheaper just for you," and "I will only give you this price because we're friends.") It is an experience not to be missed - I think we will have to go back there one more time before we leave.
Today, our brother's very sweet driver, Jack, took us to see the Forbidden Palace, Tienanmen Square, and two nearby parks, Jingshan and Beihai. It is Jack's dream job to become a tour guide one day, so he was determined to show us EVERYTHING - which was both fabulous and exhausting, especially since we never found a convenient time to stop and eat lunch. Here are a few images from the day...
The entry into the Forbidden City. Check out the teeny person right above the portrait of Mao Zedong - it gives you an idea of the scale of the place.
The palace of the Forbidden City has 9999 rooms and took twelve years to build.