Beijing- let's try this again.

A huge group of kids from our program came to Beijing for the weekend. There are 8 of us in the same hostel, another group of 8 are staying down the street and another group of 4 are pretty close too. Some people came up Friday morning, but we came up Thursday night after class so we would have all day Friday to sight-see.

The trip here was smoother than last time, but in addition to the usual group of four that I hang out with we had four other people and they did slow us down a bit (don't tell them I said that). But, we have the subway figured out and we are in the same hostel so it was straight forward. The boys all went out Thursday night after we got here but Kat and I just got dinner and went to bed to prepare for the long day on Friday.

Now, it's Friday night, and we just finished a very productive day of being tourists. Chad, Kat, Young and I ventured out on our own. I think the other guys staying in our hostel wanted to sleep in. We met at 8 am and started out at Tiananmen Square, then headed to the Forbidden City which is directly across the street. Tiananmen Square is free except for going to see Mao's body but we didn't get a chance to do that today. We paid 60 yuan for the Forbidden City. During our visits to both of those, it was pouring down rain outside. We had rain jackets but still got absolutely soaked. We were starting to think Beijing really hated us because our first trip here was also a disaster. Anyway, we powered through and made the best of it. The Forbidden City was incredible. I know I've seen all of these things before but I was still blown away by the size and beauty of it.

So many umbrellas...

After stopping by the hostel really quickly to regroup, we headed out again. Thank goodness the rain had stopped and it stayed clear the rest of the day. We went to the Pearl Market, which is a big shopping area where you bargain for everything. This market was exactly what I remembered from visiting China 5 years ago. They sold everything from clothing, to jewelry (so many watches...), electronics, purses, shoes, you name it. I bought a pair of Keds for 50 yuan (~$8). My other pair of Keds have gotten so dirty from walking around the cities that I needed something. I bargained pretty hard for those. Then, I bought two of those red books with quotations from Chairman Mao. The vendor wanted us to pay 180 yuan and we got her to give them to us for 10 yuan each...just to give you an idea of the price mark-up.

From Chapter 7: "People of the world, unite 
and defeat the U.S., aggressors and all their
 running dogs!"....Say what?!

After the Pearl Market we walked across the street to the Temple of Heaven. Which is apparently where the emperors would go to pray for good harvests and various other things; it was built in 1420. It was quite large and just as beautiful as the Forbidden City. We got a student discount using our Tianjin University cards and paid 28 yuan for entrance.

Finally, we wanted to see the Silk Market. It was the Pearl Market on steroids. It was something like 4 floors of merchandise, the vendors were so aggressive it was startling, and they had everything. I mean everything. Knock off Michael Khors watches, Longchamp bags, Tory Burch purses and shoes, Marc Jacobs bags, Louis Vuittons, rolling suitcases, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger clothing, North Face jacket, hiking packs, perfumes, paintings, jade jewelry, phones, tablets, Beats. I could go on and on and on. If you even look at an item vendors start yelling at you in English to come inside and take a look, asking you how much you'll pay, they'll grab you and try and pull you inside. I am glad we went to the Pearl Market first because it somewhat prepared us for the agression of these vendors. I was trying to stay calm but it's hard to not be overwhelmed. We didn't buy anything. But, I think we got an idea for what we want from places like that and when we're in Shanghai there will be tons of places like that. I don't want to have to travel to Shanghai with a bunch of stuff I can just buy there.

Look what I found! They had a million of 
those peepee boys that are supposed to tell
you when water for tea is hot enough. I would
have gotten one but I still have no clue how 
they work (Cory, I expect you to be an expert 
by the time I'm back).

Bacer, I also found a stand that
 you would have enjoyed! They
 had a huge assortment of oriental
 beads. You would have loved 
them for your bracelets.

We used the Subway to get pretty much everywhere today. It's a great system and you pay 2 yuan for each trip you take. Other than being super crowded at times, it's an easy way to travel.

Tomorrow we are doing a few other things and I will post about that too.