Days 3 & 4 Temple of Heaven, Pearl Market, Great Wall

Sorry I missed a day. First the internet went poof and then I was exhausted. I was waiting for greywings to finish her email and I just fell asleep so you'll get two days for the price of one! Yay!

In keeping with the idea that we do a million things in a day we did a lot these past days.

Our first stop was the Pearl Market. Now despite the name it's not just pearls. You could probably find anything you wanted here. They had a whole floor of pearls, but also a whole floor of clothes and shoes. You could buy electronics and chops, silk, sneakers, t shirts, glasses... the list goes on.

Let me take a moment to describe the layout because it's just about the same layout as all the other markets, including the Dirt Market. In the case of the Pearl Market, everything is indoors, but the same layout still applies for most outdoor markets. You enter and along the walls or borders there are actual shops. Three walls and a roof. The kind you would see in a mall in America. In the center the floor is divided up into stalls with narrow rows between them for walking. So you walk in and you are just bombarded with hundreds of merchants pushing their wares. It can be very overwhelming.

Now there were lots of pearls in the Pearl Market. Just about every size shape and color you could imagine. K took us to a shop she always goes to with a worker named KiKi. K shops there because you don't have to haggle; KiKi will always give you the best price. It was a very relaxing change of pace. Needless to say we spent way too long in that store.

I also got a name chop and due to communications difficulties my name is now not Mei Xi (Happy Plum) but Mei Xi (Smiling Plum) oh well. I'll get it right someday.

We also got some prescription sunglasses for greywings. They're not perfect but for about $35 you can't go wrong.

We'll probably end up back at the Pearl Market to actually explore the place. We hurried through it a bit on our first visit. It's very exciting.

For lunch K sent us to the oldest noodle restaurant in Beijing. We had a bit of trouble finding the place (something that seems to happen to us a lot) but in the end we located it. It's a good thing K warned us about this place.

First off the place is HUGE. Maybe there are restaurants this big in the states but they don't look it or something. It's one giant open floor with tables and benches arranged like a cafeteria. Not a whole lot of room between you and the diners next to you. As you walk through the door they shout how many in your party. So as we walked through the door they shouted "Liang-Ge Ren!" at the tops of their lungs. Then every worker in the place started shouting: "Two people! Two People! Sit over here, by me!" at the tops of their lungs. You basically pick an upraised arm and go sit over there.

I don't think I've mentioned (or perhaps I have) how cheap the food is here. At this noodle place greywings and I each ordered food and a soft drink and the total came to 34 RMB (kuai as they say here) that's about $4.45 for two large bowls of noodles and a soft drink each. I love it here. Finally a lunch that the cheapskate in me can truly enjoy!

The food was great of course, and interestingly enough you pay before you get your food. The service is pretty much they bring you your food and then leave you alone but I do imagine you could find one of them if you needed more food or something.

At the Wooden Floor (which I mentioned briefly before) the wait staff hangs around, it's much more of a normal looking restaurant. I'd call this Noodle place Chinese fast food. It was good though.

After we ate we had our first real run in with squat toilets. They're much easier to use than you imagine. You have to bring your own toilet paper though, and throw it in the trash can next to the toilet. Not so bad really.

After we'd eaten and picked up some of our purchases that we had to wait to be made (my chop, greywings's glasses) we hailed a taxi for the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple was beautiful. You buy your ticket (either a pass or a through ticket. The pass just lets you in, the through ticket lets you in and lets you into other parts of the Temple) and then go. We bought Through Tickets.

You start out in this HUGE and amazingly laid out garden of trees. I mean just rows upon rows of cedar. Some of the trees were claimed to be 800 years old and they looked it too. HUGE trees. It was beautiful. We then headed into the main Temple parts, very happy for our through tickets. There are three other sites besides just paying to get in that you have to get tickets for. A through ticket saves you a bit of cash since every site after the entrance is 20 kuai. We paid 35 kuai about $4.60 each.

The Temple itself and walkways are breathtaking. They are just huge and colorfully painted. We got to walk down the emperors walkway, on the raised portion that was reserved for the emperor only. (You know, us and the other thousand tourists, more than half of which were Chinese.)

I think that's something I really like about China, the fact that even though you're a tourist most of the other tourists are Chinese. It's nice not to stand out when your snapping pictures left and right. Everyone else is too.

We left the Temple just as the thunder started rolling and managed to get a cab just as it started to rain. The Chinese characters I'd copied of a street sign near K's place turned out to be just perfect. Our driver got us home quickly and easily to just the right place. (K lives near the Worker's Stadium, which is a great landmark.)

The driving in China is um...interesting. If people drove like this in America there would be accidents every five seconds. Literally. People complain about the drivers in New York, or Boston, but they are nothing in comparison with the drivers in Beijing. The cars weave in and out of traffic, the bikes weave in and out of traffic, pedestrians cross without looking. It's crazy! I've stopped watching my driver drive. I just stare out the window and ignore the hooking and swerving. There is also very little road rage. Getting cut off is something that happens with amazing regularity but the drivers don't swear or get mad. They just keep driving without uttering even a grumble.

We got home safely and decided to go and get foot rubs at a parlor recommended by K. A foot rub, it turns out includes, feet, legs, hands and shoulders. All for 97 kuai or $12.68 each. Oh and free food and drinks. (If you go before 5pm it's 78 kuai $10.20)

Monday or Day 4 was interesting because K left us alone for the whole day. It was our day to go to the Great Wall! We also had to make it to the Chinese Culture Club to reserve our places to try and go to Xian.

Now K didn't know the Chinese characters for the street name but gave us a map with no characters on it. I can't just say the street name because the taxi driver probably won't understand me. The Beijing accent is really hard to master. I poured through all of K's books on Beijing and finally found a street name in characters. We rejoice! All our troubles are solved!

Nope. The taxi driver knows the main street, but not the side street. He drops us off on the main street and we wander up and down the street looking for it with no success. We were supposed to be there at 9am and we've been walking for an hour. Finally greywings pushes me into asking someone and we get some directions and thankfully finally find the right street and wander down it. We find the club and make our reservations.

We are going to Xian! Whoooo! 2950 kuai each ($385.67), for an overnight train, 2 day hotel, tours and plane ticket home. We are very happy.

We caught a taxi home and gathered our lunch. Mrs. Liu, a driver that K hired, drove us out to the Great Wall. It takes about an hour and a half to get there but it was worth it.

The wall is amazing. It's awesome in the original sense of the word. It inspires awe. It was just...ah! I can't describe it well enough. Huge, Vast, Fantastic! I took as many pictures as I could and we bought two packs of post cards (post cards always have better pictures) so we could make sure we preserved it's greatness for us. The day we went was clear and warm so we drank a lot of water and were very tired but the views of the mountains and everything were just breathtaking!

We also bought a small gourd with the Great Wall carved into it. We perhaps paid more than we should have but I think $5 was worth it. We did haggle after all. Good Karma for all!

We took a ski lift up to the wall and that was nice. Part in parcel with the ski left ticket you can get a ticket to take a slide down the wall. Yes, a slide. You ride in a little plastic sled with a break on a metal track all the way back down the side of the mountain. greywings was mad because I went too slow.

Anyway, back to the Wall. It was amazing. It winds like a snake over the mountains and as you walk along it in places it's very steep and the steps are uneven. It was built like that so if an invading army every managed to break through the wall would slow them down. Boy, would it ever! Uneven steps, steep rises, other steps that weren't steps, just slopes with footholds, narrow passageways...absolutely amazing!

Today we're taking a well earned rest. We may or may not get to the Forbidden City but we've got plenty of time. We'll probably just sleep and laze about, going out to grab some lunch and explore the neighborhood. It will be nice to just rest and actually try to get over the jet lag.

Days 3 & 4 Temple of Heaven, Pearl Market, Great Wall

Sorry I missed a day. First the internet went poof and then I was exhausted. I was waiting for greywings to finish her email and I just fell asleep so you'll get two days for the price of one! Yay!

In keeping with the idea that we do a million things in a day we did a lot these past days.

Our first stop was the Pearl Market. Now despite the name it's not just pearls. You could probably find anything you wanted here. They had a whole floor of pearls, but also a whole floor of clothes and shoes. You could buy electronics and chops, silk, sneakers, t shirts, glasses... the list goes on.

Let me take a moment to describe the layout because it's just about the same layout as all the other markets, including the Dirt Market. In the case of the Pearl Market, everything is indoors, but the same layout still applies for most outdoor markets. You enter and along the walls or borders there are actual shops. Three walls and a roof. The kind you would see in a mall in America. In the center the floor is divided up into stalls with narrow rows between them for walking. So you walk in and you are just bombarded with hundreds of merchants pushing their wares. It can be very overwhelming.

Now there were lots of pearls in the Pearl Market. Just about every size shape and color you could imagine. K took us to a shop she always goes to with a worker named KiKi. K shops there because you don't have to haggle; KiKi will always give you the best price. It was a very relaxing change of pace. Needless to say we spent way too long in that store.

I also got a name chop and due to communications difficulties my name is now not Mei Xi (Happy Plum) but Mei Xi (Smiling Plum) oh well. I'll get it right someday.

We also got some prescription sunglasses for greywings. They're not perfect but for about $35 you can't go wrong.

We'll probably end up back at the Pearl Market to actually explore the place. We hurried through it a bit on our first visit. It's very exciting.

For lunch K sent us to the oldest noodle restaurant in Beijing. We had a bit of trouble finding the place (something that seems to happen to us a lot) but in the end we located it. It's a good thing K warned us about this place.

First off the place is HUGE. Maybe there are restaurants this big in the states but they don't look it or something. It's one giant open floor with tables and benches arranged like a cafeteria. Not a whole lot of room between you and the diners next to you. As you walk through the door they shout how many in your party. So as we walked through the door they shouted "Liang-Ge Ren!" at the tops of their lungs. Then every worker in the place started shouting: "Two people! Two People! Sit over here, by me!" at the tops of their lungs. You basically pick an upraised arm and go sit over there.

I don't think I've mentioned (or perhaps I have) how cheap the food is here. At this noodle place greywings and I each ordered food and a soft drink and the total came to 34 RMB (kuai as they say here) that's about $4.45 for two large bowls of noodles and a soft drink each. I love it here. Finally a lunch that the cheapskate in me can truly enjoy!

The food was great of course, and interestingly enough you pay before you get your food. The service is pretty much they bring you your food and then leave you alone but I do imagine you could find one of them if you needed more food or something.

At the Wooden Floor (which I mentioned briefly before) the wait staff hangs around, it's much more of a normal looking restaurant. I'd call this Noodle place Chinese fast food. It was good though.

After we ate we had our first real run in with squat toilets. They're much easier to use than you imagine. You have to bring your own toilet paper though, and throw it in the trash can next to the toilet. Not so bad really.

After we'd eaten and picked up some of our purchases that we had to wait to be made (my chop, greywings's glasses) we hailed a taxi for the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple was beautiful. You buy your ticket (either a pass or a through ticket. The pass just lets you in, the through ticket lets you in and lets you into other parts of the Temple) and then go. We bought Through Tickets.

You start out in this HUGE and amazingly laid out garden of trees. I mean just rows upon rows of cedar. Some of the trees were claimed to be 800 years old and they looked it too. HUGE trees. It was beautiful. We then headed into the main Temple parts, very happy for our through tickets. There are three other sites besides just paying to get in that you have to get tickets for. A through ticket saves you a bit of cash since every site after the entrance is 20 kuai. We paid 35 kuai about $4.60 each.

The Temple itself and walkways are breathtaking. They are just huge and colorfully painted. We got to walk down the emperors walkway, on the raised portion that was reserved for the emperor only. (You know, us and the other thousand tourists, more than half of which were Chinese.)

I think that's something I really like about China, the fact that even though you're a tourist most of the other tourists are Chinese. It's nice not to stand out when your snapping pictures left and right. Everyone else is too.

We left the Temple just as the thunder started rolling and managed to get a cab just as it started to rain. The Chinese characters I'd copied of a street sign near K's place turned out to be just perfect. Our driver got us home quickly and easily to just the right place. (K lives near the Worker's Stadium, which is a great landmark.)

The driving in China is um...interesting. If people drove like this in America there would be accidents every five seconds. Literally. People complain about the drivers in New York, or Boston, but they are nothing in comparison with the drivers in Beijing. The cars weave in and out of traffic, the bikes weave in and out of traffic, pedestrians cross without looking. It's crazy! I've stopped watching my driver drive. I just stare out the window and ignore the hooking and swerving. There is also very little road rage. Getting cut off is something that happens with amazing regularity but the drivers don't swear or get mad. They just keep driving without uttering even a grumble.

We got home safely and decided to go and get foot rubs at a parlor recommended by K. A foot rub, it turns out includes, feet, legs, hands and shoulders. All for 97 kuai or $12.68 each. Oh and free food and drinks. (If you go before 5pm it's 78 kuai $10.20)

Monday or Day 4 was interesting because K left us alone for the whole day. It was our day to go to the Great Wall! We also had to make it to the Chinese Culture Club to reserve our places to try and go to Xian.

Now K didn't know the Chinese characters for the street name but gave us a map with no characters on it. I can't just say the street name because the taxi driver probably won't understand me. The Beijing accent is really hard to master. I poured through all of K's books on Beijing and finally found a street name in characters. We rejoice! All our troubles are solved!

Nope. The taxi driver knows the main street, but not the side street. He drops us off on the main street and we wander up and down the street looking for it with no success. We were supposed to be there at 9am and we've been walking for an hour. Finally greywings pushes me into asking someone and we get some directions and thankfully finally find the right street and wander down it. We find the club and make our reservations.

We are going to Xian! Whoooo! 2950 kuai each ($385.67), for an overnight train, 2 day hotel, tours and plane ticket home. We are very happy.

We caught a taxi home and gathered our lunch. Mrs. Liu, a driver that K hired, drove us out to the Great Wall. It takes about an hour and a half to get there but it was worth it.

The wall is amazing. It's awesome in the original sense of the word. It inspires awe. It was just...ah! I can't describe it well enough. Huge, Vast, Fantastic! I took as many pictures as I could and we bought two packs of post cards (post cards always have better pictures) so we could make sure we preserved it's greatness for us. The day we went was clear and warm so we drank a lot of water and were very tired but the views of the mountains and everything were just breathtaking!

We also bought a small gourd with the Great Wall carved into it. We perhaps paid more than we should have but I think $5 was worth it. We did haggle after all. Good Karma for all!

We took a ski lift up to the wall and that was nice. Part in parcel with the ski left ticket you can get a ticket to take a slide down the wall. Yes, a slide. You ride in a little plastic sled with a break on a metal track all the way back down the side of the mountain. greywings was mad because I went too slow.

Anyway, back to the Wall. It was amazing. It winds like a snake over the mountains and as you walk along it in places it's very steep and the steps are uneven. It was built like that so if an invading army every managed to break through the wall would slow them down. Boy, would it ever! Uneven steps, steep rises, other steps that weren't steps, just slopes with footholds, narrow passageways...absolutely amazing!

Today we're taking a well earned rest. We may or may not get to the Forbidden City but we've got plenty of time. We'll probably just sleep and laze about, going out to grab some lunch and explore the neighborhood. It will be nice to just rest and actually try to get over the jet lag.