BEIJING!!! - Pt.II

THURSDAY

At the advice of our new friends from Israel, we woke up and left the hostel early to head to The Temple of Heaven. The reason for arriving early in the morning is to watch many Chinese do Tai Chi and other exercises. We sat and watched many different styles of Tai Chi exercises. Groups had streamers, swords, whips, colored sticks, or nothing at all. There were individuals doing Tai Chi as well as groups of up to (approximately) 30 members.

After watching for a while we split up and walked around The Temple of Heaven. I found many men flying kites and playing instruments. While taking a picture of a man playing an ErHu (chinese violin) I saw a married couple (Lily and Yong) playing with a "kick toy". It reminded me of an American Hackey Sack. After taking a picture of them, they grabbed me and communicated that they wanted me to play with them. So I joined them!! We had a lot of fun! I enjoyed it so much that I bought one at the Silk Street later that evening.

Afterwards I walked around and finally entered the gates to the Temple of Heaven. It was much bigger than we expected. Similar to all the other places we visited in China it was not just one Temple. There were many. We stayed there until lunch time, for more than 4 hours. There were lines of people to enter the different Temple areas. For each "important" temple you need a different ticket.


After the Temple of Heaven we went to an Italian restaurant and had an assortment of food. I finally got a grilled chicken salad. My first salad since I have been in China. Most others had pizza! This was our chinese student, Melody's, first time eating pizza EVER!! It was very exciting for her. She loved it! Afterwards we went to Starbucks for dessert and then proceeded to a big bookstore. There (in the English section in the basement) I found a book of short stories written by a favorite author of mine, Paulo Coehlo.

For the remainder of the evening we went shopping at the Silk Market again. J-Bo (Jessica) and I went to Subway for dinner again and stopped at Basking Robbins for icecream on the way back to the hostel.


FRIDAY

Friday morning we got on a city bus that would take us to the Summer Palace. The ride took a little more than an hour. When we arrived there, finally, there were many vendors outside selling yams, fruit, fried "pita", and other various Chinese "fast food" items.

After purchasing the Summer Palace tickets we started our long journey through it. The Summer Palace was (I believe) the biggest place we went to in Beijing. I even got a little frustrated because of the size. It covers too much land with too many temples and other buildings to see in just one day, the only day we had remaining. We saw as much as we could, many gardens, a huge marble boat (the Emperor would use take on the lake to entertain), many palaces, the Buddha, and many temples. There was soo much to see. While walking around the gardens I found a place where they were playing instruments and having ballroom dancing. I of course took pictures and watched for a little!

On our way to get a bus back to the hostel we stopped at Souzha Street a market for souveniers, before leaving the Palace. We walked around the Street while the sun was setting! You know how much I love the sunsets!! It was a very peaceful and calming way to end our time at the Summer Palace. When we returned to Beijing J-Bo, Melody, and I went to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard and then proceeded to Super Walmart. Chinese Super Walmarts are very different than American Walmarts. In case you were wondering you can buy frozen eel and random animal parts in China at Super Walmart!


To end our last day in Beijing we went back to San Li Tun! We ate some "chips" as the British call french fries, and danced a little! To top it off we did the best thing ever for weary travellers, we...

SLEPT!!

SATURDAY


We left our hostel with all of our bags, those we brought and those we acquired. We headed to, where else but ... Starbucks!! Rusty, Melody, and I left our bags with J-Bo and Brittany and headed to Tiananmen Square for some pictures in the daylight! When we were finished we went back to the Train Station and waited amongst the others waiting to squeeze onto the train. On the return we could only get hard seats. Never again will we travel with hard seats, especially for a length of time more than 6 or 7 hours. It was crazy!!! There were so many people. You can buy a soft sleeper, hardsleeper, hard seat, or a standing ticket. In the seats you literally have to sit up straight or your legs hit the person across from you. We met many interesting people in our hard seats with many weird habits. There was a girl that ate sugarcane like a panda bear. She bit off a chunk, chewed it, and then just opened her mouth to let it fall out. Not spit it out, but fall out!! Then she spit sunflower seeds everywhere. Eeewww!! A few even got on my seat! Ick! We were very thankful to finally get back home!!

It is true:

There's no place like home!!
(even your Chinese home!!)


*Of course there are many more stories I could tell but they will be saved for my return when you ask the many questions you have!*
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Website: http://sarahinchina.snapfish.com/snapfish
Room code: 27409
All I ask is you read my note inside the room!! Thanks for your thoughts!!