We started the day like any other: breakfast, chatting, hoping on the bus to head to the next tourist attraction, which, this morning, was a little stop off at a park area to watch all of the locals get their exercise on. It was really cool to see how people worked out there and that, even though it was cold, they were out workin' up a sweat.
That's Kevin showing us his mad skills.
Next stop was The Temple of Heaven. It was a Taoist temple that the emperors came to when it was time to pray to the gods for a good harvest. They were the only ones allowed in and it was supposed to be used as a place of harmony, peace and worship. This building was highly respected and cared for by the emperors until the British took it over in the Second Opium War, later continuing occupation for a year during the Boxer Rebellion. (I know you don't know what any of that means; go look up your world history!) Unfortunately, the British didn't care for it very well and left it desecrated and in ruin. Then, to make matters worse, the Japanese occupied it in the Second Sino-Japanese War and turned it into a biological warfare center (didn't know that when I got there, wish I had... lol.) During the 50s and 70s it was resorted to its former brilliance and then in 1998 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now people from all over the world come to check out how awesome it is. Let the photos commence:
Now, on to my favorite part of the day: getting to ride in a rickshaw! We got to pick our drivers (Vendula and I rode together) and ours was AWESOME! He was so into racing the other carts and cutting off the other drivers. It was cutthroat! I'm serious. But the even cooler part about riding in a rickshaw was that they took us to eat lunch with a local family in an older part of town where we learned how to make dumplings! You know, one of my favorite meals from this whole trip? I got to learn how to make it! Yay! The lady that taught us was so nice and welcoming. She showed us a model of their house that her son made, told us about her husband who is a painter (We got to buy his art! Yes, I bought local. ;) ) and told us about the feet binding process that her grandmother went through when she was younger. I even got to see a replica of the shoes they wore. It was a great meal spent with great company. It was nice to eat somewhere so informal for the first time since we got there. We were used to fancy dishes and table clothes, but this was just: here's a table cloth on a plastic table, wooden chopsticks and looooooots of delicious food.
That's our rickshaw driver! Doesn't he just look eager to get goin?
Shannon and Laura enjoying the ride.
At our hostess' house
Sitting down to eat
Boss Lady making dumplings
Voila! Little tiny baby dumpling. ;)
Shoes for feet binding
Me with the hostess (bad photo, don't judge)
After lunch was over we had to leave, which was sad because we had so much fun and she was so kind. But there was more of Beijing to conquer and as out last day went, we had to make it count! So....we headed to the Silk Market. Now, this is not a market that just sold silk, but rather a 6 story building that had floor after floor teeming with merchants who just really wanted to snatch up your money and convince you to buy everything in sight, if they could. Unfortunately, I'm not a very good negotiator, which was the whole name to this purchasing game. BUT! Fortunately, I am a quick learner. So even though I didn't get some of the deals that some of the other students on the trip got (Conrad was reeeeaaaally good at it), I did make out with a few bargains of my own. Thankfully, for my sanity, I somehow missed the basement, which was full of nothing but shoes.... Why yes, that would be my personal hell. But I did leave with some jewelry for my friends and a panda backpack and hat set for my brother. It turned out well. And the great thing is, I don't think I spent more than $30-50 there. I ended up getting most of my gifts there. That's one of the nice things about shopping in China, for the most part, everything is cheap, cheap, cheap!....Even if haggling with the store people is really intimidating and stressful, but the rush of pushing the boundaries with the salesmen.
Fast forward to our last supper. What do you think it would be? A compilation of everything that we'd tried so far? Or maybe some new exciting dish that we haven't even tried yet? But no. Unfortunately, my last dinner was similar to what you would get at Texas de Brazil. I was sooo disappointed! All I could think about the last night I was there was how much I wanted one last Chinese meal, but I guess I'll have to live without it. I didn't eat much at the restaurant, maybe just a plate, no desserts. Nothing look appetizing. I couldn't help but think about all the food I was going to have to eat when I got home and all the food I would be missing. Either way, I was sad when I sat down to dinner and I was sad when it was time to leave. It was our last night in China and didn't get my Chinese food....But I made up for it... I was going to live it up.
That evening, when Vendula and I got back to the hotel, we decided that we had waited long enough. We were going to go out to a dance club in China and have the most fun that we could. We threw on our sexiest clothes (well, sexiest that 23 degree weather would allow), hailed a taxi and set off to have a good time. Kevin told us about some good clubs, and we took full advantage of his knowledge. Within minutes of hitting the door we were treated like superstars. We bought some drinks and these nice guys from New York came up to us, struck up a conversation and then offered to buy us drinks again. That's pretty much how the whole night went, we would dance for a while, go to the bar to get a drink, get hit on, have drinks purchased for us, and then do it all over again. I think my favorite part of the night was meeting this really nice guy from Austrailia! I'm even his Facebook friend now. Awesome! :)
Interior of the club. You can see why we stood out just a little...
The night ended with us back at the hotel showered and ready to hop on the bus to get to our plane. Did I mention that we hadn't slept at all at this point and that we were supposed to be downstairs to get to the airport by 4:30 am? Yeaaaaaahhhh...let's just say that the ride to the airport was short because of my nap and getting through security was a nightmare, but because I was in such a bad mood. I took a quick nap while we waited for our plane, then slept on the ride to Japan. But at the Japanese airport things worlds that were closed to me for two weeks were suddenly opened again. I ate McDonald's! I read magazines! I checked my FACEBOOK! It was wonderful. I didn't realize how much I had missed it until I had the chance to check it again.
Ultimately, my day ended a lot better than it started and we all got where we needed to go safely and without a hitch. I won't forget the time I spent here. I'll miss the people I met, the food, and the company I kept with all the people on the trip with me. I think it was an amazing opportunity to explore a country that seems very misunderstood around the world, but that is so full of generous, giving people who want to show the world what the new China is made of...and their attitude..?
No Holds Barred.
Whitney
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