When we were done here, Penny and the driver found another traditional restaurant. Penny left us to eat ourselves and she and the driver ate together. She ordered for us. We had a chicken dish with carrots, celery and pineapple, a vegetable plate with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cucumbers, a beef dish with sauce and onion rings (different breading than we get in the states), fish ball soup, rice, jasmine tea, and a fruit plate which included oranges and tomatoes. I had water and Tony tried beer which were both served in small glasses (by "small" I mean like juice glass size).
When we were done eating we left the resturant. At this point we made another note to ourselves: When parking on the sidewalk, leave NO space between any of the cars!
We stopped at the Temple of Heaven and walked around there. In the morning people will do their tai chi there and then they will gather in a corridor and play poker and we saw people crocheting (some even had items to sell), kicking a feather thing around, some playing traditional Chinese instruments and just generally relaxing. Of course, there's ALWAYS people trying to sell things, especially to foreigners. We stick out like sore thumbs here! We actually bought some feather things (I'll find out the name of it later) to bring home.
Penny then had the driver drop all three of us off at Wangfujing Street so she could show us where the Olympic Store was. We went in and she asked. They said it closed on March 31. Of course, it did! Then she tried to help us bargain for some things in another store but they actually didn't have enough of what we wanted so we'll look elsewhere.
Penny left us to get to the bus to go home. We walked back to the hotel where we both took a nap.
Later on we walked to a nearby mall. They have one floor devoted to children but it was so hot in the mall and the stores were even hotter so we didn't stay long. We walked to a silk store but didn't stay long there, either.
We'll meet Penny at 8 am tomorrow.
I've noticed how the Chinese like to make everything look good even when it might not be quite so good. There's billboards all over and yesterday I happened to catch a glimpse of what's behind the billboards. They are poorer neightborhoods with basically "shacks" for living quarters. Sometimes you can only see the rooftops but they are definitely not very affluent areas. Your eye is definitely drawn to the very colorful billboards (a lot of which have the Beijing 2008 emblem or something to do with the Olympics on them) so it was just by chance that I noticed what's behind them. Now I try to notice it more often. I'm not sure if they did this just in time for the Olympics or not.
Another example of extreme difference is actually right outside our hotel windows. We have a corner room on the 11th floor and the windows that are on the "back" (north) of the hotel look out over one of those very poor neighborhoods. The neighborhood is completely surrounded by modern buildings. The windows to the west look out over the modern buildings and on down to the Wangfujing Market. We can also see the entrance to either the Forbidden City or Tiananmen Square.
3 comments:
We look forward to your pictures of all you are seeing!
The weather people are still forecasting a blizzard starting about midnight tonight, although we are on the southern edge of it. Wind will be the worst part of it, blowing snow. Tim will no doubt have some plowing to do in Omaha! Can you attached pictures to the blog from there? Mom
Well, the weather men played an April Fool's joke on us and not much happened here. There was snow but it melted right away. Wind blew it sideways, but ground is too warm to collect snow. Out west I-80 was closed Saturday for blizzard condistions. 5' drifts. So we lucked out again!
We hope you are well and catching up with the clock.
I remember hearing something about making that part of China look more affluent for the Olympics. For some reason I thought they even toyed with the idea of ripping down neighborhoods. Sounds like you're seeing a lot.
Sheryl
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