This morning we woke up to such a beautiful blue sky with
little smog, so Morgan, Candice, Emilie, and I decided to check out the Summer
Palace. We took a city bus across the
city of Beijing which took an hour and a half.
Not only is the city large in population (17 million), but it is rather
spread out. Once again with no guide to
lead us around and tell us about the palace we learned very little about its
history or function. But, it was really
nice to take our time to walk around the beautiful lake and through the trees
with friends.
We were blessed with the
smells and sights of fall as some of the leaves were changing colors. We walked and talked and laughed together as
we enjoyed the beautiful location. We
were asked by many Chinese tourists for pictures. At one point the four of us
had about a 10 minute photo shoot as a line of people jumped in to pose for a
shot with us. We also opted to dress up and snap a few shots in some traditional garb.
We left the Summer Palace and hailed a taxi to go to the
Olympic Stadium. A lady helped us into a
taxi. But, I am proud of us for realizing
that it was a tourist taxi charging more than the regular taxi. Our regular taxi took us to a freeway then
motioned for us to get out. We walked
down the freeway as cars zoomed passed us.
I am a big fan of the Olympics and I have to admit I got a little
chocked up as we approached the Beijing Olympic stadium. I am not a connoisseur of stadiums, but I
think the bird’s nest shape stadium is the most beautiful sports venue in the
world. It is still far from completion, so we were only able to walk up to the
fence to snap some shots. I wonder how
they will complete the stadium on time, because all of the workers were
enthralled with the tourists. The
workers stared at us and took just as many pictures of us as we were taking of
the stadium with their cell phones. It
is going to be so fun to watch the 2008 Olympics and to learn more about
Chinese culture through the stories of the athletes.
We hailed another taxi to the subway; which took us to the
Silk Market. The Silk Market is a four
story mall set up with rows and rows of vendors selling clothing, jewelry, and
souvenirs. As I walked down the aisles
the vendors tried to entice me into their stores, “Hello Beautiful Girl, I have
a good deal for you, good quality, very cheap.”
The vendors would start out at a price that was 10 times the actual
price and in order to get them to a reasonable price I had to bargain. Sometimes I like the game of bargaining. Sometimes it is really frustrating. The vendors at the Silk Market liked to grab
my arm when I decided I didn’t want to buy an item and I would have to yank
myself away from them. After a year of
fluid prices I am ready to walk into a store to see price tags.
