Jessie
A high-school friend has come to visit me for five whole days: Jessie arrived Saturday afternoon and is leaving Friday. Today is Day 3 and every day is a huge adventure full of wonderful satisfying accomplishments. Horrah!
Sunday we visited Panjiayuan, a sprawling market I had never been to before, full of everything you could possibly want in terms of Chinese memorabilia...Mao watches, jade, wooden fans, scroll paintings, bronze statues - everything! In the afternoon we visited two other famous market streets - we finished all of Jessie's souvenir shopping on the first day! I even bought some art for a whole 40 yuan (around $5 Cdn). In the evening we went to a Beijing Opera and sat at the very back for cheaper, but it was very entertaining. Elaborate costumes and lots of acrobatics and amazing feats near the end.
Monday we went for dim sum (not as good as in Vancouver!) in a beautifully decorated restaurant, then for walks in two different temples, passing by the observatory, where ancient astronomical instruments were on display. In the evening we went to an amazing restaurant hidden in a hutong. It looked gorgeous in the inside, and the food was delicious! It's called the Red Capital and I'll definitely have to go back. It was picked from Jessie's guidebook.
Today was Great Wall day. We woke up at 4:45 AM and left the university campus by 5:30 (after grabbing a baozi and jiaozi breakfast to go) in order to be at a hostel in the center of the city by 6 AM. We ended up leaving the hostel in the tour bus at 6:30...:-P. The ride to Jingshaling lasted 3 hours, including traffic jams. The hike up the wall was awesome. It took us around four hours, including rest stops, to walk from Jingshaling to Simatai. The views were breathtaking, the workout challenging, and we were both thrilled about the experience. Back home around 8 PM, we went to the campus cafeteria for take-out and had a quiet evening in. We're exhausted.
Tomorrow is a big day: we want to see Mao's dead body (I still swear it's not him but a plastic copy!), the Forbidden City, Coal Hill (there's a fabulous view of the Forbidden City from there), and the Hohai/Beihai parks and surrounding bar district in the evening. Should be good.
Alright, time for bed. Good night!
Sunday we visited Panjiayuan, a sprawling market I had never been to before, full of everything you could possibly want in terms of Chinese memorabilia...Mao watches, jade, wooden fans, scroll paintings, bronze statues - everything! In the afternoon we visited two other famous market streets - we finished all of Jessie's souvenir shopping on the first day! I even bought some art for a whole 40 yuan (around $5 Cdn). In the evening we went to a Beijing Opera and sat at the very back for cheaper, but it was very entertaining. Elaborate costumes and lots of acrobatics and amazing feats near the end.
Monday we went for dim sum (not as good as in Vancouver!) in a beautifully decorated restaurant, then for walks in two different temples, passing by the observatory, where ancient astronomical instruments were on display. In the evening we went to an amazing restaurant hidden in a hutong. It looked gorgeous in the inside, and the food was delicious! It's called the Red Capital and I'll definitely have to go back. It was picked from Jessie's guidebook.
Today was Great Wall day. We woke up at 4:45 AM and left the university campus by 5:30 (after grabbing a baozi and jiaozi breakfast to go) in order to be at a hostel in the center of the city by 6 AM. We ended up leaving the hostel in the tour bus at 6:30...:-P. The ride to Jingshaling lasted 3 hours, including traffic jams. The hike up the wall was awesome. It took us around four hours, including rest stops, to walk from Jingshaling to Simatai. The views were breathtaking, the workout challenging, and we were both thrilled about the experience. Back home around 8 PM, we went to the campus cafeteria for take-out and had a quiet evening in. We're exhausted.
Tomorrow is a big day: we want to see Mao's dead body (I still swear it's not him but a plastic copy!), the Forbidden City, Coal Hill (there's a fabulous view of the Forbidden City from there), and the Hohai/Beihai parks and surrounding bar district in the evening. Should be good.
Alright, time for bed. Good night!
posted by Caro at 9:08 PM
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