The first part of our day was comprised of a trip to Silk Street, the place you go if you want to get hand-tailored garments made. Dad really wanted to get a suit made, so we went there. The first thing I bought was a bracelet, pair of earrings, and necklace, all totaling 55 yuan, or about $8-9. Then, we went to an optometrist, where Becca and I each purchased a pair of prescription glasses AND a pair of prescription sunglasses. Both of our totals came to just over $200! In the US, it would cost more than that for one pair of regular glasses and the sunglasses would be $300-500! I've never owned a pair of prescription sunglasses, and think they look pretty cool! We go to pick them up tomorrow.
Then we went into the main Silk Street shopping center, where there are over 1700 vendors! The first half hour or so were some of the scariest moments of my life! (OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was pretty darn traumatizing!) For the most part, the salespeople in there are INCREDIBLY aggressive. I'm talking that I was physically grabbed by numerous ladies trying to sell me things, and one booth even blocked me in with their bodies. It was pretty intense, and not something I will ever forget! I ended up buying a pair of Diesel Jeans. The woman started asking me for over 1000 yuan. That's like $160. NOOOO WAY!!! I ended up bargaining her down to 150 Yuan, or $24. Not bad. I really bought them just so I could get out of the booth! By the end of our time there, Dad had purchased a suit for under $200 US (a custom hand-made tailored suit with super high quality fabric), Becca bought a tailored jacket, and the three of us each got tailored button-down dress shirts made as well (Dad and Becca each got two). We had lunch at a Subway because it was easy, and it was already 3:30 PM when we left.
Here is a women separating silk from the worms and stretching the thread out over a wooden support.
Here is the outside of Silk Road--I didn't take many pictures inside because I would have gotten swarmed by salespeople if I stopped!Next, we went to the Temple of Heaven, which is where emperors would go when they wanted to pray for a bountiful harvest. It was gorgeous! One of the most remarkable things was that it was quiet there--in a city of 12 million people, it was actually quiet! We saw many ancient artifacts from early Chinese dynasties, and even saw the throne in which the emperors would sit (see below).
We left around 6:30, and managed to find a place for dinner on a busy restaurant street. It was good, but not what I had been intending to find for us.We went to bed early (OK, everyone else did... I went to bed around 11:30). I got up at 6 and showered, and we met up for breakfast just before 7. Today was craaaaaazy busy, but really exciting--definitely my favorite day so far! We had reserved a tour group to go to the Great Wall. They guaranteed no more than 10 people in the group, all of whom had to speak English, and also guaranteed an English speaking guide. Our guide, Eric, picked us up at 7:30, and was great! His English was very good, and he was quite knowledgable, and very humorous. We had 2 other families in our group, totaling 8 people: A mother (62) from NM and her son from TX (39), and a mother (72) and daughter (30ish?) from Jakarta, Indonesia!
Our first stop was at "the best Jade factory in Beijing." It was actually quite nice, and Mom, Becca, and I each bought something. I got a pair of pink jade earrings that very much so reflect my personality and taste. The tour guide there also spoke English, and she taught us about the different types of jade, how to tell if it's real or a knock-off, and showed us how they carve jade figurines. It was VERY impressive, and appealed to the inner (OK--outer) rock nerd in me! The picture below is of me and our tour guide, Eric.
Next we went to the Ming Tombs, 13 tombs of Emporers from the Ming Dynasty. They have only excavated one, as it had been partially destroyed and mostly looted about 40 yrs ago. We descended 90 meters into the ground to find replicas of the Emperor's tomb, as well as his wife and concubine. Normally it would just be the Emperor and Empress, but his wife could not bear children. Therefore, the concubine who bore his first male son was also buried in the tomb. It was really interesting to see, and the general structure of the tomb was preserved very well.
Next, we drove for an hour on ridiculously windy roads. We were able to see a lot of Chinese countryside, and many small villages. In the month that I was in Tangshan, the fauna changed a LOT, and everything is much greener! It was quite breathtaking :)
We stopped for lunch at a traditional restaurant, where we had quite a delicious lunch! It was the rest of the family's first very traditional meal, and everyone enjoyed it quite a bit. Here is our view of the Great Wall from the restaurant:
After our yummy lunch, we drove the last few minutes to our location on the Great Wall. It was called Mutianyu, which is a section that was built about 600 years ago (at least that's what I gathered). As far as the whole wall goes, it took over 200 years to complete, and over 10 MILLION workers helped construct it, by bringing the stones up the mountains on their backs! It was really impressive. I've seen pictures of the Wall my whole life, and NEVER thought it would be some place I would go! It was quite a memorable and special experience. :)
To get up, we took a chair lift, and to go down, we took these "toboggan" carts. The down portion was the only part of the day that could have been better. We got stuck behind some woman that was mortified that she would get hurt, and therefore went slower than a snail's pace. We wanted to go fast! It was still a great experience, however!
While at the Wall, we spoke to many people, from all over the world! I met people from Israel, Paris, Ireland, Boston, and Saudi Arabia! It is cool to see how many people come from so many places to experience the same thing.
After we left the Great Wall, we went to a Chinese medicine center, where we all got foot massages! I am quite ticklish on my feet (as all of my friends know quite well!), and generally hate foot massages. I was melting by the end, and super relaxed! We will likely go back there to have full body massages before leaving Beijing! The reason I have no pictures of this part is that my camera battery died while at the Great Wall, as I was dumb enough not to charge it last night! Becca has some though, which I will definitely commandeer!Our last stop of the night was at a Chinese tea shop! We were treated to a demonstration of a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, as well as a tasting of 6 different and delicious teas! They showed us some really cool porcelain which changed color when hot water was put in it! Everything was quite fascinating, and I purchased some of my favorite tea. It was quite pricey though, and I hope to buy some more tea for a lot less near Tiananmen Square! Here is a photo of all Becca and Mom bought there, which I took once we got back and I'd charged my camera battery!
Dinner was great too--I finally was able to order the kind of meal I wanted to get everyone! We had 7 dishes, and it was under $30! The food was delicious, and everyone really enjoyed it, especially after such a long day of walking!Becca's been asleep for an hour, and started mumbling something in her sleep about 25 minutes ago. She's funny to listen to! :) Mom and Dad are sleeping too, and I guess that means I should head off to bed as well! This turned into quite the long entry, and I'll try and update every night to avoid having to write for an hour next time! I took 250 pictures the last two days, and hope to share more if you want to see them!
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