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So we had a real Chinese dinner last night. As we were walking back to our hostel we were feeling pretty hungry, and we decided to be brave. For dinner, we chose a small restaurant in the main hutong street by our hotel. It was the smaller then our kitchen, with tables full of middle aged to older Chinese people and not an english word in sight. The cooks, which were an older Chinese couple that spoke no english, seated us at a table with another man who was asleep. Then they went back to cooking just a few feet away from where we were sitting. We looked around at what people were eating, called the lady over, and pointed to a steamed bun the man at our table was working on, and a soup that a lady by us was drinking. She brought our meal for us, and man was it good. The soup was a simple saltless broth with barley and some beans. We threw in it some red stuff we found in a pot at our table which added some kick, and some salty pickled vegetables the lady provided each table with. The steamed buns were stuffed with a spicy meat, we are guessing pork. I'm going to go into steamed bun withdrawal back in Vancouver, I swear. To pay, they had to write down the amount because they just couldn't get it across to us in gestures. The price for both of us was equivalent to $1.56.. Pretty good for two people I'd say. We stick out so much here, it's pretty funny. Even the other tourists are chinese. We have seen a small number of white people, and very few of the Chinese here speak or understand english.
Anywho, this morning we got up, checked out, left our luggage at the luggage storage in our hostel, and set out to find some breakfast. We found a fruit and vegetable market close to our hostel. It had table after table of massive fruits and veggies for sale. Ringing around the outside of the market was stalls with fresh eggs, live fish, butchered meat, handmade noodles and dough, and sacks of lentils, rice, and beans. It was all locals there; needless to say, mom and I stuck out a bit. We stocked up on these massive red apples I love, and headed back down the street to add something else to our meal. We ended up deciding on splitting one of these big rounds of bread we found. It was a bit thicker then a flatbread, and stuffed with raisins and a sweet paste. So good. Once we were satisfied we headed to our destination of the day: the temple of heaven.
We braved the metro again to get there, and it was a much quicker ride this time. The grounds were right next to the metro exit. We entered into a giant park. There were groups of older Chinese people spread around the park, each group doing a different style of dance. There were other smaller groups playing hackie sack, and a bit past that were large groups singing. As we walked further we found group after group of people lining a very long row of benches playing cards or a Chinese board game. It was all much more social then anything you would ever see in Vancouver! Even as we walked further we would see people walking on their own, singing, dancing, or even doing breathing exercises. Its all a lot less private here. We made our way to the main attraction, the temple of heaven. It is built in the same round, tiered style as the summer palace, and was about equivalent in size. It was pretty impressive, and due to all the parks surrounding it, felt very detached from modern Beijing. We walked through the parks for a bit, coming across some smaller restored buildings and more singing/dancing groups. We then headed to the pearl market.
The pearl market is a 5 level, typical Chinese market. It sells everything from clothes to, of course, pearls, and it's right across the road from the temple. We braced ourselves for it, but it was still pretty crazy. The vendors there are quite pushy. Everyones selling the same thing, and they want you to buy it from them. They will physically grab you to try and make you stay at their stall. Bargaining is expected there. They give you a price, usually about 75% more then it's worth, and you have to work it down. Typically we managed to get them down to 50%, which maybe wasn't the best deal, but it was still cheap by western standards. 2 pairs of toms for $9 each (likely knockoffs, but still a great deal) and a scarf for $7. Mom had some purchases to, and we had a good time looking around. One lady says to me 'how old are you?' I tell her 17, and she goes 'wooow you tall!'. A little stereotypical, hey? Anyway, we headed back to our street by subway, walked around for a bit, and now were just chilling in our favorite hide out, helen's. A few minutes from our hostel, heated, and free wifi. We hop on the sleeper train tonight and will be traversing over to one of the holy mountains of china, huashan. Will let you know how that goes!
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Donna Kry Well sounds like you needed all the clothes you had. In advance have a great birth day/evening. And congratulations on your basketball tournament. Well done.