September 29 - China: Beijing
This morning, we had planned to sleep in but we're used to getting 6- 6.5 hours of sleep so we were both up pretty early.
Hanging Out with Grant
At 10:00, we met with Grant to get his recommendations for Vietnam and Thailand. He lived in Thailand for years and has been a tour leader through both countries for some time. So he gave us the low-down on where to go and what to do, and will even hook us up with some of his connections along the way. He is our own personal Lonely Planet. We hope to meet him in Ko Tao in the end of October, where he'll be for his holiday. We're supposed to go to Bali on November 3, but we're trying to get out of it since Indonesia isn't a great place for Americans to be right now. Hopefully it will work out because we're excited about spending a month in Thailand. We'll see!
After mooching 2 hours of Grant's time, we took him to lunch at Schlotsky's as a thank-you. Then we went to Dairy Queen for Blizzards. And then we went to Henderson Hall to get his film developed. He had two disposable cameras: one on which I had taken pictures and another from yesterday's trip to Simatai. While we waited for the film to be developed, Jon and I got haircuts for 36 Yuan (about $4.00 each). Mine is shorter on the sides than it's ever been before, but I'm happy with it.
Knock-Off Market
After our haircuts, Jon and I went to the "knock-off" market near Temple of Heaven to get me a new fleece (mine is 7 years old and is very, very small on me). The knock-off market is filled with brand-name shoes, North Face, Columbia, Kate Spade, Prada, and all sorts of other names who have production factories in China. So maybe they aren't knock-offs, but they're definitely cheap! We found a Columbia Gore-Tex jacket that I liked, but the woman was asking too much money for it. So I tried on a less expensive North Face but it didn't fit as well. In the end, we wouldn't budge on our price and she wouldn't budge on hers, so we said Thank You and got ready to walk away. She was obviously unhappy with us because she threw her calculator away and said something sharp in Chinese. Well forget it. We're definitely not doing business after THAT. Later, we found a simple fleece for a good price which is what I was looking for anyway so we were happy.
We continued to walk around and look at the booths of stuff. Jon is still looking for hiking shoes, but everyone he asked about some Adidas shoes laughed at him because his feet are much bigger than the Chinese.
Copyright-Schmopyright
At the hotel was a guy who was selling copied CDs and DVDs at great prices. He had an incredible selection and Jon and I went to town. We need some new music to download to our MP3 players, so we welcome the new CD selection! And, at $.75 a pop, why not? We also bought a bunch of DVDs. The irony here, of course, is that Jon and I don't even OWN a DVD player! Most of the DVDs have Chinese subtitles, but as with any subtitled movie after a while you forget about the words at the bottom. In the end, we bought about 15 CDs and 18 DVDs, including the Godfather Trilogy and the Star Wars Trilogy. Hope we get a DVD player soon!
Li Qun Duck
At 7:00, we met the group for dinner and went back to Li Qun Duck where we went the other night. This time, Grant pre-ordered FOUR DUCKS and we chowed down. Today is our last day together, and much of the group flies out tomorrow. So this is the LAST SUPPER. Dinner was absolutely delicious and we were a very cheery group, despite this being our last night. Everyone went for a walk through Tienamen Square to walk back to the hotel, but Jon and I made a quick bee-line to an Internet Cafe to confirm our flight for Oct 1.
The Last Mah Jong Game
Later that evening, Mel, Ken, Jon and I played Mah Jong in the bar area of the hotel with Mel and Ken's new tile set. We played until 12:00 midnight, and the night watchmen were happy to help our game strategies. Each of us won at least one game so it was a great end to our Mah Jong experiences. Tomorrow, Jon and I have to ship our set home.