Sightseeing Day 1

November 7, 2008

So yesterday was an extremely long day, but I was glad I did it.
Woke up at a normal hour of 9:30ish, then went to buy some internet for my laptop. Had some lunch at the upstairs cafeteria. Then, Mike and I headed out on the subway towards the Bell Tower and Drum tower, by the Forbidden City. How I love student discounts, since we got in for 15 RMB each. (~2USD) On the bell tower, we were just in time to see a drum performance. Although, I had to walk up those long, slanted, slippery flights of stairs and the work out two days before somewhat killed me.


Next, we decided to WALK to Ghost street (Gui Jie restaurant street), and it wasn't what we expected at all. After a 2 mile walk, we decided to head towards the nearest subway, and we headed down to the Temple of Heaven.

Now, after getting of the subway, we assumed that the direction the exit was facing was the direction we were supposed to walk to get to the entrance of the Temple of Heaven. Well, were we wrong. We walked about half a mile around the wall of Temple of Heaven, only to find out when we left another exit, that the entrance was right behind the subway stop. But, its ok, because through the entrance we went through, we got to run along the Olympic marathon line.
Of course, the entire Temple of Heaven is repainted, so it's still beautiful, but kind of looks like a plastic toy. I also think that whoever painted it, did a half-butt job, as the paint was smeared everywhere, unless that was their attempt to make it look age-worn.


After my feet were about to kill me, we still decided to go to Hong Qiao market, and the real silk market, not Silk Street (which is my fave now by the way). Was pretty dissapointed at both, so left fairly quickly. Jumped back onto the subway, where we stupidly took the longest route possible to get back to the Wu Dao Ko area. Yes, we took line 13 all the way up into the boondocks. So instead of a 30 minute ride back to our place, it took about an hour and a half. Go us. At least, we can say we rode the entire line 13.

Headed to our benknownst dumpling place across from our campus. Where JieJie served us, as she tends to do when she notices I walk through the door. Had a great meal and headed back to the dorms where I plopped down and vegitated for the night.

Now, I have no idea whats in store for today. It's still quite early...10 AM, but I'm sure we'll figure something out for the rest of the day. Although, I still have to teach tonight... I know tomorrow we're going to pick up Mike's tailored suit, which he's so excited about, and we're definitely going back to Silk Street to get some cheap sunglasses and warm clothing for Harbin.
At night we're heading to Tsinghua university to meet my aunt for a tour of the campus and some Korean food!

All the way from the land of toy-like painted monuments.