Its Tuesday night ... the tour i gate-crashed finished on sunday night ... we had a finishing up dinner at the hotel, heidi put together a cool slide show and we enjoyed some more delicious Chinese food ... holy cow i am in eating heaven! Lol!It was a busy morning on sunday morning with the tour group. We headed off early to the Temple of Heaven which is this awesome building ... it is surrounded by beautiful grounds where heaps of people converge to socialise and exercise. It made me realise how much we could learn from these people. It was like 8.30am and it was packed with p
eople doing ribbon dancing, ballroom dancing, thai chi, all other types of exercise, playing cards, knitting and crocheting.... doing karaoke ... it was amazing. It made me realise how anti-social we are as a nation ... how these people 
really do get out and enjoy their day and the people around them ... it was cool to see.From there we went to the Silk Market which is something you could not imagine. 6 levels of shopping ... everything you can imagine. I got some really cool things ... jewellery, shoes, belts, even ski pants for my girls ... amazing! Of
course you had to bargain hard ... lucky i had my “best price” worked out in my head and just stuck to it ... they are funny how insulted they get. Anyway i got some great prices! Gary will be pleased i am sticking to the budget – although i am less than half way thru my trip ... it could all go bad yet! Wink!I felt a little relieved to finally be home here with my friends, i got a good nights sleep ... we headed out on monday to the fabric market ... again – HUGE! Words cannot describe how large these places are ... apparently we only scratched the surface! Phew! So i got some fabric to make some dresses and skirts ... we were supposed to go to the tailor today to transform my purchases into something exciting ... but didn't make it (maybe tomorrow)
Instead, after a cruizy start i headed off with eric and the boys to go mountain biking with some of their other friends. It was very cool ... we ended up at the lake the triathlon was held for the Olympics - it was shut to the public so we went to an area close by. It was fun. we were coming back and there was this farmer with his sheep with a camouflage hat with a bush on top of it ... it looked so funny.
This morning i finished my ATC (artist trading cards) for the girls on the tour who gave me some of their ones ... lucky for me i could sign "made in china" on my ones ... lol!
have i talked about the toilets? I can't remember ... but as i upload this picture of YES the 4 star toilet ... i have to tell you a little about the toilet experience here in China. So they have squatter toilets (there are some "western" style ones ... but generally they are squatters) which for anyone that doesn't know ... is a toilet on the ground which you just "squat" over and as i was told "after" my first experience you are supposed to brace yourself against the walls ... so i learnt right after my first time, not to wear my back pack ... as i had trouble trying to get myself back up again ... and seriously, having long legs does not help in this situation ... lol! but people ... as weird as it may sound, you totally get used to it ... and now they are just like second nature! i hear you all gasping ... believe me its true! this picture here was of a 4 star toilet ... how impressive it was! lol!
lastly the famous Jinbei photo ... i know gary will be laughing when he sees this one! (how cute are those too little angels sleeping!)
3 comments:
G'day Chanel
Great to meet you in Beijing, it was such a fantastic trip!!
OH MY GOODNESS.... like how much fun are u having?????? I want to go to china!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Sister
It was great to finally meet you after our AYTR, had a blast with you in China loved our shopping day at the Silk Market wished i had your bargaining skills!
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