Debbie, Amanda and I waiting in the heat. Umbrellas aren't just for rain, folks :) Eventually the others came back and sat with the stuff while we went in to the monument. First of all it was really cool to see the reverence that the Chinese people had in coming to pay their respects to this man who is pivotal in their history. Second, it was freaking weird to see the preserved body of a guy who I see every time I spend a bill here and for some odd reason his face was very orange. I think it was the lighting but either way it was just a successfully creepy experience.
I found the building on the back of the 100 yuan. Woot!
(The only shame in this is that no one at home will appreciate the unbelievable greatness of this picture. Oh well!)
From there we rode the Subway to a new pearl market that most of us hadn't ventured to up to that point. My head teacher and her husband said the bargaining was easier there and that they had stuff we hadn't found at Silk Street so we went for a look. This was probably the worst day in Beijing and one of the biggest "I hate China days" of my experience living here. The sales hawks were as merciless as vultures and I seriously felt preyed upon as Amanda and I floundered to pick out a suitcase for her and a lady literally pushed me because I wasted her time in not wanting the pair of definite knock-off-looking Asics. You hang around the dishonest, rude, deceitful and self-serving Asians long enough and you start to despise all of them! Bargaining is a clever game of wits in some ways but it was not fun here. We eventually went back to the warm familiarity of our beloved Silk Street and finished the night feeling better about China and life in general. Stupid hecklers at the pearl market. Nobody likes you and I hope bad things happen to you in life. Not really, you just completely annoyed and humiliated me and that wasn't okay. May we never cross paths again.
My favorite Beijing salesperson, Sherrie! Look at all her jeans! We made friends with her and she gave us good prices on them :) I tried on jeans in that corner with only this Chinese person shielding me from anyone walking by. Lovely. By the end of Beijing it didn't even phase me...
Anyway, it's all in the past. Hakuna Matata. With our nights becoming fewer and fewer, Joey, Debbie and I decided it was Round 2--time to make the journey to the Olympic Stadium again! Our ride through the Subway transfers was much smoother and on our last one before Bird's Nest station we could tell we were close because of how awesome it was decorated! It was a nice change from the normally drab platforms we were used to.
Think of all the nationalities, athletes and spectators alike, that used this subway in 2008! Way cool! (Can you tell the Summer Olympics are my favorite?)
We came up out of the station to find an arrangement of beautiful buildings surrounding us. We all started laughing and basking in the glory! But it was short-lived-- the lights shut off, I kid you not, 10 seconds after we made it. Oh brother. We walked down the street a ways to the Bird's Nest only to find that everything closes at 10, that people were being herded out of the stadium and for some reason the Nest wasn't even lit up. Disappointing...there was a little street vendor selling old Olympic merchandise and I'm totally not ashamed that I bought a little silver Bird's Nest keychain and hooked it on my belt loop. I was on an Olympic high, okay? We tried to get as close as we could for some good pictures but the distance plus the lighting were just not working out.
Our best attempts:
Yep. Hard to photograph. Still awesome though!
Yet again some Olympian pictures were necessary..
The Olympic torch finally in context, woohoo!
Swimming to water cube. Even harder to photograph and not illuminated at all. These people make it so hard to be a tourist sometimes!!
Just to add to the sheer bliss of the night, there was a guy selling sweet potatoes from a cart outside the stadium and we were starving so we bought one and shared it.
Um, yeah...it was one of the tastiest things ever, whether because of the overall experience or because I was starving. For whatever reason, the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube, a sweet potato and a group of joggers really made the Olympic adventure a freaking amazing one.
I am so sorry about your bad experience at the pearl market. That sounds horrible, I would be so frustrated/intimidated by the overly aggressive merchants.
ReplyDeleteLove those beautifully painted subway stations.
And I am glad to hear that you were creeped out by the preserved body like I hoped you would be. Because I found that extremely creepy and I didn't even see it. :)