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We departed for Beijing in the morning and immediately upon arriving at the Swisshotel, we headed over to the Silk Market where Dorothy and Ully said we could get the best deals. They weren't kidding. The silk market is a large outdoor market with hundreds of vendors selling everything from silk, cashmere, and pearls to American brand products like Nike, Northface and Liz Clairborne - all of which are produced in China. I was amazed at how low you could bargain. But you have to really play the game. You have to stick to your price, then walk away and wait for them to call you back. Then you bargain a little more, maybe walk away again until they give in.
The next day we took a full day tour to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. The Great Wall was one of the highlights of the trip. I had so much anticipation in seeing it but nothing prepares you for the actual site. It's truly a wonder of the world. Our tour was with a larger group of about 12 people. We met a nice man from Phoenix who we ended up adopting since he was on the same package tour as us and was headed for the same cities. His name was Pete and did he sure need our help. He thought he would be able to get through the whole trip without exchanging money and without needed to know any Chinese phases. We cringed when he asked our driver where he could get some good American food. Fortunately for Pete, there were plenty of McDonalds and KFC to whet his appetite. The following day was a full day tour of the city including Tian' anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. The highlight for me was the Forbidden City which was so expansive in the middle of what is otherwise a very modern city. Ladies, thank your lucky stars that we're past the age of concubines. Their accommodations in the Forbidden City were pitiful. Tian' anmen Square was also incredible as we reflected back on the student uprisings there in 1989. The gate still has a large picture of Chairman Mao but he is not looked at very favorably by the younger generations of Chinese.
For our last evening in Beijing, we decided to venture out for a traditional Peking Duck dinner at a local restaurant. It was quite an adventure. We got a recommendation from the concierge from our hotel but she could only give us the name in Chinese. We had to ask about 4 people before we finally found it. No one spoke English but it was pretty obvious we were there to eat. They showed us to a table but we indicated that the smoke was bothering us so they motioned to a back room like they were offering a non-smoking room. We walked back only to find a small room about the size a closet with one table and two chairs and no windows. We elected to suffer with the smoke rather than die from clausterphobia. It was easy to point to order what we wanted. All in all, we had a delicious dinner for two all for about $6. We left the next morning for the ancient city of Xian, home of the Terra Cotta Soldiers.
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