Beijing: 798.9999

10-22
Last day in Beijing. I met Sylvia for breakfast and we talked about going to the 798 Art District.  she had already  been but felt like she didn't get to see enough of it, and I really wanted to go.  We said goodbye to the Swiss girl who was going in the general direction as me, so we may try to meet again along the way.
798 is what you get when you restrict creativity for years.  The art was very trendy.  In a way, it was really its own unique style.  Much of the art seemed to comment on the political environment of China and Chinese culture.  It was industrial, but still clean and tasteful , except maybe the giant naked sumo statue.  I was let down that there was nothing to do with the Monkey King or Hui Han though.
I got on my sleep train that evening.  I had a top bunk, which meant I wouldn't be able to sit up, but all I really wanted to do was sleep, so it worked out.

10-21
This day I had an incredible adventure to the Pearl Market with Syvlia from Canada and Swiss Lady.  The Pearl Market is a famous building with lots of merchants who are known for their aggressive tactics.  A lot of people complain that it is overwhelming and that the merchants become tirelessly annoying and incredibly "grabby".  I had a blast.  I thought it was hilarious and fun.  Of course I didn't intend to buy anything, which looked rather painful.  Merchants usually asked 3 to 4 times the price the lowest price they would let something go for, which meant you had to engage in an intense combat of bargaining.  I think, from the perspective of the sellers, that this would become exhausting.  In a way, the act of bargaining might be the tourist attraction to the place.  I was more interested in throwing the merchants a curveball.  I was only interested in wallets made from prehistoric materials, 20 sided dice, and statues of the Monkey King that are "badass".  Sylvia bought a memory stick for like 5 dollars that never worked.  We also saw knock off ipads that were running Android.

After a few hours of shopping we got brave and ventured down a very medievel looking alleyway for some food.  There didn't seem to be many people around.  None of the places looked to inviting.  I saw one and kinda peaked in, through the vinyl plastic curtains that everyone uses--it was quite dingy inside.  I half expected to see someone hammering out some claymores or broadswords, but instead found a guy who was baking bread on large round press.  We sat down and looked at the table of older Chinese gentlemen next to us;  they were eating sandwiches--Chinese paninis--and soup.  We gestured that we would have what they were having--no problem.  It was an incredible sandwich and a satisfying quest.  The hot sauce was fabulous too, despite being exposed from large cans that probably had a prior purpose.  One of the older gentlemen, whom we had made friends with through our waves and thumbs up gestures, wrote a note and gave it to Sylvia.  It was all in Chinese except for a string of numbers, which we deduced was some street address;  she was flattered, assuming that was his intention.

Sylvia and I went to the temple of heaven afterwards (the swiss girl had errands to do).  It was right next to the Pearl market.  It was cool.  It was a temple.  Whatever--I've seen a lot.  We ate some apples on the street--crab apples I think, but we started calling them sex apples, because thats what they tasted like.  It was a long day, but a lot of fun.  We capped it off by returning to the Phone book restaraunt.  I got the same soup, but the others didn't like it.  I believe the word "Barn" was the most frequent adjective used to describe it.

Beijing: Acrobatics Stuff

10-20
We ventured back to Tiananmen Square again today, since the weather was nicer.  The line for Chairman Mao was way too long, and you weren't allowed to bring in anything--if you had a camera they would make you throw it away.  I wasn't too keen on seeing Mao so I held onto Pieter and Dave's stuff while they went in.  They weren't that impressed either, so we left.
That night I went with the hostel to a chinese acrobatics show.  It was awesome, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures.   There were jugglers, bike riders, flexible ladies, and girl who creepily bent their heads to the side in unison.
After the show I went with this Swiss girl (also at the show) to this excellent hole in the wall restaraunt who must have used the Chinese google to translate their menu into English.  There were dishes like "Exploding Buddha Crotch" and "The water boils the beef".  We tried to get the buddha crotch but they were out.  

I got some nan bread, but nan also means "difficult" in Chinese, which the bread kinda was, to eat.  Indian Nan it wasn't.  The peanuts in vinegar dish was amazing, as was the cucumber salad, but I was taking a risk eating cold stuff that was probably washed in tap water.  It was worth it.

Beijing: Great Wall Stroll

10-19
Today I got up early to take a trip with the hostel to the Great Wall.  They were taking us to a more remote portion of the wall that tends to not draw so many tourists.  It was a 2 hour drive from Beijing that put majority of the passengers on our mini bus to sleep.  I had saved a few Bao Zi's from the previous night to feed myself and was lured into devouring them before we had arrived.  It's so hard to resist when they are so good.

 So the wall was really cool. I just took a tour from the hostel--really convenient since it was like a 2 hour drive. We got to hike 3 Km on it, which passed by 21 towers.  I walked with Pieter and occasionally with a guy from Argentina who was wearing a barn coat and liked to keep his hands in his pockets.

The only funny thing I can mention about the great wall was that there were lots of older people hiking in groups, decked out like a hiker santa claus with gear.  They were funny because they looked so hiker serious, yet the wall was really an easy stroll.  I asked one of them how far they were doing, and she said, emphatically, "50 Kms in 50 days".   They were on day two, and so far, were not bored with it.  For me, that would be too much, but they were trucking along, as fast as paint dries. 

We were the first from our group to make it to the last tower.  The lady who was guiding our tour had ridden with the van to the end and said we were too fast.  We thought we took plenty of time, but we knew we were in for a wait.  There was a guy up there selling beer which sounded kind of good.

Pieter and I went back to the phone book restaraunt for dinner.  I really just wanted vegetables, so I got some hot and sour soup and some bock choy with chestnuts.  Pieter ordered the rice bucket.  The bucket really made that dish.