tanithryudo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tanithryudo) wrote2010-11-01 09:47 pm
tanithryudo) wrote2010-11-01 09:47 pm
Day 20 Last Day in Beijing
Well, as the title says, it's our last day! And then it's back to the dreariness of everyday life and work. Boo. :P
This morning we went to the Yonghegong (Llamastry?)...the place with the Tibetian Buddhist stuff from the Qing dynasty. My aunt had fun reading all the placards and taking photos/videos, while the rest of us took a few token pics where the scenery/buildings were cool and otherwise mostly stood around and quietly made fun of Buddhism...ok, maybe that wasn't quite the nice or PC thing to do, but we were a little bored out of our minds.
As a reward for our patience (pffft) though, we did come across a tour group of Shaolin monk students when we were departing the place. They were doing kungfu poses and jumps while taking photos, and of course all the passers-by also tried to take photos of them as well. I managed to capture one of them in midair:
Afterwards, we took the subway to Wangfujing St. and went to the foreign languages bookstore recommended there to us by the concierge. I bought a few CDs that I thought might be interesting since they didn't have a great selection of videos. My aunt and uncle spent three hours deciding on what educational materials to buy the twins to help teach them Chinese. My uncle also bought quite a few English mathematics books from the sciences section as the price was much cheaper than those in America. In the end, they bought so many volumes that they had to ship them all to the US, and we managed to rush everything through over at the Post Office just as the place closed.
After that, it was time for dinner, and since we were right there next to the Wangfujin snack street, I dragged everyone over for a look at that infamous street. There, we saw some very interesting foods, such as sea urchin, sea horse, starfish, snake (skinned and not-skinned), beetles (water and longhorn), scorpions (see below), silk worm larvae (below), centipede (see below), centipede (below), and bee cocoon (below)...
No, I'm not adventurous enough to try any one of those. I did however try out the ostrich meat, which was not too bad. My aunt tried some pot-stickers and 汤包 (alas not authentic). My uncle didn't try anything for fear they weren't hygienic, and the twins were too grossed out to even look at the stands for long. (I did take some pepto-bismol as a precaution when I got back to the hotel, just in case. :P)
In the end, we walked back to the New World Mall near our hotel and everyone else ate at the food court there instead. That place seem to be the favorite of the twins especially, even over the duck shop it seemed. Oh well. :-/
Anyway, tomorrow we get delivered to the airport and then it's an 11 hour journey home. I'll still be on break until next Monday, so hopefully I'll recover from my vacation by then. :P
This morning we went to the Yonghegong (Llamastry?)...the place with the Tibetian Buddhist stuff from the Qing dynasty. My aunt had fun reading all the placards and taking photos/videos, while the rest of us took a few token pics where the scenery/buildings were cool and otherwise mostly stood around and quietly made fun of Buddhism...ok, maybe that wasn't quite the nice or PC thing to do, but we were a little bored out of our minds.
As a reward for our patience (pffft) though, we did come across a tour group of Shaolin monk students when we were departing the place. They were doing kungfu poses and jumps while taking photos, and of course all the passers-by also tried to take photos of them as well. I managed to capture one of them in midair:
Afterwards, we took the subway to Wangfujing St. and went to the foreign languages bookstore recommended there to us by the concierge. I bought a few CDs that I thought might be interesting since they didn't have a great selection of videos. My aunt and uncle spent three hours deciding on what educational materials to buy the twins to help teach them Chinese. My uncle also bought quite a few English mathematics books from the sciences section as the price was much cheaper than those in America. In the end, they bought so many volumes that they had to ship them all to the US, and we managed to rush everything through over at the Post Office just as the place closed.
After that, it was time for dinner, and since we were right there next to the Wangfujin snack street, I dragged everyone over for a look at that infamous street. There, we saw some very interesting foods, such as sea urchin, sea horse, starfish, snake (skinned and not-skinned), beetles (water and longhorn), scorpions (see below), silk worm larvae (below), centipede (see below), centipede (below), and bee cocoon (below)...
No, I'm not adventurous enough to try any one of those. I did however try out the ostrich meat, which was not too bad. My aunt tried some pot-stickers and 汤包 (alas not authentic). My uncle didn't try anything for fear they weren't hygienic, and the twins were too grossed out to even look at the stands for long. (I did take some pepto-bismol as a precaution when I got back to the hotel, just in case. :P)
In the end, we walked back to the New World Mall near our hotel and everyone else ate at the food court there instead. That place seem to be the favorite of the twins especially, even over the duck shop it seemed. Oh well. :-/
Anyway, tomorrow we get delivered to the airport and then it's an 11 hour journey home. I'll still be on break until next Monday, so hopefully I'll recover from my vacation by then. :P