Culture Exposure in Beijing

I don't have much time to write tonight because the internet cafe closes in ten minutes so I'll do my best to type quickly. To put it simply, today was amazing. After a good night's rest and a shower I was ready to go, and it was a good thing, considering the amount of walking we did today to see the sites of Beijing. We started off going to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, where we walked the historical landmarks in full. The vast space and scale of the surroundings were impressive, and it was easy to feel the significance of each. After walking through the Forbidden City we had a group lunch at a popular restaurant near the Temple of Heaven. Each meal is served in dishes that are to be shared by spinning a dish in the center of the table. The food continued to be delicious, and I was surprised how much I was able to eat. After lunch the majority of us decided to go to the Temple of Heaven because it was so close to the restaurant, and none were disappointed. We were allowed to walk through the ancient grounds, and witness where the emperors of the past had prayed. We then had some free time after visiting the Temple of Heaven so we went to Pearl Market.

Pearl Market is quite the experience, and so is every purchase, as everything available to buy does not have a set price and can be bargained or bartered for. While street vendors are typically easy to bargain with, Pearl Market has some particularly aggressive sales people. Some of the vendors even physically grab you to show you their products. Bargains can be tough, but the majority of the group were able to achieve some incredible deals. There are approximately 7 Yuan to every US dollar, so everything is very inexpensive, which makes for a fairly low risk environment to bargain. The interesting part is you don't know how well you've done bargaining until you compare your purchase with another person. Overall, it seemed that the majority of people broke even. Some people were overcharged for some items, but made a great deal on another. In all, it was extremely exciting and very rewarding in the end. The bargaining skills we picked up from Pearl Market will hopefully translate well to when we visit the Silk Market for a similar experience.

After the Pearl Market we had another delicious group dinner, where I ate probably the most food I've ever had in my life, and I didn't even know what the majority of it was. No worries, however, as everything was cooked. I wish I could write more but I'm being kicked out of the internet cafe right now, and apparently I can't bargain my way into staying. I apologize for the short length, and I'll post pictures later. There's a lot of good ones!!!