"I love your outfit, you whore!" And other fun things we saw and did.

We’ve been in Beijing for about a full day now, and we’ve been on the go the whole time. I never thought I’d want to sit again after the lost day (what we’ve dubbed our travel experience), but I must say, I’m pretty content in my bed right now. We have dinner plans with one of Lauren’s friends (she’s so popular) at 7:30, but until then we’re planning to relax.

After our showers yesterday, we headed out, eager to begin our Chinese Adventure. Although the concierge told us the Temple of Heaven was too far to walk to, after looking at the map for ourselves, we decided it was walkable. Plus, we were very eager to get the blood flowing in our legs again, so off we went!

We had decided to skip lunch, but before entering the Temple, we were hungry for a little pre-dinner snack. For a mere dollar, we got three delicious steamed buns, filled with pork. We dipped them in vinegar for an extra dimension of flavor. They were seriously delicious, but only the beginning of what has already become a deep affinity for the Chinese ability to create incredible foods and sell them at ridiculously low prices.

Unfortunately, Lauren didn’t remember much about the Temple of Heaven, and as I have not yet mastered Mandarin, we didn’t learn a lot about where we were. Wikipedia (not blocked in China, woo!) however, informs me that it was a place visited by emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for “annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest.” Anyway, it was very pretty.

Us in front of the main temple.

Each of the circles represented one of the nine rings of heaven. (See that? We learned something.) People kept jumping in the middle and posing for pictures; as a result, we only made it to the fourth or fifth ring of heaven. Tough life.

We decided to leave out of a different entrance than we came because we’re spontaneous like that. Around this time, I had my first encounter with a true Chinese style bathroom. The toilet is essentially built into the floor…I don’t really understand why, or what you would do if you have bad knees? So many questions. After experiencing this ‘ceramic outhouse,’ we wandered into the Hong Qian Pearl Market. This is a building with floors upon floors of shopping – it is rife with counterfeits of nearly anything you can imagine. It is a haggler’s dream, but I was little overwhelmed so I didn’t buy anything. I’m hoping to go back though, when I have my wits about me.

After our shopping adventure, we began getting hungry for dinner. We were hoping to get to the Night Market, a pedestrian street filled with all sorts of delicious food. We ended up at a similar market, but not the one Lauren had in mind. It seemed a bit like a tourist trap – they were selling all sorts of weird foods, implying that people should try it just to say that they did. I’m sorry, but if the best thing you have to offer me is sheep penis, you will not be getting my business.

Hungry?

We tried to find a phone store so Lauren could reactivate her Chinese cell phone, but unfortunately by the time we got there the store was already closed. We went into a beautiful hotel next door called The Regent and asked for their business card so we could easily find the store again the next morning, and ended up also asking the concierge for dinner recommendations. As The Regent is connected to a Bentley dealer on one side and a Rolls Royce one on the other, I was worried their recommendations were going to be pretty pricy, however, they ended up directing us to a restaurant where the whole meal cost us 76 yuan (~12 dollars) total…and it was way too much food. Well done, Regent. Lauren claims these dumplings were “the best she’s ever had” and she’s clearly had many, so believe me when I say they were incredible. We started with a vegetable…neither of us knows what it was but it was really tasty! We got one plate of fried dumpings filled with beef and cabbage, and one plate of non-fried filled with lamb and onions. I liked the former better, but as I mentioned, both were delectable.

Important: Please note that I was given a fork. I was so embarrassing with my chopsticks that the waitress literally noticed me from across the room, went into the back, and got a fork for me. It was a a low point…

On our way home we stopped to get a water bottle for the night and ran into our first awesome translation.

Wouldn’t it be ironic for someone to carry around condoms in this wallet?

We went home and went to bed at 9PM. It was awesome and I’m not embarrassed about it at all. 

Unfortunately, this post has too many pictures so I'll have to cut it short here and post the rest later! I know you're on the edge of your seat but try to hold out. ;)