Today was a very long day. We didn’t actually get up until 10:30 as we just wanted to sleep until we naturally got up. After we did, we started to pack our bags because on Thursday we leave for Chengdu by plane. First thing we did was go to CCB again to try to get some money from Band of America. After a balance check, we found that we had 250 RMB less than what we should have. Decided that we would call BoA and check before getting out anything else.
We ate lunch at a noodle place which was very close to our hotel and it was good. You get a bowl that’s full of extremely hot soup and you put meat into it along with noodles and then just eat it all from the soup. The meat seemed like it was fried so Justin didn’t like it too much but the rest was good.
We then took a bus to the Summer Palace. This was cheap as it was only 50 RMB total for both of us and a map. I’ll post the pictures later, but it was a beautiful place. There weren’t too many people so it was quiet and peaceful. There is a huge lake with an island connected by a bridge. We didn’t go on that part, but it was visible from the whole place. We climbed up as there was a high point with a building containing a giant Buddha. We didn’t go in as that would have been another 10 and I’ll be seeing another Buddha that’s 10x bigger in Ya’an later. We got a little lost but wanted to go up, so we went off and started hiking up. Eventually we found the trail again and followed it to the highest point. We went into a building where no cameras are allowed out of respect. It contained a smaller budha that people could pray to. From up here we could see more of the city again.
We walked through many more buildings around the area and started to make our way back down. Once back at the bottom we took more pictures around the edge of the lake including some of a large stone boat, and a few of the sun setting behind some of the buildings as it was almost 5 pm by then. We ended up exiting a different way than where we went in which was interesting because we didn’t leave where Justin thought we would. We walked around through a poor area and ended up back at the entrance. We then took another bus to a Korean restaurant for Dinner.
As they see you going up to the restaurant, there’s two men who open the outer doors and then two women open the inner doors. Then a fancily-dressed woman takes you to a table as others greet you along the way. We went through the menu and decided on a few different meats. If you’re wondering, yes, Dog meat was on the menu, but no, we didn’t order any of it. They bring the food out and each table has it’s own coal-powered grill. They grill it right in front of you. We ate a lot and were actually too full to eat it all. This was the most expensive meal the two of us alone have eaten so far as it was 142 RMB. Comparatively, our lunch was 33.5 RMB. We then left and once we got to the bus-stop, I realized that I’d forgotten my hat that Mom made for me so we went back and got it. There was already a couple at our table so they had to move so they could get it from under the chairs.
We then took the bus back to the area by our hotel. There was a bookstore that Justin wanted to go to. It’s inside of a skyscraper and takes up three floors of it. It seems like it’s got to be bigger than a Barnes and Noble in America. We found something to help me learn Chinese – three sets of flash cards – like what you teach a child with. 🙂 Books haven’t seemed to have helped with me and I’m a visual learner so this should work out nicely. We tried to find a Matlab book for Justin, but all the books were for older versions and weren’t really what he wanted. While checking out, we paid an extra 10 and got a DVD about China. We weren’t sure when buying it if it would even work in America as all DVD’s in China are Region 6 while America is Region 1. (Note: the DVD player in your house or computer is locked to Region 1. You can’t play anything from any other region and you can only change the region on your computer 5 times before it locks you to that region.) It turned out to be playable in all regions which was great.
We went home and started to pack. After packing a lot, we decided to take a nap. Of course, I didn’t hear the alarm so our 30 min nap turned into almost two hours. When we got up it was just about midnight, so a New Year. We then quickly packed the bag we’d be leaving in Beijing and at almost 2 am, left it at Peking University with one of his friends. Took another taxi back home and packed some more. I then took a nap for about an hour while Justin did some online banking that he needed to do. He then woke me up and went for a nap himself. I then started writing this post. It’s almost 5 am here already and we’re going to leave here at about 5:30 for the train. We’ll take the number 10 line and get off and transfer to the Airport Express. The number 10 will take us about 20 minutes but the Express will only be about 8 minutes as it goes very very fast and has no stops. We’re then going to take a shuttle to Terminal one and then at 7:50, leave for Chengdu.
I might be able to post tonight as we’re going to be with someone who might have Internet. Unfortunately, the unlock crack for my iPhone still hasn’t been released so I’m still stuck with a useless iPhone. I’ve got it in Airplane Mode so that all cellular services are off – it’s very costly to make a call or use data through AT&T over here. See you later!
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