Day off

We're taking a day off from the tour today. On the agenda was a morning visit to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas (our friend Brenda warned us in dire tones that we would live to regret not seeing them), and then, for the non-singers, a trip to the Guanyuan Commodities market after lunch.

But, it's hot, humid, and we're still exhausted, so we decided to stay close to the hotel until Carl leaves with the singers this afternoon for rehearsal, and I leave at 6:30 with the other non-singers for tonight's opening concert.

This morning we walked up the street to a supermarket/department store for a few things. The supermarket is laid out in a familiar pattern, and, while it takes a while to orient yourself and find the things you need, it's pretty similar to a grocery run back home.

The department store is a bit different than what we're used to--you get a ticket for the item you want to buy, take the ticket to the cashier and pay, and return to the clerk holding your item to show your receipt and pick up your purchase. We bought a couple of umbrellas and a better bag for me. It was difficult trying to explain to the clerk that I was looking for something with a longer strap than what I'm currently using. The language barrier is tough, and my few words of Chinese are almost no help. Still, everyone seems interested in helping us spend money, so we made a successful transaction.

Had another kid experience too. I don't know why they tickle me so much but they do. A little boy stared at us for a while as we were looking over umbrellas, and finally blurted out "Hello!" When I replied "Ni hao!" he and his mom and aunt burst into giggles. Smiles all around again, so nice.

We came back to the hotel and hung out in the "bar", with glasses of green tea. This was loose tea in a tall glass; apparently you wait for it to settle and then you drink it. It tasted like spinach to me, actually, but I liked it.

We debated what to do about lunch. We could eat at the Quanjude again, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money. We could stroll a few blocks around the hotel and hope we stumbled on a decent place, but that wasn't too appealing a prospect, given the heat. Finally we decided to go back out to the supermarket and see if we could find something prepared to bring back to the room. On our way out we met some others of the group who had also ditched the zoo expedition, and they were up for trying the hotel restaurant that serves our breakfast. Carl and I tagged along with them, but, after looking through the menu, I nixed the idea of eating there. (Maybe it was the stewed donkey meat.)

We bought some items from the supermarket deli--vegetable rolls and steamed buns with pork. Delicious, easy, and cheap--about three bucks for what turned out to be more than enough food.

Off to shower, then try out the foot massage place on the 3rd floor.