Pearl Market and Temple of Heaven

---

Today was the last day with the SPU Study Abroad Team 2011. So for a sendoff we walked to the heaven temple and it was an amazing place. One of the largest gardens/temple areas in Beijing, It was really pretty and green. However the journey to the temple was very stressful because our teacher did not know where to go. So we ended up walking around for an hour or two trying to find this temple. Soon we realized we did a HUGE circle. After wandering aimlessly we finally found this magnificent landmark and walked through rows and rows of amazing trees. We visited various temples and this thing called the Echo Wall where if one person stands on one side and yells, the other person standing the opposite side of the wall can hear them. It was pretty creepy. Soon after we left the garden or attempted to leave. We couldn’t find the exit or entrance that was closest to the Pearl Market. Unfortunately we realized that the South Exit or Entrance was literally across the street from the Pearl Market. For lunch we went to another Hot Pot restaurant where I got the Super Spicy sauce. However it honestly was not that spicy. The Pearl Market is one of the largest markets for various merchandise in China. These ladies are really aggressive and will not take “No” for an answer. Since many of us are business students we were bargaining and were buying things for $3 dollars or $40 dollars. It was quite entertaining to see how desperate some of the sales ladies were. Some people bought jackets while many of us bought wallets and purses and other things. (I was pretty good at bargaining and one trick I used was telling the sales ladies that price I bought it for was way cheaper so they would offer me prices that were ridiculously low). Gotta be Ruthless or heartless. Today will be the first night with meeting with the other half of our group from Asia Learn/ SPU group. So it should be interesting. Until my next adventure; cheers and stay classy.

---