Last day Beijing

---

I went to the bookshop first thing this morning to try and find some maps of china, but could only find road atlases, so I picked up some artist renditions of the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. After which I go the subway round to the Temple of Heaven to have a look round.

It is a very big park. I hardly saw any of it. I wasn't really in the mood, as as soon as I walked past the perfectly manicured lawns, I started sneezing. I haven't had hayfever all year, and did not enjoy this. It's October, hayfeveer, go away.

The park was full of all sorts of people, all ages, doing all sorts of things. Lots of exercise groups doing dances and tai chi, people playing badminton, learning musical instruments in groups. There was a hustler playing card games for money, old men playing Chinese chess, dominoes, mah jong (some with English letters and played like scrabble sans board), knitters, hawkers (selling things, not with birds), and there was an old man with a bucket of water and a large calligraphy brush, writing in the dust on the stones. I wish I knew what it said, but it was impossible to guess from the reaction of the people reading it. He wrote it, it looked very beautiful, and then it vanished.

I went up to see the main temple, it was not as big as I expected. That's not to say it wasn't awe-inspiring, it was just smaller than I imagined from the photos i've seen.

I went from there to the post office to send off some postcards and to try and send my maps, but the woman just looked at me confused and was A5. I pointed to one in a glass case that was much bigger, but she just shrugged. Ah well, i'll try and send them from Mongolia. From there I went to the bank to exchange some money into Roubles, which was very easy and I changed a lot of my money then and there.

I went back to the dumpling place for lunch, and met a Chinese girl who spoke English. Turns out she works at the hostel I'm staying at (though we hadn't seen each other).

It was very interesting talking to her. She had some interesting opinions on things I've never thought about, and hadn't noticed. One thing that really stuck out, she asked why all white people were happy all the time. I said that I think it is the kind of people that stay in the hostel are happy because they are travelling or on holiday. But after we left the dumpling bar I looked at the people walking past me and not one of them was smiling. Not one. That's sad. People talking to their friends and playing with children, but I didn't see any smiling.

Anyway, post-dumplings I headed to the supermarket to pick up some food for the journey and then returned to the hostel where I managed to use my meagre French to talk to the lady in my dorm. I understood and was able to be understood a lot more than I expected!

I went to bed pretty early to get up for my train...

---