China Day 4

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25th September 2006

This was a free day for us, having decided not to overdo things and arrange tours for every other day. We decided to try and find somewhere for breakfast. All we managed to find was a Starbucks inside a shopping centre which wasn’t quite what we had in mind, but showed just how far China had come in embracing the West. We took the advice of one of the ladies we had met on the tour and headed towards the Silk Market. It didn’t look very far on the map, but was some considerable distance actually, and eventually we bit the bullet and caught a taxi the rest of the way. The silk market was more than 6 floors of clothes, shoes, bags and knick-naks. In particular they had every designer brand of handbag and luggage in all the latest designs all to be haggled for. The top two floors were full of electrical goods, memory sticks, watches and ipods. Everything was to be haggled for and we did pick up some decent bargains. Unfortunately the excitement of the shopping finished mum off and dad had to arrange for her to return to the hotel by taxi. They used the very helpful business card to direct the drivers. I should point out there was a map and the name of the surrounding streets and hotels in Chinese on it, however this only works if the driver can read, which several couldn’t and one driver pulled out a magnifying glass to read it which wasn’t a good sign. Some also said that was too far away for them to take her. We were beginning to give up when one finally obliged. We trusted mum to this taxi and hoped that she would return safely for a lie down and some boiled water whilst we continued to seek out bargains. Dad was very interested in a Rolex watch and we went back to the same stall three times before he decided they were out to switch the watches. With hindsight, we should have snapped up all the things we saw in Beijing. I was waiting for the delights of Shanghai, having heard that this was the new Hong Kong for bargains. Take my advice, buy in Beijing.

We walked back to the hotel, down the backstreets and past some of the foreign embassies. We were offered a trishaw ride from a vendor but we couldn’t all fit in! Mum had made a recovery when we got back to the hotel and we were able to go out again that night. We stopped at a pharmacy and I bought some Tiger balm which was useful for making a second visit to the food stalls. It definitely numbs the smell.

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Photos

Night markets
Scorpion or Seahorse on a stick anyone!

Night Markets
You need a strong stomach