Wait, you want me to eat what?!

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Our last day full day had finally arrived, but we still had much to look forward to.

Our first stop was a Jade Museum. Here we learned the history of Jade and more importantly how to tell fake Jade from real jade (the noise it makes when you hit two jade pieces together). We were then given time to walk around the store. Not very interested in buying Jade I took to looking at the intriquite carvings. A small Chinese woman found me and started following me around the store asking me questions. She started with the normal “Where are you from” to which I responded “United States”. She then asked me “What State?” a question I found oddly specific. I replied “Virginia”, which she then yelled “13 original colonies!!!!” This caught me off guard and I couldn’t think of anything to reply other than “wow, yup”. She then proceeded to follow me around the rest of my time there. I tried to lose her but she would not be shaken. Abby was no help, but insisted on taking pictures to later use to make fun of me. Abby and I posed with some pretty impressive jade statues (around $200,000USD incase you wanted to pick something up) and then got back on the bus.

Next we headed to the crown jewel of our trip, JuYong Pass of the Great Wall. One thing I did not expect was how steep this section of the wall would be. Jing told us to get to the top it would take 30 minutes, and then gave us 1.5 hours to explore. Our 6 person crew headed off. It was very crowded, and before long our 6 man crew was down to 4. The stairs varied form 3 inches to 2 feet which made climbing fairly entertaining. Abby and I paused along the way to “take pictures” read try to regain the ability to breath normally. 1 million stairs later (and maybe equal amount of photos) we made it to the top. It was a pretty cloudy day so our visibility was fairly limited, but the view (climb) was still breathtaking (literally). We kept a pretty good pace up and made it in 45 minutes (not sure what Olympic sprinter Jing was pacing). We made it back to the bottom, only seeing a few other people from our tour group along the way. When we got to the bus Jing asked us who had made it to the top and a suspicious number of people raised their hands, including the Diva Squad who were all sporting heels (I don’t think so ladies.)

Tired from our climb we headed off to lunch where we were going to get to try a traditional BBQ Fish. It came out as the entire fish. We dug in, and although it was delicious, I’m not sure I tasted the BBQ portion of it.

After lunch we headed to the Zoo but not before stopping by the Olympic Village. Our bus driver pulled over just long enough for us to get out and snap some shots of the Water Cube and Birds Nest, which I must say were pretty impressive. A counterfeit Mickey stopped me on the bridge to dance with me, an over all awkward encounter I worked hard to get away from. Once I thought I had made my escape he (she?) stopped me and demanded money. I gave him whatever change was in my pocket and continued on.

The Zoo was right in the middle of the city. We got off, ran to the panda exhibit then ran back, so needless to say I could stand to go back there one day. We did get to see the snub nosed monkey, an odd looking monkey found only in China. We also saw 2 giant pandas, although they didn’t do any of the tricks Abby and I yelled at them to do. Rude.

After lunch we headed to a Traditional Chinese Medicine “TCM” doctor. Here we learned the very basics of TCM (Qi, ying and yang) and sat in for a consultation. Either Abby and I were the healthiest people in there or our doctor was randomly pulled off the street because everyone else seemed to be diagnosed with some sort of ailment and offered herbs where we were just ushered in for a massage (not terrible). Once our team of 6 had finished we headed down to what I had been talking referring to the whole trip as the “Meat Market.”

Here you can find anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, deep-fried. I’m talking about tarantulas, starfish, grasshoppers, seahorse, penis (which was skewered on a stick and at one point Abby was chased down the street by a man yelling PENIS and pointing it at her) scorpion, and silkworm. Not wanting to miss out on the experience, Abby and I get tiny scorpions to try. I will say it didn’t taste much like anything. It was deep fried and salted, and we manage to take it down with one bite. Once we got the rest of our 6 pack together we somehow talked ourselves into eating a deep fried Silk Worm as well. We counted down from 3 and popped it in our mouths. This was foul. It took multiple bites and a strong will not to vomit on the street corner.

We all gathered back at the TCM doctor and headed back to the bus for dinner. Our final dinner in China was set to be the Peking Duck. Expecting the entire duck to be set in the middle of our table, I think we were all a little disappointed that they carved it in the back of the room and brought just the meat forward. The highlight of the meal was the fact we were paired with the Diva Squad, an almost perfect match for our group. They had us in tears as they were recounting many of their stories from the trip. It was one of their birthdays which they celebrated with tiny flasks pulled out of their purses and a birthday cake the shared with the group.

Not wanting to waste our last night, Kristen, Erika Abby and I headed out to bars. Our first stop was to a rooftop bar where we were greeted by a strange looking Chinese man outside. When we asked him how much for a beer he winked, made a shhhing motion and said 20 Yuan. Sketched out, he ushered us into the bar. He then pointed to the corner which housed a set of stairs and prodded us up to the rooftop. He brought us beers which we then tried to hand him money which he responded to by shhing again and motioning under the table and walking away. He then proceeded to come upstairs every couple minutes to wink at us before returning below. Figuring this was the beginning of a kidnapped abroad story we quickly finished our drinks then headed out. Getting to the front desk at the bottom of the bar we assumed we’d probably get over charged since we were clearly tricked into coming in. Much to our surprise he charged us exactly 20 Yuan. We paid and then quickly walked away. The rest of our evening was spent bar hopping down the street. The bars surrounded a lake and were decorated in bright lights. We had a great time but realizing we only had a few hours before we had to be at the airport we decided to taxi home.

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Photos

you are here
every spot on this map says you are here.