Friday, November 27

Friday morning we decided it was a shopping kinda day, so we got up, had breakfast at the swank restaurant in the hotel lobby and headed down to the Subway. The Subway system in Beijing is very nice because the majority of it was built for the Olympics. They only had 2 functioning lines before the Olympics, and now I think there are 5 or 6? Either way, it's very large, and yet always jam-packed full of people. It was a very rare occurrence for you to be able to get a seat. Most of the time you were entirely too close to the person next to you!


I can't tell you what part of town it was where we got off...all I knew was that we were going to "the market". We turn the corner to see this long warehouse-looking building with thick, heavy, cloth doors...and Lisa slips in.
It was shopping heaven! Better than any "underground" store in NYC...anything you could possibly imagine: purses, clothing, shoes, jewelry, trinkets, toys, scarves, and more and more and more. Have I mentioned yet that China is cheap?? I would fly to Beijing JUST to shop at this market for what things cost. Lisa bought a pair of UGG boots for 150rmb (which is basically $20 and change). I bought a few gifts and a few things for myself. The only things that I bought that are representative of the trip/culture is a really cool hand carved/painted wooden box and some bamboo coasters with paintings of kimonos on them.

We finished a little bit of shopping, but left early to meet up with some of Lisa's friends for lunch at Peter's Tex Mex. I had a baked potato because, for whatever reason, it sounded fantastic. When it arrived at the table, everyone else envied my choice because it also LOOKED fantastic. I even took a picture :)...

It's kinda hard to see what they did, but the took the potato and "pinched" it on both sides, so it was tall rather than wide...with the potato "blooming" out of the top. It was a very dainty way to serve a non-dainty food.

Anyhow, enough about that. After we finished eating we all headed back to the market, and shopped until our feet hurt...which just meant it was time for mani/pedis! It wasn't a fancy-schmancy mani-pedi like you'd get in the states - sitting in a big massage chair with your feet in a tub and all of that, BUT, it was probably one of the best pedicures I've ever had. That girl spent so long working on my feet that when I went to put my socks on...my feet slid in like satin. Best foot massage I've ever had.


When we finished, we said goodbye to a few of the girls and took off for IKEA! Of course, that store just sucks you in for hours. We grabbed dinner in the IKEA restaurant upstairs, which was (as tends to be pretty typical of any place in Beijing) full of people...and even had a live band! My favorite part of the night was eating dinner amidst a room full of Asians when the band starts playing Sweet Home Alabama! Seemed entirely out of place, but so hilarious! Apparently that song appeals to all cultures and generations. We shopped until Lisa had pretty much purchased more than she could even take back home with her! Good times. :)

food court area

magnetic escalator for your shopping cart! How cool is that?

We took a taxi back to our hotel (mainly because there was no way we could carry everything on the subway :)) and pretty much crashed. Such a full & fun day!