Calm Spirit/Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2005

Shopping in Beijing

We returned to Beijing with our bags full of jade market purchases. When we got settled in our compartment on the train and put our bags under the lower bunk, there was no room. Both lower bunks were stuffed with used linens, probably from the Beijing-to-Dandong route. In fact, the compartment wasn't very clean, and the table linen was full of old food. I was surprised, because the trains in China are usually very clean and the soft sleeper compartments especially clean. I used up a pack of sanitizing wipes to clean up as good as I could, and then tried to not think about it. In the middle of the night, the conductor came in the room and started shaking Tom and telling him something in Chinese. He has a small case where he takes your ticket and gives you a plastic card, then puts your ticket in the place of the plastic card so he can keep track of people. It seems that he mixed up Tom's and the guy's in the other top bunk tickets, and wanted him to get off at the next stop! Fortunately, we got it straightened out, but it was a strange experience.

I just knew that we would have problems getting a taxi to take us from the train station to our hotel, and we did. As foreigners, we got price gouged with a taxi manager insisting on five times the standard price. We could have walked a long block to get a cheaper taxi, but we were tired, hungry, had a lot of heavy stuff to carry, so agreed. It's amazing how fast they can get to the hotel when they have a fixed price and aren't trying to drive around to get a higher fare. Then he wouldn't even take us to the hotel door so we could get help with our "stuff", but made us get out across the busy street. I told him what I thought of him in Chinese, which gave me great pleasure. I was going to write all my commentaries at the end of the travelog, but I have to say that for all of China's talk about getting ready for foreigners who will visit for the 2008 Olympics, and their much publicised efforts to get taxi drivers to speak a little English and give a good first impression, the Beijing taxi drivers cause me the most stress about being in Beijing. The worst ones are at the train station, where I always have problems.

Anyway, our hotel room was ready for us even at 9 am, as we requested, and we thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast buffet, as we were starving.

Then serious shopping. First stop was the Hong Qiao Pearl Market. The pearls were especially nice and I purchased necklaces and earrings. I couldn't pass up the semi precious gemstone beads, either. There were also antiques and I purchased small carvings to sell on the web site, and cloisonne items, too.

It is very common to drink beer with meals in China. Lots of it. Beijing Beer is a good beer, but my favorite is Tsingtao.I am not a beer drinker but I drank beer with lunch and dinner along with tea because it's good, it's safe, and it just seems to "go" with Chinese food. Chinese people often drink great quantities of beer with meals, but rarely seem to get intoxicated from drinking so much.

We walked off the duck dinner with more shopping. There is a big government store on Wangfujing Street, and I bought some clothes for myself, and found some unique and well made hair sticks. I had many customer requests for hair sticks and whenever I saw some interesting ones, I purchased them. It's amazing all the different styles available.

The health club at the hotel features a pool, sauna, weight and workout room and offers a variety of Chinese massage. After this hot day, the pool was really refreshing, and it's a good thing we enjoyed it because the next day was a hot one, too.

Next: Silk Market and Chinese Furniture in Beijing