After the long ride to Beijing, we had a LONG night in a full hostel room with a sick girl. it was hard to sleep with all the puking noises. After discretely changing rooms, we went straight to the bank. While telling our sob story to the friendly people in line with us, they explained that only certain people in China can have foreign currency. That would explain why no one would take our dollars!
After a quick breakfast at the Traveler's Den, we went walked through Tiannamen Square towards the giant Chairman Mao flag to the the Forbidden City. We explored until our feet were ready to fall off. It is so huge; everything starts to look similar after the thirtieth ornate building. Our favorite part, though, was the park we got lost in while we were trying to find the Forbidden City.
Strangely, several people asked if we would take pictures with them. We were getting so used to our superstar status that when a couple asked us to take a picture of them, Jayde lit up and started to pose before realizing she wouldn't be in this picture.
We tried to shop on Quianmen St., which according to our guide is a happening street market. In addition to Mao's Tomb, and several of the buildings in the Forbidden City, the Quianmen St. Market is another victim of the Olympics. Many of the buildings had been torn down with scaffolding up the sides and huge screens with pictures of nice buildings to hide the wreckage from the street.
We were disappointed with the lack of shopping, but we made up for it later that night. Roi and Colby, two guys from Israel, took us with them to the Silk Street Market, aka Heaven! It has whole floors dedicated to high-end shoes, purses, electronics, clothes, pearls, and SO much more. To be honest, we didn't make it off the purse floor. :)
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