Today after my 2nd warm shower (I'll never take hot water and a warm bathroom for granted ever again), Vinny and I checked out the weather forecast on TV. We discovered that right after we arrived in Beijing, the city experienced the record snowfall in centimeters it had ever had in 60 years and record cold temparatures in 50 years. Wow did we pick a great time to visit Beijing. Our getting ready to go sight seeing ritual consisted of applying at 4-5 layers. My checklist was starting with the first layer: a) tank top b) Uniqlo Heat-tech shirt #1 c) Uniqglo Heat-tech shirt #2 d) Warm Sweater e) Uniqglo Heat-tech Leggings f) Jeans g) Pair of socks #1 h) Pair of socks #2 i) suede boots that went up to my knees j) scarf k) wool coat l) hat m)gloves... ALL READY TO GO!
We started our day in Tianneman Square where we walked past Mao's Mausoleum (we didn't actually go inside though). By the time we walked through the Square, our toes and fingers were tingling from the pain of being so cold so we ducked into a food court to grab breakfast. I had a very delicious rice noodle soup (bun tao) with tofu and cabbage. It was just like how my mom and dad used to make it so I guess the Chinese and Vietnamese versions are very similar. Vinny had some really good Kung-Pow chicken. Afterwards we bundled up again and made our way to the Forbidden City.
I haven't studied Chinese history/culture since 8th grade but wow was the Forbidden City amazing and as grand as the movies and textbooks make it out to be. There were marble floors everywhere which if you combine marble + cold + slush from snow = basically walking on black ice. The marble was so slippery and I must have slipped at least a dozen times. Luckily Vinny was around to catch me or I was able to grab onto one of the elaborately carved stone staircases for support. My favorite parts of the Forbidden City were the Imperial Garden, the Outer Court, and the East Palaces where the concubines and emperoress lived. For a little bit while wandering around the East Palaces, I pretended to be one of the soap opera characters that I used to watch with my mom and sisters when I was little. A lot of the soap operas I watched when I was little featured stories of royal women of the court and their lives in the Forbidden City.
After the Forbidden City, Vinny and I wanted to warm up so we decided to check out a market of knicks-knacks listed in our guide book. We weren't too familar with the Beijing subway yet so we decided to opt for a cab. The cabs at the north gate of the Forbidden City were abundant but everyone of them claimed that their meter was "not working" and tried to negotiate a flat rate with us. Our amazing guidebook which we had picked up on our 1st day in Beijing warned us about these little tricks so we politely declined. A very persistant motorbike cab driver followed us as we walked away and finally persuaded us that he would take us to our destination for 25 yuan. We thought it was a fair price given that the other drivers were asking us 80 yuan. I would like to say that the reason why the price was so cheap was because our cab was basically a rickshaw powered by a motorbike that looked like it was going to fall apart if it hit a hard bump. Just think if the smartcar was cut in half and that was what our "cab" looked like. Here is a picture of what they look like.
Vinny wasn't too thrilled with this idea but I convinced him that it wouldn't hurt us to try. It was quite funny because our cabbie took us to our supposed market but it wasn't the right one and that was about a 2 minute ride away. We had to argue with him about the actual location and finally negotiated that he would take us there for 35 yuan. The market ended up being super far away (at least 10-15 minute ride away) so I guess it was worth the fare that we bargained. I'll probably not take another motorbike cab ride since the exhaust fumes was quite strong but it was quite the experience being cramped in a little seat.
Next blog: Bargaining at Tianya Market and Dinner at Dalian Seafood
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