TRIP DAILY DIARY: ASIAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL EXCHANGE

04/27/04 - 04/29/04 - THURSDAY - SHOPPING DAY; KAROKE EVENING W/ ADMINSTRATOR GROUP

Our first stop on the last day we were in Beijing was to the arts street where we found stationary stores, art supplies, music stores, tea shops and more. Above is Jenny (Jingjing) in front of a tea store. Once inside we chose a few kinds of tea to sample and were treated to a tea tasting ceremony (top, right). We tried jasmine/rose; oolong; and purar teas. Then we purchased what we liked to take home (bottom, right).
Lisa, Chris and Mary were interested in purchasing chops, or stamps for their friends and family, so spent some time in this arts supply store where there was a stone carver on hand to make our stamps.	You can see him here carving the characters with metal chisels. He was accurate and fast and took about five minutes to carve each one.
As we traveled from one store to another during the day, Jenny (L), Andy (R) took the opportunity to look at the Web site on Lisa's laptop.	We just couldn't keep Steve away from the silk jackets! This one was the bargain of the trip for him!
Joey, Taylor, Andy and Owen were waiting for Steve to finish his bargaining on the coat, so tried on these Manchu hats.	Our last stop was the Friendship Store where Hillary and Joey experimented with these three wheeled scooters.

Andy, our delightful tour guide and interpreter, trying on one of the silk robe purchases from the day of shopping. Huge loads on bikes are common place in China, as are motorbikes. This photo captures both as we travel home on the bus after a long day in the shops.

Andy again, this time with the "noodle guy" in the Beijing noodle restaurant he took us to for lunch. The waiters brought each person their single large bowl of rice noodles then with lightening speed dumped all the little dishes of fresh herbs, onions, meats, and sauces into the bowl. They cooked on the spot and we'd never had better noodles ever!

These signs were being offered for sale, but we saw them all over China indicating the men's and ladies facilities. Since we weren't too clear on the characters for ladies and men's rooms, the symbols helped a lot.

This is AFTER the meal is over! We had such great meals in China. We're not sure we'll be able to get used to only two or three items per meal since our average was about 7-8 for lunch and dinner and breakfast was often a buffet at our hotel, which means even more. Those "Parker House" rolls in the middle of the table are really steamed bread that is served with condensed milk for dipping. Kind of like a Dunk'n Donut, but better!

Evening Karoke w/ the Adminstrators' Group
return to top