Dan wanted to go try duck here, but we didn't find enough people to join us and I wasn't about to eat half a duck. Come to find out, Beijing Duck is Peking Duck. Maybe we'll find some for lunch before we head out for Vietnam tonight.
Yesterday we visited the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower. We got to a drum performance. Of course, I thought my brother Jon would love to see this. The Bell Tower was very impressive as well, with the biggest and heaviest bell. We then wandered into an old Hutong alley, which was quite long. It was filled with shops and little places to get snacks. We had lunch there at a fun bar with a fun name that I can't remember now.
It's sunny today and our last day in Beijing. I have a bit of a chest cold, which I blamed on the air quality here, but I may have picked up something from the other visitors here at the hostel.
Before we move on to a new culture, here is quick summary of what I'm fond of and what I'm not so fond of here:
What I'm fond of:
Yesterday we visited the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower. We got to a drum performance. Of course, I thought my brother Jon would love to see this. The Bell Tower was very impressive as well, with the biggest and heaviest bell. We then wandered into an old Hutong alley, which was quite long. It was filled with shops and little places to get snacks. We had lunch there at a fun bar with a fun name that I can't remember now.
It's sunny today and our last day in Beijing. I have a bit of a chest cold, which I blamed on the air quality here, but I may have picked up something from the other visitors here at the hostel.
Before we move on to a new culture, here is quick summary of what I'm fond of and what I'm not so fond of here:
What I'm fond of:
- hutong (old alleys, residences and businesses from the Ming Dynasty)
- dumplings
- 50 cent very large Chinese beers
- learning to barter
- getting a $22 temporary silver wedding ring
- the amazing history here
- Western toilets
- the reusing/recycling that seems to happen here
- Chinese people regularly hocking loogies
- Turning cars, bicycles and rickshaws that don't yield to pedestrians
- Street hawkers that block your path
- insistent rickshaw drivers
- the air quality
- some of the smells in the air
- squat toilets, especially the dirty ones lacking toilet paper
- the rubble piles on the streets, in the alleys
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