Let’s Go Kick Some Hunny Buns! – Part 2

We struggled to get out of bed at a decent time the next morning.  When we finally got up and headed down to find some breakfast/brunch, we asked the reception where a good place would be.  They recommended “Youth Restaurant” but after walking 2x as long as they said it would take without finding it, we settled on a random restaurant that looked popular with the local crowd.

Jujube juice (still not really sure what it was… it was super sweet and a little thick—not great but not bad either)

Soy sauce?  Soy sauce?  (this conversation went on for about 1.5mins.. it just got awkward trying to video it)

Next stop was the Forbidden City--for real this time.  Forbidden city was pretty cool, I guess.  I think I just had higher expectations.  We probably would’ve gotten more out of it if we had a tour guide or rented the headsets… but I didn’t even bother asking Paul if he wanted to do that :)   We enjoyed our time meandering around, looking at really old pottery, and making up stories for the royal items that were on display.  The best part by far was the people watching—just such a different standard of what is “normal” and “socially acceptable.”  I have too many photos to include them here—I’m saving them for a “people watching” post all to themselves :)

Our taxi driver took out his chinese cd and put in this musical when we got in the cab...

Walking around the outside of the city, because again our taxi driver wouldn’t actually take us to the entrance

We got the “real” ticket this time and headed off to the ceramics gallery

Paul was really taking in all of the history and art appreciation…

The day wouldn’t be complete without some snack breaks

Heading towards the crowds… (also, I promise I’m wearing a shirt)

Paul is marching his way through the crowds, not to be bothered by anyone

Paul has his own “headset” which I am sure is giving him plenty of background knowledge of the Qing Dynasty.

(I’m clearly not a real asian… just realized that my peace sign is backwards… oops)

After meandering our way out of the Forbidden palace I thought it would be a great Idea to walk over to Wangfujing St. which is a "famous” shopping area.  After lots of walking, stopping, reading maps, and walking some more we finally made it.  And we looked down the street and decided it was not for us.  So instead “we” decided to head straight over to the Pearl Market.  It really didn’t look like it was that far away on my map, but we couldn’t make it the whole way.  We gave in and let a lady drive us the last kilometer or two to the market.  The Pearl Market did not disappoint.  I scored 3 lovely sets of pearls (necklace & stud earrings) at a great deal and Paul even got a new leather belt (that the lady proved to us was “real leather” by holding an open flame to it and showing that it didn’t burn…)

Wangfujing St.—yeah, this was not going to be a good marriage builder :)

Lots of walking…

Our tuk-tuk savior (including some sketchy side street routes which reminded me of our Bangkok ride!)

The Pearl Market

After a lot of bargaining & a few “walking away”s I eventually got a good deal on some white & black pearls from this nice lady

Meanwhile, Paul found a Starbucks and relaxed a bit

By now we were completely beat and just wanted to head back to the hotel.  Except I thought we were really close to a metro stop.  We were to the stop where we could get on.  The problem was once we got off… we ended up being way farther from our hotel than our map seemed to show.  We kept walking and found a restaurant that looked promising, but as we got closer I realized that it only served lamb.  I really, really dislike lamb (my mom told me it's not good to use the "hate", so i'm trying to refrain).  Paul was convinced that the restaurant would probably have something else, but i was so tired/delirious I just couldn't get past it.  I just kept mumbling "I don't want to eat sheep."  Apparently I said that enough times for it to have stuck with Paul--he's still quoting me from that that over a month later.

After lots of walking and sore/tired feet, we just broke down and hailed a cab.  Once back in the hotel lobby, we asked if we could order from a restaurant and have it delivered to our room.  Apparently all of the restaurants (including the hotel’s) close by 9:00pm.  Crazy!  Especially compared to what we’ve been used to in the Middle East where people don’t start to leave for dinner until 9.   They did recommend Youth Restaurant again, saying that it would be open for another 30 mins if we could get there.  We got some better directions and after much conversation with the two guys at the concierge desk (early 20s maybe who were so excited to be speaking English with us) and many “google translator” searches, we had our order written in chinese and were off.

I don’t feel so bad for missing the sign that morning… kinda hard to see (especially when it’s not lit up)

Yummmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Eventually we found the restaurant.  We eventually got our order placed (which proved to be much more difficult than I had expected considering we had each of our items written down in chinese…).  I took off to get some fruit across the street and a few beverages.  Paul stayed to wait on our order.  While waiting, he made friends with a couple of chinese girls who turned out to be invaluable interpreters.  They were called over by the hostess when Paul asked how much longer the food would take and they helped translate.  Paul returned the favor by performing a few card tricks :)   When I got back to the restaurant we talked to them a bit.  I asked them what their favorite food was and they both said “Noodles”…  after prying a bit more for some specifics they said “Noodles with tomatoes and eggs.”  Sounded pretty weird to me, but we ended up having it later in our trip and really liked it.  I also thought it was interesting that they both had English names that they introduced themselves with (I think they also had full Chinese names).

Ahhhh… back to our room with some delicious dinner!

For dinner that night we ate well!

   - Peking Roast Duck (that’s the second time ever I’ve had duck and it was amazing!)

   - Pan fried dumplings with egg & leeks

   - Steamed buns filled with marinated pork (aka Char Siu Bao which no chinese person understood when we said it… not sure if we were just saying it         wrong or if they called it something else…)

   - Rice

  - Tortilla-like things & celery slivers to eat with the duck (I think), but I thought they were good on their own

   - Delicious Minute-Maid orange juice drink (not like we have in the US) and a few local brews