Today was a beautiful day here in Beijing! Our group visited the Temple of Heaven which was quite impressive! Here we got our first taste of aggressive merchants and peddlers but Tracey taught us all to say something that sounds like "Boo Yen" and that means "No thank you." She said this was just practice for what we will encounter tomorrow at Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall!
This afternoon, Rich, Lynn, Emily and I took a cab to the Beijing zoo! It was very nice but very spread out! We were thrilled to be able to get so close to the Panda bears! They are just adorable in person and would come right up near the fence. We also saw, some very impressive exhibits of dolphins and sharks, but we decided to skip seeing the dogs. However, of all the exhibits, we were definitely the main, featured attraction today! By the time we left, we had achieved celebrity status. Lots and lots of stares! They would look at Emily, and assume she was Chinese and then stare very intently at us! You could just see the wheels spinning in their heads! At one point a couple approached us and the man was trying to hand me his camera so I offered to take a picture of him and his girlfriend. He didn't want their picture taken but wanted to photograph us with his girlfriend. Okay, we stand with this girl and he proceeds to take not one but at least 4 pictures of us! Lynn and I are sure we are probably on some kind of website tonight! :) And we know a few other people clicked pictures of us too! On the way out, a very nice man approached us who eagerly wanted to practice his English skills! He even helped us get a cab back to our hotel. That cab ride was a bit scary as the traffic is very congested here and our cab driver apparently never heard of keeping an "assured clear distance!" The cars get very close to one another and we have seen a few fender benders already in the 2 days we have been here!
Sixteen of us ventured down the street today to Pizza Hut for dinner! It was really good and tasted just like home. We were quite a spectacle walking in there too! Here in China, we were told not to tip waiters, cabdrivers, bellhops etc. It is a very strange feeling and I feel like I am cheating them out! I couldn't face the bellhop yesterday as I felt so guilty about not giving to him.
I am finally starting to comprehend the exchange rates! It was a little confusing at first especially since every time you change money it seems the amount of return varies. Rich seems to think that I got very good rates, so Emily was thrilled she had more money to shop! She bought her baby sister a stuffed panda bear and she will be able to give her that in just a few more days!
