Mood:  a-ok

Sooo, it's been a while since my last blog simply because I had no idea what to write about!  I do plan on writing about the food here, but I would like to get a bit more 'seasoned' in that subject first.  Last week I hired a tour guide to take us shopping.. I know that sounds a bit strange, but it was well worth the fourty-five or so dollars that it cost us each.  Huh, guess what?  My luck was that I booked our little excursion on one of the BIGGEST travel days for Chinese people.... labour day! GREAT. 

I had to book train tickets to take us into Beijing to meet the guide.  I tell you what, the transportation system here is great BUT for people who are used to the casual boarding of a bus or train or plane, doing so in China is a little different.  Baoding train station wasn't very big or OVERLY crowded, but we had no idea how all those people were going to fit on one train!! They all did, and we had a comfortable 1 hour train ride into Beijing.  When we got there and stepped off the train, it was unbelieveable... The amount of people is really something that takes you back.  Imagine the busiest airport you have ever been to, the most crowded bar you've danced in, and then multiply that by about 10,000 and you have the Beijing train station! I was expecting everyone to be staring at us like they do in Baoding, but to my surprise, we felt somewhat 'normal' there.  The next thing to think about was actually finding our guide amidst the sea of humans!  We just followed the crowd until we arrived at the gate's exit, and there she was with a sign above her head 'Mandy Kuhbandner', cute as a button and grinning from ear to ear.  She directed us through the sea of humans and safely got us to the taxi bus. 

I must say Beijing is MUCH prettier and cleaner than Baoding where we are staying.  The traffic is heavier of course, but at least they obey traffic lights!!  One thing we were all yearning for was COFFEE!  So we asked our guide if we could make a stop for some... She had no clue where to find coffee!  So we just went to our first stop which was Tianyi Wholesale Market.  There, she asked a security guard to direct us to some coffee, and we were golden!  Yes, we will have 4 coffees please!  'Ok ok' said the China man as he smiled and handed us 4 plastic bottles of room temperature brown liquid :)  To all of our surprise, it tasted pretty good! Our bodies must have needed it. 

We entered the first building and the heavens parted, the pearly gates opened, the angels sang (at least they did for Lars)... Directly in front of us was..... endless mountains of POLO SHIRTS!!  Lars tried to contain his excitement as he asked the first vendor if they had one in his size.  They did, and then came time for the price.... 'How much?'...... '90 Yuan'.  Lars got a little grin on his face as he said '80?'... Sold!  80 Yuan is roughly 9 euros or 13 dollars.  Not bad for the first purchase of the day!  He ended up buying 2 more at different stalls with different prices, and I got one for myself too. We were in heaven here.  Every floor had mountains of different stuff, and it was all so CHEAP!  We had to get to our next destination though, so we called it quits there and headed for Silk Street.  To get an idea of this place, you can google 'Silk Street Market, Beijing' to get a look at some pictures of the market.   

The people here were much different than at the first market.  They literally jump out in front of you, pull on your arm, anything to get you sucked in to what they are selling.  Then, you don't generally leave the stall until you've bought something.  The price starts out really high, and you MUST bargain with them!! Generally offering only 10% of their asking price!  I'm REALLY bad at it, and Lars is REALLY good.  So, he did most of the bargaining, but he let me have a go at it ONCE.... It proved to be an expensive lesson... :(

All in all, the shopping was cool.  We spent alot of money despite everything being cheap.  But we got ALOT of stuff, and we plan to do it again sometime!  But for the day, 4 hours of shopping was definitely enough.  So, we were taken back to the train station and waited for our train to arrive. 

As soon as the bell dings to notify you that boarding has begun, a sea of people push and elbow and literally RUN to be the first on board (mind you, your seat is assigned).  It reminded me of a national geographic video I saw about rats running from an oncoming flood.  I held on to my stuff as tightly as possible and just tried to 'blend in' with the crowd.  Haha, sure, like one marshmallow trying to hide in a box of coco-puffs kind of 'blending in'.  Anyway, we boarded the train and found our seats no problem, and enjoyed the 1 hour ride to back to Baoding.  I really don't know how we would have managed alone without a guide helping us.  Next time we go, I'll hire the same guide and pay more attention to the train station.  Maybe once, we can do it ourselves!! That will be something to write about!