Beijing – Day 4
Pretty mellow day today. It is raining so not a whole lot to do outside. We took a car to a rug factory that the hotel recommended and saw how the process works from the silk cocoons all the way through the finished product. The prices didn’t seem any better than any of the other stores (they were actually higher, and like every shop it was because these were the people you could trust and had the best quality so the even though it was more expensive it was a better value).
The car brought us back to the Westin and we decided to partake in the Sunday brunch. It seemed like a bit of a weak choice to have a hotel meal in the middle of Beijing, but the food looked so good that we had to try it. The food itself was excellent. The entertainment (a table full of drunk people singing and dancing not far from us) left a little to be desired. It was enough of an annoyance that we left comments to that effect on the bill when we paid so they might keep it in mind for future guests.
About an hour later, a bellman showed up at our door with a box of chocolates and a note from the manager apologizing and offering to comp one of the meals. It was quite impressive since we weren’t really asking for anything.
With the rain still falling and me getting a little stir crazy in the hotel room, we headed out to one of the market streets (given all the pollution here I might have to check my jacket for acid holes in the morning). It wasn’t exactly a night market like the ones in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, rather a collection of stores selling trinkety things and a row of street stalls selling food. We full from brunch, we decided to pass on the chicken hearts, kidneys, sea horses and silk worms, but we did make a bit of room to try fried ice cream (which was kind of disgusting) and the always popular snake on a stick. Yes, we both tried it and have pictures to prove it.
Some light shopping for gifts finished up the evening and then back to the hotel. Tomorrow is our last day in Beijing before we take the night train to Xian. Hopefully the weather will be a little better so we can see a few more things before we leave. We did see in the news though that a typhoon hit Hainan Island a few days ago, so things could definitely be worse. We will be there in a bout a week and plan on doing little more than flopping on the beach, so we are definitely hoping that the worst is over for a while.