day 4 - china

Another day starts, and im another day closer to the last day. Maybe if i dont think about it, i wouldnt notice how little days has passed so far. It feels like theres just so much more to go.

I ate 2 nuggets for breakfast today, and went out to the stall that sold telephone cards near my hotel, however it was closed.. so i walked back to the hotel..

As i did that, i noticed that the sky was really nice, the best so far. The overcast clouds that was so familiar was nowhere to be seen at all. The sky was just an uninterrupted sea of blue.

The air was cold, certianly below 20 degrees celcius. It was a good thing i decided to wear my thickest jacket today. It did not necesscarly mean that it was too cold. The sun was bearing down on me, and it felt nice.

Today was the day that the whole class planned to go out to silk road to buy stuff, and the place is quite a famous shopping place. I was totally looking forward to this day, however, i wasnt sure of the plans yet, as the teacher was still planning the trip..

Class was draggy as usual, the only thing that facinated me was the fact that the humidity was at 25%. It must have been due to the fact that the sun was out and drying the air.

JQ was hooked on sims 3,and was constantly playing it.. it was draggy.. really draggy..

Lunch was good, there was good food, especially the meatballs. Drank more sprite from glass bottle. It just tastes nicer in the glass for some reason.

Took even more pictures while walking back, the sky was so beautiful, though the sun was a little too harsh sometimes.

Practical classes continued in the afternoon, and i did the saftey wire tying and learned something new. Then after that it was a test to test us on what we have learned so far in class..

So finally, the boring teacher's no longer going to teach us, as we move on to another subject tomorrow.. hmm, but i was just starting to like him, cuz he didnt really care if u were paying attention or not. haha

So we headed back to the hotel, and i clarified with the teacher that it was free and easy and that the only restraint was to be back in the hotel by 11pm.

Our group decided to take the suttle bus from the hotel to the business district, then take a subway from there down to the silk road. Another group and the teacher would then tag along with us.

Since the bus only came at 5.15, we still had about 1 hour free. most of my group decided to go to the shop Camel, to buy stuff.

I just wanted to buy the prepaid card, which i had to go to the supermarket which was beside camel. Unfortunately, i met with the teacher down in the lobby and he requested for me to stay and go with him to Camel. So i had to wait for the teacher and the group of people to prepare to go out, before i can then go out also..

I split with them at the supermarket, and bought my prepaid card. Had trouble saying top up card in chinese, and could tell that the people behind the counter were giggling a bit. Bleah.

Happily, i quickly rushed back to the hotel too.. I decided to take a video of me then, walking down the street, and it was a bit odd, talking to my phone and walking down the street..

people thought i was weird, but at least i was speaking english and i dont think they can understand. haha.

When i neared the hotel, i realised that i took the video sideways. crap. so i walked back to where i started, and videoed it the right way round. I tried to ignore the fact that ill look so weird.. hahah

Then i realised 2 other grp mates were coming towards me in the distance, and i bet they saw me double back and start talking to my phone again. hahaha crap.

I wasnt really a good videoblogger.. the video was angled wrongly most of the time. mostly because i was shy and wanted to pretend to hold the hp like im not videowing my self, while trying to video myself. hahha

Back in the hotel i quickly went upstairs, turned on my laptop to fireoff a quick email before i had to go downstairs again. Was almost late for the bus.

The bus ride there was quick, and we were presented with the beautiful sight of beijing at sunset. Unfortunately, the reflection of the window of the bus made it useless to take photos..

We arrived at the business district, and went underground to take the subway. A one way ticket only cost 2 yuan, and it could take us anywhere in the subway system.

The subway was pretty much like singapore's one, without the glass doors, and it was messier and older.Though it had x-ray machines that scanned everyones bag. They had one machine in every stations exit. hmmm maybe left over security measures from the beijing olympics.

We were in a rush hour squeeze, and we missed one train, but we were the first to board. Doesnt necessarily mean that it was good. The china men pushed us against the other people in the train. like some bully mashing you against the wall like that. gosh. maybe i shouldnt complain about singapore..

Its not like the train frequency was terrible, it was just that there were a ton of people to move around. The trains came about every 2 mins.

We reached our stop and first looked for dinner, crossing the road via their "pedestrian crossing" that wasnt pedestrian friendly at all. Even the china men cycling on bikes at high speed didnt slow down when we crossed, we just had to siam.

Gosh. We ate at this outdoor restaurant. The food was good, though we didnt order enough. I was too lazy to take pictures so JQ has most of the pictures.

JQ led the way by ordering silk work larvae. the whole group ate it.

If you didnt think about it, it tasted like salty mash potato within a crispy outer crust.

not that its so nice that i would buy silk worm just to taste that again.. nonetheless. it was quite cool hahah.

Called Sharlene at 7 plus, right after i knew her dance class was over. She sounded tired, haha, apparently she learnt rumba today and it was really tiring.

Missed everything back at home..

It was time to shop then, but JQ left with another group cuz some street not far from where we were was having the mid autumn festival celebration, JQ wanted to go there to take the lights. I just couldnt wait to go shop.

So i went with another group, but soon it was obvious that i needed to split from them. They were going too fast and i didnt want anyone to rush me into buying things. So i went around the place alone. And i liked it.

The camera attracted a lot of attention, and i felt that im going to get a higher price and a harder time to bargain if i kept holding the camera in my hands. So i decided to keep the camera.

There were a lot of things there, like a pasa malam. Or market stalls, those that sell clothes in chinatown..

The first and second floor that held lots of clothes. I found a lot but didnt want to get them as i was afraid that i couldnt haggle enough. One person quoted me a price of 50 sing dollars for a fake billabong hoodie. hmmm im really sure it goes a lot lower.

So i just scanned through the place, seeing whats there and such.. Saw some juicy coutoure sweaters too.. hmm told Sharlene about it..

Went futher up and saw shops selling lots of toys, from helicopters to replica guns. Wow. Really really tempted to buy..hahah

Then above that, there was 1 whole level of jewlery, plus electronics and stalls selling.. SNIPER SCOPES.

Its really freaking cool to look through one. I totally want to buy one lah omg.

The floor above were all tailors. I wanted to make a suit but just dont know what look to go for and how to handle it.. I was looking for a dance costume tailor too, but there were none..

Somewhat disappointed, i went to the basement, and passing by 1 shop, i saw 1 juicy couture bag on display. Luckily, i decided to ask if there were more bags.

The woman dug out a catalouge. I picked whichever i wanted to see, and she brought it to me in 1 mins time..

I was seriously spoilet for choice. I wanted to take a picture of all the things there in the catalogue, but the shop keeper wouldnt let me.

hmm so i bought something small. A wallet, for 33 singapore dollars. I think i could have hagggled somemore.. but oh wells. Its my first buy. Ill try harder next time

Couldnt wait to get home to the hotel to show her..

I eventually got home, after some time wastage as we had to wait for the bus to arrive and take us back to the hotel..

Showed sharlene on skype, took a few pictures on it too.. haha

Glad you liked it sharlene :)

I feel better about beijing now.