Friday 30 October 2015
Our alarm went off about 07:15 as we had to be down for breakfast at 8. By 09:00 we were on the bus heading to a silk market which was interesting because they demonstrated how they make silk but I found it a bit of a hard sell and everything was very pricey.
Dried silk worms
The woman described the complete process of making silk, from the worm to the product
We then went to the Forbidden City. We spent a couple of hours here but
I was pretty non-plussed about the place. I don’t really know why but maybe the
hoards of tourists shoving selfie sticks in your ear and being bustled by
hundreds of people all milling around didn’t help my enjoyment.
From there we went to lunch in the Beijing Olympic centre. The food was pretty good but had a lot of fish dishes including a big odd-looking fried fish. We then had half an hour to wander around the Olympic Park but there wasn’t much to see really.
We always knew where Alan was because he held a little blue flat on a pole
Shaun has his photo taken, again!
It was just buildings linked by squares and grand passages. Alan told us about the history of the place which was interesting but it just wasn’t my cup of China tea!
Some of the landscaping in the gardens of The Forbidden City was impressive
The outside of The Forbidden City
I clicked away with my camera as we were on the streets
Beijing Olympic centre
From there we went to lunch in the Beijing Olympic centre. The food was pretty good but had a lot of fish dishes including a big odd-looking fried fish. We then had half an hour to wander around the Olympic Park but there wasn’t much to see really.
We got back on the coach and went to a tea shop. As I don’t like
drinking tea, I had a wander around the shop with Dean, who also doesn’t drink
tea, while the rest of the group had a tea demonstration/tasting session which
took about 30 minutes. The tea to buy in the shop was pretty expensive, at
about £20 a box! There were some interesting things to buy including a jade tea set priced at 300,000YN (£30,000)!
We then got back on the bus and voted to go to the Night Market. Alan
wasn’t keen on us going there because it is right in the heart of bustling
Beijing and it is very touristy. But we were tourists and really wanted to go.
So we were dropped right in the centre of Beijing where there were big shops, neon signs etc. We could’ve been in any major city really but it had a great buzz, something the area where our hotel was didn’t have.
We went down Snack Street and Shaun and Lauren tried many things cooked up on sticks including snake (which I had a bite of and it tasted like chicken), scorpion, silk worm, starfish and squid. He did turn down dog’s tongues and bull’s testicles. I guess even he has his limits! It was quite an experience!! Some of the cooking food smelled truly awful.
So we were dropped right in the centre of Beijing where there were big shops, neon signs etc. We could’ve been in any major city really but it had a great buzz, something the area where our hotel was didn’t have.
Beijing Night Market
Snake on a stick!
Shellfish and silk worms
Pick your fried insect or worm
We went down Snack Street and Shaun and Lauren tried many things cooked up on sticks including snake (which I had a bite of and it tasted like chicken), scorpion, silk worm, starfish and squid. He did turn down dog’s tongues and bull’s testicles. I guess even he has his limits! It was quite an experience!! Some of the cooking food smelled truly awful.
We returned to the hotel about 20:30 and I met some of the others in
the Lobby for about 10 minutes but I was shattered so went back to our room. I
got my bag ready for tomorrow and turned the light out at 22:00. Sarah had gone
drinking with some of the others and I didn’t hear her when she returned.
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