Beijing Zoo [BY JENNA]

My mom and I went to the zoo in Beijing.   My favorite part was feeding a giraffe.   Here are some pictures.

Pandas

baby monkey

me on elephant statue

me with cotton candy

me feeding a giraffe

me on a turtle statue

me on a lizard statue

Favorite Part of China

China was a great place for us.  I guess we were prepared and expecting it to be "India" hard and we were pleasantly surprised how much we liked it there.  The one thing we did not like about Beijing is the air pollution!   While in Beijing we visited the Olympic park, the Great Wall, saw an acrobatic show, saw the Forbidden City and Tienanmen  Square, the Temple of Heaven park and bargain shopped at a few of the markets.  

Food in China

Food has often been an adventure on this trip even when we didn't mean for it to be.  Sometimes it gets a bit hard finding food that we can identify AND like.

Seth Has Negotiating Skillz!

Yesterday we went to Beijing's Pearl Market and had a blast. I was proud of all of us for negotiating good prices and for having fun doing it. The rules of thumb we had before going in were:

• Counter-offer at 10% of the first offer
• Don't pay more than 15% of the first offer
• Don't be afraid to walk away

We all had chances to negotiate but I think Seth was the best at it. He had a way of doing it where everyone had fun, even the vendors. The negotiations were not done verbally but on a small calculator that was passed back and forth with offers and counter-offers. All numbers were in Yuan. Here is my favorite sample of Seth's skills during negotiations for a pair of Timberland hiking boots.

Vendor: 750
Seth: 65
Vendor: 700
Seth: 66
Vendor 600
Seth: 67
Vendor (laughing): "Give me a 3-digit number."
Seth (with a smile and a twinkle in his eye): 68.5

Sam and I laughed out loud.

Seth ended up getting the boots for 120 Yuan, about $20.

Desperation Parenting

We planned a day to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square while in Beijing.  We managed to get there on public transportation with the help of only one person.  We found a little food to eat and then purchased our entrance tickets.  I make all of this sound pretty easy, but please remember we are in China and we don't speak or read any Chinese.

Initial Impressions of China

I had read terrible things about China's lack of friendliness toward foreigners. I was prepared for everyone to not like us, give us a bad time, and otherwise abuse us as tourists. I was intimidated by its reputation before I arrived but I think I understand the reputation a little better now and have figured out how I will deal with it.

China at its best....or worst

Ch'in Shih Huang TI, the first unified Chinese emperor, planned to build the Great Wall of China. About 2,600 years ago he did this to keep the Huns out of china. The Great Wall is made up of brick and plaster being 25 feet high and 30 feet thick. The Emperor of China forced about 1,000,000 people from their homes to work on the wall. The workers were forced to build watch towers every 100 yards to spot enemies and to signal to the warriors on the wall that a battle approached. Workers that died while building the wall were buried underneath the wall. The wall was worked on for hundreds of years . About 1,000 years after Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, the new Chinese emperor decided to make the wall even longer to protect unprotected area.

The Visa Game

Most of the places we have visited on this trip we have been able to get a visa on arrival.  We have only had to apply in advance for two, India and China.  Those are also the most expensive visas we have had to get.

Shortly before we began our trip we applied for our India Visas.  They were good for 6 months so we were able to time it to get them before we left.  It was a major ordeal to get them all filled out.  It seemed like what should be a straight forward process was not.  We spent hours getting the applications ready to send.  When I dropped them off at the Fed EX office to be shipped I felt like I was turning in a college paper and just needed to get my final grade.  Yes, that much work and effort went into those applications.  It was a huge relief to get our passports back and get the passing grade of an Indian Visa.