I'm sitting at the airport right now waiting on my last domestic flight to Beijing. The last 4.5 weeks have flown by very fast...it's been fun and tiring at the same time. Beijing will be the first time that I am truly alone (until Helen comes on Sunday). I'm looking forward to the few days by myself to just bum around and go at my own pace. I haven't figured out what I want to do yet...Helen and I are doing the big things together (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiennamen Square, etc). I'll probably go check out the Olympic park tonight or tomorrow night...I hear the lights are beautiful in the evening.
Shanghai is a nice city, but there wasn't really alot to do except shopping...so I accumulated alot of stuff while I was here. And it rained almost every day!!! I think I only saw the sun for a couple of hours, but I guess I shouldn't be complaining because it wasn't too hot with the rain. I met up with Lillian again on Monday evening and she took me to Pearl City to look at some pearls. I"m not big into pearls, but they had some pretty nice stuff...so I got some freshwater pearls for pretty cheap (less than $10...I know nothing about pearls...so it could've been fake for all I know). It'll be good as "costume" jewelry to go with whatever outfits I might have. I also got a few other little things and I manage to talk down the price to about 20% - 50% of the asking price. I've found out the trick is to go to a few stores (since they all have the same things) and figure out the bottom price...when they let you walk away, you know you've offered too low. Some of the stores give you ridiculously high prices whereas others won't try to rip you off too much...so it's definitely good to go to a few stores. I got an evening purse for 40 yuan when the lady originally wanted 180 yuan!!!
I went back to the garment district both Monday and Tuesday to pick up my custom-made qipao (I also had a matching purse made at another store...so pretty!). The qipao was suppose to be ready on Monday, but the tailor did a horrible job with it! The waist and buttons were set too high...unlike the qipao I tried on before. I had to have them make some more alterations and it looked MUCH better when I picked it up on Tuesday...thank goodness Tracy was there to help translate! I saw another qipao design that I really liked while I was there at another shop...but didn't order one since I was worried I wouldn't have enough time for alterations if they didn't get it right the first time. I'll probably try to find it in Beijing...it's A line and that style is more flattering for my body type! :) I still found other stuff to purchase at the garment district (pre-made stuff) even though I was only there a few days ago. I bought a very nice coat for less than $60!!! There were so many other coats I wanted...too bad I didn't have the luggage space. I barely stayed under the 20kg limit on my checked bag today and took the rest of the stuff on the plane with me. I've been very fortunate that they haven't made me check more stuff when I fly. When I look around me at the airport, I'm always the one with two suitcases or a bunch of stuff. :) I've got two suitcases waiting for me in Beijing...but the last flight is international and I can check up to 3 suitcases up to 70lbs each...yea!!!
I'm starting to miss home...my bed, my shower, my other clothes, my friends...so I'm glad I cut my trip short by a week! Plus, I'm tired of always putting my hair up since it's so hot and humid here!!! Next time I come here, it'll be in the spring or fall when it's much cooler! :)
Update:
My flight was delayed by 2 hours...I finally got into Beijing around 4pm. I had a great taxi driver this time!! The taxi driver I had the first day I came into Beijing was kinda rude and mean...but maybe that's how he is. I can't figure out when Chinese people are speaking, if they are upset or not. Example: When Karen and I were at Hua Shan mountain, this guy was like following us and seemed like he was yelling at us...I was walking away as fast as I can because he was freaking me out and Karen finally figured out he was trying to tell us something. Karen had left her student card on the bus and he was trying to return it. He was being nice, but the he came off as yelling at us and mean!! :) Also, another side note...I find that Chinese people are very rude (I hate to diss my own kind, but it's true)...there is no such thing as waiting in a orderly line. It's just pushing and shoving to get where you need to go...I even notice this in the Asian grocery stores in Atlanta, so it's not just China!!! And they don't believe in personal space here...I had this guy get all up in my personal space at the baggage claim...I kept giving him a dirty look. :)
Anyways, back to my nice taxi driver. I had Karen write down in Chinese to tell the taxi driver to take me to the Courtyard Beijing Northeast to pick up my suitcase and then take me to the Courtyard Beijing (with the addresses). I don't know what Karen wrote, but the taxi driver started going towards the second hotel and I only realized it after we passed the first hotel (good thing I was paying attention...I wasn't even sure if that was the hotel, but figured there were only two courtyards). I quickly found the card for the first hotel and showed him...after some broken chinese, he figured out where he needed to go and was apologetic about it (which was nice since he could've said I gave him the wrong info). The whole ride, he was smiling and tried to speak to me in Chinese. I could only understand part of what he was saying and I just kept laughing cause I had no idea what he was saying most of the time. It was a fun ride...and he didn't even charge me the full fare when we got the second hotel...I'm sure any other taxi driver would gladly make me pay for him going to the wrong hotel first!!! He was such a sweetie!! :)
By the time I got checked in, it was already 6:30pm and I was worn out. I just grabbed dinner and walked around the area. The hotel is in the Beijing New World Shopping Center...oh boy, I can spend the rest of my days here shopping!!! :) Lots of stores around the area and it's a very busy street...tons of people walking around. As I was walking around tonight, it reminded me of my days when I was working in Paris. My hotel was on a street right off the Champs Elysees...so I'd go walking in the evenings after work to enjoy the shops and crowds. I miss those days!!!
