Acrobats

China Day Three.

On day three we went to see the Chinese Acrobats.  I made a couple of short movies for your enjoyment.

Acrobats Part One

Acrobats Part Two

W + M

Forbidden City and a Massage

China Day Two

We head off to the Forbidden City.  In Beijing their is a subway stop that drops you off at Tienanmen square.  When you get off you see a huge gate (check out the pictures) from where I assume the Chinese could defend the area.  I assume that because now the tower is a free standing building with no walls on either side.  Anyway, from the gate we walk around Mao's tomb and through Tienanmen Square.  It is huge.  They say more than a million people can fit in the square.  On the other side of the square is the Forbidden city.

The Forbidden city is huge.  The whole thing is made to make you feel small.  You start by going through several huge enclosed squares.  Then you come up to the kings throne from which you can look south through the whole forbidden city and the huge gates on the other side of Tienanmen Square.  You could tell these guys had a lot of money.  Behind (about 100 feet) the building with the throne is whole building where the Emperor would rest before he went to the throne room.  About 100 feet past this building is a whole building where the Emperor would change before he went to the resting building on his way to the throne room.  Anyway, it goes on and on like this.  I really don't know how they filled all those buildings.  On the way out I snapped a picture of a Chinese baby waking.  The thing about the babies in China is they don't wear diapers.  They just have a big slit in the rear of their pants.  So they just go when they want to go.

After you walk through the Forbidden city you can pay just a little extra to walk up the hill on the other side.  From here we were able to look down on the whole palace.  It was worth it.

After all this our friend took us to a massage parlor.  Let me describe what you get for $15.  They give you a menu from which you order all you can eat and drink.  Then they message your shoulders for about 20 minutes.  By this time you have eaten whatever you have ordered so you order more food.  Now they massage you feet for about an hour.  All the while your ordering from the menu.  Then they massage your calves for about 30 minutes.  So in total you get a two hour massage and all you can eat food for $15.  Pretty good price I say.

W + M

Shopping in China

China Day One

After sleeping in we headed off to do a bit of shopping.  This was a interesting experience.  It goes something like this.

Seller: Hello sir you want to buy something.  Silk ties, socks, pearls for you wife?

You: How much for that item?

Seller: (types on their calculator 200)

You: Sorry that's to expensive.

Seller: That's a very good price 

You: Sorry that's to expensive

Seller:  OK just for you, very best price.  (types in 150) 

You: Sorry that's to expensive

Seller:  How much you want to pay? 

You: That's ok I'll just keep looking

Seller:  Look I give you really good price (types in 100) 

You: That's still too expensive

Seller: Look how much you want to pay 

You: (type into the calculator 5)

Seller: That's took cheap.  You're a rich American.  I make no profit.

You: (start to walk away)

Seller: Come back I give you very good price (types in the calculator 30) 

You: No still to expensive

This goes on until you agree to a price somewhere around 8.

Hello China

Right away we loved China.  So good friend met us at the airport and took us to there place.  By this time My was very hungry as she never really liked the food in Hanoi.  So our friends took us out to an American Food restaurant.  You should of seen how fast My devoured her smoothie and hamburger, not to mention part of my milkshake.  It was good.