Sunday morning we woke up and had family time with a relatively small family of foreignors at a hotel they rent out. None of whom we knew. It was neat to hear about the work going on in Beijing. One family in this congregation runs a foster home for handicapped children. It was so sad to see these little kids in wheel chairs and to think about the tough times they have ahead of them in life. It was encouraging, however, to see the work this family was doing to bring joy to these children's lives. Most of them had cute little wheel chairs and everyone treated them well.
We also went to IKEA. This place is a Swedish furniture and home supply warehouse kind of like Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Brad and I bought good tupperware. Amy and Beth and our new friends went ballistic. Hundreds of dollars up in the air. All of us were sucked in by the ice cream shop. At this little shop in the IKEA, ice cream went for one yuan. One yuan!!! Brad ate 4. Beth ate several. And I bought 2 straight off the bat. Brad thinks they are the best. I still prefer McDonald's.
Monday, we went to the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Market. The Temple of Heaven is where the emperor went to make sacrifices to the heavens for a good year of harvest. It was neat. The exhibit didn't explain much of the history but the architecture was beautiful and impressive.
This is the Temple of Heaven. It is enormous. The picture doesn't do it justice. The picture on the right is of Amy and I with a couple who have wanted to have their picture made with some foreignors. It was fun. People always want pictures with different ones of the Yichang 4. Brad is the the most popular. I think it is because he is a giant compared to them. Or maybe it is because they all think he is hunky.
After the Temple of Heaven. We went to the Pearl Market. This is the place to get all kinds of knock-offs and pearls. I saw iPod nanos, camaras, silk robes, silk everything, pipes, paintings, etc. You could find just about everything there. The secret to this place is being able to bargain. As soon as you walk in they want to sell you something. "Good price for you." "Friendly price for you." "Do you have girlfriend?" "How much?" I would ask how much and they would respond with some outrageous number - 480 yuan! Heck no. I would counter with 50 yuan. They would say, "You are stealing the rice from my children's mouths." I would bargain with them ruthlessly no matter what they said. People won't sell unless they are making money. So, we would come to an agreement. I found out, though, that I am not as good at bargaining as Amy. My best percentage off was 50%. Hers was more than 80% off. She was good.
Below the pearl market, there was a fresh food market. It had seafood and meat. Everything was alive except for the meat. I tried to take some good pictures but failed to get some good pictures of crabs and stuff. Brad got to hold little eels. They were still alive. People just show up and buy these things. It almost makes me want to think twice before I eat anything at a restaurant - but I won't. Here's a few heads:
Hey, if you have already seen Part 1 of the series. Check out the new pictures that I added to it.
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