Entry 11
Dear Journal,
today is my last night in China. Tomorrow after shopping at silk street for a few hours I’ll be on a plane to the US. It will be nice to go home, but this trip has definitely been worth every penny. In my last entry I promised to talk about the show “A Night at West Lake.” So like I said before there wasn’t much of a story line and therefore it was hard to follow, but the show was still entertaining. There were acrobats, dancers, singers and contortionists. The choreography was top notch. In particular I enjoyed the battle choreography performed by the two feuding groups. They were so fierce and intense. You can tell that the actors really put their heart into it. There was spinning in the air, flips across and over one another. This show had no dull moments and what made it even better was the fact that we had VIP seating only a few rows from the stage!
Professor took us to another jade shop. I still love the stone but it really is outof my budget. However, I did help myself to a few pearl necklaces at the pearl shop. They had a good deal going because we were foreigners so I decided why not? It was really cheap. The woman at the pearl shop said real pearls if rubbed leave a powdery residue. Fake pearls if rubbed leave no residue at all. I think a fact like this would be of great use to tourists in China since people sell stuff that’s fake, real and all the in between.
I’m currently back in Beijing. We caught the high speed train from Shanghai to Beijing. It only took 5 hours compared to last year where it was a 14 hour ride. This was before the high speed train was built though. Surprisingly the ride felt super long for me. I think it was just that I was separated from the group during the ride. Everyone else was seated in the back and I was seated a little further up so no conversations to pass the time. None of my neighbors knew english either so I couldn’t speak to them. I can’t wait to learn Chinese.
I had some Chinese acu puncture done the other day. The doctor said that there was something wrong with my digestive system which makes it hard for me to lose weight. He offered to sell me a tea that would make me skinny. I said no for two reasons: first it was way too expensive and second its not so much about being skinny as it is about being healthy. Those are just my personal feelings.
Today is the 27th according to the itinerary. Since arriving back in Beijing we’ve went to Tiaman Square, National Theater of Performing Arts, Monument to the People’s Hero and some shopping areas where we could buy street food. The Performing Arts Center was a building. Not much I can really say about it. I thought the architecture was nice. It was surrounded by a shallow moat which was pretty cool. Apparently this center had produced some of China’s most talented.
There are two things I remember about Taiman Square: it was full of people and it was huge. Our tour guide said it could fit I think a million Chinese people and 500,000 foreigners ( that was a little joke she made). The issue is China has 1.3 million people so what are you going to do with the other .3 million people? I guess they can squeeze in too.
The People’s Hero Monument was the most recognizable monument for me personally. When you think of China you think of General Mao and then you think of this long wall with his face on it. Many people may not know the name of this actual monument but if they saw it they would recognize it. Its featured on tv whenever China is being discussed.
Well, tomorrow is silk street and then the plane. I’ll probably update you one last time to conclude the trip. Until then.
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