Tuesday 15 October 2019

Day 4 - Beijing (to Jinan)

Today was an action packed day, filled with bargaining and fun. This morning we got to sleep in with a lobby call of 8:50 although we all got there at 9:10 to the delight of our teachers and amazing tour guide. We started off the day with a tea tasting session at the 747 year old Beijing Drum and Bell Towers. In the Beijing Bell Tower, we all sat around a large table and tried many different kinds of tea and were allowed to browse around the store. We were extremely excited with our purchases as we were given a 20% student discount and a fantastic lucky pee boy which would pee to show when the water was hot enough! Afterwards we headed to the Drum tower which may have been our definitions of hell. With 8 minutes till the show started we sped through security to where a steep, tall staircase awaited us. With no time to lose we ran up the the staircase and made it to the show just in time, although we were close to dying of cardiac arrest.




After our amazing workout, we walked to the Hutongs which was named a pipe street as it was shaped like a pipe. The street was filled with souvenir shops and snacks where we hopped onto Rickshaws which was a bike attached to seats. The ride was quite enjoyable if a little scary.


What comes next was what we can agree on to be the best of part of everyone’s day! We travelled to a “shopping centre” with a variety of levels. The first stop for us was a delicious hotpot where we all cooked our selves meat with a combination of noodles, rice and vegetables. To my surprise not many people were keen on adding chicken but Mr Pearce and I took the brave choice and are still awaiting out digestive system’s rating of our cooking skills. 
We then were free to explore the amazing shopping malls filled with the best of the best fake Gucci, Louis Vuitton and bubble tea. Although the tea was a solid 5 out of 10, the shopping was an amazing experience and bargaining was a lot of fun. Although mistaking 299¥ for 29.9¥ then bargaining with 25¥ leading to getting kicked out of the store, Supreme shirts, Gucci wallets and LV jumpers were definitely worth the humiliation. 


Once we got picked up by our favourite DJ bus driver who dropped us off at the Beijing Museum where we had to store our water outside. At the museum we saw an outlook on the whole of the City of Beijing which was where we preformed the amazing Nutbush in front of a crowd of security guards which were not-so-discreetly judging us

After our brief visit, we went to our last stop of the day which was a knockoff Rundle Mall named  Qian Men where we had more free shopping time and to our delight there was more fake clothing and bargaining awaiting us. After an amazing purchase of Supreme and Stussy hats for 50¥, it was dinner time! Our dinner consisted of a new invention of Coke Rice (my idea) and generous servings of ancient 300 year old recipe dumpling which were amazingly delicious. 

After our fun time in Beijing, it was time to head on to the train where many “discreet” photos and videos were taken and the security was extremely mean. While our bags were going through a screening, Lucy and I had to give up our favourite deodorants and insect repellent which was followed by a malaria freak out. The train ride was fun as some good tea was spilt and we can all agree that today was an eventful day.
Deniz Dogancay













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