Shopping In Beijing

Today is our last day in China. Kenton was the first one up, and he went out to get us some food for breakfast. He found some ‘bing’ (Chinese flatbread) which you can purchase from outside vendors on carts. I’ve been wanting to have some of this ‘bing’ since we’ve been back. The flatbread is folded up, and inside there is a layer of egg, along with some ‘jiang’ (thick sauce). This one also had some green leafy vegetable in it. It was so delicious!

After eating, we went to Xin Xiu Foreign Trade Market, a large market that sells all sorts of goods that are made in China, but sent abroad for sale. This market is located underground beside the subway entrances and exits. We didn’t spend much time shopping there, but we did purchase a Wii game. It cost less than half the price in the States.

We then went again to the Silk Store. The Xin Xiu underground market is connected to the Silk Store at one point, so it was easy to go from one store to the other. We walked and walked around getting gifts for my family. I would’ve loved to stay all day, but since I was carrying Brian, and Kenton was carrying Justin the whole time, we could only shop in spurts of about one and a half hours (yesterday and today).

Kenton is an excellent bargainer. He would continue to bargain and bargain and get the prices down really low. I would think a price was already very low, and he would somehow manage to get it another 10-30 yuan lower. I would walk away with Brian and Kevin when he began the bargaining process, so that the vendors wouldn’t hear us speak English. If they did, they wouldn’t drop their prices. Kenton would go to one vendor that had an item we wanted and offer a ridiculously low price, then gauge their reaction. If they looked offended, he would go to another vendor and offer a little higher price. That way, he could gauge about what price he could get, then continue bargaining with yet another vendor until he got that price.

We bought a few items which were for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. We made sure to purchase from authorized dealers so that the items were authentic, not knock-offs. The genuine items have special tags on them that have the Beijing Olympics seal, along with a hologram 2008 above it. There were many collectible items that I would’ve loved to get, but they were a bit on the expensive side. I can’t wait to come back to China next time to do more shopping!

For lunch, we went to Pizza Hut. I was expecting a regular Pizza Hut like here in the States – it was that way 12 years ago. We were shocked as we walked in. It is a full-scale restaurant, decorated very tastefully, modern and upscale. The service was impeccable, and the menu had appetizers, meals, drinks, and desserts along with pizza. There was Mexican music playing in the background, which added an energetic feel to the place. It had a feel of That’s Amore, Macaroni Grill, and Olive Garden with an added upscale restaurant feel. Why isn’t Pizza Hut done like this in the States?

We then went back to our hotel to check-out. We were met by a two people from the college to see us off, and the person who brought us to the airport, was the same person who picked us up weeks ago.

The plane was once again about 13 hours long. We arrived in the evening, and Mom, Darrell, Shar, and Jaiden were there to meet us. Dad was circling around the airport with the car. It was so nice to see my family again, and especially wonderful to get back home. It was around 10 pm when we walked into the house, and we visited for a couple of hours. Family and home sweet home – what a great way to end an awesome vacation!

The boys: Kevin got another Transformer toy while shopping. Justin wanted to get a Cars Chick Hicks, but the vendor wouldn’t sell it separately. She wanted us to purchase the whole set of 12 Cars at a ridiculously high price. Justin said that he wanted the car to be a smaller size anyways.

At the Beijing Airport, after checking in, we had about 45 minutes until we could board our plane. We found a play area, and the boys enjoyed watching Tom & Jerry with several other children who were waiting to board also.

Brian was very tired on the plane ride home. Many of the passengers got to hear how well his lungs and vocal cords work, much to our chagrin - but once he fell asleep, he was out for over 5 hours straight.

The boys were happy to get home and play with their toys once again. They all played with their cousin while we adults talked. Everyone says that each of the boys grew taller while on vacation.