My dad loves the Muslim Market. You can get about any souvenir and it's quite fun to bargain for a good price. Each seller tries to get your attention and lure you in. We would start with a low counter offer and then meet somewhere in the middle. Their favorite thing to say after I offer a price is "NO! I lose money!" And then it's always, "What's your best price?" meaning, how high are you willing to go.
Here is Ben and my dad examing some items:
Here is Ben and my dad examing some items:
We also found these shirts of Obama dressed in the Cultural Revolution uniform with something about serving the country written below it and "Oba Mao" on the back. The lady selling them said the Chinese love Obama and Mao and Obama could learn a great deal about serving his country from Mao. Maybe they don't realize that Americans see Mao as another Hitler:
Another part of the market:
I really enjoyed being out and mingling with the locals and seeing how they do things and their no-fear of crossing the streets, yet they are very aware of the traffic around them and everyone just seemed really pleasant.
Hooray for McDonalds! Nicholas and I got tired of Chinese food pretty quickly. And look how people don't use the crosswalks. Pedestrians don't have the right away anyway:
Cooling off with a McD's milkshake:
McD's is always full of Chinese people, not just tourists. My mom said she asked one of her students one time why the Chinese love to eat at McDonalds and he told her that it's a cool thing to do because it's American. But the Chinese do love their ice cream and that's a good place to get it.
Another part of the market:
I really enjoyed being out and mingling with the locals and seeing how they do things and their no-fear of crossing the streets, yet they are very aware of the traffic around them and everyone just seemed really pleasant.Hooray for McDonalds! Nicholas and I got tired of Chinese food pretty quickly. And look how people don't use the crosswalks. Pedestrians don't have the right away anyway:
Cooling off with a McD's milkshake:
McD's is always full of Chinese people, not just tourists. My mom said she asked one of her students one time why the Chinese love to eat at McDonalds and he told her that it's a cool thing to do because it's American. But the Chinese do love their ice cream and that's a good place to get it. Day #8
In ancient Chinese culture, when an emperor died, he would have buried with him everything he thought he would need in the next life, including people like wives, servants, soldiers, and jewels, money, etc. This emperor was nice enough to bury exact replicas of his soldiers instead of the real thing, hence, The Terracotta Warriors. Here we are outside the museum with a statue of the nice emperor:
And I won't mention how it took us 3 hours to get there because we got on the wrong bus (Dad, the tour guide, wasn't with us this day) and headed in the wrong direction and we had to get back on a different bus to go back and then finally found an English speaking person to teach us how to say "Terracotta Warriors" in Chinese so that we could find the right bus that would take us there. I'm glad Ben and Luke were with us to figure that all out because otherwise I would probably still be on a bus in China somewhere!
In ancient Chinese culture, when an emperor died, he would have buried with him everything he thought he would need in the next life, including people like wives, servants, soldiers, and jewels, money, etc. This emperor was nice enough to bury exact replicas of his soldiers instead of the real thing, hence, The Terracotta Warriors. Here we are outside the museum with a statue of the nice emperor:
And I won't mention how it took us 3 hours to get there because we got on the wrong bus (Dad, the tour guide, wasn't with us this day) and headed in the wrong direction and we had to get back on a different bus to go back and then finally found an English speaking person to teach us how to say "Terracotta Warriors" in Chinese so that we could find the right bus that would take us there. I'm glad Ben and Luke were with us to figure that all out because otherwise I would probably still be on a bus in China somewhere! These were created in 200 B.C. and discovered in 1974 when a local farmer was digging a water well and uncovered the beginning of these amazing artifacts:
Yep, dripping with sweat again. Upper 90 degrees and lots of humidity.
The gang: Luke, Ben, Spencer, Nicholas, Eva, Rachel, and Becca:
The warriors were made life-size and each one is unlike any of the others. Even the soles of the shoes had intricate detail. It takes quite a bit of work to piece them all back together:
And they were intricately painted as well, but that has all worn off.
That night we left the kids at the apartment with a movie and the adults went out to dinner to a really nice restaurant for a steak dinner. The meat didn't look like American steak, but it tasted like it, and it was a big, filling meal - all for $10!
Yep, dripping with sweat again. Upper 90 degrees and lots of humidity.The gang: Luke, Ben, Spencer, Nicholas, Eva, Rachel, and Becca:
The warriors were made life-size and each one is unlike any of the others. Even the soles of the shoes had intricate detail. It takes quite a bit of work to piece them all back together:
And they were intricately painted as well, but that has all worn off.
That night we left the kids at the apartment with a movie and the adults went out to dinner to a really nice restaurant for a steak dinner. The meat didn't look like American steak, but it tasted like it, and it was a big, filling meal - all for $10!I've decided "Heaven" = showering and lying down on the bed after a long hot sticky day with lots of walking.
2 comments:
The Obamao shirts I've been giving away have been a hit!
I miss China...! great report Kate.. ds
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