Day Four: We Bought Tickets to see the World's Biggest Gift Store...

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Yep. We went to the world's largest aquatic gift shop today! Otherwise known as the Beijing Aquarium. The Lonely Planet boasted it as being the largest mainland aquarium with seven awesome sections including SHARKS and whales, too. Oooh! Briana and I were pretty excited to say the least. And then it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as the Amazon section seemed to have about five species of fish, on repeat. And coy fish... really? Coy in the Amazon?

Oh, and as for those seven sections... the shark reef was under construction (I almost cried, but I guess I'll have to save the next sharks I see for the ones I swim with in Busan!!) and the whale one was, too... or maybe there were no whales to begin with. The coral reef section was almost cool, and that was only because there was an escalator that served as a tunnel under the water and a big ole turtle and a manta ray swam over me. Then there was a sturgeon hall that I don't even remember having fish in it... but maybe they were there... I was a little blinded by my rage at that point. Oh, but the gift shops. Yes, there were gift shops in tacky seaside decor every which way you looked... (no joke, hence B and I dubbing the "aquarium" the world's largest gift shop) just in case you wanted something in one room, but didn't make up your mind until you got in another room - they just wanted to give you options, I guess. They also sold fried fish at the food stands, which I didn't think was so friendly... but maybe that's what all the Coy in the "Amazon" was for. Makes sense.

After waiting around as long as we could - we waited for an hour or so to watch a seal/dolphin show which was a seal/dolphin show, again, the Lonely Planet lied to us and said it was along the lines of a Sea World performance... there was no Shamu, though a swimmer did stand on dolphins and that was pretty neat.

After being disappointed at the aquarium, we thought things couldn't be much worse in the zoo (the admission covered the cost of both) and we saw elephants, hippos, rhino bums, giraffes, adorable little golden monkeys (who were outside and had to be so cold, but maybe they're used to it?) and PANDAS!!

(A little blurry, but those are a couple of pandas for you.)

While we were looking at the pandas there was a family of women who grabbed a giggling Briana into a picture and took me alongside. Two for two in the completing strangers family photo albums (I don't count the days we were with Xie Yichen and Tony because that made us seem more like locals...)!!

After the zoo we had a subway adventure - we were pushed into the train car by people that worked in the subway!! They didn't have plush pushers on their arms like I imagined, but it was still fun and gave me a bit of a start. We were to meet Tony's co-teacher's friend, Whitney, a Beijing tour guide, who got us tickets to see a Kung Fu show at night. It didn't take us very long to get to where we needed to be and we had an hour to kill, so we walked around in search of food, but we only found a KFC. Somehow or another we ended up at this Pearl Market... I think it's cause we thought there might be food inside, no go, just more "designer" duds. There was more haggling amidst arm-grabbing and calculator prices. "Hey lady. Lady you like Coach bag? Louis Vuitton? We have designer bag special for you." We ended up getting pizza from a bakery.

The KF show was pretty spectacular and re-lit my love for theater that has seemed to dwindle in its dormant stage. The live action and sets and storytelling awakened curiosity and desire, and hopefully not only for the moment. Simple sets, but the costumes were bright and brilliant. There were many actors playing Chun Yi (the Kung Fu master the story was about) each showcasing one of C.Y.'s abilities. Some acrobatics and the choreography was almost flawless, very pleasing to the eye.

A lotus flower always blooms

Sunshine becomes a rainbow

A split second lasts for eternity

Or something along those lines was the song sung throughout the show.

My back really started to hurt today (like behind the shoulder blades hurt), and I blame it on the cupping, but maybe it was a combination of that, wearing a backpack and walking around... and getting old? I don't know. Just thought I would throw that in there. We watched "The Last Emperor" at night, which was awful. Terrible, horrible, dreadfully long movie. Uggggggh. But it was in preparation to see the Forbidden City on Wednesday, along with Tienanmen Square and Chairman Mao's tomb - all pretty exciting!