MONDAY, MAY 25TH - OUR LAST FULL DAY IN BEIJING

Guard at Phil's condo


Children at Phil's condo

Pearl Market

Pearl Market and Hutong

Great lunch

More beer

I liked it

Ceramic shop

Beijing street

Modern market

Modern market

Modern market

Last dinner with Phil and Astri

Our new friend

MONDAY, MAY 25TH - OUR LAST FULL DAY IN BEIJING!

We certainly didn't want to miss out on one last outing before leaving for home tomorrow. We got up early and tried our clothes on for the tailor one last time and they were all perfect! Then we started out for a few hours on our own. We were armed with Lenny's translator, Astri's taxi book which contains many of the markets and tourist sites that people frequent, and their extra cellphone in case we got lost or needed some assistance. We got a taxi right outside of the apartment complex, showed the driver the PEARL MARKET (Hongqiao Market Chong Wen District) and with a nod of his head, we were off. Nothing is close by in this city and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the market. We knew exactly where to go this time and easily found the Pandora store where we had gotten a necklace for myself and Hannah and then had ordered several initial beads for Mariah and Eliana which we will put away for them until they are a little bigger. As soon as we arrived at Fenny on the 3rd floor stall #96 (email: HKQF@yahoo.com.cn cell phone: 13552565244), we were greeted very warmly, given bottles of water and shown the beads that we had ordered. I think that Lenny is more excited about this purchase than I am as he has designed the necklaces for all of us. The ladies in the stand have really gotten a kick out of him. One of our main missions this morning was also to purchase an extra suitcase to bring back all of our little treasures which we have purchased over the course of the last 6+ weeks and we were directed to a stall on the second floor. Lenny, once again, made an excellent negotiation for not one but two nesting duffles on rollers made of a very strong material that would have easily cost us in the States five times what we paid today. We actually were able to find the restaurant that Phil and Astri took us the very first day we were with them several weeks ago and despite being the only westerners in the busy restaurant, we managed to order just what we wanted. Once again, I was able to manage the use of the squat toilet but I am going to be so happy to get back to the western style facilities. I will have tales to tell about my experiences but I dont think that I can really put them in writing.Now we had the task of catching a taxi to meet Astri at a wonderful modern ceramics store that she took us too, also on the first day that we visited. She needed to get a wedding gift for the wedding they are going to in the States in June and Lenny and I wanted to buy a little something to take home as a remembrance of our time in Beijing. We settled on a set of two contemporary small white vases and we bought a set of three of them for Phil and Astri. We were turned down by the first three taxis that we approached once they saw the card with the address of the store SPIN. It is located not far from Astri and Phil's apartment at: 6 Fangyuan W.. Rd. Chaoyang, Beijing. +86 21 6279 2545. We decided to be persistent and the 4th taxi driver read the card and agreed to take us. Addresses in Beijing are very difficult and mostly, people tell how to get somewhere by describing the area and the crossroads and then they try to be a little more specific when you get closer to the destination. When we got to the area, he was unable to find the address and since he didn't speak a word of English, we all sat there trying to figure out what to do. We really wanted to accomplish this day without any help but we couldn't do it. We tried to have the driver call the shop for help but we couldn't reach them and Astri couldn't help because her Chinese is not good enough yet and she would not have understood where we were, so we ended up calling Phil's secretary, Melissa. She looked up the store on-line and then spoke to the driver for about two minutes giving him what sounded to us like very complicated directions. We laughed when he turned the corner and there was the store right in front of us. We can't figure out how it took two full minutes to describe that we were just a half a block away! Astri arrived shortly after we did on her bike and we both made our purchases. Now we are waiting to hear when Phil will be home. We think that we will also spend the evening with our cousins, Ted and Roberta if Roberta can get away early enough. This evening, we will pack and get ready to head home. I don't think we realize how really tired we are going to be. We have been on the move, practicallly nonstop since April 11th when we flew from Tampa to Bangkok. Lenny wanted to visit a huge farmer's market with Astri this afternoon but he is sound asleep and we both decided not to wake him.Hope all is well with everyone at home. See you soon.Love,Geri and Lenny