Around town

It wouldn't be fair for me to blog about my trip to Beijing and only show you the touristy spots. 

The streets of Asia are almost always some of the most interesting places you will see.  There are usually a ton of people, hawker stalls selling food, night markets and interesting buildings.

I like to see the signs in different languages.  I especially like them when they use Asian letters instead of Western letters.  It is a really simple thing but it very quickly reminds you that you are in a completely different part of the world.

The night markets are some of the most interesting places to wander through.  Some of them are primarily focused on goods and some are more focused on food.  There was a little one not too far from my hotel that was predominantly food but they also sold tourist gifts.  It is a cheap way to pick up souvenirs for people back home.

One of the fun things about the night markets is that you are almost expected to haggle on the price. 

You start out by asking how much...

The vendor pulls out a calculator and types in a price which is typically insanely priced (my friend was quoted the equivalent of $100 US for two cheap t-shirts)...

You say no...

The vendor asks how much you pay...

You type in your number which is typically much, much, much lower than the price they quote...

They type in a counter offer...

You decline because the price too high...

You start to walk away while they are typing in more prices...

You say no...really start to walk away...

They give you the price you originally typed in...all why cursing in the local language...I'm not really sure they are cursing but it really sounds like that...

I love it!  Everybody should haggle with a street vendor at least once in their life and I get to do it all the time!

So, some of the food vendors can be interesting.  There are a lot of things here that I have no idea what they are.  A lot of the time I'm happy to try them...some of the time I just flat out refuse...

Yep, those are starfish...if you double-click on the picture to blow it up you'll see that those are bugs on the sticks in the buckets.  The one thing that you cannot tell from this picture is that the bugs were still moving...ick...and now for the true ick factor...

 

Once again...double-click on the picture to check out these tasty looking local delicacies.  Those are exactly what you think they are...marinated critters...people were eating them...ick...ick...ick!  Would be daring enough to try them?

One of the very noticeable things in Beijing were the number of bicycles on the road.  They have dedicated bike lanes and tons of people use them.  I'm not sure I'd want to cycle in the smog there but it is nice to see people cycling around.