Day 119 - Groundhog Day in Beijing

Ni hao. Friday morning in Beijing was like any other. Woken at 8, 9, 10 and finally got up at 11. Head still sore from the 4 cheap pints I had the night before. Plan was head to the Forbidden City. Showered and head off with Aidan to catch some brekkie. With a combination of sore head and generally grumpiness, it took one smart remark from Aidan and I walked off and left him. I headed off to have something to eat. Realising a moment later I didn't have enough money. I met Peter back in the hostel, told him my delimma and we went off in search of somewhere to eat. Nan Luo Gu Alley is a smart collection of posh little shops, cafes and bars. Bizarrily it took us 10 mins before we found somewhere. It ended being a bit meh. Cappucino was one of the worst I've ever had. Food was not much better. We paid and headed back to the hostel. Eoghan and myself headed out as the rest of the group were online or having money problems. A combination of card problems and the sort. Rang the PLoft to find if my bank card had being delivered. They said it had. Sweet. So off we trekked the fifteen minutes to the metro. We arrived at the PLoft and the girl had misunderstood. The package from An Post was still missing. Argggh. Okay, so what to do. I recommended some shopping in the Silk Market for Eoghan. He was delighted so that was the start of the plan. At least I knew where it was.

The Silk Market was a jammed as the first day I'd being there. Its not the best place to go when you're tired. People pullig out of you from every stall and calling out to you. You need to be in the right shopping mood. Eoghan wasn't in the right mood and didn't appreciate them touching him. I can understand. You can get everything there from fake branded jeans, t-shirts, leather jackets, shoes, hats, silk, jewellery cameras, jewellery, teas, toys and so much more. It a shoppers dream or nightmare. People are walking around with bags fulls of bargains. Haggling is a must. They'd probably be insulted if you didn't. The walk away tactic being the best. If they take your low price too quickly you know you could havegot it for a good bit lower. The one thing I bought I paid a quarter less than they originally asked. Be careful because I really think everything in there is a fake. I checked a Sony Camera and it looked like the real one although on close inspection was defo a fake. They were also trying to charge the full real price for it. So, you've being warned. You'll pick some fantastic bargains although they'll prob fall apart after their first wash or use. We spent a couple of hours checking out the 6 floors and that was enough for both of us. Just as we were leaving I came down to find Eoghan having a screamin match with some girl. He had a small audience that seemed to be on his side. The sales girl was pissed off that Eoghan dropped his original offer from 100rmb to 80 for a t-shirt. She lacked a certain finesse , might be putting it lightly. I walked up and he looked at me and explained. She was ranting and shouting how, it was unfair and he had offered 100. Another lady that spoke Chinese said something to her. The sales girl then proceeded to shout at her. I asked the girl to calm down. She kept shouting. I told her she was being rude. Eoghan looked at me and said, "here look you buy it, your better at this sort of thing." I took the money off him. Held the t-shirt in one hand and the money in the other and offered both of them to the girl. She grabbed the money out of my hand and slammed it into a box. Furious. We walked off smiling. The crowd were delighted for the bit if excitement.

We grabbed one metro and walked up through Wangfuijing St. Checked out some shops and finally got to the Donghuamen Night Market. Eoghan strolled along. I checked out to see if there was anything moreI could addd to the wiki articles. After this I showed him around the International Food Cuisine I had found a few nights before. He was blown away. It was his sort of place. Its a super idea and the food selection really is beyond belief. We agreed to head we'd go there soon. We wemt outside and grabbed a cab. Eoghan headed to the bar to read his book and I went online. Ended up watching a movie and grabbing a takeaway fish and chips from up the road. It came in a cone of paper and tasted like something you'd get back at home. It was bloody delicious. Aidan joint me and we watched another movie before headign to bed.