Monday Sept 15

Weather

• 27 degrees in the morning. High near somewhere in the low 30’s. Sunnier than Sunday and you can feel the heat when in the sun. Happy to not be on the Olympic Green today.

Wangfujing Shopping

• Heidi needed more comfortable shoes after a lot of walking over the past couple of days. Started at Oriental Plaza, a two floor western style mall. After looking at the usual Nikes, Adidas etc. found a nice pair of Chinese brand runners for about $10, I think they’re supposed to be for men but I think my feet are way too big for ladies shoes here. We moved on to a department store that was connected to an absolutely humongous mall. Gerry managed to find a couple of golf shirts, size XXL! I think the Chinese would be aghast at size XXL in Canada. We also walked around a food court in one of the malls. I think I know one reason the Chinese are slimmer, their fast food is far, far healthier- no fries, no enormous drinks, fruit as the sweet etc.

Lunch and Relaxing

• We took the subway to Beixingqiao to find a restaurant listed in one of our guide books. We easily found Hua Jin Yi Yuan, a restaurant set in an old courtyard house with a roof over the middle bit. We had beef with green vegetable, prawns with broccoli and of course dumplings. We also had two beers which was a mistake. In restaurants they serve enormous bottles of beer, I think you’re supposed to order one beer for sharing.
• Just a block from our hotel there are a couple of car dealerships. We didn't go in and see how much they cost!