I got up a little later today around 7:30. We went to breakfast again in the hotel. I pretty much just get the same food at breakfast everyday. After breakfast, we hopped onto a bus and began our trip to the Beijing Zoo. Once we arrived at the zoo, our first stop was the Panda exhibit. The first two that we saw were in the back corners of their cage facing the gate that zookeepers enter and exit from. That was a little disappointing. Fortunately, there were multiple cages with pandas. The next cage had four pandas in it. Of course, three of the four would be sleeping when we got there. The one that wasn’t was really playful though. It got up on a little tire swing and relaxed for a little bit. I must say, they have the name Giant Pandas but they are very “giant”. They are really neat animals though. I have seen them all over T.V. and the Internet but it was neat to finally see them in person. After the panda exhibit, we walked around the rest of the massive Beijing Zoo. We saw so many sleeping animals. There were a lot of small cages too. I especially felt bad for the lions, which are huge and had some of the smallest cages there. On a brighter note, I did see some neat birds that I haven’t seen at any other zoo that I have been to. After the zoo, we ate lunch at a Yoshinoya that shared a building with a Dairy Queen. I got a beef and chicken on rice meal. I must say the beef was really good. After lunch we had some Dairy Queen. When we finished, we walked over to a huge market. The buildings were just covered from wall to wall with little shops full of knock-off clothing and shoes. It was a neat experience. I got a cool “Ralph Lauren”; as it says on the button, poio. I wouldn’t mind going back to a place like that. After the market, we went back to the hotel and walked around the area. We found a neat market on the street where we were able to get some nice “Rolex” watches.
For dinner, the entire group decided to go to a restaurant in the U Center that was called Grandma’s Kitchen. It was a nice American restaurant where I had some good chicken fingers and fries. After dinner, we went to see some nightlife in Beijing. We all got in taxis; which was an interesting experience, and went to a place called Houhai. It was a lake that was just surrounded by bars. All of the bars were lit up and reflecting on the water. It was a really neat experience. Overall, it was a really good day.