Today we made our way to the Beijing Zoo. We started off by seeing the pandas, which is a separate fee from the rest of the zoo. The first panda exhibit was disappointing because they were sleeping, but the second one was a success. There was one panda that had a lot of energy and was running around the enclosure. He also got up on a tire swing and put on a show for the crowd which was really neat. The zoo also had a lot of other cool animals that were entertaining. My favorite part was probably the bears because they were being thrown food and were standing on their hind legs asking for more. There was also a white tiger, panther, and leopard that paced around small cages, but looked really cool. Unfortunately, the trip was a little rushed and there wasn’t time to see everything we wanted, like the aquarium, which was also a separate fee.
After the zoo, we went to a fast food restaurant that had pretty good food and was in the same building as a Dairy Queen. Of course, we had to get dessert when we finished lunch, but we then made our way to the market to shop. This was a very different experience that you can’t really find in America. There were three huge buildings with many floors full of shops. These shops had name brand items, mostly all fake, but very good prices that could be bargained for even less. I didn’t end up buying anything, but it was still fun to walk around and see everything.
Later, we walked around the area surrounding the hotel and found another market to shop at. Here they had really cheap, but fake, Rolexes that I couldn’t pass up. We also ate at another American food place called Grandma’s Kitchen, which had any kind of food you could think of and was very good. Finally, we ended the night by going to an area known for Chinese nightlife called Ho Hai. This place was very pretty since it was covered in lights and surrounded a body of water. It was a little surprising to see how many people were out on a Wednesday night!