Out and about the town

  Beijing, China
Saturday, July 26, 2008

We spent the day with Yufei today, who wanted to take us to the Minority Cultural Park. This is really close to the Olympic buildings, and so we went to see the Bird's Nest and Watercube and all of the Olympic volunteers walking by. The cultural park was interesting as well, weaving in and out of huts from the various 56 ethnic groups of China.

We then went to the largest mall in Asia, Youyi, for lunch at the food court. Apparently, the guys that served us were arguing in Chinese about where Rachel and I were from. One said Russia, the other said United States (he was proud of himself when Yufei said we were Americans). I find it amusing that no one can quite place where I am from. Most say England, but now I've had France, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, and Russia.

After that we headed to the Zoo to see the pandas. It happened to be very close to the neighborhood that Youfei grew up in, so it was a bit of a trip down memory lane for her. On the bus she pointed out parks she used to play at and the road she took to school. So nostalgic.

A Playing Panda!

The pandas were adorable, especially a baby that was especially playful. I had never seen a panda so active before. We also got a chance to see the monkeys that we had seen playing in the wild on the banks of the smaller three gorges. We hadn't been able to see them up close on the boat.

Monkeys

Then it was time for dinner and to head to the Peking Opera. We were watching the story of a family during the Han dynasty that had been giving the task of writng the dynasty's history. During the first act, Yufei translated the scenes for us and we were good little opera goers with some binoculars that Yufei had brought from home. The costumes and make up are out of this world!

Peking Opera Costume

The second act was a bit different - Yufei and I fell asleep, which really amused Rachel. It had been a long day. One the of the biggest differences I noticed about the theater audience in China, vs the theater experience in the US is that people do not dress up. We could go in the clothes we had worn all day. When I had asked Yufei about this she had said that historically the people that went to the Opera were very poor and so "dressing up" to go to the opera never really caught on because they could not afford it. Well, it's off to bed for me. Last day in China is tomorrow!