Last night in Beijing

It's our last night in Beijing and we've heard that no trip is complete without having Peking Duck (Roast Duck). So we went to this restaurant which is known for it and it was great. The cook rolled out the full duck (with head) and carved it right in front of us, very neat.

Today we also saw the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. We also spent some time at the Pearl Market which is where you can get very cheap stuff.

At the Pearl Market, we were successful in doing some bargaining with the vendors, but the place is absolutely unbelievable. The vendors are so pushy, but actually very friendly. They really want you to buy their stuff, some of them actually grab your hand or arm to pull you closer and keep you interested in their stuff.

The currency here is the Yuan (more formally known as the Renminbi), but it's nickname is the Kuai (buck). 1 USD equals 6.8 Yuan or 1 NZD equals 3.9 Yuan. So if you remember our blog entry from Japan, you'll remember us mentioning that most things in Japan are very expensive well, here in China it's the opposite. We have been finding some less expensive meals which has been very good for our bank account.
-Lunch today for Annie, Erin, and myself cost 62 Kuai which included strawberry juice for all of us and 40 dumplings (so yummy). This equals 16 NZD or 9 USD. Don't get me wrong, you can pay a lot of money for certain things around here, but if you know where to go and you don't always have to get the top stuff, then you can get around relatively cheap here.

Tonight we got in the elevator coming back from the pool. A well dressed guy was in it on 1 side and an well dressed asian girl on the other. (only 1 button was pushed). He got off at his floor and she followed behind, but not very close and nothing was spoken between the two of them. It was very amusing. I've heard that there are a lot of girls that wait around nice hotels in the various cities waiting for business men to come and 'give them money'.

Tomorrow is our last day in Beijing and then we're taking the Sleeper train to Xi'an which will take 12 hours. We're hopefully going to go to the Olympic village and see the Birdsnest and the Watercube among other things before we leave.