We had a later start time this morning of 9:00, so that of course meant I was up in plenty of time at 4:00a.m. Err – don’t think I’ve quite overcome the jet lag yet. After the buffet breakfast we were on our way to the Hutong area of Beijing. Hutong is the old city built over 700 years ago by the Mongolians. The section of city has narrow streets and a quaint lake. We took a rickshaw ride through the streets and met with a local family. The family showed us their courtyard and some of the rooms that made up their home.
After our visit to Hutong we went to a local tea house and tried samples of 5 different teas in a traditional tea ceremony. I’m not a huge fan of tea, so this was not a favorite of mine, however Leah thought it was awesome. Interestingly Tom and I thought the aerobatic show was pretty good the other night and Leah just thought it was ok. I guess this trip has something for everyone.
Next up was lunch at a local restaurant. We were once again served in the traditional manner of family style plates brought out to be share at a table for 10. We thought this was the best Chinese meal we had yet. Almost all of the platters were picked clean.
The tour company did not plan anything for our afternoon so people could choose to relax before the race or do whatever they wanted in their free-time. I was interested in visiting the site of the 2008 Olympics and the famous bird nest stadium. I asked our tour guide what the best way to get there was and he recommended the subway. For less then $1 one way we could get to the Olympic Park. I was up for the adventure and brought 5 other people along for the ride (including Tom and Leah). Forest (our tour guide) had given me the exact subway lines and stops we needed and we found the subway system super easy to understand and maneuver. I wish I had a picture of the look on Leah’s face though when I told her we were taking the subway. After a momentary look of fear she was good to go. The subway was not as crowded as I think we expected.
It took about 45 minutes to get to the Olympic Park. It does not cost anything to walk around the outside of the building, but it did cost us 50RMB (about $8) per person to go inside the stadium. We thought it was worth the money to get a look inside. After wondering around the grounds for about an hour or so we made our way back.
Several members of the group had said they were going to Pizza Hut for dinner because they preferred pizza for their night before race food. We had made the decision to join them on the way back and when we got off the subway we found ourselves just feet from the Pizza Hut. It couldn’t have worked out any better, expect that the people we knew were already seated so Tom, Leah, and I got our own table. The menu was quite different from the Pizza Hut at home as it had everything from pizza, to spaghetti, to steak. Tom chose a Cobb salad, Leah a Hawaiian pizza, and me a veggie pizza (minus the pineapple that came on it. Really, since when was pineapple a vegetable?). The veggie pizza also had corn on it, but I actually thought that it tasted pretty good.
We stopped at a fruit market on the way back where I picked up some non-fruit items like blueberry/raspberry Oreos and some packaged sponge or pound cake. They both looked interesting and I look forward to trying them later.
We are receiving a 2:30 wake-up call for the race tomorrow so it is yet another early night tonight. Can’t believe the race we’ve been talking about for almost 2 years is tomorrow!
