Sunday was our day on the trip where nothing was planned, and we could do whatever we wanted to. We decided to go to the “Pearl Market,” which is a 5 story building in Beijing with a lot of stores. They specialize in the pearls and jewelry, but are also known for their cheap, fake clothing, shoes, electronics, etc.
We had two hours to shop at the Pearl Market, and while there I found souvenirs for all of my family and friends. Total, I spent about 200 USD for all of my gifts, which is pretty good for how much I ended up buying. After the silk market we went to KFC, which was not very good, and pretty spicy. Across the street from the Pearl Market is the Temple of the Heavens. I didn’t go to tour that because I was so tired. Four of my friends and I travelled back to the hotel via the subway, which was an interesting experience. It took about an hour by subway to get back to our hotel, after 15 stops and two line transfers.
At night we took taxis and travelled to the National Aquatics Center, also known as the “Water Cube.” This is the huge facility that China built for the 2008 Olympics for the swimming and diving events. After the Olympics were through, Beijing turned half of the facility into a water park, keeping the other half as-is to hold other events. The park is unbelievable. It has a wave pool, three slides on one side, about 6 smaller slides on the other side, two hot tubs, and a kid area. Its slides put sandcastle’s slides to shame. One of the slides was very short but by far the best slide in the park. You get into a chamber looking thing, and the attendant closes the door. Soon you hear a woman’s voice “3…2…1” and then the bottom drops out from under you. You fall along the slide and then soon are headed back up the track and around to the end of the slide. As quickly as the ride started, the ride is over. On Tuesday we will head back to the Water Cube, this time for a tour of it as well as the National Stadium, known as the “Bird’s Nest.”
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