Day 9 - Operation China, The end is near.
today we had one last trip to the silk market, its hard to resist that place, sooo many deals to be had, i was tempted again by the 1gig duo pro memory stick, chen chimed in and we got a vendor down to 700 yuan, which is still good deal considering how new these things were, what the heck i snagged it, i love the idea of a 7hr recording time capacity on it at its lowest mpeg4 level, 1hr at near dvd quality, 2hrs for the mid range, thats peachy!, next up i checked out some more watches,
the silk market excels in getting you to spend, at this point, knowing this is probably my last trip to the market i figure what the heck, lets buy some other stuff, i wanted to find the blingest bling bling watch i could find, a big ass pdiddy watch, there it was, heavy, bentley something, a breitling watch, its damn heavy.. super cheap!
next up i picked up some feng shui compasses, i remember seeing one in a film called Storm Riders awhile back, actually ive seen it in a few other tv shows as well, ive always been curious about these things, essentailly just a compass, but all the extra characters and supposed meanings behind them etc, cool stuff, i thought about getting a few statue trinkets etc, but what would i do with them, i dunno,
next up chen took us to a fabulous, amazing, awesome, killer, insert great here, korean bbq place, it was awesome, did i mention yummy, best meal ive had yet in beijing i think, i love the grill u get to cook your food on, and once again the four of us eat pretty damn well, all for 14 bucks, soo tasty!!
well the rest of today is in house work day, gonna pull some video, sort my stills, do the usual, i kinda wanna roam around tonight and seek out that last image in my mind of what china is supposed to look like, the image of red lanterns hanging from archways and what not, all along a narrow alleyway, ive seen bits of that image ive seen in so many kung fu movies here but only in quick glances behind the large banners advertising the latest apartment complex
in many parts of beijing u get the sense they are trying to hide the poorer elements, huge bulletin boards cover vast broken down neighborhoods, slabs of steel are erected over tiny streets to hide the what is behind, what will soon be yet another massive apartment complex.
stories to tell, a few good stories to tell, the gang and i retell them over and over and over for a laugh to fill in the long pauses after eating, we're all sleepy i wonder or just done, no words left, lets retell another funny story, from the mao waving watches, the ice cream vendor at the great wall, the annoying peddlers at the silk market, the dvd thug gang, sugarball surgeon, the cackling head nurse, the big american, or the poor attempts we try and speak basic chinese, good memories
i will miss chen, she made this trip possible, the team and i owe her more than i can imagine, from basic interurptations to being our guide on the street, she rocks, simple as that, its changed how id even want to travel in the future, if i go back to say japan or hong kong or brazil or what not, id pay for a street guide with a sense of humor in a heart beat, maybe someday chen will come visit us in the states
china is booming for the work she does, she could easily set up shop and make a killing, but she just likes life simple, fun,
must say goodbye to client