Day 4

Our wake-up call came early once again. We got up at 6am to go to the Pan Jia Yuan antique market. After 30 minutes in the car, we realized our taxi driver was lost. He was speaking to us in Mandarin and pointing to buildings, but of course we didn’t understand. We called the hotel for some translation help. About 10 minutes later we were on our way to the right spot. We arrived at the sprawling market while vendors were just getting set up for the day. It was only about 60 degrees (freezing cold to us!). We hadn’t had breakfast or coffee yet. We both thought it was a mirage when we saw a sign “Cafe”. Amazingly enough we were able to get hot coffee to warm us up while we shopped. I can’t reveal our purchases because some are Christmas gifts for our families, but we found some treasures. I did buy something for myself…I overpaid for an (I think it’s amazing) old looking cloth with Buddha’s and elephants. I’m having it framed right now. Of course we got charged gweilo prices and I paid about 4 times what I should have. I did get over 50% off his original asking price, but I still I realized I got ripped off. We had a lovely shopping experience and still made it back to the hotel in time for the buffet breakfast.

After breakfast and showers we went to see The Temple of Heaven. The traditional style architecture as similar to the Forbidden City, but had distinct blue roof tops symbolizing the sky. This was located in a beautiful park that was decorated for the mid-autumn festival and 60th anniversary. We spent a few hours touring the grounds and enjoying the nice weather.

Our grand finale of the trip was dinner at The Red Capital Club nestled in a hutong area of Beijing. It’s an original structure and dates back to war times. The staff was dressed in old army uniforms. The food was fantastic. After taking about 20 minutes to read through their witty and extensive menu we finally decided a few dishes to order.



Overall we thought Beijing was fantastic. I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip.