Day 28 and Day 29: Shopping, Dinner, Then Breakfast; Then, Bon Voyage, Kristy

Day 28

I can’t get enough of this haggling, it would seem.

Something happens to you when you spend enough time in these markets surrounded by inexpensive things.  Maybe they pump subliminal messages into your brain through a PA system.

All I know is that I am considering purchasing far more fake designer watches than I ever would have anticipated before getting here.

We’re back at a huge indoor market this morning, this one called Yaxiu.  It is very similar to Silk Street in structure and function – a six-story department store with small booths jammed from wall to wall.  We met Liz, Ursula, and Sam’s friend Mike here and now we are talking to Mike’s “watch guy,” (apparently, when you live here long enough, you buy so many fake designer watches that you get yourself a “watch guy,”) and I’m staring at a beautiful fake Patek Philippe watch, (for example) wondering how I can possibly be convincing myself that I need it.

And then I start wondering if anyone else needs a fake Patek Philippe?  Maybe I should buy a few of them?  I would probably get a better deal on them that way.

And this is the type of crazythink that brings me back to the main point:  I can’t get enough of this haggling, it would seem.

—

Since Kristy is flying back across the Pacific tomorrow, we have a nice dinner at the amazing duck restaurant where we had lunch our first full day in Beijing.  It is a national favorite, as evidenced by the twenty-seven thousand people who are eating here.  The duck is really delicious.  They give you little chinese tortillas and you make duck, cucumber, garlic, and plum sauce burritos.  It’s about as close to mexican food as I would have ever expected to find here.

—

Day 29

Kristy is going back home, to submerge herself in the creature comforts of her own bed, Costco chocolate cake, and mexican food.  I’m actually pretty jealous.  Mostly about the cake.

Breakfast is our last meal together as the China Thrilling Threesome.  After careful discussion of all our options, and considering the fact that Kristy will soon be leaving this exotic Eastern adventureland, we decide the most appropriate farewell meal would be a disgustingly huge and decadent American breakfast at Grandma’s Kitchen.  Greasy, cheesy, bacony potato skins as an appetizer.  That we can’t finish.  Breakfast burritos the size of my thigh.  That we can’t finish.  Fluffy, pillows for pancakes.  That we can’t finish.  Thick, spoon-stands-straight-up ice cream shakes.  That we can’t finish.

So we’re at the airport to drop off Kristy and feel like we are going to vomit all of Grandma’s delicious home cooking on the beautifully polished floor.

It’s gonna be weird having Kristy gone – we’ve all been traveling together for so long.

—

And now, back from the airport, we are, once again, shopping at Silk Street.  I decided I needed to buy some more silk “Gucci” (Guxxi) ties, so here we are.  And I’m also going to buy some unnecessary shoes, probably.

So this entry ends as it started: I can’t get enough of this haggling, it would seem.