An Afternoon on Wangfujing Street

Yesterday Chris and I embarked on an adventure to Wangfujing Street.  This street consists of nothing but shopping and MORE shopping.  This was our second time visiting Wangfujing.  The purpose of our first trip was to visit the foreign language book store to purchase books/software to help us learn mandarin.  During yesterday's trip, we revisited the book store to see what else they had to offer.  There were apparently three more floors.  First, we went to the fourth floor and had a look at their DVD selection.  There were a good number of American movies to choose from, but we decided we really didn't need anything. It was good to know where we could find American movies.  The next floor down had loads of books in English, as well as a sheet music section.  The selection wasn't great, but I was surprised to find the Barenreiter edition of Mozart Concerto in D Major.  Thankfully I own the same edition, as the text in this copy was of course all in Chinese.  One of the highlights of the day was actually when we were leaving the store.  We were in the same elevator as two french women and Chris started talking to them in French.  I knew he could speak some French, but I've never really heard him before.  Needless to say, I thought it was totally sexy! 

After the bookstore we went to the pharmacy, grabbed a few things, then headed towards the mall across the street.  The mall was gigantic!  There were seven floors, though half the stores were covered with signs saying "Coming Soon!."  We walked around for a long time, then took a break for a late lunch at Pizza Hut.  We are mega pizza eaters, and to go almost two weeks without pizza was very difficult for us.  This Pizza Hut was definitely the nicest one we've ever been too.  The interior looked like a nice modern restaurant, and they had a hostess and servers (I don't think normal Pizza Huts have a full staff?).  The menu also had dozens of specialty drinks.  I've come to realize the Chinese love their drinks, as there is so much variety everywhere you go!  Drinks aside, they also had fancy desserts, tons of appetizers, and even more entrees.  We decided against desserts or appetizers, but did decide to try what looked like an oreo milkshake and a salad in addition to our pizza.  I ordered for us as Chris was on the phone with his friend who is from another province in China.  The server pointed at the drink I ordered and said "ice and cookie."  Not knowing what to say, I said "okay."  The drink was literally blended ice and oreo cookies.  It was a little weird, but we drank it anyways.  The pizza we ordered was AWESOME.  Cheese is one of my favorite foods, and we both happily scarffed down our entire pizza (with a knife and fork..apparently the Chinese don't eat pizza with their hands).  The bill was much higher then I expected.  For one drink, a small salad, and a medium pizza our lunch was a wopping 100RMB.  I guess I've been spoiled with paying little to nothing for a good meal out here, but it was worth the $15 to get some cheese into our systems.  

After lunch, we walked around for a bit, found Chris an electric razor, and started to head home.  As we were walking towards the subway we saw a side street that looked way too "Chinese" to pass up.  I'm not sure what the street was called, but it was an experience.  It was here that we saw live bugs as well as starfish and seahorses on sticks.  Totally grossed out, I of course was only interested in taking pictures.  Chris actually asked one of the guys working at what I like to call a "creepy crawler stall" if he bought one of the bugs, would he eat it?  The vendor said he would, so he picked up a giant scorpion, fried it, and ate it right in front of us.  My camera was acting weird (as all electronic devices seem to do as soon as I touch them), so I lost the picture I took.  Though it was an experience, we kind of got ripped off.  We thought it would only cost 15RMB, turns out it cost us 50RMB.  That's not horrible, but still.  We actually think we almost got ripped off on the way in and the way out of Wangfujing.  On the way in there were two Chinese girls talking to us about how they were artists studying in Beijing.  They really wanted to take us to their gallery so we could see.  They seemed nice enough, and Chris at one point said sure, but after reading about numerous experiences where American's were scammed in touristy areas, I came up with an excuse and respectfully declined.  At that point we weren't sure if they were trying to scam us or not, but on the way out we were approached by a guy with the same story.  Needless to say, I'm glad we said "no."

Side street entrance

Walking down the street.

I like the red lanterns!

Bugs...on sticks...to EAT!!!!

Tarantulas!

All in all it was a nice afternoon.  It was nice getting out of the apartment for a little bit, and to have some alone time with my Chris.  I think we're all going to stay in today, at least until dinner tonight.  We're planning on going to this hot pot place near our house.  Cecelia hasn't been yet, and the rest of us loved it the one time we went.    Until next time!

-B