Wangfujing Da Jie

On Saturday, Muir and I headed into Beijing early to meet Aruba Networks facilities manager, Mark Dieters for breakfast. Yes, breakfast. Why? Because he's staying at the Hilton, a five-star hotel in Beijing and he has three buffet breakfasts included in his stay. I wasn't really blow away by the food, but the variety was impressive. They had traditional Chinese, Japanese, English, and American breakfast items. It was also the first chocolate frosted donut I've had in I don't know how long. Also, we didn't want to miss the chance to visit a building that wasn't new but yet already dilapidated and the service was unparalleled. Even the bellboys and porters spoke English and were helpful and courteous, unlike the man selling tours to the Great Wall that pointed us in the wrong direction when we told him we didn't want to buy any tours from him. It was a nightmare getting the last mile from the closest subway stop to the hotel, and we spent an hour and fifteen minutes wandering around and asking people for directions. We learned three important lessons that morning. 1) Google maps is worthless in Beijing. Even major buildings are not in the right place. 2) Security guards and even many people who work in local shops are either clueless or mean-spirited and not worth asking. 3) Always take the address with you in Chinese so that you can get in a cab and let the driver take you to your destination.

After breakfast, we got a tour of the hotel's gym, pool, and executive lounge and then headed out to stroll around Wangfujing, a famous high-end shopping district. It's basically a huge boulevard that has now been closed to traffic and converted into a pedestrian mall. It's a lot like Bay Street in Emeryville except four or five times as big and without any traffic running through the center.

I noticed an Hermes on Wangfujing and a GAP, but not many other branded stores that I recognized. There are also several indoor malls leading off of the street, which inside, have that classic shopping mall look and feel. They even have that familiar, ubiquitous shopping mall smell--perfume, industrial strength cleaner, and paper money.













We didn't spend any time in the malls, though, and instead preferred to stroll through the jam-packed area selling your run-of-the-mill tourist junk. We, of course, bought lots. :) Muir got a pair of chemical pocket warmers. They seem so handy, I don't know why you can't find them in the US. Muir thinks it's because they somehow cause cancer or are otherwise radioactive. I bought The Insider's Guide to Beijing, which Chris Tang recommended as a good resource for lots of things. It's more 'survival guide' than 'tourist book' and seems like it will have some interesting information. Mark picked up 13 of those pocket warmers and ten or so key chains. He said that he loves to bargain and I think part of his strategy is buying in bulk.

After that we sampled lots of the local food--some Tsingdao beer in an outdoor beer garden, some dumplings, and fried banana. We topped it off with a scoop of Hagen-Dazs ice cream at the luxury price of US $5 a scoop! So by the late afternoon, we had managed to end the day on a positive note.