Day 16

Day 16
It's my last full day in the city. Back to the 6th ring of hell tonight. We didn't have any plans to sight see. Both Danielle, one of the other teachers I am with, wanted to get a few more things to bring back home. I also had a shopping list to fulfill for the girls and Kara. I noticed that my new shoes are no longer new after 16 days here. I am sure I have put a few miles on these bad boys.

 This is the shower in the hotel room. Friday night when I got here was one of the best showers I have taken in my life. This photo was taken from the bed.

 It was a great little hotel room. Everything you needed, clean, right across the street from the mall. After being in the 6th ring of hell this place was awesome.

 Sunday was a perfect day here. The photo below is the mall near both hotels we stayed at in town. On the other side of the tunnel in the middle is where I worked the first week. The challenge in Beijing is to take a photo without someone in it. This one is an epic fail.

 I saw these and thought I could make them. Cute little fish.

Danielle wanted to head back down to the Pearl Market. We were on a pedestrian bridge to avoid the crazy intersection.

 This is also from the bridge. I was talking to one of translators on the way down into the city Friday night and he said the divide between the rich and the poor is starting to become even greater. Just down from this I saw an electrical pole going into the house that had a gazillion wires and part of the house had scroched. It did not look good but they had laundry hanging out so someone lived there.

 Typical traffic.

 Danielle and I were fortunate to have our ride be later than originally scheduled, which happens a lot in China, so we went to dinner. We picked a hot pot place. You order the stock in the pot, meat, veggies, and dipping sauce. It was fun and tasted awesome. Our wait person was awesome. She managed to communicate and educate us as to how things worked. It was a lot of fun interacting with her. Danielle even got ice for her drink. That is only something found at KFC.

 After dinner, we went to a whole foods type place. It was more expensive and nicer than a normal grocery store. They even had live sturgeon. Then it was back to the salt mine. I knew the way back better than our substitute driver.