Dec. 18th, 2008 was a Thursday. I woke up early but Jennifer was starting to get a bad cold. She slept almost all morning. I went to breakfast. The breakfast room was next to the pool area and workout room. They had a pretty good breakfast bar with 4 or 5 stir-fry dishes, eggs cooked anyway you choose, cereal, fresh fruit and salad bar, porridge w/ pickled vegies, assorted bread and rolls to toast and pastries. There was also cold juice , milk, coffee and tea. They eat a lot at breakfast. Danny and Meredith came about 1:30 and we walked to the subway. It was the first time I had been on a subway, so I was confused and had no idea which direction I was going. There is no decorum; you just keep moving and stay close to the people you are with, because the locals just cut in line, and its a cultural thing. Our destination was the Lama Temple. We stopped at a street vendor for an egg crepe type folded burrito thing that tasted really good. The temple had many different kinds of Buddhas, and the architecture was ornate and beautiful. It was very smokey too because of the inscense. I was most impressed with the size of the sandalwood tree Buddha, 18m tall and carved from a single piece of sandalwood. The sandalwood smelled nice.
We went to the Silk Market next. It was overwhelming. Danny and Meredith were in the process of warning Jen and I about the onslaught of high pressure vendors from the time we walked in. I thought I knew what I wanted to look for before I entered, but I was not focused enough. They don’t take no for an answer or even, “No, thank you.” They don’t even accept “No, I don’t want that”. “How much is it?” is what they want to hear, and then the haggling begins. If you hesitate to look at any one thing, they have you. They will follow you if you show weakness. I bought a traditional Chinese jacket (beautiful green silk and sequin) shortly after we got there. Meredith helped me haggle. Danny is a very good haggler. Danny has a way of antagonizing the vendors before its all over because he can argue for ever, whereas, Jennifer gets her price and everyone is laughing. I just would get tired of the game and give in. That drove the kids wild.
We then went to a restaurant and had lots of spicy, hot food. Dan took us to Olympic Park next. It was so cold our hands and feet were frozen by the time we walked from the subway to the “Bird’s Nest”. It is an amazing structure and a lot bigger than it appears in pictures.







