Travel China Planner

Technorati ??: beijing

Today was another good day. We went to the Cotton Market which is basically an indoor flea market with “knock-off” goods. We got 5 purses total, all Versace and Dolce & Gabana for $65USD. Fang purchased 2 IPOD Nano’s for $25USD and we both bought 5 Rolex watches for 50USD. For lunch we had KFC and it was the greatest! I totally hogged down

I then did the evening at the spa here in the hotel. I received an Aromatherpy bath (30 minutes) and a traditional Chinese Massage (1 hour). No words. I had a private suite to myself that housed the bath and massage, but also a rain shower and seperate restroom.

Talk about “giving you something you can feel”. The spa is absolutely beautiful, I made Fang come and take a tour of the facilites because seeing was believing and she had to see it. All the rooms had names of flowers and spices — Lily, Rose, Ginger, Cinnamon, Orchid etc.

Several rooms were for foot massage. One room was the sauna that had a barrel tub in the middle of the room and you add water to the rocks surrounding it. We even went in the Cleopatra Suite which included a living room area (just gorgeous), two massage beds, private showers, restrooms etc. Of course they give you hot tea throughout the entire experience. Did I mention I only paid $400yuan which is only $57USD. I know right? How could you not:)
The spa is a total wellness facility that embodies a holistic approach of “East meets West.” The names of the treatments are wonderful alone. Some of the treatments include: Yin Yang Aromatic Massage, Moroccan Cocoon Body Wrap, Green Coffee Body Wrap, Seaweed Body Wrap, Sabai Stone Therapy, Aromatic Salt Grow, Water Lily Soothing Wrap, Desert Heat Body Wrap, Aromatic Moor Mud Body Wrap, Vichy Shower (This is where you lay on a table and five jet streams of water poor on you, this looked great!), Myoxy-Caviar and Pearl Anti-Aging Facial, RS2 Rosacea Mask and Anti-Free Radicals Mask. Plus they have eye treatments, pedicure, manicures and hand treatments.

This is the final entry while in China in the “trip of a liftime” blog of Fang and Wang Jing. We are on our final internet card and we will be departing for home on Wednesday and time to start wrapping things up. We are visiting the Temple of Heaven, doing a Ricksaw tour and having lunch with a local family that will also demonstrate dumpling making. Then its our farewell dinner.

We are now sitting in Beijing’s major train station at a computer that costs 5 RMB per hour after two days of hard foot exercise.

Yesterday we tried to get into Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum and look at his corpse. Unfortunately it was closed so we went back to hotel to get our cameras. Back on the street again we decided to get some lunch before heading out to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was very big…huge. The experience seems much better today when we’re warm and rested. There were so many palaces that we actually got tired of them. One of the things you really have to see if people come to Beijing. The major buildings in the Forbidden City were restoring.

Directly following the Forbidden City we went to The Temple of Heaven. The park around the Temple was as huge as the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven itself was cool but quite a bit smaller than expected.

Today we tried again to get into the Maosoleum but were once again disappointed. We caught a cab to the North Beijing Train Station looking for tickets to Xi’an. Unfortunately it was small and very worn down so we didn’t even try to find tickets. We ate lunch at KFC and then took a taxi to The Summer Palace. The park was a playground dream for any kid. No one would ever win if they played hide-and-seek around the hilly, stony garden palaces and temples. There were, in comparison to the Forbidden City, actually quite a few buildings with a genuine look.

After uselessly trying to find the right bus home, we took a taxi to the real Beijing Train station.