Beijing in a day?

So yesterday, in a crazy time-warped world (since it’s really been about 48 hours), was my last full day in Beijing. As much as we needed sleep, Laura wanted to show me about 20 other things before I left so we got up early, met Chris and John, and crammed it all in. I skipped some of the must-sees (e.g. The Forbidden City) since I’m sure I will be going in September. We did hit up the Silk Market, another famous street full of shops and cafés, Tianamen Square, the new National Theater, and at night a couple of Laura’s favorite bars. We also somehow managed to cram in a visit to her grandparents and a final family dinner (meal number 5 of the day I think).

Deals of the day: We went to a tailor in the silk market who John has worked with before and brought one of Laura’s Thomas Pink shirts. In less than 24 hours I had three copies of the shirt made custom to my measurements and a suit for a grand total of less than $200. I seriously think they must just have a copy machine where they put a shirt in, some new fabric, and push a button. They also came to her place at 9:00pm (after dinner and before going out) to do a final sizing on the suit which they then delivered along with the shirts at 9:00am the next morning. Amazing. Slightly less amazing although perhaps equally fun was stocking up on DVDs for $1 each at 1:30 in the morning before stumbling home.