How much?

I had a final meal before leaving the fancy hotel, which consisted of a club sandwich and a bottle of water. I noticed that my bill was much higher than expected. Puzzled, I took a closer look at the description on the check and found that the bottle of Evian was 45 RMB. If you do the math, that equates to $6!!! OMGWTFBBQ?!!! My meal was 75 RMB, that should give you some perspective on how much the water is.

I took the Beijing subway to Tianmen Square after paying for the $6 water. The subway is fairly new and very clean, and it only costs 3 RMB per trip, that's less than $.40. I hadn't planned to tour the Forbidden City since I've seen it a few times but couldn't help myself when I got there. The Forbidden City was the home to 24 emperors and is the largest and most complete imperial palace and ancient building complex in the world. It extends 753 meters from east to west, and 961 meters from north to south, and covers a total area of 720,000 square meters. Obviously, I didn't see the whole thing but did feel like I needed new feet by the end of the day.

I took a very long cab ride to where my family lives near the northern border of Beijing, and I'm now in "real China" where not everything is so fancy, not everywhere is so clean, and not everyone is so friendly...ahhhh, it's good to be home :) I'm with my aunt and uncle, who are always great to me, and my cousin, whom I haven't seen in 11 years. I played a trick on him by pretending to ask for directions and he didn't recognize me until I followed him all the way to his house!

The rest of the week has been planned out and it will begin with The Great Wall of China! I am ever so excited!