Friday was another day of hooky with Yachi, especially because she was leaving the following morning. So what did we decide to do on her last day in the cultural capitol of China? Go to the National Museum? See the gallery district? Nope, buy more fake handbags and some other random things for presents.

We decided to take the subway as both of us have a tendency to get carsick on long Beijing cab trips (a tendency you will probably have if you ever come here). This was almost as bad. We did not even have board the subway, we just stopped four feet from the entrance and were carried on by the press of people. Getting off Yachi pushed right passed a woman who I thought was going to try to fight her for pushing her.

We both decided some food was in order once we got to the market and tried to find the cafeteria that all markets have. We should have taken it as a sign that there was no sign to it. We kept asking people where it was (actually we just kept saying to people “we eat lunch” and after staring quizzically at us the pointed towards the café). The food was not very good looking so after finally finding it we headed back to the TCBY on the first floor.

I wanted to get a soft serve cone but the only flavors they had were nonf and pina coloda. I was not entirely sure what nonf meant and I am not a big coconut fan so I went with the hard serve. According to the brochure on the table neither of these types of ice cream cause diarrhea, a handy fact to know but one you would not expect in marketing material.

We found pretty much everything Yachi needed for presents and even returned to a stall where they remembered me and gave me an easier time of bargaining. I just had to promise my first born instead of all my children.

After the market we decided to grab some Indian food from a place up the street. It was really good. One of the interesting things about the restaurant was that they had no beef on their menu. This makes a lot of sense but in the states you will find a lot of Indian restaurants that shoehorn beef into existing recipes to please the American palate. Think of that what you will. The one interesting thing on the way there was the amount of beggar children that followed us. We managed to get away from the rickshaw guys but could not escape the hoards of children directed from afar by their mothers.

Instead of going to Bodhi we decided to be adventurous and go to the place by my house. First it is very nice, you are greeted at least three times by eight people each time. Secondly, there is no English in the entire building. They don’t even front like there might be one person somewhere that will understand you. If you don’t seem to understand what they are saying they just repeat it louder and stare at you expectantly like maybe you did not hear them the first time (even though they were shouting).

The massages were great though. With the massages come all sorts of free services like cleaning your shoes, washing your feet after they have been massaged, a head massage, a separate back massage, and a separate guy with a straight razor if your feet are calloused *cough* Yachi *cough*. We thought they were not free though so towards the end we started refusing when they asked us and they could not understand why. Finally they stopped asking and just did everything.

It was a nice way to finish the day.