I was very frustrated when I woke up. I needed out of where I was staying... It was ruining my trip. I googled... Well yahoo places to stay since Google doesn't exist in China. I thought about getting a hotel near the airport and chilling until I leave on the 1st but I still had 2 full days in Beijing. So, I decide I would take my stuff with me and go to see the Lama Temple and hope I find a place for the night somewhere close to there.
I pack everything up and leave not even saying goodbye. I know that is rude but I had had enough. I got on the subway and the first one I was on I met a guy from Toronto who happened to be going to check in with a hostel one stop away from the Lama Temple. He let me tag along and I got a room for 2 nights... A room all to myself... With my very own bathroom. I was really excited and a huge sip eight was lifted from my shoulders, this guy and I ended up spending the day touring around the Lama Temple, eating at KFC... Which I have to say is super yummy. Monthlong like the US version which I almost never eat at. In China it has a bit of spice and it is fabulous!
On the way to the Lama Temple we met some ladies who spoke Spanish. Not sure where they were from except I knew they were not from Cuba. I spoke a bit with them in the little Spanish I can remember and told them I had lived in Miami and one of the ladies said something about all the Cubans. Quite funny.
The Lama Temple is the holiest place in China. Many places to pray and burn incense. It was very interesting.
After the Lama Temple the day was still young so we went to the Beijing Zoo. I was advised by my friend I came to China with not to go... Might scar my memory forever. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined but wasn't all that good either, most of the cages were bare... No grass. The enclosures were super small and a lot of them were glass so you could barely see thru all the smudge and people would knock on the glass and harass the animals. It was really sad. The elephants were treated the worst in my opinion. There was no grass, little food, small enclosures that had feces all over from who knows how long and even one set of elephants didn't have any water. I have pictures I will share later.
China likes to charge for anything extra... So there were parts of the zoo we couldn't see because either it was closed or had an extra charge. We did get to see the giant pandas... And a couple of them were the ones from the Olympics. The cost to get I. The zoo was around $8 US so for the price it wasn't horrible we couldn't get into everything but seeing the way the animals were treated was very sad. We watched as a man was tormenting a vulture... He even stuck his finger in the gate... I was hoping the culture would bite it off but he didn't. I just don't understand the people in China sometimes... They need some don't touch that parenting.
After the zoo I headed back to the hostel and chilled for the evening. Going to meet up with the Canadian tomorrow. Nice to have someone to hang out with that speaks English.
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