Exploration of the pool room/gaming room.

I spent most of Tuesday night in the lounge/pool room with some guys I had met in the bar (Cody and Pat). There was a guy from Bangladesh that we called TJ, another guy from Germany (I can't recall his name) and a guy from Columbia named Santiago. They grabbed a few beers at the shop next door and hung out. We played some soccer on the PS2 and basically just had some fun. Every once in a while we'd run out on a booze run to get some more before going back to the room. A beer costs 3 kuai. The bottles are huge. I also went back to the night market to get some lovely shots of the various foods that they offered and tried one of the wraps. It was supposed to be chicken but I doubt it was since the meat was really stringy. I'd rather not think about what it really was. I couldn't finish it.

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 6 to get ready. I was meeting up with a girl named Laura so we could go visit the Temple of Heaven. She was traveling with two of the other guys I had met the night before. She's a dance teacher back home. We made our way to the metro and easily found our way into the temple. That place is gorgeous. I've been there before with Kevin but it was really cool to be able to wander off the path and explore other parts of the temple. I encountered an awesome rose garden. There was a huge group of people performing Tai Chi in the park while some others were singing together. It was really neat. We got back to the hostel at around 11.30 in the morning to see if Cody and Pat were awake. They drank quite a bit the night before so they were a little hung over when they finally woke up. We went our separate ways for the afternoon and I walked to the Forbidden City. It took me about 20-30 minutes to walk there and then once inside I made sure to mostly stay away from the main touristy line. The city was pretty empty. I walked along the more ruined part of the city and it was gorgeous. A lot of the paint was chipping off the walls while where there'd normally be brightly colored illustrations on the ceiling it was black and fading. I absolutely loved it. I finished off the card I got in Hangzhou and put in one of my cards from Shanghai. I had cleared out some of my bad shots and made enough room for another 130 pictures. I eventually left as the place was closing and made my way back to the hostel. I was going to take the metro but I decided that the distance was about the same if I were to walk back and I could save 2 kuai for a bottle of water.

When I eventually did get back to the hostel I found my way to the pool room and collapsed on the couch. Cody, Pat, and one of my new roommates were there, playing soccer on the PS2. I can't remember the guy's name but he's from South Korea. We chilled and relaxed for an hour or so until we decided to get up for dinner. I went out with Cody, Pat, and Laura at a restaurant nearby. They ordered some sweet and sour chicken as well as some chicken, zucchini and peanuts with 4 bowls of rice. The food was great! We split the bill 4 ways and it only cost us 21 kuai. It was awesome. After diner I went online for a bit before I went back to the pool room and hung out with the guys. We watched the movie The Waterhorse before I went to bed.

We've also established that there's a really creepy guest staying here. Kevin's met the guy when he was in Beijing. He's studying in Beijing or something while staying at the hostel instead of a hotel. His name is Jamie and man he's freaky. Last night he asked if he could touch my face when I told him no he asked if he could touch my legs. I told him no and backed away from the guy. He left shortly after. He's been very clingy creepy whenever we're around. We also suspect he has a huge crush on Cody since he constantly asks about him and tries to touch his muscles. Cody and Pat are football players back home. They've gotten into college with a football scholarship which is absolutely awesome.

I've also uploaded some more images to Photobucket for you to view. The URL is http://s493.photobucket.com/albums/rr297/Vamaena/ Enjoy!