Aug. 17, 2008
Hey Everyone!
Matt and I would like to thank you for taking the time to read our blog this week. It has really meant a lot to us to be able to share our Olympic experience with each and everyone of you. This will be the final blog for our travels, Enjoy!
Saturday, August 16th was our last full day in China. We didn't have a set plan for the day but it ended up being loads of fun! We started our morning with the breakfast buffet at the Days Cafe. After breakfast, we walked to the Oriental Plaza to finish souvenir shopping for our friends and family. The stores were not quite open when we arrived, so we found a Starbucks and grabbed a cup of coffee. I hadn't seen a Starbucks since we left the states, so I was VERY excited to see the logo!!!! I think I might have pushed Matt out of my way and RAN to the entrance.
After our delicious beverage, the stores doors to the mall finally opened. The six story mall had every store you could possibly imagine; Adidas, Nike, French Connection, Calvin Klein, Levi, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger and Louis Vuitton. I think I could spend the entire day listing the names of stores located in this mall. It was unbelievable! It took Matt and I about four hours to explore the shopping center and I don't even think we got half way through.
Once our hands were full and our wallets a little smaller, we headed back to the hotel. We watched the finals for the Olympics and relaxed until dinner time. The night before we made plans to meet up with our new friend Anders for a few drinks. Around 7:30 we met the family on the hotel patio. It was here that we met Anders friend from college, Scott. Matt and I thought Scott had to be the funniest kid we've ever met, I don't think we stopped laughing the entire night.
We finished drinks on the patio and headed to the restaurant adjacent from our hotel. I ordering a pork and rice meal and Matt ordered duck. Once dinner was over, Matt, Anders, Scott and I were in search of a nice place to relax and drink a few Chinese beers. We headed towards the mall, where we found a few concession stands on the street that sold Tsingtao.
The concession workers opened our beers and we decided to sit on the steps of a local store and people watch. After we finished our drinks, we headed down the road where we ran into a couple from Canada. We spoke to them for a few minutes and was interrupted by a young Chinese girl. However, this young lady wasn't like the other Chinese citizens we've met over the course of the week. As we took pictures, she tried to hop in the photo. As we drank our beers she tried to steal them out of hands. It was a very uncomfortable feeling for the entire group. She definitely invaded my personal space quite a bit, I'm definitely not a fan of that... We ended up walking a way from the lady with a young Chinese lady and a man. They spoke great English and told us about their travels to the states. After a few minutes of chatting, we headed back to our hotel for a good nights sleep.
It seemed that we all had a pretty fun night excluding the uncomfortable encounter. (The guys thought it was hysterical, but I did not!) After walking a few blocks, we arrived to the Days Inn, where we wished Anders & Scott a farewell. We wished them luck with the rest of their travels.
When we got back to the hotel, we packed a few things for our upcoming flight and went to sleep.
Today, Sunday, August 17th we will be departing Beijing at 6:30pm. We will be landing in Washington DC around 7:30 and will arrive in Cleveland around 11:45pm. We are not looking forward to the long flight, however we are looking forward to speaking with our family and friends!!!
Thanks again for reading our Olympic Blog. We are hoping that there could be a second blog for London! =)
Wendy Peel & Matt Dorsch
