Under the Weather

We spent the first four hours of the day walking around the city looking for a guide book on China to help us throughout the next six weeks. For some strange reason, they have every guide book except the one for China. I wasn't prepared to waste a moment longer looking for it and suggested that we take a cab to the temple of heaven. We could photocopy parts of the guide book that we need at the hostel. I developed a cold yesterday and unfortunately it's worse today so I had very little patience. Before jumping in a cab we visited the famous silk market nearby where you can find cheap shirts and just about anything made in China. The 5 storey building was full of fake designer clothing and made to measure suit companies. All the shop owners shouted "hello" as I walked by hoping to get our attention. One women even tried to tempt me with her cashmere sweaters. I said "Are you insane? It's 100 degrees outside and you're selling jumpers?". We catch a cab and go straight to the grounds of the temple. I was a little under the weather so I wasn't too enthusiastic and felt sorry for Ali who had to put up with my moaning. The gounds consisted of temples and gardens - each with a unique history, purpose and story. The one I enjoyed the most was the wall of whispers which was a perfectly round wall surrounding one of the temples. You could whisper something close to the wall and the sound supposedly travels all the way around so that someone else can hear it if they put their ear next to the wall. We tested and it worked.

Today I really felt bad a didn't write much. I suffered through dinner with some of our room mates Barbarah, Phil and Matt before excusing myself early. I think it's ridiculous how we haven't found a cure for the common cold.