Day 17 - Mutianyu - 16th December 2008

Met up with Christa and Chris again at brekky and we decided to hire some bicycles to cycle down to a flea market down south. Turned out to be quite a way away and it turned out it wasn't actually on today so was a bit of a wasted effort although we did get to see a local market where locals bought their fresh fruit and vegies. We then decided to head up to the Silk Market which also took some time as we got a bit lost. The asking prices are really ridiculous and are 10 times more than the value rather than the traditional twice. For example Chris showed some mild interest in a chess set and the initial asking was 530 RMB and when he kept on trying to leave the girl grabbed him by the arm and kept bringng the price down until it hit 70RMB, but he still didn't buy it. He did buy a watch that went from 120 to 20 and Christa bought a soft toy for 25 (down from 150). It was so ridiculous I didn't feel like buying anything. Afterwards we found a restaurant for lunch and it was time for me to say my goodbyes and head off to Mutianyu. By the time I got back to the hostel it was 4pm and using the instructions that Michelle had emailed me and some advice from the hostel I got the 107 to Dongshimen bus depot, then the 916 to Dadi but not before I had to call Michelle to check which stop to get off. She asked me to hand the phone to the person next to me and she spoke to him. Luckily it turned out he was getting off the same stop so that made it easy. I then had to get a van or car to Mutianyu and once agian Michelle spoke to the lady driver and gave her instructions. Finally after a two and a half hour trip I got dropped off at a restaurant where my good friend Michelle was waiting for me. Turned out we were the only two people in the whole restaurant so they stayed open until we left at about 9.30. We then left to walk up in the absolutley freezing conditions to the Mutianyu village where I would be staying . I walked up to Michelle's dorm and met some of her colleagues before walking back to Dr Liu's house where I would be staying for two nights. Room was basic with the usual rock hard bed and pillows and unfortunately couldn't get the hot water to work so just had a wash.