Got out at 8.15 and hired a bike again to ride to Panjiayuan Markets which has all sorts of Chinese arts and crafts and nic-nacs, recommended by the guide books. I actually managed to bargain in Chinese and the starting prices I got were only about double what the item was worth as opposed to 10 times at the other market. Bought the Mao ceramic figurine I've been after, very kitsch and a couple of brass things. Then decide to ride to Beihai Park but happened to pass Pearl Market which I had remembered reading about and ended up buying Daisy a tea pot and 6 cups.
Beihai Park was another interesting park with another large lake and more old Chinese buildings so even though Beijing has undergone a lot of modernising it's good that so many of the major historic buildings are preserved in the parks. Because of the lake, it was freezing.
I should mention that todays temperature was forecast as a high of -7 and low of -14 and it certainly felt like it. The coldest day of my life and the wind also created a good headwind at times and practically froze my face off and I got this tingling sensation on my skin, never felt anything like it before. Also when I got back, the bottle of water I had taken had half frozen! By the time I got back to the Hostel I could hardly speak, I was so numb. After 15 minutes defrosting I ventured out again and bought a few more gifts for the family before heading back to the first restaurant I went to for another serving of Peking Duck plus a bowl of seafood and tofu soup that was actually big enough for a group of people but the whole meal still only cost me about $AUS10 and this was at a more up-market restaurant.
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