Beijing Aquarium

More about yesterday.....

While the zoo wasn't anything special (except for the pandas) the aquarium (in the same park) was really something. Its a HUGE building with six different themed areas (coral reefs, sharks etc) and a show pool like Sea World.

We spent the hot part of the day there and had a good time with the fish. A nice touch for kids was the ready availability of multiple craft booths where for $2-3 Rachel had fun making bead necklaces and a Hello Kitty window sticker.

Walking around such a major attraction in Beijing, filled to the walls with mostly Chinese tourists really makes the point about the huge variety of ethnic backgrounds in China. Something like 50+ "minorities", many of which have distinct looks.

We saw a few anglo tourists and got plenty of "looks" at the family consisting of a tall dark guy with a beard, a blond woman and a little Chinese girl!

Somewhat to my surprise, the level of English spoken at the fast-food outlet was low to none, still we managed to get something to eat by a lot of pointing! (I gave up trying to get french fries after many efforts of trying, much to Rachel's disappointment.)

After spending a very hot day walking around we understand better the ubiquity of parasols.
The parasols tend to be light in color, pretty and do a good job of keeping the sun off of you, but don't actually change the air temperature. Rachel's attempt at a parasol was limited to a black rain umbrella which didn't seem to help much as her comment was "It's hot in China". We have to agree. So we look for ways to stay cool, drinking lots of water, moving slowly from shady tree to shady tree. (Though Rachel tends to run, making her hotter), looking for air conditioned buildings, swimming in the (almost heated) indoor pool at the hotel and eating ice cream. (if you can get through it, before it melts)

Simon