Last day in Beijing

I went back to the Dirt Market to get some last goodies before I head out of her to Quanjo tomorrow. I had a scroll shop in mind when I went into the market, but I wanted to look at other things first. I ended up buying a box, a few bracelets, and some doodad before I got to the scroll shop. I tried to do better in my bargaining, but I think I still suck at it. It's difficult when the prices start out so low to begin with. When I see something I think of a number that I'd pay for it and they usually say that number. But that's way too high if they're asking it. Like this box with a compass inside it I was sure would've cost 10 dollars, he wanted 5. I think I ended up paying 3 or so, which is ridiculously low. Afte spending all the money I had in my pockets, I wandered around some more, looking at all of the stuff you could buy. The Tibetan people were selling very colourful clothing and nice jewelry. To show the silver was real, they'd take a knife and cut a shaving off of a bracelet. I was down to cab fare money, so I wasn't able to buy more bracelets I'd probably never wear. The Tibetans (ok, the women) there are really beautiful - they have really open faces and nice smiles. I wanted to take their pictures, but I was too chicken. Which is too bad. They have neat clothing; thick fur lined jackets with colourful trim and jewelry on their long fingers. I took a cab back to the hotel and walked over to my shumai stand to get two plates of dumplings. The owner seemed happy to see me and was always smiling. As I walked back to the subway to get my massage, I was noticing everyone coughs without covering their mouths and hocks their spit all over the place. It's no wonder why SARS got big over here. I'm kinda a germaphobe, so it'll be nice to be where they're not spitting near your feet or coughing in front of you. I went to the massage building and saw two chinese students and two westerners going in too. I noticed it was the two students from yesterday, so I turned on my heel and went back outside to wait for them to go up. After the coast was clear I went upstairs and got another hour massage. Tomorrow I'm flying out in the morning to Quanjo (I'm sure it's spelled differently) to take a train to Hong Kong. I saw the weather forcast and it's finally dropping under 75 at night, though the heat will be a nice.