The next morning after the wedding, the family and relatives decided to head to Bei Jing Lu, or Beijing Road for some shopping.

Besides being known for the shopping, Bei Jing Lu was also where excavators found thousand year old cobblestone streets in three separate layers, one on top of another, from different Chinese dynasties.

I couldn’t get a good photo because of the reflection of the protective glass (sponsored by Coca-Cola no less) but trust me, it was impressive and fascinating. Here’s the link to the large version of the photo for a better look.

Anyway, the shopping on that street was excellent.

Not only were there major sales going on in most of the stores, but the main boulevard splits into 2 smaller streets. It was quite a lot to explore. This is my uncle Karl in the centre of the photo with the shoulder bag.

With this much capitalism going on, you’d forget that you are in a communist country.

Some parts have this interesting mix of old and new.

And because it was a month away from Chinese New Year, there were these red lanterns hung down the stretch of the road.

My impression of China during that day? There’s a mild identity crisis for sure but it’s fascinating nonetheless.

And I will leave you with two photos taken on the taxi ride back to the hotel.

This one is almost hypnotic.

And this was only the beginning of the trip. More to come!