Day 4 - Beijing

Mark left at 7am for school today and I extended my ticket to the 9th, promising to come back and hang out after the entire pilgrimage. Heard later that he couldn't make it to class in the end coz he came down with a flu from riding in the cold. Poor guy, I feel so bad now. But really, thanks bro. The company for the few days was priceless. Get well soon!


Our Tianjin talks got canceled which freed up another 3 days to our trip for new plans. You never know what's gonna come up next but there's always something. So dharma masters went for some meeting while the rest of us went to 王府井, a shopping street with all the big departmental stores. There is a pretty cool food street as well. It got its name from the well where Emperor Qianlong got his water, thus getting the name: King's Resident's Well (Wang Fu Jing).


I rested in the afternoon and went to the gym for a while (Really need the exercise), then we went out for a gathering with a local Buddhist song singer - Yang Xiao Ling. I guess she can be considered the Imee Oi of China. It was a night of songs, stories and teachings being exchanged. Tomorrow, we decided to fly to Shanghai. Not sure if I'll get internet there. But we'll see how it goes.