"Why am I seeing rudimentary markets?"

For our second day in Beijing, we got out and explored some of the shopping in our part of town. There are tons of little shops all along Wangfujing Road, where our hotel is, so after breakfast this morning we walked both sides of the road.

Shopping is a full-contact sport in most of the shops here. Outside of the established, recognizable stores nothing has a set price. The people working the stands will see you looking at something, hand you a calculator with a number keyed in, and that's when the bidding begins.

It's standard to counter with a price as low as 10 percent of the original price, and they won't take "No" for an answer. Walking away from a deal is just a negotiating ploy and it's common for the seller to grab you by the arm and pull you back to make another deal.

Beyond the shopping, Shannon and I also saw the Temple of Heaven this afternoon. The Temple was the scene of an elaborate religious ceremony designed to ensure a prosperous harvest. Today's pictures are from the Temple of Heaven (with modern Beijing as a back drop).