Amazing Beijing Sites

What a long night. After such a busy day my mind was racing all night so I slept very restless. Brent however said he slept like a rock. Lucky. I finally got up at around 6:00 to just get dressed and get going. We went down to breakfast at the hotel, the breakfast buffet is included, and had rice, congee, tofu, some spaghetti noodles and kiwi juice just to name a few interesting new �breakfast foods�. It was not that bad but pancakes would have been good too. After breakfast we met in the lobby as a group (there are 9 in our group) and left to go to Tian�an Men Square and the Forbidden city. Did I mention it was dizzling. We all put on our tired happy faces and away we went. I think the bus driver keeps a hand in the honking position and a foot on the gas at all times. It is a good thing too due to all the bike riders and traffic. Brent is convinced that the lines on the road are there only as a �suggestion�. They drive CRAZY. There are tons of people everywhere you look. They are also getting ready for the Olympics in 2008 so there was a lot of construction going on. They all seem to be very excited about this. I don�t know where they are going to put everyone. We walked around Tian�an Men Square first and took some photos. We listened to some of its history and where they meet to hold public meetings for the people in one of the buildings. We then walked across the street and took a photo front of Chairman Nao�s large painting on a building. This is also the main entrance to the imperial city in both Ming and Qing dynasties. It is called the Gate of Heavenly peace. The entire city is much larger than I expected. We learned about each of the buildings. There is too much to print here about it. One of the emperors that lived there was only 4 years old and his mother would sit behind a curtain behind his throne and whisper answers to him. (What a great mom). Our tour guides name was SIM. He was awesome and spoke very good English. He is very knowledgeable about China. We enjoyed him very much. He is from Beijing and has a 14 year old daughter. After the Tian�an Men Square and Forbidden City we went to the Jade factory. They were very beautiful things.

Then we had lunch and headed to the Great Wall. AMAZING. It was fun to drive there and realize how long it is and what an amazing feat it was to build. We were able to climb as much as we wanted in 1.5 hours. We climbed quite a bit and I must say I was a bit, no very, nervous at times at the steepness of some of the steps. I have a fun photo of Brent and some new friends climbing. It is as if they are on the ski team just going off a jump. There bodies are totally on an angle. It was funny to see. After being at the Great Wall we went to a pearl factory and to dinner. The factories are interesting. They tell you all about their jade or pearls and then you end up in the showroom. When the tour guide is done you have at least a sales person per couple saying come here, hello, come come. Then as you look they follow you around. If you express interest in anything at all they will pursue it to no end. You just smile and say thank you. Bye, Bye and walk away.


After dinner we all got on the bus and went back to the hotel. Everyone is tired. It was a long day but amazing to be able to see and experience Beijing. It is beautiful. Because of the humidity it is green and lush. They have plants lining the center of the roads that are so pretty. It was cold and raining but we had a wonderful day. Tomorrow we all fly to our provinces. The other group is going to get their babies tomorrow. We have to wait until Wednesday. They are so excited and we are happy for them. What a wonderful trip we are having so far. Bailey, Kyle and Landon- I hope you had a good time at book club and at Aunt Brenda�s. We found out today that Bailey is born in the year of the Pig, Kyle in the year of the Tiger and Landon the year of the Dragon. Don�t feel bad Bailey, Dad and I are in the year of the Monkey. We miss you and hope you are having a wonderful, fun time. We get you little sister in only a day and a half. We love you forever!! We are trying to figure out how to post photos to our blog. We have had to post via email instead of straight to the blog because the Chinese view a blog as too "Western" We found a way around the information post and now have to find a way around the photo post. If we need to we will just email photos to your emails as an attatchment. I will work on it more tomorrow. I want to figure it out before gotcha day. Love to all have a good day - I'm going to bed.