Friday, July 9, 2010

Wow, what a day we’ve had, it felt like we had 3 days squeezed into 1!! Daryl and I were both up very early thanks to the time difference. We had a nice breakfast in the lobby while we caught up on emails. (Our connection seems to really only work from there for some reason.) Our awesome guide, Jenny, picked us up around 8am, and with 1 other couple in the car, we headed off to see the sights. First up was Tiananmen Square, then the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, a dragon boat cruise, then the Temple of Heaven and in between those was a buffet lunch, a pearl market and a silk factory tour. There is so much awe-inspiring history here, and the most beautiful architecture, truly amazing to see in person.

After all that, we still managed to catch a 1 hour acrobat show and again play “frogger” to catch a cab in the pouring rain. Lucky for us the weather had held out until we went to the acrobat show. Once we got back to the hotel from our most “adventurous” cab ride, we dropped off our silk duvet cover and comforter we bought and walked out in the rain for some “hot pot” dinner. Pointing to the pictures in the menu helped Daryl order the Thai broth for us to cook our beef, lamb and cabbage in. Little did I know that there were spicy red peppers in the broth which I’m not a big fan of, but I tried it anyway and ordered some noodles to go with our meal. Beer helped our mouths cool off so that we could get the feeling back (yes, it was that spicy). They served some refreshing watermelon after dinner which is always a good thing.

The tour earlier today was hot, humid and tons of tourists, mostly Asian, but again found some of those crazy Dutch people lurking around every corner! There are bargains to be made everywhere you look and squatty potties plentiful. Best bargain for us was frozen water bottles for only 2 yuan (about 15 cents). You can use them as an ice pack and a drink! I also bought a Chinese fan for 20 yuan (2.50) which helped a lot too. So far no mosquitos here, wait…where is some wood I can knock on?

Tomorrow is the Great Wall and Ming Dynasty, so I must sign off for now and get some sleep, here’s hoping the rain stops soon!

Lex & Jack: We sure do miss you guys! We think you will get a kick out of 5 motorcyclists in a big cage in the acrobat show we saw tonight, we taped some of it so you can watch it when we get home. We also saw lots of cool dragons today and Lion statues which protect the Forbidden City! We also drove by the Olympic park from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and saw the famous “birds nest,” Olympic torch, and cube center. Mommy sure enjoyed Skyping with you tonight, it was so good to see you boys and glad you are being good for Grandma!!