We arrived and everything has been going smooth and easy so far. We have had trouble with the internet being real smooth and very slow but we will try and update as best we can.
The flight here was very long. We had hoped to sleep more but we just couldn't. All in all a good flight. Korean Air is pretty nice.
We went through Korea really briefly with not too much time to spare to catch our flight to Beijing. Our bags and guide met us in Beijing and we checked into our hotel Friday night. After not sleeping much the night before we left and not sleeping much on the plane we were beyond tired and just crashed when we got to the hotel.
Day one was AMAZING. Seriously awesome!
We started the day with breakfast at our hotel. It was a huge buffet of western and Chinese food. Then we met our guide and headed off.
We first went to a jade manufacturer/store. Very interesting to watch them carve the stone, see all the beautiful pieces and learn a little about how to tell real jade from fake.
Then we headed to the JuYong Pass area of the Great Wall. It was so interesting to see in person and we hiked up about 45 minutes. It was pretty much all stairs in the section we were at, so the climb was pretty much vertical, but the views were amazing. We hiked up to tower 9 which felt respectable because it was raining. We saw many umbrellas below us and very few above. :)
We bought a lock there to give to Bo someday. We saw thousands of heart shaped locks there. From what we can tell you put a lock somewhere special with your wife and throw away the key to symbolize your ever lasting love. We hope someday Bo will come back here with his wife.
From there we went to the Olympic stadium and saw the birds nest and water cube and then went on to lunch. Our guide took us to a wonderful local restaurant. I'm pretty sure we were the only tourists in the place. The food was fantastic.
Next stop was a tea house where we went through a tea ceremony and tasted many different kinds of tea. It was interesting to taste them side by side. We spent far too much on beautiful teas but they were really great.
Next we were off to an acrobatic show. The best description I can give is sort of a Chinese version of Cirque de Soleil. It was very amazing to watch.
Our guide brought us back to the hotel for dinner but we were still full from lunch so instead we headed out for a walk.
Right near our hotel is a walking street filled with high end shops. We strolled down walking street to another street that had a night market. We were told not to eat from the vendors but it was so interesting to see. We saw some extreme stuff (at least to me). Things like scorpion, silk worm, snake all on a stick like appetizer. There were also many things that looked yummy but we avoided it just to be safe.
We kept walking down the shopping street and onto a road that leads to Tiananmen Square. It was pretty cold and very wind,y but we kept on to the square and also saw where Mao is buried.
It was very beautiful at night and ultra secure. I'm not sure if there is more police presence than normal but we saw hundreds of policemen along the way. They are going through their congress elections right now.
It was a very long but wonderful day. We both like Beijing even more than we hoped. Today we will go see a hutong (traditional neighborhood) in the morning and then we are off to Bo's province.
We wish there was more time to explore Beijing but we are very excited to go to Shanxi. One more sleep until our son!!! Please keep him in your prayers!!
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