 |
| We are in the taxi on the way to the hotel... the driver was great- he knew only OK in english and LOVED his horn. |
 |
| After we arrived we went out to get some dinner and explore the area a little bit. We are staying in the Wangfujing district which is famous for shopping. There are all of the high dollar stores here, and then in the alleys between the stores you can purchase "almost real" merchandise with the exact same labels, but at a fraction of the price. |
 |
| We were a little squeamish to try the scorpion as they were still wiggling on the skewers... |
 |
| This is a night-food market- it is almost like being in Fear Factor- you can see all sorts of things to eat. |
 |
| The streets here are mainly visited by tourists, but if you go deep into some of the shopping stalls you can find foods that are eaten by local residents. |
 |
| We had mongolian hot pot which is like a noodle soup with vegetables, although you can add anything that you want. The man behind Lily is the chef, and then behind him is the man that makes the noodles fresh by stretching the dough out by hand and then cutting it with a long knife. The corn on the cob is HARD- like eating popcorn kernels. |
 |
| Some of the more interesting foods available- from the back- silkworm larvae (small and large) , mice, turtle, starfish, turantula, giant scorpion, cockroaches, seahorses, and of course, scorpions. |
 |
| After eating we walked around the streets. |
 |
| The Grand Hyatt is amazing. |
 |
| This is The People's Monument, a tribute to the workers of China. |
 |
| This is the south entrance to Tiananmen Square. The most impressive thing about all of the places we have visitied is the sheer SIZE of everything. Tienamen Square can hold up to half a million people. It is under constant surveillance and there are military guards and police about every 5 meters. |
 |
| This is the meridian gate. To get an idea of the size of it, you can see the kids at the base of the arch way- Lily is in the turquoise coat and Roan is in the red. |
 |
| Behind the kids is Chairman Mao's Museum. You are not allowed to bring anything into the building- there are lockers across the street where you have to leave your bag, camera, everything but your ID. You walk into the Museum and see a huge statue of the sitting Mao. People can buy flowers there to leave as offerings. Then you continue through the corridor and walk by the body of Mao, preserved and embalmed and under 6 inch thick glass. |
 |
| We are standing in the middle of Tiananmen Square. The kids were like movie stars here- they had their picture taken about 25 times with different people. Who would have thought caucasians are such a big draw! |
 |
| Every light pole in Tiananmen Square looks like this, and most in Beijing. Big Brother is Watching. |
 |
| A group of guards make the rounds. |
 |
| This is the entrance way to the Forbidden City. Chairman Mao stood on this balcony to address the people in Tiananmen Square on Oct 1, 1949 when he proclaimed this the People's Republic of China. The Forbidden City is another example of the sheer size that the emperors used to build to. The complex has 9999 1/2 rooms. Why the 1/2? Because God has 10,000 rooms in heaven, so to show respect, the emperor built his smaller. |
 |
| The Jade River that runs through the forbidden city- frozen over now. |
 |
| The Taihe Hall- you can kind of judge the size by looking at the people next to the structure. |
 |
| Along both sides of the center courtyard are hundreds of small rooms that the concubines and eunuchs lived in. These archways make up the front hallways. |
 |
| Even the bathrooms are monitored by the government. There are squat pots and regular potties in most of the bathrooms. |
 |
| The imperial garden. |
 |
| After a long hard day of walking, nothing hits the spot like fried squid.... |
 |
| Except maybe fried scorpion... Yup, we really ate it! |
 |
| Roan tried some... |
 |
| Lily wanted another order... |
 |
| Even I got in on it... nope, it doesn't taste like chicken :) more like potato chips. |
 |
| Good thing we had all that protein, we are going to need it for the Great Wall. |
 |
| This is a very popular section to visit, called Badaling. |
 |
| It truly is amazing to see the size of the Great Wall. I can't even imagine the effort that went into building something so vast. |
 |
| In the distance you can see the Swallow Mountains. |
 |
| The kids are by the side of the wall. They say that the wall is also the biggest graveyard in the world, holding the bodies of over 1 million of the laborers that built it and died while working. |
 |
| This is the entrance way to the Ming tombs... yes, like Ming vases. This family of emperors ruled china from 1388 to 1644, and built their tombs high in the mountains outside of Beijing. |
 |
| When you walk from the tombs back through this gate you say, "I am glad to re-enter reality." |
 |
| Food here in Beijing is really cheap, unless you are eating at the Hyatt. Some prices: (1 yuan is equal to $.15) Breakfast buffet for 4 at the Hyatt: 728 yuan ($110) Mongolian hot pot: 20 yuan ($3) Bowl of 20 veggie dumplings: 12 yuan ($1.80) Three fried scorpions: 15 yuan ($2.25) 600 ml Yanjing Beer (this is almost double the size of beer in the US, which is 330 ml): 5 yuan ($.75) and of course 3 DQ vanilla cones dipped in chocolate: 21 yuan ($3.15) |
 |
| Cars are fast outpacing bicycles as the mode of transportation, but there are still bike riders everywhere. |
 |
| We are visiting the Temple of Heaven. Here the emperors used to pray for good harvests and offer animal sacrifices. It was freezing, so we did not stay long. |
 |
| The subway is clean, cheap (2 yuan per person), safe, and really easy to use. The signs are all in chinese and english. |
 |
| Finally... 1 happy boy.... Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! We miss you! xoxoxoxo Love to you all! xoxoxoxoxo |
