Day one in Beijing

We arrived late on 11-19. Got to our hotel at 1 am. We had no problems sleeping at night. Neither of us slept on the plane.

We had a good breakfast buffet. I'll take some pictures later to show you some of the unusual options.

We met our travel friends today and toured with them. Many of our tour spots are assigned by the government. You saw the buses dropping all the "foreigners" off at these sights. First stop the Jade factory.
Here is someone carving the jade.

3 things we learned about jade:
1) There is hard and soft jade. The hard jade is rarer called "jadeite" and used to make jewelry. The soft jade is used to make sculptures.
2) Jade is like diamonds in the US. There are 3 grades of Jade- A, B, C. A being the most pure.
3) Jade is suppose to "share" its mineral component with the wearer.

THE GREAT WALL of CHINA



Then we were off to the Great Wall. We went to the non machine side, meaning no machines were used to make or fix this part of the wall. It was very steep.
Christine tried to go up but her fear of heights took over and had to stay at the lower part. Kurt took the hike and got some great pictures. Three things we learned about the Great Wall:
1) It was created to keep the enemies out and used by many dynasties.

2) the wall officers used smoke to communicate along the wall to warn the town. The special smoke during the day was made from wolf dung (poop). This smoke is darker and goes straight up. They used regular wood for night fires.
3) It is 8700 km long.


We needed a break and had lunch- family style with the food in middle. It was fun. We did not get to choose what we wanted but there was a variety. Where we ate was another gov sanctioned restaurant with a gift shop below that you had to go in and out.
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We took a short trip to where the Summer Olympics in 2008 were held.

We saw where the torch was placed.
The "Bird Cage". Amazing architecture!

And the "Water Cube" where swimming was held. The place was kept very clean.

The evening ended with a flying acrobatic show. Very entertaining some highlights (I couldn't get a good picture):
10 girls on a bike while it was moving in a circle.
2 guys in a dual hamster ball wheel in the air moving it around in a circle while jump roping.

Over all, Beijing feels very safe. They are use to foreigners. There is a lot here that we are not going to be able to see. There are the Ming Tombs, the Forbidden City, and so much more. I think it would be a great place to visit and stay longer.
we were so tired and fell asleep at 7 pm Beijing time. Which is why at 3 am we are awake posting this:)
We leave Sunday afternoon for Tianjin.