2nd Day in Beijing!

After seeing the Great Wall, how could anything else get close to that experience? Well, one walk across Tian'anmen Square, a stroll through the Forbidden City, a rickshaw through a Hutong, and a performance by Chinese Acrobatics gave us a fantastic-filled Beijing day! My jet lag is a bit heavy to truly define our time here today. Words are truly inadequate. The most striking thing to me about Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City is the sheer massive size of the structures and the miles of area these two places alone encompass.

Today was beautiful around 68 degrees and loads of sunshine. Being Saturday the tourists were abundant throughout our travels. With the Olympics months away, Beijing is in a high gear for showing off its colors and pride. We witnessed those great crowds today which could only be appreciated when we had to funnel ourselves at one point through a corridor where there were 200 of us easily in a tiny room squeezing through one tiny doorway with ground threshold beams every 4 feet; trample alert! It made a NY subway look like a football arena of space. We survived and laughed it off.

After several hours through these two locations, we experienced what we believe is the perfect Beijing experience. To save a history lesson, back in the Mongolian occupation, hutongs (neighborhoods with tiny allyways) numbered to many that when linked together they would far extend beyond the Great Wall. Considering the Great Wall is over 6,000 miles, that's a lot of Hutongs. Today, due to expansion and modernization, only 3,000 hutongs exist. Our guide's (Vivian) parents still own one of those rare hutongs. So, that meant we got to enjoy a 2 hour rickshaw touring the hutongs. Cars are too big, so one must walk or rickshaw. Part of the tour is enjoying a local meal prepared by a local resident. We had the good fortune to dine with Ms. Lin who served us the MOST delicious indigenous meal of over 8 dishes of "Lion heads" (lamb and vegetable), steamed dumplings, spicy potatos/peppers, cabbage & tomato, chicken, eggplant, etc. The rickshaw tour was just fabulous in history, culture, and true Beijing living.

We finished our day by taking in an evening performance by a Beijing Acrobatics show. Stunning.

We're doing great but at 5pm we're so sleepy! Elizabeth has been a great trooper taking in the sights, foods, and loads of WALKING. On top of that, she's quite a celebrity. People are always stopping us to look and talk to Elizabeth. We hear 'beautiful', 'so pretty' all day. Many grandmothers stop her to touch her face. Today a policeman strolled by and swooped her up. Needless to say, Elizabeth is extremely shy about it!

It's a beautiful city and we're thankful for this time to take it all in like few can. We say good-bye to Beijing tomorrow, Sunday. We arrive Guangzhou at 3:15 pm local time Sunday. Now the touring is done, so let the children begin!