Beijing

Today was packed with a ton of sightseeing - Tiananmen square, Forbidden City, Great Wall of China, crazy ride through town on a bicycle rickshaw thing, etc.  There were tons of tourists at the major sights; our guide told us that the summer is really busy with a lot of folks coming in from
different parts of China to visit Beijing.  Apparently some of them don't see Americans very often, and for some reason I kept getting asked to have my picture taken with some new Chinese friends.  Actually, let me clarify - some people just came over, grabbed my arm and turned me toward a camera - ha!  Our guide, Cissy, said that they probably weren't from Beijing - these are the country folk, I guess - but I felt kind of famous for a bit!



Me and one of my new picture buddies!

Anyway, we realized that the Chinese sense of personal space is much different than the American sense of personal space when we were almost crushed trying to look into one of the palaces in the Forbidden City.  Mom and I gave up trying to see what was inside - nothing is worth being
crushed by a huge mob!



Mom and I at the Great Wall

The Great Wall was amazing - Mom and I climbed together part of the way, then I headed on up to the top.  I even climbed up the creepy steep stairs at the top of the section of the wall we were visiting - I felt pretty proud of myself for making that massive climb until I looked over and saw a 5 year old boy happily playing around in the tower who looked totally unfazed by the whole experience.

We ended up the day with a great meal - which included duck skeleton soup - but I have to report I did not actually eat any of the bones.  What a wimp!

Tomorrow we leave at 6:45AM to fly to Lanzhou - and meet Baby Qing AKA Anna tomorrow afternoon!  Can't wait!!!