Changcheng Guest House Beijing

... and instructions which minimizes confusion for travelers. There is free WIFI in the airports and the trains run between stops ever 2 minutes so there is absolutely no waiting. Taxi drivers have nice cars, the signs are very western and show you exactly where to go. People drive normally and use driving lanes, turning signals and headlights.

I arrived at Beijing really late so I was completely ...

... a "government run silk store". This was a pressure sale and not very enjoyable. They explained how they make silk in about 10 minutes and then tried to sell us silk things.


I did not take any pictures of the jade store, but there are a couple of the silk.

... tons on nasty stuff...but he totally bailed! Today was the best though...we took a 6 mile hike on the Great Wall on a section that wasn't too crowded with other tourists or vendors. We took tons of pictures which I will try to post. We so far learned only 2 words in chinese, hello and thank you, I think I can say I'm a vegetarian, we are absolutely terrible at it. It is impossible!

... the restaurant did not serve, they went out to buy it for him. We were able to chat with some locals, and the whole place was cheering for their countries as the various athletic delegations marched in. (Only our President Bush got jeers, but Siscely, a local woman we had met, countered our embarrasment with cheers of "USA! USA!") Incidentally, our favorite server, spent some time as an exchange student in Texas. Yeehaw ...

... have a chinese guide! The guide sent us off up the wall and by up we mean up. Sections were at about a 70 degree incline and so we were almost on our hands and knees! It was steps all the way, up to the 12th tower with about 150-200m between each. That night we went to see the Kung Fu show and it was our guides birthday so we took him out for a drink to celebrate! Yesterday we went to see the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen ...

... vahan mut sehan tarkottaa sita et uus reissu on joskus tiedossa. Kaikkein upeinta oli naha erilaista elamaa ja tutustua paikallisiin. Tosin se tarkotti myos sita et naki paljon koyhyytta ja kurjuutta eika voi oikeen mitenkaan auttaa paitsi tuomalla turismilla rahaa paikallisille.. mut onks sekaan aina hyva jos se tuhoaa kulttuurin niinkun Indonesialaiset nuoret kerto mulle. Henkilokohtasesti myos elainten kohtelu tuntu tosi pahalta siella, meilla ne on niin tarkeita ...

... us some stuff. Good attitude and some good martial skill. He invited Sonny to come train with him sometime. It was an interesting meeting. Dude had some mean trapping hand skills. The other park I toured was the Temple of Heaven park. This is the park to be seen at. If there is a tourist park, this is it. Looking for a big name martial arts teacher who'll charge you a lot of ...

... much less than they were 2 years ago. That is still true. But people are still spitting and it is absolutely the foulest thing to see and hear while you are going about your day. For clarification, we're not talking about people spitting saliva, we're talking about people loudly coughing or snorting up phlegm, and then launching it onto the ground where others (me) are walking. I've given a lot of thought to why it bothers me SO much that ...

... less touristy but is still very much so. There is a chairlift up the the wall for these who can't handle the hundreds of steps up and the hawkers are as determined as anywhere else. The site is well out side the city and thus the air is much clear and we had a beautiful day. Part of Beijing's air problem is from sands being blown in from the Gobi desert and we saw some of that in a distant valley. The Government is planting millions of trees ...

... who took us to a part with few tourists. Cable car up walked for some of the lenght, and tobogganed it down! And in the evening, we ran around looking for train tickets some more, with everyone from concierges, tourists, to random locals on the street telling us different places that sold the tickets. Day 3 and we are thinking about flying to Hanoi after all... some LIFESAVING employees of a posh hotel offered us flight tickets for GB180 ...