Changfeng Garden Hotel Beijing

... saw a Pizza Hut that looked like Chino Latino inside. It was very fancy. We did not go in. We also went into a store that had Lady Gaga playing. All the workers started to skip up to us and dance around saying "hello!" I was just happy to be hearing LG.

The next day I went to an Ancient Chinese Observatory with Graham and one of his friends, Alex. They had a lot of tools that they used hundreds of years ago to predict the ...

... in the act of buying thread, he concluded that he must have shifted his quarters over here, and hence it was that his messengers came to fetch him. I gave him a clear account of the various circumstances (of his misfortunes), and the Magistrate was for a time much distressed and expressed his regret. He then went on to make inquiries about my grand-daughter, and I explained that she had been lost, while looking at the illuminations ...

... really delicious. We even watched them cut the duck in front of us! I also tried my first chinese beer, which was pretty mild and good. After that, we got in the bus once again to go to Boeing corporate. On the way, we saw the tallest building in Beijing, their financial center. At Boeing, we talked to a man named Ken. He told us about international business and how much China has changed in just the past 40 years. He made some really interesting points about the importance of ...

... away from where I was staying, and rather near to where she was. "Do you want us to have breakfast together?" "It's a deal," I agreed. We said bye to each other, I started up the Xidan Beidajie, and she went down to the Xidan underground station. Of course, my day didn't quite end with my return to the hotel. I was going to meet Maggie after her work this evening again. I had quite a few friends in China and I knew that unfortunately I wouldn't be able to see them all. I wanted to ...

... of the US, one man in particular was heard throughout the stadium rather awkwardly chanting "U-S-A." After the USA team finished they were mobbed for autographs. Seeing no Americans seeking signs, I ran down to visit my countrywomen. The players were all busy, but I received the coach's signature. That's right, I have a signed Olympic ticket from none other than Teodor Gheorghe. Adding to the irony, the women's coach is a US immigrant from Romania. To quickly ...

... everywhere else most of it had been torn down. They built a disneyland/chinatown style shopping area along the main street heading south from the gate. It's not open yet, but tourists were crowded around the construction gate taking photos. I wondered how they could possibly have it full of shops and create a vibrant area by the time the Olympics start. It wouldn't be the first thing they'd f'd up in Beijing though. I did manage to ...

... showed the kids our house. They were amazed. One girl said that the pool was amazing. Then Amy showed them photo's from Mihiri's wedding. They exclaimed that Amy was so beautiful! Lunch we had soup. (Boring) We had it in a special room with mum. Then Shirley came and gave us some noodles to eat. She is so nice! She also bought us some Coke, because I mentioned I liked it yesterday over the hot pot. All ...

... die Bildqualitaet auf Travelpod zu wuenschen uebrig laesst, habe ich beschlossen auf Googles Picasa zu posten. Ich w**de jetzt also am Ende jedes Eintrags einen Link zum jeweiligen Album posten. Auf Picasa kann man sich die Bild** dann als Diashow anschauen (offensichtlich** Weise durch druecken auf den Button "Slideshow") od** auch in gut** aufloesung runt**laden. Also als Premi**e: http://picasaweb.google.com/laurin.jane s/Beijing

... for construction (as is a lot of Beijing due to the Olympics). The Forbidden City: The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties", and is listed by ...

... voor velen beter bekend als het plein van de hemelse vrede, het grootste plein ter wereld. Iedereen kent wel de beelden van de studentenopstand van '89. Aan de noordkant grenst het plein aan de verboden stad. Die laten we nog even liggen voor een volgende keer, we hebben tenslotte nog genoeg vrije weekenden te besteden hier in Beijing. We parkeren onze fiets en lopen onder de Chang'an Avenue (de belangrijkste straat van Beijing) door zodat we op het plein komen. Het ...