Courtyard By Marriott Beijing

... in the back of the head, dragging them into the streets with me, or even pulling them from their respective steps and tossing THEM off the bus… but I reminded myself that no nation takes kindly to foreign-use of excessive force on the natives, especially one where fighting is against the law. So I held my peace, silently cursed the natives, and then laughed, glad that I didn’t have to ride through 10 more bus stops on a bus bursting with people. Needless to say, I didn ...

... sack with Aaron. Then Denise joined in. For $1 we had a new toy. We spent the rest of our time at the Temple kicking the feathered hacky sack back and forth (ok, maybe just kicking it once then running to retrieve the errant shot). Passing Chinese folks would look at us a little funny and one group of older women actually started laughing at us. It was great fun! We actually felt a part of the culture (albeit, not very talented).<br><br ...

... poor people " of china live . but it was a different world indeed. these people dont have much in wordly possessions but they understand family and courtesy. i think we all learned how truly blessed we are . <br><br>on sunday it is off to meetings and a tour of the forbidden city and tianemin square<br>catch you all later <br><br><br><br>dave and julie 

... the queue and there's a man in front of me who I'm sure wasn't there before. They have a very relaxed attitude to queueing in this country. I keep my eyes front and take up as much space as I can so as to ward off any further queue jumpers. At the window I slide through the glass screen a piece of notepaper on which I'd written in block capitals SHANGHAI Z 3/9/09, indicating that I want a Z-class sleeper train leaving on the 3rd to go to Shanghai. The woman behind ...

... but I wish there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, if you know what I'm taking about. Tomorrow's a new day. We got the spirit, yes we do, we got the spirit, how 'bout you? Matt PS- I was not affected by the earthquake so everyone stop worrying. I saw my Chinese professor from McGill and he thought he felt something but I'm pretty sure he was just drunk. For me, it's still the world away but I know it seems like it's not that far from where I am for everyone else.

The Great Wall is just something everybody has to do. Maybe it cannot actually be seen from space and all the touristy renovated parts are not very authentic, but luckily the 4000 mile thing has some isolated visitable areas which are most definitely worth it. We jumped onto a bus from a local hostel to join a tour to the "secret wall," an area that was supposed to be solely for that one hostel, a decent place called Leo hostel although the trip was not ...

... seems to be made in China. That evening I went to see a variety show at the Lao She Tea House with on of my roommates. They have a variety of seat prices. We got the cheapest, but you could still see very well, and got a bit of snacks, and endless tea. All kinds of cool acts Beijing Opera, which I wasn't such a fan of, a trumpet player that squeaks, acrobatics, instrumentals, dancing, kung fu, and the last guy was the coolest some crazy mask ...

... a room where our guide, who was a little bit robotic in her presentation, taught us how to test for real Jade. Hold it up to the light and scratch it. Real jade, unlike glass, won't be as transparent because you'll be able to see the nuances of the gem in the light. Jade will also leave a mark on paper because it's softer. Lauren, as we were sorry to learn, had been fooled into buying a glass bracelet passed off as jade in Cambodia. Following the presentation, we had ...