Famous In Beijing

... in front of you alive, lizards, sea horses, star fish etc. None of us could pluck up the courage to eat any of them though.

The last day in Beijing was spent walking round the Temple of Heaven , which appears to be where all the retired and unemployed go during the day to play games, do Tai Chi and also free style dancing in the middle of the park!! What a great life - they just didn't care who was watching or what they looked like, we ...

... large expanse of its lake, and a white Dagoba dominating its scenery on top of a large hill almost as high as Jingshan) was 10Y to get it, and we could not take bikes.
It was nice, cycling around in the evening, the dark enveloping us like a comfortable blanket, the lights and beeps of the city leading the way, as we made our way to the night market. We were hungry, and we heard of this little place, touristy albeit, but full of interesting foods, still wiggling on their sticks ...

... long but we were there soon enough. We checked-in pretty quickly, and were wondering where everyone else was. We had to go through security and immigration which takes forever. It took us an hour in total from check-in to sitting in our gate. We had timed ourselves going through, and ended up only having an hour to spare in the gate. We ordered pizza for lunch, even though it was already 3pm, but we had to wait ...

... pictures or anything. They just sort of stood there. Go ahead, doesn't bother me. What's notable about the Olympics are the atmosphere and the people. By atmosphere, I mean the giddy feeling you get at the base of your spine when you walk into an Olympic venue or onto the Green. It feels exactly like being a kid again. It's thrilling, it's exhilarting, it's breathtaking, it's all of those adjectives that they use on TV because they are all ...

... house. Once inside the front door, another young lady greeted us and let us to our table. Immediately, several beautiful young ladies showed up around our table, greeted us, and started serving the table. All waitresses were dressed in the Qing Princess (called "Ge Ge") costume. Our table is the center of the house and is right in front of an golden emporer's thrown, symbolizing the seating spot for the master ...

... green card jackpot? That's not fair; it's probably more likely that they sincerely find these men very attractive. Male/female dynamics cannot possibly be so clear cut here, and stereotypes can certainly apply in the US as well. Don't we all have something in mind that we want when we look for a potential relationship? In the end, it's none of my business, but I've met a couple guys who moved here and now have ...

... out to me is the Chinese natives neglect to speak about the true events that occurred in Tiananmen Square. What do I mean? The first person I discussed this with was Stan our tour guide. I felt ignorant but asked him why this place was so famous in the first place. He and laughed and started to say because it is the biggest square in the world or something like that. And he didn't care to elaborate. I pressed him and said well I ...

... hurt so badly I couldn't eat a lot of it. We hung out at dinner for a few hours before heading to the airport, where we had a substantial amount of time to wait, so a few people started playing tag in the gate waiting area. We got stared at a lot -- but we always do anyway, so I've stopped caring. We made it to Urumqi around 1:30 am and everyone was, of course, exhausted. We were incredibly unhappy when we were told by our new tour guide that our wakeup call was going to be 7:30 am.

... that she was telling us Judy had to order something to remain in the chop. So we ordered 10 yuan worth of peanut butter toast. ($1.30. Delicious.) We left the 79 Degree Centigrade Coffee Chop and walked and walked in the heavy rain until we found the botanical garden. It was soggy but terrific with bamboo groves, osmanthus tree groves, magnolia groves, lakes and lots of colorful flowers, beautiful even in the rain. The highlight was the penjing (bonsai) garden ...

... as I am stared at watching old women carry two buckets at the end of wooden rod over their shoulders, priceless visions of a world passed with every courtyard dwelling I looked into. As the light dimmed and the red lanterns lit the sides of dark, wooden buildings, I thought about the opium dens and gambling rooms filled with smoke, things I have thought cliched in movies but are absolute truth. The walls of the city are covered in mud by way ...