Huafeng Hotel Beijing

... enjoy the whole place so we just skimmed a few of the courtyards and halls which gave you a pretty great idea of the scale of this place. Our guide was awesome too so we got to know loads of the history.

After all of this fun our day was only half over...we spent our afternoon visiting a school supported by the tour company i'm travelling with. This school is for mentally disabled adults to come together and learn new life skills. We were fed and then presented ...

... but like I mentioned, we were all on info overload so I don’t remember a lot of the details to the last few places. After a brief tour and shopping at the Jade factory, we headed for another Chinese lunch, did a bit of shopping & then off to the Great Wall.

The Great Wall was amazing. There are 2 options at the Wall....the easy way or the hard way... We all took the easy way, which was a good thing as from our starting point it is a ...

... my address here is

Amber Rackliffe
University of California Program
Lanhui gongyu 614
Beijing Normal University
Beijing 100875 CHINA

Or for better results if you can cut and paste-

中国北& #20140;100875
北京师范 2823;学
兰蕙公寓614
加州大学 2312;华学习项&# 30446;
雷安丹 ...

... the Summer Palace, so we could meet if she had time. We set an appointment at eight outside the exit C of the Xinjiekou underground station. I had a bit of time to rest and then I went out again, so I wouldn't be late for the appointment. Mei appeared some ten minutes too late. "I'm late. Sorry," she said. But who could know when exactly the trains were going if they had to change them two or three times? Besides I was in no hurry. I told her there were no problems whatsoever. I spent ...

... colours. It takes them about 3 months to learn a new pattern. I think there were about 5,000 threads running across and unbelievably they create only 7cm of tapestry in an 8 hour day. Some of the work is so fine that it looks printed, not woven. After this we went for a stroll in the park which has many tea houses. I forgot to mention that in Beijing we went to a tea house where they take you through the different teas and explain the significance of the cups and the lids and the ...

... in 2004, the public awareness campaign and promotion of the Olympic Games has been relentless in every sphere of Chinese public life. There has been constant television and print coverage of the lead-in to the Games, in all of China there is barely a spare placard that does not bear some reference to the Olympics, and sponsorships have been sold for everything from wrist-watches to soft-drinks to big oil to credit card services, with the omnipresent five Fuwa serving as a ...

... bargainer. I know I didn't get the best prices I could, but I felt like they were reasonable. I bought a bunch of pearls and some faceted crystal beads, plus a skirt, and had fun looking. I don't think I came close to seeing the whole thing though, as it got a bit overwhelming after a bit and I headed back to the subway to go to my room and pack. Paying presented an issue for a bit due to a problem with my credit card which I think has been ...

... She also sent an apologetic email the next morning, which I also stoically ignored. I also made my last minute preparations for my trip to the little province of Ningxia during Golden Week (the week long public holiday for National Day). I needed to be ready for be camel-trekking, Monastery-seeing, sand-surfing, tomb-visiting and possibly even inflated-dead-sheep-boat-rafting for 10 days. But then again, maybe not. This is China, so you never really know where you'll end up...

... about it besides it was real pretty and humungous. not too many stories. one thing i don't think i've mentioned is beijing tourists attitude towards non-chinese... it's pretty funny but gets annoying.... everyone wants to take their picture with you. they'll ask me in english, and then i'll say, 'have you never seen a white person before? why do you want to take my picture?' but usually they'll be too surprised i can speak chinese to ...

... as they're cheap and great! Who knows? Tomorrow we're off to Tianamen Square, The Forbidden City and the Imperial Summer Palace. This is awesome! Angie just spotted some magpie like bird outside our window that was making a strange noise, and cannot stop imitating it. "ShhckChik-ChikChik". Very amusing. J