Paradise Sunshine Beijing

... had a meeting with our new group and leader at 6 - so we finally ALL got together at 7.30. Had fabulous Chinese meal then walked around to a few bars - finlly renting a room for Karaoke - very funny - John had accompained Timur on the guitar at one of the ars in a Mongolian song!! Finally on to a night club!! We gave up at 3.00am - a hardy few kept going!!! Sad goodbyes - a wonderful 18 days and such a fun group of very mixed ages.
3rd ...

... standing up on my first time, the second time I counted 19… I tried my best to laugh at the situation, and even foolishly believed that no one else could possibly fit onto this bus.

Five minutes later we pull up to another stop. I (foolishly) assume the conductor is going to tell these understanding citizens that there is no more room; that as it is we are a fire-hazard on wheels; that should the bus make a sharp turn and we all lean to one side the damn thing ...

... rickshaw appeared and the Drivers said we must go on two taxis instead. We split up it was ok and they both agreed to 3 yuan. Before we got to the pearl market the two guys turned down a back alley, one going further than the other. We got off the bikes and went to pay when they pulled out a card showing the price to be 300 yuan about $50,. Mike ...

... ll show the world when Vancouver rolls around in 2010 for the Winter Olympics. I even felt a strange tinge of pride when a Thai boxer crushed his opponent in the boxing match I went to see. If you heard Sarah Brightman's voice belting out mostly unintelligible lyrics in both English and Chinese during the opening ceremony, don't worry, you're not alone. I couldn't tell if she was singing in any language much less English or Chinese. But, it was this idealism ...

... to a wonderful lunch. So many good veggies here! After the late lunch, we drove back into the city proper and were able to check out two of the Olympic venues recently built. We got to see the Birds Nest and the Water Bubble. They are beautiful. We didn't get to look inside or even get to exit the bus to take a look (they're not open to the public yet). We were merely able to pull the bus over for a ...

... but it wasn't that good, so we boarded the bus early. We went to our last part of the day, the acrobatics show. expecting a circus-esque performance, we were surpised when we saw it was about a little Buddhist monk, finding enlightenment through Kungfu. The tricks that they did do were breathtaking, but we could've done without the story. It was disappointing. We drove abck to the hotel and thanked Shirley for a good day. We went back up to our rooms, where ...

... emperor, and many more. In the center of the city bridges and stairs were all carved (by hand) from marble. Dragon heads decorated the edges of the raised platforms which then spit water after the rain fall. huge hand carved stones ornamented the stair ways that took 2,000 people to carry 500 km to the Forbidden city. This city is really big and could take many visits to fully soak in, but my mind went ...

... here in the lobby, that she'll get some shoes and help me out. Sweet. She escorts me to Dorm 4 (which later I would learn has the central housing office) and they tell me they too are out of room. Then the girl asks me if I have registered. Of course I haven't-I didn't even know I needed to-so she escorts me to the registration office. At this point I begin to start having fun. I start to recognize that, ah, I see, this is just a way that the ...

... explode. I opened it with his little 4 ft whatever face just beaming from ear to ear. It was this "honking" necklace as Chelsea called it. The pendant is about the size of his fist. It's green and also from Mongolia. I told him how much I loved it and just felt SO incredibly honored that he was so excited to give me something. He asked if I would always remember how we all "pig out" at the mall when we bought some fried noodles for dinner ...

... little eatery (which is open all night, and makes the best sweet & sour pork I have ever eaten), said goodbye to the girls in the local silk store (where I swear we spent about a months' wages!), bought some more art from the local gallery, and chilled out with the gang at the hostel. While it was definitely time to move on from Beijing, I will miss the hutong and it's feeling of community. We've met some wonderful people on the streets here, and it's managed to feel like a ...