Acid Rain

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – Maya Angelou

Day 1 - Beijing. Wow. At first glance it is a bit dirty, lots of pollution and even more people!  But looking at it from a deeper perspective you find tradition, family, country and love for it all.  We started in Beijing down a dark alley in route to our hotel.  A bit nervous to where we were and what our adventure would end up like.  Our first day we met with University students from Peking University (supposedly an equivalent to Harvard).  The professors who spoke with us did the lecture part of the presentation, which was very enlightening to see their ideas for future as well as learn about their past.  But the most nirvana was from the question answer session with 3 of their students.  They spoke to us very directly and honestly.  Told us of their hopes and aspirations for the future of their families and the tomorrow for the country.  When a 'politician does something that the people don't agree with they only criticize them for the act and then believe that they will do better next time.  I think this is a great demonstration of their willingness to give people second chances and forgiveness which we don't see much from Western culture.  The students also said their pitch for life is hope and the prospect for a democratic future.  From a typical American perspective we see their lives and political system as something that needs to be 'fixed' or changed.  Where they see definitely things that need to be worked on (as we all do in our situations) but they see a very meaningful past and even more promising future. 

The flight to Beijing

Our hotel and our delicious breakfast

Next we went and met with the Bureau of Education for China.  By this point we had heard a lot of lectures, so it was difficult to pay attention.  But our presenter had a lot of information for us regarding the history of education in China.  We made it through the lecture and headed out to find some delicious food.  

Daisy kissing the fish head and my delicious mango coconut bubble tea!

That night we went and walked around some shops near a lake.  We experienced the point to the image and hope you enjoy what they bring you.. for dinner.  It ended up being very fun and delicious.  The food cooked on our table as we sat and enjoyed conversation, dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings!  There are some very good dishes here and thankfully we have been able to try quite a few. The pictures I am attaching should show you some of what we are eating. 

Day 2 - Beijing.  Um... today was a busy and HOT day!  We started the day at the day at the antique markets, bartering like we were in Mexico except saying no is a whole lot harder!  There are about 1000 umbrellas set up with little trinkets underneath.  All the locals are smoking and it is hot and humid... so the fun of it didn't last too long.  Soon we headed out and met up with our Asian student guides for the Temple to Heaven (TianTan).  This is where the Emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties would make offerings to heaven to pray for good harvests.  The structures were very beautifully built and extremely colorful.  We walked around here for about 2 hours seeing all the different offering locations.  Next we had lunch at a local food court... our guides ordered for us and told us what we wanted to order was for 'people with LARGE appetites' emphasizing the large, LOL.  It was a pretty average size meal, hahahaha.  

The Temple of Heaven

Our 'large appetite' meal

Soon we were on our way to Tiananmen Square where Ming is buried/set out for display.  Here is where we entered the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City I wish I had done a bit more research before going, but we still learned lots as we walked around as much as we could.  So in there is where the Emperor would live out his entire life.  He was not allowed to leave.  I figure that if there was a place you had to spend your life, it would have been here.  It was incredibly intricate in color and detail.  The best part of being inside is that for all of the time of the reign of the Emperors, it was actually as it's title, Forbidden no one was allowed to enter.  The feelings here were pretty empiric.  

Now we were pretty beat and as we were getting on our bus it began to rain.  As we arrived at our hotel we the rain hit us and we decided that we still wanted to head to the Silk Markets.  We grabbed some umbrellas from the front desk and hit the street running toward the subway (know as metro).  As we ran the rain water hit the back of my legs and it began to burn.  I didn't think much of it at the moment, but as the night progressed it got worse and worse.  My legs began to get a rash and not a normal bumpy but a deep veiny red rash.  I scrubbed my legs with boiled water (because the water in Beijing is not okay to drink or put in your mouth) and soap.  Finally 4 days later the rash is almost gone.  Seriously... acid rain?? who does that happen to? Oh me. LOL.

The Acid rain effects

Day 3 - Beijing.  Today we woke early and headed to a section in the Great Wall of China.  What an incredible piece of history.  The section we visited was tucked away in a beautiful mountain area.  It was absolutely magnificent!  I think this may have been my favorite moment of Beijing.  Then we got to ride sleds down the hill.  What a perfect day.  

Beautiful mountains surrounding the Great Wall

The Great Wall of China

On a side note...

Why does everyone wanna wake me up while I'm asleep?  Seriously on the plane to Hong Kong, as I previously mentioned my fabulous Loas friend woke me up so that I 'wouldn't be tired upon arrival in Hong Kong.  On the next flight from Hong Kong to Beijing I happened to sit by the plane talker.  Now really I'm not sure if any of you have experienced this kind of person when you fly, but these are the people that continue talking... even when you put your head phones in.  This man showed me all 300 pictures he had taken traveling around and explained every detail.  Then when I finally was able to fall asleep about 10 mins into it he nudges me and says 'sorry, I didn't want to wake you but do you have a pen'.  Awesome.  The continuation of jet lag and being woken up incessantly happens.  Thankfully I am able to fall asleep quickly and to any noise and no matter what lights are on.  

And on the topic of sleeping, as many of you know I am a sleep talker and occasionally a sleep walker.  I have had some crazy things happen already.  1.  In Hong Kong I opened the door in the middle of the night to let someone in (no one was there).  2.  I swore my roommate turned into a black man, seriously I do remember waking up and standing up and kind of freaking out because 'why would she let someone else sleep in our room'???  She wasn't there... lol.  (that wasn't real, it was her in the bed the whole time).  3.  Then of course just the random thoughts and giggles that happen on a normal basis.