Beijing Tour Day 2

The good stuff starts on Monday, in the meantime, our "vacation" is all we have to show. Today was meet the rest of our group and hit the main attractions of Beijing, Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, and The Great Wall. They are very impressive places, now undergoing massive renovation because of the 2008 Summer Olympics. We attacked the Square and the Forbidden City with 1/2 million other people. There were many groups and many Chinese from other provinces who had never been to Beijing. There were some Chinese who had never seen westerners before and would stand close by and take pictures with us in the background. The place was huge. There was a police presence all around and a couple who had been here before said there was a noticeable difference from their previous visit. Evidently, any incident would look bad for the Chinese, so they are extremely weary of bad press.
We ate lunch at a place famous for Peking Duck. The walls of the restaurant had photos of people like B.B. King, and Evander Holyfield, to name a few.
Next, we had a brief orientation at the CHI China Office, they made everyone cry. Then we made our way to the Great Wall. Along the way, we passed the construction site of the Bird's Nest, the stadium for the Olympics 2008. It is very impressive.
The Great Wall is interesting. I had plans to go to the highest watch tower. There was only one I know of in our group that actually went to the tip and that was not me.....it was Lisa. I made it to the point where you could buy a commemorative stamp saying you made it. Lisa made it all the way. She said she only saw 4 others up as high as her and they were all skinny Chinese. Just click on the photos below to see our day.
Saturday, August 19, 2006