Well everyone's prayers were answered because Ronnie and I slept about 9 hrs last night. It is amazing what a shower and some sleep will do for you. We had a tremendous breakfast at he hotel. We got to meet the rest of our families. There are nineteen total traveling with us, but only 9 are going to Hunan. At 8:00 we went to the Great Wall. Normally it is not that far but, they had roads closed to practice something for the Olympics so our guide, Sherry, said it would be a two hour drive one way. Sherry from, AWAA, is terrific. She will not go to Hunan with us. We will have Lineker as a guide there and we met him today. They both have western type names which is somewhat common for them to choose one so I guess it is easier for us. Anyway, it only took us one hour to get to the Great wall because the traffic is so good because of practicing less cars for the Olympics. Also, they are flying fewer flights as part of their preparation. We saw the Olympic mascots for the games and they each have a name that when you put it together it says "Welcome to Beijing” We also got a chance to see the "birds nest” that they are building for the Olympics. There is much work going on now to get ready. We made it to the Great Wall. Our bus was great. It was brand new! It was only the second time used so we felt pretty lucky to have such a nice ride. We got our first experience with the street vendors. They were very aggressive. But Sherry taught us how to say no in Chinese. We walked a very steep hill to get on some cable cars that took you to the wall. It was so amazing. It is truly hard to describe. After we left there we went to a restaurant for lunch. The food was so good. There were ten people at a table and there was a lazy susan so we could pass the food around the table. Nothing unusual on the menu. I did have my first experience with the "squatty pottys' at the great wall. The toilets are in the ground. Our guide said she would rate them for us. A three means it did not smell good, no toilet paper, and all squatty pottys; a four would not smell as bad and have some toilets like we are used to, still no toilet paper; a five smelled good, had toilets like we are use to and toilet paper. I used all three classifications today. Not any worse than camping. After lunch we all started feeling tired. We headed to the pearl factory. They had some very nice things. Then it was on to the Summer Palace. It was very hot and humid by now and the place was packed. Wall to wall people. The tour was good and informative. We rode in a dragon boat across the lake. Then we went to the silk factory. Robert you would have loved to see the stages of silkworms and how the silk is made. However, we were all starting to zone out during the tour. I got Lily and Mary the cutest matching silk dresses. Our last stop of the day was our Peking duck dinner. This is where the food got interesting. And just like he said he would, Ron sampled some interesting things. We arrived back at the hotel at 8:00 (12 hours later). I am sure we will sleep good tonight. By the way mom, the Teva's were awesome. Great idea. Well, we are headed to bed. Thanks for all the emails.
