Today was a hot and dusty day in Beijing. The mercury hit 90 degrees and the winds were blowing in lots of dust from the Gobi Desert. By the end of the day you felt like you were wearing a fine coat of dust over your entire body. Even under those conditions we ventured out for a day long tour of Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and the narrow back streets of Old Beijing. We started off bright and early (8:30) at Tiananmen Square. Huge place. It was the last day of the Chinese labor day holidays and the place was really crowded. It was funny though, as we walked thru the square many of the Chinese families came up to us and wanted their pictures taken with us and the kids. Bridget was a particularly big hit -- lots of cute young Chinese guys wanted their picture taken with her!! The cutest were a couple of older Chinese women, that picture is below in today’s photos. From there we made our way to the Forbidden City. We were all totally amazed by the sheer size of the place -- it seemed to go on forever walking thru it. Unfortunately many of the buildings were undergoing renovations in preparation or the 2008 Olympics so we could not go into 2 of the largest palace buildings. It was still a fabulous take and were glad we had the opportunity to see it. After lunch we drove past the area where they are building the new "Bird Nest Stadium" for the 2008 Olympics. This is where the opening and closing ceremonies will take place. We got the best picture we could and have posted it below. From there we went on a rickshaw tour of the narrow street Old Beijing in the area around the city Drum Tower and Bell Tower. Here we saw traditional "Hutong" style houses, most of which were 300+ years old. These are essentially a "quadrangle" arrangement of 4 homes (2 or 3 rooms each) around a common courtyard with shared kitchen and bath facilities. According to our guide, between 6 and 10 families live together in a single Hutong. As part of the tour we actually stopped and went inside one of these Hutongs and had tea with the family while the owner showed us his cricket and grasshopper pets -- that's right, pets, still alive and chirping!! Came to learn that he trains and fights his crickets. That was the pinnacle of our day and saying good bye to our host we boarded the bus and headed to the Beijing airport for our flight to Chongqing in the Sichuan Province -- where we will finally get Meili. We arrived in Chongqing at 8 pm and headed to our hotel on the banks of the Yangtze River. We're down to 15 hours and counting until we get Meili -- tomorrow at 3 pm!! Will have some great pictures tomorrow that finally include Meili.
The journey continues!! More tomorrow.
Jacquie, David, Bridget, Andy & Megan
Jacquie, Bridget, Andy & Megan in Tiananmen Square outside of the Forbidden City entrance
Bridget, Andy & Meg with their new Chinese friends!!
Dave, Bridget, Andy & Meg inside the Forbidden City
Narrow Streets of Old Beijing
The Bird Nest Stadium under construction for the 2008 Olympics
