Bejing (Disney World with out the rides)

Hi All,

So it figures that the worlds most populated country will be a little crowded, but after three days of sight seeing it does get to you. The first day we went to see the Olympic venues. The architecture was truly amazing and we loved every min. The Next day we went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. The really frustrating thing is you pay for a through ticket, because you are told this will allow you entry to the building, but then find out that it lets you inside the court yard that surrounds the building and you have the privilege to look inside a door way. The last day in Beijing, we went to the Summer Palace, which in my opinion the best thing in Beijing. While everywhere is crowded, our best example was when we were finished at the summer palace on the third day and we had to walk through a long narrow path along the lake to get to our exit, my only thought was oh my god this is like Disney World with out the rides. We were packed in tight with people pushing just to get through. You think New York is crazy crowded, well you have not seen anything yet.

The other funny thing is everyone stares at us. Poor Ryan was sitting waiting for me to come out of the toilet and a man asked to take a picture with him because he was so tall. The next thing he knew he had like a group of 30 people wanting there picture with him. We all know how Ryan is about new people and attention to himself, so this made him very uncomfortable but he was a good sport, however as soon as he could escape towards me he did. Me on the other hand, I kept trying to move out of the way of some guys photos, only to realize that they just then kept repositioning to have me and another western girl in their photo, we hope this was because we were just different as westerners, but who knows what bodies our heads are going to be attached to on the web.

Yesterday we did the great wall which Ryan will talk about in his thoughts below.

Some observations from Ryan:

1. China is on a mission to modernise at any cost, cranes everywhere... and buildings going up left right and center. But they have a plan and are managing to it, you see this from the news stories on their development goals.
2. The pollution from the above growth is out of control, our throats hurt.
3. It appears that is acceptable for children to go anywhere in public (storm drains etc.), and nappies/ diapers are not used and kids pants have built in holes.
4. The squat toilet is king.... and not in a good way.
5. Beijing is incredibly clean for a city of 14 million.
6. A city of 400,000 is not considered a city, but a town.
7. Everything is done on a massive scale... never seen a train station so large.
8. The Internet is controlled, you need to register who you are, passport # etc.. to use.
9. The have really wicked cool architecture, old and new.
10. The people are very friendly, but there is very little English.
11. The food is either really good or really bad.
12. Your hands get tiered from eating with chopsticks.
13. Finding the right ATM is a mission in itself.
14. The Great Wall:

So we traveled by bus 4 hours to the most beautiful section of the great wall. It is remote so there was only ourselves and a few other folks on the wall. The walk was long, 30 towers in total, about 8km in length, but at very steep inclines and declines. It was tough going, but an incredible experience, and definitely a highlight of the trip, the views were amazing, the scale of the wall hard to describe. Part of the challenge was in the remote sections of the wall, huge blocks are coming apart which makes for very dangerous and exhausting footwork. Take a look at the video clips I am uploading right now.

Ok, that's it for now, we are in Xi'an right now... it is raining cats and dogs.

Ryan and Danielle