Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall

Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Or Chopsticks if you prefer...

Today we started out at 6am. We had breakfast and headed out at 8:30 to Tienanmen Square. It was over 100 degrees (Celsius I believe) and about 98% humidity. Within minutes of getting off our bus, we were drenched. The pictures look slightly out of focus - that's fog/smog. Visibility is about 2 blocks. Tienanmen Square is big and filled with very persistent street vendors trying to sell you stuff. Don't make eye contact and keep saying "Boo Yaow" (Don't Want). You can buy cold water from the street vendors very cheaply. Here is what you need to know about Tienanmen Square: its big, flat, and mostly under construction. The school aged Chinese kids kept wanting to take pictures with the school aged kids in our group. Americans are very popular here. Walking, walking...

The Forbidden City is very big, very old, and filled with giant cauldrons, colorful architecture, and a nice garden at the end. There are lots of huge courtyards filled with more vendors. And lots of people. Beijing has 20Million people and have of them are visiting the Forbidden City. There are lots of stairs and doorways and corridors. And eventually you make your way through and as you exit, there are more vendors. Lots more. Walking, walking...

We then went to a restaurant and had some Authentic cheap Chinese food. Nothing to write home about.

But this particular restaurant is also a "friendship" (Government) store. We did some harm to the trade balance. But they took credit cards and shipped it for use. Laura got a porcelain tea set for Zoe and some other things.

Then back on the bus and an hour drive to the Great Wall. By this time everyone is draggin, but a few people made it to the top. It is a steep climb. Climbing, Climbing...

Then back on the bus and back to the hotel. I crashed on the way back. Too much exertion and jet lag. Made it back the room and we're packing to leave at 5am for our flight to the province. Crawling, Crawling...

I've attached some pictures - hope you can see them but I can't check.