Beijing

The weather when we arrived was very foggy and was enhanced by periods of rain. We still were able to get out and do the things we had scheduled, though. Here's a brief sampling of things. As always, more pics will appear on the other site.

Street food just up from the hotel

Anyone hungry? Other choices include centipede and snake.

Zeb's preference

Tiananmen Square

Mr. Chairman

Forbidden City

Great Wall

The "Birds' Nest" - Olympic Stadium

Our visit here went very well in spite of the not so favorable weather. We were delayed leaving Hong Kong and wound up having the evening to ourselves. The next day was filled with visits to the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City.

We had lunch at a "noodle house" known by the guide and it was something to behold. We all left stuffed and still were half an hour later. Lachlan and Zeb have become quite proficient with the chopsticks... can't really say the same for Susan and me, though. We still manage to transfer enough food from the plate to the gullet that we won't starve.


Today was our trip to the Great Wall and although is was way too foggy to see much, it was still impressive being there. The ride there and back took the better part of a couple of hours and it was relaxing to sit for a while after all the walking from the day before. The countryside also was very beautiful and pleasant to see.

The afternoon was spent touring the Summer Palace and the evening will be spent at the hotel resting up for the flights to Sydney. We leave here at ten minutes past midnight. Although it will be a long haul, we will be on Singapore Airlines again, so we are sort of looking forward to it.