Day 2, Jade Market, Great Wall, Hutong Area

Today, we woke up at about 2:00 am. That's what happens when the whole family falls asleep the afternoon before at 4:00!! Jetlag is a bitch! We tried breakfast again....still not good. The food is going to be the hardest thing about the trip I think. Kathi and I can choke it down ok but its really hard for Nick. He is trying though! Everything is different...milk, butter, bread, eggs...everything! We have not made is by McDonalds yet as our tour came in late today and you would NOT believe the traffic on a Saturday afternoon! I've never seen so many people or cars in one place!

First thing we did today on the way to the Great Wall was to stop at a Jade factory. That was very interesting! Amazing pieces that have been carved out of Jade. It NOT inexpensive though!! Maybe the prices change when the westerners arrive! Ha! Then we made our way to the Great Wall. Very cold, but TOTALLY AMAZING! We walked quite a ways up toward the top of one mountain. Some of the stairs were so steep, it was like climbing up the face of a mountain. Got some cool photos I think. Of course, all the great wall swag was being sold at the bottom. After that, we were taken to lunch at a Chinese restaurant near the wall. It was ok. Nicky did so well at trying things, but I must admit, it is just so different from what "we" consider to be Chinese food, its just hard to really eat much! He tried though. Then we shopped at the market around the restaurant. We then took off for out Hutong Tour (original Beijing part of the city) but stopped at a Pearl store first. This was actually very interesting as well. When we got to the Hutong part of the city, we were taken by rickshaw around the area and actually got to go in and visit with a resident. That was pretty amazing I must say. VERY nice and polite people! After that, we headed back to the hotel.

During our tour today, we got to meet most of the other people here with our group to pick up there babies. Very nice folks as well! We leave tomorrow morning at 7:00am to go to the airport to fly to Chengdu. Its about a 2hr flight. I'll post more from the hotel there....as long as the internet connection works for me!!

Here's a link to the photos I took today...there are 4 pages so make sure you click through them. The Great Wall photos are the best!
http://www.metasisdesign.com/china/Day2/index.htm