More From Beijing

Today was an awesome day! We left downtown pretty early since it is quite the drive to the Great Wall. The countryside was beautiful!! It was incredible to see the mountains and the breathtaking terrain as we inched our way towards Mutianyu, which is just 1 of 5 different places where you can visit the wall. We decided to walk up instead of taking the cable car. It was very hot and muggy but we loved it. It is over a thousand steps and we actually did most of it twice. Needless to say, we earned our lunch.....and maybe a trip to the laundromat :). It was absolutely gorgeous today. As you can see from the pictures, we were out of the smog and the sky wasn't so bleak. This is what we were hoping China would look like. The history behind this Great Wall is fascinating and it was really amazing to be standing on such an iconic structure. It was also fun to see people from all over the world visiting. Our guide was telling us that many people in China come to visit Beijing and a lot of them come from provinces that have never seen a "westerner" and they are fascinated with them. Today we were stopped and asked if two children could have their picture with us. The kids were so darling. Russel even talked Donald Duck to them and had them in big giggles. Now they are going to grow up thinking that's how westerners talk. :)

We had an authentic Chinese lunch again today at a little place that seemed off the beaten path in the middle of nowhere. The foliage and forestry is so thick in that area, it's hard to see if anything else is around besides the road. Anyway, the food was very good and we even tried a couple of new things (vegetables of course, no mystery meat for us) and it was all very good. We also stopped at a jade factory today and a cloisonne factory. Both factories were very interesting and we got to watch as the people were making the beautiful art pieces. Of course, they got a bunch of our money too. :)

Lastly, we stopped briefly at the Olympic Park. It was pretty cool to see all the different buildings they built. They even have a hotel that is about 4-5 towers in length and it is shaped like a dragon. There was lots of kite flying going on at the park and that was really cool.

We decided to stop by a pizza place tonight for dinner. It was actually very good. We also got some new ideas for pizza at home......chicken/corn/blueberry is one combination, tomatoes/corn/raisins, and crab/pineapple......I bet the kids will be begging for more :)

Tomorrow is Meili's birthday and we can hardly stand the wait. We will be moving hotels in the morning and might try to go to Summer Palace if we have time before going to a little birthday party at 3:00.