On the Road Again!

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I apologize for being so behind in this blog and with pictures. We have very little down time and getting on the Internet is not always reliable.

I will recount our day on Thursday. It was a very long day! We left the hotel at 8:30 after putting our checked bags out at 7:00. The sun was out and it looked like we were going to have a lovely, clear, warm day. Our first stop was at a fresh water pearl factory. Neither of us are fans of pearls but we did buy some " magic potion" made from pearl dust that is going to make us look many years younger. You won't recognize us when we get home. LOL!

Next stop was the Summer Palace of the Emperor. This was a very enjoyable time as it was beautiful gardens beside a man made lake. There were many people here and most were Chinese. We discovered that over 75% of the tourists in Beijing- the capital city of China- are from Mainland China. Over the last 40 years, since China has been open to foreigners, the life of the middle class in China has greatly improved. We spent until 12:30 there and then travelled to a Ramada Inn where we had lunch on the way to the airport. The meals are all very much the same. We sit at a round table for 10 with a large lazy susan in the middle, the dishes are brought to us and we eat "family style". Everyone gets a beverage which is beer, soda, tea, or water.

We arrived at the Beijing airport around 3:00 and we had been lectured on what to expect. We all checked our luggage through the same gate and it was slow going. Several of our group had problems. One man had a half bottle of Scotch Whiskey in his checked suitcase and they spotted it. He had to go in and open his suitcase and take it out. It was quite a sight seeing a group of our people standing in a circle drinking the Scotch from the bottle straight. The remainder of the bottle was given to one of the cleaners. Another couple had to open their suitcase because a cigarette lighter was spotted. The only problem was- they couldn't open their case. We all had to have locks on our luggage and theirs malfunctioned and eventually it had to be pried open to retrieve the lighter. Bonnie and I got through without out incident..

Now for Security check. Bonnie went through far ahead of me and I was left alone. Got along fine after a very thorough scan.

Our flight with China Eastern to Xi'an was to leave at 6:45. We started to board at 6:15 and went on a bus to the plane far away from the terminal. We departed at 7:20, late, and arrived in Xi'an at 9:20. It was a smooth flight but the meal left something to be desired. Getting our luggage was a breeze and after a 10 minute walk to the bus we were off and arrived at our hotel, Holiday Inn, around 11. We were tired after a very long day!

We said goodbye to our Beijing guide Lisa. She was excellent and told us many interesting things about life in China. The policy of one child per couple has changed to two but most couples only have one because it is too expensive to have more than one child. Of course it is important to have a boy to carry on the family name, so if the first child is a girl, it is probable that the couple might try for a second child. We asked what would happen if a woman got pregnant the third time and she said she would have a legal abortion. Most children are cared for by their grandparents so the young couple can work to make money. In the past, the older generation saved their money for their children, but more and more today, the older generation retire ( women at 55, men at 60) and enjoy their money.

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Photos

The Great Wall of China.
It was a very wet, cloudy day and we found out this is the most difficult part of the wall to climb. And we thought we were fairly fit.

Looking down
Going up was hard but so was coming back down.

Mystical View
It want far up the wall when we were lost in the clouds. We really could not see the mountains.

Street Decorations
These are the Beijing street decorations. They mean

We made it up and down
Notice what the sign said.