Today we completed the rest of the super touristy area's in Beijing. We started off at the Forbidden City. To be honest - I thought it would be a lot more interesting. Buuttttt it wasn't really. Just some more red buildings with the fancy roofs and the blue paint, etc, etc... Binnson seemed interested when the guide was talking about the Emperor having 3000 wives that he could pick and choose from whenever he wanted. Next stop, Tienanmen square... we walked through the square and took a couple pictures. It's eerie to walk through, not that our guide breathed a word about anything other than the good events that occur there. Afterward, we went to a Chinese Herbal Medicine center. Here a doctor took our pulse and looked at our tongues and faces and determined what ... read more

We flew from Shenzhen to Beijing early yesterday morning. Upon arrival, Yoyo and Wonder's friend, Suzanna and her husband, picked us from the airport to take us to our hotel. They only spoke Mandarin so it was real test of our non-translational and body language reading skills. We had no idea what the hell was going on. We were turned away from the hotel that Binnson's relatives had originally made reservations for us at because ''we were foreigners''.... in other words - Binns would have got in just fine if he didn't have his white girlfriend along. Its funny how he is always treated as a local - I keep getting put into lines for foreigners and whatever English people know gets spoken to me, while Binnson is filed in with the regulars and gets spoken ... read more

We ventured into Hong Kong from Shenzhen by train today. Our gracious hosts lead us through the busy train stations and showed us through immigration. By the end of this trip I am going to have no pages left for stamps in my passport - we get 4 stamps everytime we leave and enter Hong Kong and China! We boarded a ferry in Hong Kong out to Hong Kong Island and then another out to Lantau Island. Here the big attraction is the giant buddha. It is the largest bronze sitting buddha. However, it was very foggy when we got there and we couldn't see him very well. After taking some pictures and having a HUGE vegetarian meal at this buddhist place, we climbed the stairs up to the buddha to see if we could get ... read more

After 26 hours of flights + layovers, we finally landed in Hong Kong. And after two hours and two "RANDOM" custom border inspections on our way to Shenzhen, China- (thanks to Cheryl), we finally made it to my relatives place. Hurray for free accomodations! Now to unpack, shower, and pass out.... read more