JAJ

What an experience this was!!! We had been told that cheap goods could be found, by bartering with the vendors at the Pearl Market, which is in the south end of central Beijing. Mom, Dawn and I went, and T wisely stayed back in the hotel to rest form his morning at the Forbidden City. I don’t think we were ready for the Pearl market experience, as we all found it quite exhausting. The aisles and aisles of vendors kept coming at you, asking what you what - ‘what you like…? What you like…? Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabana…? What you looking for…? What you looking for…? Rolex.., sony…, iPod…,,,? Over, and over, and over again. The vendors will come out and pull at your arm, and follow you along. If you happen to stop and ... read more

After lunch, we drove to the west of Beijing, to visit the vast Summer Palace, which were the Imperial Gardens for the Qing (pronounced 'ching') Dynasty. The Summer Palace was in the western mountains, with a beautiful lake and cooler air to provide some relief to the Emperors during the hot summer months. The Summer Palace is home to the world’s longest corridor, at 728m. This covered walkway fronts the lakeshore to Kumming Lake, which is a manmade lake, dredged by thousands of conscripted labourers to create. The mud dug out to make the lake was piled high on the north shore, to create the Hill of Longevity. The Summer Palace had also been lost to fire on a number of occasions, with the last re-construction taking place in the 19th century, when China was ruled ... read more

After the Olympic Park, we were toured through one of the Hutong, or traditional alleyway neighborhoods, where Chinese families still live today. These hutongs are not all around Beijing (or other major cities), but the government has now protected many of these neighborhoods as a way to conserve some of the traditional culture and heritage. Our tour was by bicycle rickshaw, and we had a local guide, Nancy. Nancy explained the history and the culture within the hutong, and how life was (and is) lived in these alleyway neighborhoods. Quite unexpectedly, we were invited in to visit one of the families living within this hutong; they were a retired couple, or at least she had retired from her job in the factories; the husband was a painter, and he was conducting business as we visited their ... read more

We arrived in Beijing in the early morning, and were met by our guide, Gary (his English nickname!) and driven to our hotel. We were all more than a little tired from our overnight train trip, so we checked-in, and had a little nap before venturing out again. Our hotel, North Garden Hotel, is just off Wangfujing Street, which is a major shopping area, for locals and tourists. We managed to find some of our coveted stores, such as Nike and Adidas, and also found a Starbucks for some North American style coffee and drinks (carmel frappucinno for T!). The street was largely a pedestrian mall, which is great, as the traffic in Beijing is overwhelmingly crazy. The streets are either 6 lanes or 1.5 lanes wide (with cars always trying to squeeze by regardless of ... read more

We had a boat tour across the West Lake this morning. It was a cool and blustery day - not what we had anticipated! We were taxied across the Lake to the Little Angel island (the largest of 3 islands on the lake). The hills around the lake were quite beautiful. Some nice pictures of the pagoda towers on the mountains in the distance. This afternoon Richard, Dawn and I visited a hospital in the city, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, to meet with the Diabetes Center staff. We share yet another large lunch, and then toured their facilities. We had a good chance to speak with them about how health and diabetes care is organized in our respective provinces. This evening, Richard and I were taken to dinner by the CDC staff, and ... read more