Beijing Retrospective

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A travel blog seemed like a good idea! Here I am a week later in Vietnam thinking back to the time in China. So, this is how Beijing and area look in retrospect.....

My son Jon and I arrived in the huge, sprawling, impressive Beijing airport and were immediately struck by the heavy, soup like smog. It was with us for the four days, with a bit of a break during our time on the great wall. Our days in Beijing were spent wandering the markets, sharpening our bargaining skills - at the Pearl Market, Silk Market, Hou Hai - and exploring many of the tourist attractions including the Forbidden City and Ti'annaman Square. A friend of Jon's work colleague graciously showed us around for a couple days. She was a young Chinese woman who works in the insurance industry in Beijing. It made a tremendous difference to have somebody to answer our questions - or rather my many, many questions.

Our day walking the Great Wall was wonderful. We went to the section of the wall that has less visitors, arrived very early and certainly got our exercise walking up and down the steep curves - no, the wall is not flat! The final descent off the wall was an unexpected treat.



We tobogganed down on what looks like a giant water slide - Jon has great footage.

This time of year Beijing is chilly. Stepping off the plane in Hong Kong was a welcome relief. I left Jon in Hong Kong - back to work while I flew on to Vietnam . Next entry, Hanoi....

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