Here is the video that didn't upload correctly. Sorry for the Spam.... read more

We visited The Great Wall of China earlier in our trip. Heather and Vivian (our Chinese friends) and their families drove us to the Badaling area of the wall. We rode a cable car up the mountain to access The Wall. Because we visited the site during the weekend, it was very crowded with tourists who huffed and puffed their way up the first section of the wall. At times it felt as though we were climbing a ladder instead of walking up a staircase! When we were finished exploring the wall, we returned to Beijing and visited one of the Ming Tomb sites. We visited the excavated Dingling Tomb but did not have time to visit the Spirit Way. Grace and Ying created this video talking about their visit to The Great Wall of China. ... read more

Today we took a rickshaw tour of one of Beijing's Hutong areas. We learned that a Hutong is an old, narrow lane unique to Beijing. They first appeared when Kulai Khan of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368) made Beijing his capital. the construction of such lanes continued during the Ming and Qing dynasties. At one time, thousands of hutong radiated from the Forbidden City. Together with traditional courtyardhouses, they are the embodiment of the old Beijing lifestyle. Our tour included a visit to a family home in the hutong and a rickshaw ride through a residential area. The rickshaw ride was a lot of fun and was relaxing. Grace made a very short video for you to watch, but we are having trouble uploading it.... read more

Hi Everyone! After a long (14.5 hours) but uneventful flight, we landed at Beijing's massive airport, tracked down our luggage and checked into our hotel at approximately 2:00 AM Beijing time on Saturday morning (Friday afternoon in the US). That Saturday, we enjoyed a "Welcome to China" lunch hosted by friends we hosted at our house approximately two years ago. The Peking Duck (along with a variety of other dishes) was excellent. It was fun meeting their families and getting reacquainted. Immediately after lunch, Grace and Stephanie went to the Beijing Dance Academy (http://www.bda.edu.cn/http://www.bda.edu.cn/) where Grace participated in a ballet class. The rest of us visited Tiananmen Square. We visited the Great Wall of China at Badaling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badaling) on Sunday morning and the Ming Tombs in the afternoon. Words cannot justly describe the... read more