Thursday July 23, 2010 I awoke Thursday morning to heavy thunderstorms so once again I spent time catching up, cruising the internet and of course catching up with friends on facebook, since it was not allowed in China. Rich is done with work on Friday so we will have Saturday and Sunday to explore, and finish up any shopping we want to do before we head home on Monday. Arriving in Atlanta sometime around 4pm, which will be 4am our time so expect blurry eyes if you happen to see us wondering around. Thursday evening we decided to head to the Holland Village area. This is described as the expat area of Singapore and is a converted sight of army barracks. We had been told about a restaurant called Michelangelos that had been around for some ... read more

Tuesday July 20, 2010 Well as you can imagine we both slept into the early afternoon. Thankfully Rich had no set time he had to be at the office in Singapore. His first important meeting of the day was at 3pm. He left for the office just as I was getting up which I am embarrassed to say was 12:30pm. As he set off I set my sights on unpacking and getting settled into the suite. Rich stopped at the desk on the way out and told them we would not need a room clean for the day. So I had the whole day to relax and set our schedule for the week. It was raining outside so I did not feel to guilty about missing a day in Singapore. Rich arrived home around 6pm and ... read more

Sunday July 18, 2010 Today was our last day in Beijing so what else do you do in Beijing but go shopping. We had gone to the Pearl Market earlier in the week when I felt like I was being pulled from every direction. Since that was after our long climb of The Great Wall, we decided to rest up for this adventure. Katherine was going to accompany us to the Silk Market and The Peal Market. Their names are somewhat of misnomers because in reality they sell everything under the sun. Katherine picked us up at the hotel with a taxi driver at 10am. Since it was Sunday there was little to no traffic so we made it to the Silk Market within 20 minutes. The first thing I noticed when we exited the cab ... read more

Friday July 16, 2010 Today was the day that I was going to take a breath and try to get caught up on emails, packing, and my blog. I managed to accomplish most of these tasks and hopefully you have enjoyed reading the latest blogs. As most of you know, I am all about a little quiet time. As I tell Rich some people rejuvenate by being around people and some accomplish this by being alone. It has only taken Rich 30+ years to realize that we are different in this respect. I enjoy my quiet time and he could care if there were 100 people around him at all times. Hence, the reason Beijing and him may get along a wee bit better then me. There certainly is very few places that you can accomplish ... read more

Wednesday July 14, 2010 I awoke Wednesday morning with excitement and some anxiety. Today was the day that I had been planning since I found out that I would be traveling to Beijing. Two of my favorite things to experience during travel are to learn about different cultures and to learn the art of cooking. I have always felt that traveling to far away places should include partaking in some things that are not on the typical tourist list of "The Top Ten Things to Do". Especially since I have an aversion to large crowds anything that is not a tourist trap is always exciting to me. I had booked a private culinary tour simply through the internet with no formal recommendation so I was a bit apprehensive that I had chose the correct tour company. ... read more