China here we are -:)

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(Kwesi saved these pictures before we left!)

It's smokey. Hard to believe we are in a giant internet cafe with a whole bunch of smokers, but that is life!

We arrived yesterday afternoon. It's been hot here but not nearly as hot as I know Beijing can be! We spent part of today at the beautiful summer palace. Kwesi had a lot of fun taking pictures (although we do not have our cameras here to upload anything...)

Beijing has been good so far! It raining today. Makes me wonder if they are "practicing" controlling the weather or not. We went out this morning for a quick walk around the block and managed to make it back to our room extremely wet. Good thing we brought more than just one shirt each! ;-)

We are off tomorrow to another town to see some tombs. This will be our last night in Beijing. We were expecting to see the giant orange truck on our arrival but we soon learned that it was stuck in Mongolia! Tomorrow we will be taking a bus instead. ;-) Claire, our driver, found out today that the truck did manage to make it through Mongolia into China and should meet us on Sunday. We have heard all sorts of crazy stories now about border crossings. We might have a few ourselves by the end...

The group is good. Pretty diverse although there are more women then men. Two other Canadians are on our same trip (to Istanbul) who are from Toronto (where else??) Most of the people on the trip are extremely well traveled. The first question isn't "what do you do" but rather "where have you been"? It's almost a competition!

We are off to bed asap. The bed in our room is more like a piece of plywood so we are thinking about breaking out the thermarests tonight. ;-) Last night was a long night... Half my body went numb more than once and I was still somewhat confused for what time it was! The indiglo alarm clock was a great item to bring.

I chose Beihai park for the blog as we went there today as well. The park is quite nice with a lake and lots of trees. It was more quiet than the streets and shady.

We don't miss home yet! The food has been great although we have had interesting times ordering. One never knows what one is going to get! Kwesi tries his very best to communicate but the arm waving can be a bit vague.

We're off!

Thanks for all the emails. We appreciate every one.

Meghan and Kwesi

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Photos

Off to China
It is July 16th and we are on our way to china ....

Zoom explosion
Testing out the zoom explosion technique the night before taken off for China - A newly acquired photography skill I hope to employ

The shot
Putting my newly acquired skill to use the night before taken off for China

Spring thaw
Putting my newly acquired skill to use during the spring season

The bridge shot
Putting my newly acquired skill to use the night before taken off for China

Comments

[Kim Steppan]

Wow
Sounds like an interesting time. Tell Qwasi not to wave his hands around too much, might get him in trouble, instead of food, you never know with those orientals, ha! ha! Thanks for keeping us posted, we can live our lives vicariously through you two ! Kim and Ted

[Mike Turcotte]

Have a great Trip!!!
Sounds like the two of you are off to a great start on your trip. Thanks for letting me be part of it - the blog will let me day dream for a little bit. Can't wait to see more pictures! Have a safe and exciting trip!!! Mike Turcotte

[Lori Dawn]

Glad to hear you have arrived and are on your way. Be safe, have a blast and I can't wait for the updates!!!

[Erin Shepherd]

Bon voyage!
Hi you two! Have a wonderful trip. I'm looking forward to following you along your trip via your blogs and pics. I'm very jealous already.

[bluefish]

So excited.. the journey begins!
Sounds like typical Beijing fun! I hope you both have a fantastic trip and I can't wait to hear about your next stops! Until the next point of interest!!

[Sheldon]

Very cool
Wow. Great area. lots to see. And they are suppose to be making it less polutted in Beijing. Have a great time. Looking forward to reading more... ;)