In China at last

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Hello everyone:
I'm in China with Larry at last. We had a little challenge meeting up, but I'll tell you all that story on my return ... have to leave something to talk about! We have been in Beijing for 3 days now and seen tons. Tiennamen Square, The Forbidden City, Earth Temple, The Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs, The Olympic sites, and today we walked the Great Wall of China and visited the Summer Palace. We have a wonderful tour guide. Better yet, Larry and I are the only members of our tour group. We feel like celebrities as our private driver drops us off at the site gates, our tour guide buys our entry tickets and then we wander through the beautiful sites getting detailed explanations in fabulous English! Our hotel is also beautiful and the food .... wonderful. Beijing is a very modern city and extremely clean. There are huge high rise apartments and hotels everywhere. Modern freeways are built in rings around the city and there is a lot of traffic. No more motorcycles, cyclos, and mopeds - Mercedes, Fords, Hondas and other types I don't recognize. There are 3 million cars in this city and today it was hot and hazy out. We have really enjoyed this city and tomorrow afternoon we catch a flight to Yichang which is a smaller city south of Beijing (2 hour flight). From there we will catch a ship for a 4 day cruise down the Yangtze River. Internet access is an issue now, so I hope to keep up with this blog but can't promise anything... especially since my husband is looking over my shoulder! Great to hear from some of you and I hope to keep you posted.

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Photos

Summer Palace
This man-made lake at the Summer Palace is the largest man-made lake in the world. The Summer Palace was used by The Emperor during the hot summer months and is as large as the Forbidden City.

Buddist Temple in the Summer Palace
The Dowager Empress was Buddhist and had this temple built so that she could worship while at the summer palace

Comments

[Flo Brokop]

Great to hear from you John and Lois
It is so nice to have my partner join me and share in this adventure. It is wonderful to travel but it even more wonderful to be able to chat and laugh about all our misadventures and exploits. Look forward to sharing with all of you when we return.

[Flo Brokop]

History in the air
You are right Robin. We are seeing incredible history here. We have been amazed at all the antiques that are for sale here to foreigners. Our guides have told us that there are so many antiques in China that anything younger than 200 years is really not that valuable to the country. We will definately have to buy an extra suitcase before we leave! See you soon.