Great Wall-June 12

Today we visit the famous Great Wall. There are many sections to visit, but Daniel has chosen the Badaling Wall. It was a longer bus ride up the mountains. The Wall looks just like it's pictures. When you walk it you are walking straight up. Sometimes there are steps, sometimes just a ramp, but always steep. This was awesome to see and be on.
Drove to the Beijing Zoo, but only saw the Panda bear section. They were all asleep. It's too hot to do anything else!!

Tian'anmen Square-June 11

What a packed in day! Breakfast is a buffet of Chinese noodles, veggies, etc. or a western one with bacon, eggs, croissants, etc. Chinese have a saying, "You should eat like an emperor at breakfast, commoner at lunch and a peasant at dinner." Good practice if you could follow it.
Tian'anmen Square-Huge square for gathering, meeting, riots? Huge picture of Mao here. And we discovered the vendors...they throng you if you give one glance in their direction. They are selling postcards, books, toys, you name it...

Forbidden City- This is the palace of the Emperors. If you've seen the Last Emperor, you've seen it! It is huge,though. The City is built on a hill, so by the time you've walked to the top you could see the city of Beijing, if it were not so polluted.

Next stop Pearl Factory. We saw an oyster being opened and counted 26 pearls! Kind of cool!!

Yes, another stop...Summer palace, place where the Empress spent her summer's, pretty gardens, a lake where we saw Dragon boats floating, along with a Marble Boat.
After getting home and being exhausted, we decided to wander the neighborhood. We found a little massage place and got THEE best foot massage ever. It took one hour and paid 60 yuan ($6).

Beijing-June 9/10

We took off for our awesome trip arriving at the Phoenix airport at 5 a.m. Landed in Beijing, China the next day at 3 p.m. this was such a strange feeling. Never in my life would I imagine being in China. We were greeted by Daniel, our tour guide. Daniel is very proud of his country, but realizes that they have lots to improve upon, such as borders(different cultures brings problems), pollution, and bringing balance to every economic status.
We headed for dinner at WaHaHa Restaurant(who feels like eating...it's 2 am to us!).But the food was delicious! Typical Chinese food, but lots more veggies, seasoned oh so good.

China

Well tomorrow morning is the takeoff to China. I hope to find an internet cafe and blog and send pics from my trip! Keep you posted.

Great trip

Mar. 16
We travelled back to San Jose and relaxed in the hotel's cafe on the sidewalk. The city is bustling with lots of people, so different from our small mountain city experiences. We are tired and ready to come home, but enjoyed our trip immensely.

Monkeys up close and personal

Mar. 15
Manuel Antonio National Park is a natural preserve with more wildlife in it than we had seen so far. As we walk a trail, our guide would spot out sloths or monkeys or birds and set the telescope for us to see. The monkeys would come right down to our level, though, waiting for a handout. This raccoon was actually under our table at the pool!

Croc Safari

Mar. 14
Jungle Crocodile safari! It was a ride in a pontoon type boat, driven by an 18 year old boy (looked 13). We travelled up a river infested with crocodiles. When we would spot one, Santiago, our driver, would jump out with a piece of raw chicken and taunt the croc till he would come after him. With everyone screaming for him to get back into the boat, Santiago would smile and continue to play with the croc, then finally give him the chicken!