Beijing-Day 1

Here's what we did on our first full day in Beijing:

• Ventured out alone to the Temple of Heaven
• Went to a "western" buffet
• Went to the "Acrobatic Macrocasm"
• Ate at McDonalds
• Stayed up till TEN O'CLOCK pm!!

We had a free day yesterday (8/6) and since we woke up at 3:00am (!) we decided we needed to get out for the day. We woke up our guide (sorry Joy!) at 8:00am and she wrote down directions for us to give to a taxi driver. We had an unbelieveable ride to the Temple. Now, I've read on every blog about how the driving is insane, but it was definitely something you have to experience first hand. But, honestly, I did not feel unsafe or scared at all. These drivers are experts, they know exactly what they're doing and it was like an intricate dance.

Anyway, the Temple of Heaven cost us 108 yuan total for the 3 of us. That's roughly around $15-20 for admission and a beautiful painted map. Unbelieveable! The Temple grounds were amazing. I think I took over 40 pictures. The marble and sculptures were just amazing. (I know I need to put up some pictures, sorry!) On the Temple grounds there were all these little park-like areas to sit. People were singing, playing instruments, hacky sack and some game with paddles and a weighted ball that you DID NOT HIT!! You just balanced the ball back and forth, nice fluid movement that we Americans aren't used to (you see a ball, you hit it!!) Jeff played with some older guy and he drew quite a crowd of laughing and pointing Chinese!! Then Brett tried. I know, we only have ourselves to blame, after an entire baseball season trying to get him to hit the ball, the poor kid didn't know what to do!! We met some teenage girls that knew English really well and they asked us to pose for pictures with them. We are rock stars in China!

Let's see....the western pizza buffet was interesting. We got a lot of stares and giggles. The pizza they had was "peas and corn", "pineapple and raisin" and something scary that they didn't even bother to translate! They did have good chicken and dessert. It really takes some getting used to to not have ice. They had good beer though. One waitress brought Brett a plate of french fries and ketchup. The kid LIT UP!!

We walked around Beijing for awhile and shopped at an indoor flea market.

The acrobat show was AMAZING!!! Wow Wow Wow! We were so tired, but we didn't take our eyes off the show for a second! I think I took 100 pictures. We were 4 rows back, on the side so we were able to see backstage, which was neat. (I know, I'll post pictures soon!)

We were STARVING so we had our taxi drop us off at McDonalds. YUMMMMM!! NEVER had McDs tasted SOO good! We were afraid that it would taste different, but it was the same old yummy grease that we're used to! We had ICE in our drinks too and we survived. The worst part was having to use a picture menu!! I felt like such a freak, pointing and nodding, let me tell you it's humbling to be a foreigner!

McDonalds perked us up enough to be able to stay up till 10pm. We got a good night's sleep and woke up at 5:30. Today we're going to the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square and a hutong tour. We were supposed to go to the Great Wall today, but tomorrow (8/8) marks one year till the Olympics and there's going to be celebrations and major traffic delays and crackdowns at the Forbidden City, so we're going there today.

Looking forward to more photo ops and shopping but I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to Lili!!

2 MORE DAYS TILL WE finally MEET LILI!!!