Endless Summer Tiny World

So we made it to Beijing!! Finally!! We had a 15 hour flight to shanghai, and then 2 hours to Beijing. We got in and the airlines left chelsy’s bag in shanghai (don’t worry she has it back now!) we hopped on a bus stopping near where we needed to but didn’t know where that stop was and no one on that bus spoke English! The buses were packed and just as I had been told the Chinese people are not very good at forming lines, instead it’s just a pushing and shoving match to get on the bus. We finally got our bus driver to figure out where we were going and tell us when to get off the bus. This was at about 1:30 am, as our plan didn’t even land til almost midnight. We got dropped off but in the dark, in a strange area, being unable to read signs much made following our directions a challenge so we just got a cab for the last 10 minutes to our hostel.
Our hostel is really nice and the staff is great! This morning we got up early, because the time change is messing with our sleep schedule, and we did some odds and ends before heading out to the forbidden city.
We saw tiananmen square, walked to the top of the gate, and then into the city. The forbidden city is huge!!! But so cool. All the buildings are just amazing to look at. The roofs are great and all the details in these buildings is amazing. It would take forever to see everything, so Chelsy and I only lasted half the day, but I thought that was a pretty good amount if time! We then hiked up the hill across the street, the hill is made from the dirt they dug out of the moat around the forbidden city, and we enjoyed the view for awhile before moving on. We then went to the lama temple, a Buddhist temple, where everyone was burning incense and we saw an eighty foot high statue of buddha that is carved from one piece of sandalwood!
On the way home we stopped and had our first real Chinese meal…. It was sooo spicy and Chelsy and I both decided our chopsticks skills have got to improve or were gonna lose lots of weight! But maybe that’s a good thing…..
Oh and I forgot…there is no Facebook in china! I know I’m shocked too, how can a country this big not have Facebook?? But I guess that means you’re all gonna have to keep up with me either through email or right here!
Tomorrow’s plan is the great wall!! I’m so excited!

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