Day 3

I informed you on our last post that we died to the world after Day 2 at 6 and 7pm and woke up in the wee hours.  We were very disappointed in ourselves for not pushing a little longer to try to get on a better China schedule but Day 3 was better.  Day 3 was our Beijing on foot day.  We got up and headed out to meet David and Kathie at their hotel which was about a fifteen minute walk from our hostel.  We trekked with them to the Forbidden City.  Our hostel highly recommended that we take the subway but not us.  Nope we walked it.  I'm glad we did.  We were able to walk down the equivalent of a Michigan Avenue of Beijing with lots of shopping places and we came across a beautiful park with a river and bamboo.

Shopping Center

A little side road off of the avenue.

This picture is interesting for multiple reasons.  First check out what this woman is wearing.  It is over 90 degrees and she is wearing a jumpsuit.  Also, check out the broom she is required to use.  I don't know how they sweep up anything with it but these are standard everywhere.

A pavilion in the park which must be a very common social gathering area because it was packed.

A beautiful downspout.

Real bamboo!

I love this picture because if you look at the trees, they have stuffed wood between the branches to keep them growing apart correctly.

I'm artsy so I enjoyed this.

The beginning of Tiananmen Square.  Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world.

There was no shortage of people and no shortage of umbrellas.  They are everywhere.  One thing the Asians don't like is getting sun.  They were long sleeves and use umbrellas to keep themselves from getting darker.  Ha!

And now a confession.  We never actually made it into the Forbidden City.  We walked as far as we could inside for free and then we stopped.  They charge admission after you go through a few of the first courtyards.  The heat was simply too intense to endure walking more with wall to wall people.  Plus, a great deal of this palace is under construction right now and off limits.  We don't feel bad for bailing because we saw what we really wanted to see.

Chinese military "boys" walking so nicely in a line into do guarding at the Forbidden City.  I say boys because these kids have to be straight out of school.

More Tiananmen Square.

Chinese military "boys" leaving their post in a single file line even all the way down the street.

More shopping avenue pictures.

The hostel courtyard.

Our bathroom at the hostel.  Shower, toilet and sink all together.  And the little blue trash cans is for the toilet paper.  Yep, you wipe and throw it in the trash since the plumbing is new and the building is old per the sign posted.

The view from our room.

Ever since I saw a picture of Jordy eating a fruit with black seeds, I've wanted to try it.  It is called Dragon fruit.

You peel back the outer soft layer and then cut and eat the fleshy part.  It has the consistency of kiwi but there isn't much flavor at all.  It's slightly sweet but barely.  Dustin enjoyed it much more than I did.

Day 4 is just beginning for us.  We are so proud of ourselves.  We stayed up until 8pm and woke up at 5 am.  We are getting closer to a normal schedule.  Last night, we walked back to the avenue and went to a mall and got Subway.  What a disappointment.  Exact same menu but the vegetables had no flavor at all. How can a green pepper or tomato or olive or onion have no flavor.  Don't know but it didn't.

Today, we get to take a fast train from Beijing to Zhengzhou.  We will post more on this later.