Day 3, April 13

Friday the 13th was not unlucky for us! In fact, after a great rest and a western style buffet, we were ready to tackle Beijing.

We should have mentioned that our guide Charlotte (above) has been great. She met us at the airport, and helped us get settled in at the WangFuJing hotel. Today, she took us to three major sites: The Forbidden City, the Tianamen Square, and then to the Hutong district, an inner-city market place that gave us a flavor of the local daily life. In between, we experienced a rickshaw (sp) ride and a trip to the government-owned silk store.

The Forbidden City was as beautiful (and big!) as Blair remembered from his trip here in 1984. We took lots of pictures, but are having a problem uploading them to any photoshare site. We think there might be major filters in China that slow the process down of uploading over the internet. We will try to post just a few pictures each day from now on, and then upload the other hundreds (!) when we finally return home. We hope you'll continue to check back at this site to see more of our pics...

We then walked around Tianamen Square, where Blair was approached by many of the Chinese people asking to take pictures with him. At first he was flattered, but by the end of the day, he realized that the popularity was more due to his size than his charm. :) At one point, he heard "Buddha" being yelled out....anyway, he was approached no less than 10 times during the day to have pictures taken.

Here is Blair and his fan club above. Just trying to improve Sino-American relations. :)

Next was lunch at a restaurant across from Tianamen. We had a terrific traditional Chinese meal, along with great conversation. Above is a picture of the Gonsoulin family that we are traveling with.

Then it was off to the silk factory in the heart of the city. We learned all about the silkworm process, and then had the chance (imagine that!) to buy silk.....we bought a silk comforter for our bed---and one for Alison's bed.

Next we travelled to an inner-city market. Charlotte was telling us that this part of Beijing represented a good picture of the normal/non-tourist part of Beijing. We didn't get any meat or fish (instead having fun looking at the pig parts) but Tami bought some spices from this merchant above.

We also did the rickshaw ride in Hutong district. That poor man who had to carry Blair, but he was well tipped for his efforts. Here is Tami sitting in her rickshaw.

Back to the hotel and rest. After posting these blogs, we are going to venture out into this city of 13 million (with 10 million bikes, Charlotte tells us) and get some dinner. Tomorrow is the Great Wall.....