Summer Palace

The Summer Palace was on our agenda today, and what a gorgeous day it was! It was low twenties, sunny, and clear. It's been in the high teens so it was nice to have warmer weather for strolling the grounds and enjoying the day.

The Summer Palace is in the northwest corner of the city, so it was a bit of trip, but well worth it. It was originally built in the mid 1700's, but was rebuilt after the Anglo-French opium war. It's mostly a large man made lake, and several temples and other beautifully architected buildings situation on Longevity Hill which was also man made from the earth removed to make the lake.

We had a nice walk through the grounds and climbed up Longevity Hill. The girls had great fun because there were large boulders and rocks to climb on and even a little cave to explore. Nadim and I read our books for a bit while the girls played on the rocks and found caves for their Polly Pockets.

We moved on to walk along the lake's edge where we saw willow trees that had been planted when the Palace was first built, 250 years ago. They really try to preserve them. Some have posts holding up heavy branches or metal bands holding the trunks together.
At the top of the hill we took the above picture. Later in the day we took a boat complete with a dragon's head on the front of it to the island in the picture and crossed the seventeen arch bridge to go back to the main gate.

At another point we stopped while the kids played. Nadim and I played a game of cards while an old woman crooned to music that she was listening to on her head phones. It was pretty awful, but we didn't want to give up our bench. Besides, it was kind of funny. We were glad when she eventually decided to take a nap.

It was a great way to spend the day. This was the last item on our list of things to see in Beijing. Nadim and I were both commenting today that we're ready to move on now.

CM

Taking it easy

We decided to take it easy today and stay around the neighbourhood. After home schooling, we had some lunch and headed off to the nearby park. The kids sat in a little gazebo-type structure and wrote in their journals for a while and then played, and we read our books in the sun. It was a nice, relaxing time.

We wanted to get some snacks and other supplies for the upcoming overnight train ride to Hong Kong, so we stopped at the grocery store. We picked up some blueberry-flavoured chips among other things. Surprisingly, they taste pretty good! Speaking of interesting snacks, we picked up some corn-flavoured ice cream a couple of days ago! It actually looks like a corn on the cob and tastes like corn. Takes a little getting used to, but the taste is okay. The girls have been great with trying different foods here. We try to make food that tastes similar to what we have at home, but we have to make do with what is available and most times it does not taste the same. Still, that is also part of the adventure and we are enjoying it.

We met the other kids in the park today and they all played until after dark. Everyone knows we are leaving in a couple of days so they want to play as much as possible. We are meeting them again on Sunday to play some more.

NM

Ming Dynasty Relics Park

The girls have been working on a little report on the Great Wall. They found out that it was started 2,600 years ago and completed 600 years ago. Much of the 6,400 km long wall is in disrepair and is disappearing. During its peak period, about one million men guarded the wall!

Today we went to a different wall. It was also built in the Ming Dynasty, 600 years ago, but it was the city wall. Nadim has been wanting to see it, but we kept putting him off. Today was the day though!
It was a pretty little park that was rather long but not very wide. We followed a winding path along the 2 km stretch of wall and admired the gardens and sites. We saw a large group of local school kids jogging round the park, but they weren't too enthusiastic.

Near the end of the park we came across some statues of people playing polo. It looked as though the game was pretty intense!

We got home just in time. It's now raining and the thunder is rolling. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow.

CM

Le Cool Ice Rink

Yesterday we had skipped most of our school work, so today was back to the grind. By lunch we were finished so off we went to one of the nearby restaurants. We decided to forego the pig's intestine in sauce, and the donkey meat, but settled on a very spicy chicken dish that had lots of hot peppers and garlic in it. It was a bit hot for the girls although they did enjoy a bit of it. They had some noodles with a tomato and egg sauce.

After lunch we headed off to the Le Cool Ice Rink. The 20 minute walk to the subway has become pretty routine at this point. The tunnel under the road, the smelly public washrooms, the restaurants and shops, jumping out in front of traffic to cross busy streets, the guy roasting nuts or corn at the side of the road, it all seems normal now.

The ice rink was in a big mall inside the China World Trade Centre. Nadim skated for about 15 minutes, but he was concerned about his feet because the skates didn't fit his orthotics, besides which he couldn't get used to figure skates! I fared a little better and skated for about half an hour or more, before the very uncomfortable skates got the better of me. The girls lasted for well over an hour. Roya had us timing her to see how fast she could skate around the rink. We had brought sweaters and thought we would be cold, but somehow they had it heated so we ended up in our short sleeves!

We were feeling our leg muscles a little after yesterday's Great Wall climb. I think everyone is happy to have a relaxing evening at home. I hope they have a good movie on HBO.

CM

The Great Wall

The Great Wall lived up to its name. It really was great. We had hired a car and driver to take us there. The car was rather old and smelled a bit of gas, but it got us there and back in one piece. We had an unscheduled stop at a factory where they make beautiful vases. We didn't really want to stop, but apparently the company has some sort of deal with the factory and we were required to stop. It turned out to be okay. It was interesting to see how they shape the vases from copper, add copper wire on the outside to make intricate dragon patterns, then fill those patterns with crushed stone for colour and fire them in the kiln and eventually polish them down. Of course there was an expensive gift shop at the end, but we managed to get away without any extra items to pack into our luggage.

We got to the Great Wall around 11:00 and went straight up using the chair lift. It's quite high in the mountains so the ride was beautiful, but a bit nerve wracking for me as I am somewhat afraid of heights!

TBS friends: Did you note the special guest with Yasmin and Roya in the picture above?

We were glad we had taken the chair lift as there was a lot of hiking that we did on the wall. I had imagined it much more flat, but it is like walking on the house that Jack built! Several steps down, then up, up, up. It follows the edge of the mountain so it twists and turns, and winds a lot. A few steps would be one height and then there would be a larger step and then smaller ones again. We had walked towards the left first. Although it had lots of rises and falls, it was not nearly as steep as going to the right.

We were on the wall at lunch time so we stopped at a stone platform that was once used for cannons, and pulled our lunch items from our back pack. It was gorgeous to sit there in the mountains and just enjoy the view. There were not too many tourists which made it that much better.

We had told the girls a bit of its history. It was built in the Ming Dynasty about 600 years ago, and soldiers would stand lookout for the enemy and, if necessary, they would light fires to send a message back to the emperor. The girls had fun peeking out between the bricks looking for the enemy now and then.

When we made our way back, Nadim wanted to climb the passage to the right and go up to the summit. The girls were tired at this point, so we sent Nadim ahead and said we'd meet him on the way down, but before we knew it we had followed Nadim all the way to the top. Admiring the view was a great excuse to stop now and then for a break. The girls were real troopers today. In the picture above the steps were almost knee height and went pretty much straight up, and that was only one set of them. What a climb! I suspect our legs will be a little sore tomorrow.

The ride down was a blast. It was a toboggan ride! We zoomed down the side of the mountain on a winding path similar to a water slide, but in a little cart with wheels. There was a hand brake that we had to use to slow ourselves down particularly as we came to the hairpin curves, but it was great fun. Much better than taking the chair lift!

At the bottom of the wall there were lots of people selling all sorts of souvenirs. We didn't really want anything, but for the fun of it Nadim bargained a couple of T-shirts for the girls down from 120 RMB to 20 RMB. That's two shirts at less than $2 each. I almost feel bad, but he wouldn't have sold them to us unless he was making a profit!

CM

Gurgle, gurgle

We had planned to go to "Le Cool Ice Rink", but I wanted to stay close to home. I've got a bit of traveler's stomach and didn't feel like going too far. It's nothing serious, just a bit more gurgling than normal.

We did our school lessons and then headed out to a nearby take-out counter for lunch before heading to the park. We had a sort of wrap, a doughy bread wrapped around some garlicky spinach mixture, and another sort of bread with meat baked into the centre. They were really quite good. Probably not great for my stomach, but what can I say... I'm weak willed when it comes to tasty food!

Nadim organized a car and driver for tomorrow. We're planning to go to the great wall. Very exciting. We looked at taking the bus, but the car ended up being about the same price and you get there faster and can move to your own schedule.

CM

Chinese Acrobatics

It was rainy and cool today - probably about 15 degrees. As I say that I think about Canada and the weather reports I've been hearing from back home. I guess 15 degrees isn't so cold!

We stayed around home for most of the day. Although it wasn't a school day we did do some extra work because we are planning our trip to the great wall and don't expect to be able to get a full day of schooling in on that day. We were reading some history stories and learning out pyramids and how they were used for the graves of ancient pharaohs who had been mummified. We decided to make pyrmids. It was a pretty good exercise in geometry and a great way to ensure the history lesson sinks in. The girls had to take it a step further and before you know it we had mummified Polly Pockets (useing strips of toilet paper) to put in our pyramids. The girls had great fun putting treasures in the pyramids and acting out different morbid scenarios.

We headed off to a Chinese Actobatics Show in the late afternoon. We were about to buy our tickets but a woman said she could get us a better deal through her company, a travel agency. We were a bit skeptical but decided to try it. She was taking our money and about to head off to get tickets, but Nadim wanted to go with her. She said no problem, so he followed along and sure enough got us some cheaper tickets. We saved 120 RMB, just over $20 on the tickets and went in to the show.

The show was very good. At one point they had twelve acrobats balanced on a bicycle, at another there was a guy standing on a balance with two girls hanging from his sides, a guy sitting on his shoulders and another guy standing on a balance on his head, and at another point there was a contortionist so bent that she was pretty much sitting on her own head! Below is a picture of the contortionists. Very strange, and kind of amazing.

This morning we had gone over to a building nearby that had a fitness centre and swimming pool. The girls had a nice swim and jumped in the pool for their friend Kendra. It wasn't the same as swimming in Kendra's pool, but it was still fun.

CM

Shopping

Kim would have been in heaven! We went to one of the shopping districts today because we wanted to find some more reading material. We stopped at the Beijing APM, which is a six story shopping mall. They didn't have what we wanted but the info clerk pointed us down the street. As we walked along the wide, pedestrian street there were high end stores, department stores and all sorts of shops. We saw a Nike store and checked the prices but were surprised to find that the converted prices were the same as what we would get back home, or sometimes higher!

Eventually we found the bookstore. It wasn't hard to spot because it was another six story building with "Wangfujing Bookstore" written in big red letters. We found a few rows of English novels on the third floor. There wasn't much of a selection for the girls, but Nadim and I found what we were looking for. We agreed to buy books that we could pass on to each other, so the romance novels and horror paperbacks were out. Eventually we settled on a couple of books for us and a couple for the kids and moved on.

After a quick stop for lunch we made our way to a big toy store that we had seen. The girls enjoyed browsing. Much of the things were similar to what we have back home, and the prices were similar as well. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't uniquely Chinese toys. The girls went home with a craft to make wooden doll furniture. They had great fun putting it together later in the afternoon and then playing with their new pieces.

I'm not much of a shopper. The only things we seem to be buying are grocery items. I thought I'd share a picture of some of the items we've been eating.

The night we arrived in China, Nadim went out to pick up bread. We both had a good laugh over the brand name! The little brown fruit in the bowl seem to be pretty popular. I've never seen them back home, but Nadim is familiar with it from Iran (Senjed). They are kind of like little apples. In any case we seem to be managing fine with food. We don't have a lot of the things we eat at home, but we're trying new things and finding others that are similar to our good ol' favourites.

CM

In the garden

It was warm, but not hot, sunny and not hazy, and generally a beautiful day. We headed out earlier than usual and caught the subway to the end of line 10 and then grabbed a taxi to the botanical gardens. We arrived before 11:00 am, but it was already getting busy.

The gardens are just outside Beijing city limits. The grounds are quite large so we managed to find some peace along smaller pathways and less traveled routes. There were sections of the garden that were very well manicured while other sections were more wild. Although still quite lovely at this time of year, I image that it is truly stunning in the spring. There are areas where peonies, lilacs, roses, and fruit trees would bloom at that time of year, and I imagined the smell would be so sweet.


We found a quiet little spot near a small lake and pulled out of our knapsack fixings for sandwiches. The kids played for a bit before we moved on. We meandered through the pathways until we found a Chinese style gazebo. There we took a break and played Yahtzee for a bit and read our books. After a while we picked up again and took a peak at the Reclining Buddha Temple near the back of the garden.

On our way back through we stopped for some tea at a tea house. I read a little from "The Secret Garden". I've been reading it to the girls in the evenings before bed and we thought it was the perfect place to read a chapter. When Nadim went to go pay for the tea, he was in for a shock. We hadn't asked the price and they had suckered us into getting the most expensive tea, which was $30 Canadian! Nadim argued with them. Kind of hard to do since they don't speak English and we don't speak Chinese. Eventually he payed them the equivalent of $15 Canadian which he thought was more than reasonable.

We made our way back to the city with its honking horns and cars that don't yield to pedestrians, and busy subway trains. We were a little late in meeting the local kids at the park, but they were still waiting for us. It really was a great day, and a much appreciated break from the big city.

CM

Dinosaurs

We left the house around noon today, and decided to have lunch on the way to the subway. We stopped at a take-out window. They make fresh bread, which is similar to Indian naan, but cooked on a hot skillet. The bread is round and it is stuffed with herbs, mystery meat and some sauce. The kids like it and call it Chinese pizza! We also got some bread stuffed with something sweet, which we had for dessert. We all enjoyed, and it cost us less than $2 CDN!



Today's trip was to the Natural History Museum, where dinosaurs were the main attraction. The dinosaur skeletons were spectacular, and there was a section on what the dinosaurs would have looked like when they ruled the earth! Although we enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit, the other parts of the museum did not hold our interest. We checked out the ancient mammals and ocean creatures sections and then decided to leave. We got back to the nearby park and the kids were waiting for us to play tag again! They love that game.

NM

China Day

Today is China's national holiday. We were told that people have a day off and the subway, or perhaps only the Tiananmen Square stop of the subway is closed.

We were ready for a day home anyway, so it was a good excuse to stay around "home" and not deal with traffic and people congestion.

We slept in a little because the kids were late going to bed last night. We got through our studies and had some lunch and headed over to the park. The first pictue is taken from our bedroom window. The green area is the park nearby and you can see the mass of buidings beyond it, that is Beijing.

We spent the early part of the afternoon having a stroll aound the park and then finding a spot in the sun to read while the kids played with their new racquets. After we tired of that we went back to the apartment to do a little research and planning for the next leg of the trip.

Before we knew it, it was time to meet our new friends in the park. In the top row you can see Wendy, Yasmin and Roya and in the bottom there was a new girl, Susan, Jim and Jen. Brian had to go to his grandmother's house today so he was absent. They played tag again, but this time we asked them to teach us their version. It was similar to freeze tag, but when "it" comes close you have to stop put your hands together and say a three word sentence. If you do, you're safe, but you're frozen until a free friend touches you. The favourite sentence seemed to be "I love you." I also thought it funny that the most common question we would hear was "Who's tag?"

So now that you know what our apartment looks like from the inside, perhaps you should see the outside.

This shot was taken from the entrance to the park. Our building is R. In the background, if you look closely you can see a bit of the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium.

We're surrounded by very large buildings, but surprisingly we are starting to bump into people that we've already met. We waved to the guy that we met at the ping pong tables as we walked along the street the other day and Nadim met someone we had chatted with at the park in the grocery store. It makes us feel a bit at home. Strange in such a large city.

CM

Temple of Heaven

We headed off to the Temple of Heaven after we completed most of our school work. We wanted an early start so we could be back to meet our new friends in the park at 4:00.


The Temple of Heaven was used to ask God for a good harvest. The emperor would come here and read the special tablets at certain times of the year.

This temple had a handful of main buildings, but the grounds surrounding the double walled temple were very large. In fact the area of the Temple of Heaven is four times that of the Forbidden City, or so my automatic guide told me.

The grounds surrounding the main buiding were full of very old juniper and cypress trees. Some were over five hundred years old! There were also a lot of people on the grounds just out enjoying the day. It was a picnic atmosphere. Some people were grouped together and dancing. Others were using a long outdoor corridor for singing in. And others seemed to be just out for a stroll.

We saw the main buildings of the temple, which of course were very ornately decorated. There were a lot of people out so it was difficult to get a good view of the inside of them. By this time we kind of feel like one building is similar to the others, and we actually enjoyed strolling through the grounds better.


We stopped and let the kids play with a tai chi racquet and ball that we got conned into buying. We listened to some music and singing. The weather was warm so it was perfect to just enjoy the day.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the subway and make our way to our nearby park where we were to meet our new friends. We were a bit late, but they were still there waiting for us. We played a lot of tag, and we taught them how to play SPUD. The kids loved tag, but always wanted me to join in the game, so between the walking and the game of tag, I really got my exercise today!

We headed home and finished our school work and then we went out for dinner. After looking through the menu, we decided to skip the beef hoof, toad, and grilled donkey meat. We were tempted by the frog, but the server thought it would be too spicy for us. We settled on a peanut chicken dish, shrimp and asparagus, deep fried pumpkin coated with egg yolk, and sechuan chicken. It was all very tasty and we walked home with full bellies and some left-overs. I thought I might have been losing some weight with all this walking, but perhaps I gained back what I might have lost during supper tonight!

CM

Puppet Theatre and Friends

We did home schooling as usual this morning, and then ventured out to find the China Puppet Theatre after lunch. This was a bit more of an adventure than planned...

We decided to make our way to subway line 8 rather than line 5 as it seemed like a shorter trip. Line 8 was used for the Olympic venues. Off we went and after about 25 minutes of walking we found line 8, but it was closed! Ahhh.

We ended up having to walk there. So after an hour and a half from the time we left the house we eventually arrived. We stopped and asked directions but the guy didn't speak English, of course. Nadim was starting to act out "puppet theatre" (kind of entertaining), but a passerby stopped. He could speak English and was able to point us in the right direction.

Eventually we went to our show. It was all in Chinese, but we kind of got the gist of it and the puppets were really entertaining. They were so detailed, and they could make them look so life like!

The girls seemed to enjoy it, although Yasmin was trying to convince us to get them to switch it to English. A little difficult!

The trip home was much shorter. We stopped at the park on the way home and for the first time there was a group of kids there that were Yasmin and Roya's age. Yasmin was quite excited about it , but too shy to make friends. Within five minutes the group of kids left and Yasmin was very sad. She said she missed her friends back home. She had tears in her eyes and it nearly broke my heart. After a hug, I suggested we play tag. This seemed to cheer her up, and then there was a little boy at the park and the girls started to play follow the leader with him.

The best part was that after about 20 minutes the older kids came back! The girls were still shy but eventually we got the kids to start playing tag with us. Our first couple of attempts failed because they didn't know how to play! After we told them how the game works, things went much better. We played tag and climbed on the play structures until it got dark and it was well past supper time. The girls were so happy to have some new friends that I didn't have the heart to stop their fun. As we were all leaving, we managed to make plans to meet in the park again tomorrow.

We got home and I made tortillas from scratch, and we had burritos. The sauce was also from scratch. The girls were quite happy because this is one of their favourite meals, but we hadn't been able to find refried beans or flat bread. A lot more work than at home, but well worth it. The kids went to bed with big smiles after such a great day.

CM

Explora Science

Nadim and I were still sniffling this morning, but decided that we were well enough to get out for a bit. Thankfully the girls are still healthy. Hopefully it will pass them by.

We made our way to Sony Explora Science. It's a hands on science centre. We did experiments with light, and sound. We saw our shadows in different colors of the light spectrum, had a demo of how they make color TV, went in an echo room where we spoke into a microphone and could hear what it would sound like if we were speaking from a mountain top, a subway, a church, or other spaces. We also had a visual of our voices, and could replay bits and clips of it. We stood at a table and made shadows on it with our hands, and depending on the shape of the shadow a different image of an animal would come onto the table. Pretty cool stuff.

We also saw some experiments. Try this: Fill a glass with water. Put it on top of a coin. Look from the side of the glass. You can't see the coin that the glass is sitting on. Then put some water on the coin and put the glass on top of the water and coin. This time you can see the coin when looking from the side of the glass! It was a fun and educational experience. The kids had a great time.

CM

Olympic Stadiums

Tonight after supper we went for a walk. I wanted to see the Water Cube up close. It's a ten minute walk from our building, but the Olympics site is still fenced in. We walked around the outside of the complex and eventually found a spot where people were being let in.

A volunteer gave us a voucher to get into the complex so we went in. It was amazing. The Bird's Nest was first. We could get up quite close to it, but couldn't go in either building.

In between the buildings there was music playing and there were strips of light in the plaza walk way. The light kept changing colors. Very cool.

There was also rows of fountains coming out of the ground. These fountains were moving with the music. We watched some people taking pictures and running into the fountains. Before we knew it, it was too tempting. We had to see if we could get to the other side before they changed directions and sprayed us. The girls had great fun.

The Water Cube is a pretty unique building. It is actually bubbly on the outside. Nadim (Mr. Engineer) figured that they had metal framing for the wall skeleton, but the skin is made of heavy plastic with air blown into it.

It was great to get out for a stroll tonight, and amazing to walk the grounds where so many of our Olympic heroes went before us.

CM

The apartment

This morning Nadim and I woke up with the sniffles. I had a sore throat and a very runny nose. Nadim was a bit congested too. It's nothing serious, but we didn't feel like sight seeing, so we stayed close to home. We went to the park, did some groceries and played Yahtzee at the dining room table.
I thought I should post some pictures of our apartment so that you can get an idea of where we are staying.

This first picture is of the girls' bedroom. Our bedroom is similar, except it has two beds pushed together. The beds are very firm, but that's the way we like it, so it works for us.

There isn't much space in the bedrooms - just enough for the beds and a small dresser.


Our living room and dining area are combined. In the picture you can just see the back of the chair where our dining area is. We've got a TV and a desk too. We get a few English movie channels, which Nadim enjoys and the desk has been great for organizing the school work for the kids.

The girls usually have their Polly Pockets, and Littlest Petshop toys spread everywhere. Or at least until I get annoyed and make them clean it up a bit.


The kitchen is pretty small. We have a gas stove and a microwave. There is also a hot plate that we've not really used. It came equipped with plates, bowls, glasses, cups and cutlery for four. No dishwasher, so we're washing up after each meal.

We also have a clothes washer in the kitchen. That's been handy. We don't have a dryer so our dry fit clothes are working out really well. The cotton clothes dry overnight too, so it really hasn't been an issue.

We really like the location of our apartment. It's a 15-20 minute walk to the subway station, which is convenient for getting around, but it's also far enough from downtown that there are a couple of parks within a 5-10 minute walk. The shopping center and post office are also within a 10 minute walk. We're certainly getting our exercise without a vehicle to get us around.

Hopefully we'll feel better tomorrow and will feel like going out adventuring again.

CM

Tiananmen Square

After the morning home schooling session, we set off to find the ExploraScience Centre, so we could check out dinosaur bones and other fun things. On the way to the subway station, we stopped at the "ping pong park" to do some exercises on the equipment. After a 10-minute exercise break, we headed off again. The information we had found said the science centre was at the Oriental Plaza, so that's where we went. However, far from being a science museum, it was a high-end shopping mall! We asked at the mall information booth and they had no idea what we were talking about!

We went out on the street and a passerby, who must have seen our bewildered faces, asked if she could help us. She too had no idea where this crazy science centre was, and she even "called a friend", but the best she could do was to direct us to the Museum of Natural History. By this point, we had realized how close we were to Tiananmen Square, so we decided to go there instead and go to the science centre another day, after we figure out exactly where it is!


Let me start by saying that Tiananmen Square is HUGE! The square is surrounded by China's government buildings and the National Museum. On one side was a sculpted garden depicting the Olympic mascots, and on the opposite side was another sculpted garden. We had a liesurely walk around the square and were stopped 10 times (the kids were counting!) by people who wanted their picture taken with Yasmin and Roya. We were teasing them, saying this is probably how Hanna Montana feels when she goes out! Yasmin was particulrly enamoured with being famous!

On the way home, the subway was busy, and we took some pictures of the crowds, so you can get a feel of what it's like. This shot is taken at 2:30 on Friday afternoon. I can hardly imagine what rush hour must look like.

NM + CM

A walk in the park

We decided to take it easy today and just hang around the neighbourhood. After some home schooling, we walked to a nearby park - the same one where we had seen the ping pong players. We used some of the exercise equipment and watched the ping pong games for a while.


Then we moved on to another area, where we noticed people were dancing. We did not recognize the beats of the first song, but then they played what sounded like a cha-cha. So we used our dancing lessons and did a little cha-cha. We felt like stars because we gained quite an audience! Someone even video taped us dancing :-) This offered an opportunity for us to speak to a few people. One of the ladies came over and invited Christina to dance with her. They danced a Chinese style dance and Christina was pretty quick to pick it up!

After the park, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I saw packages of frozen meat on skewers that looked interesting, but wasn't sure what kind of meat they were. So I asked the attendant if it was beef, but he did not know English. He was about to go get someone to help, but I stopped him and said "Mooo?" He lauged and answered "No, Baaa!" I guess they were lamb skewers!

After lunch and some more home schooling, we went to the nearby park with books in hand. The girls played and we read our books for a bit. We ended up meeting an older gentleman who was learning English. He was happy to practise with us. Although retired, he has taught himself to read and speak English by listening to voice recordings and following a Beijing University English book. He dedicates 3 to 4 hours a day to English practice. Our English lesson to him did not come free - we asked him to teach us how to say and write numbers in Chinese. We had a good laugh over our attempts to pronounce the words with the right tone. He also wrote Yasmin and Roya's names in Chinese, and told them they had to learn their Chinese numbers.

NM + CM

Train Tickets

It was rainy and cool this morning so we had a slow morning of home schooling and then we decided to go book our train tickets to Hong Kong. We don't leave until Oct 13, but we wanted to get them booked because Nadim was afraid of the train filling up. We couldn't book them from home because they only go on sale 20 days prior to the departure date.So, off we went to the subway.

It was a long trip because we were going from the northeast end of town to the southwest part of town where the train station is. Once we exit the subway there are no English signs as usual, so we start following a guy pulling a suitcase. Sure enough this leads us to the train station. We find our way to a sea of people waiting in line to buy tickets. China's national holiday is coming up and everyone seems to be going somewhere.

We wait in a line that says "English speaking agent". Excellent, we thought, until we get to the agent and she doesn't speak English! She directs us to another line that claims to have an English speaking agent, and we think we're in luck because this one speaks broken English. We try to get our tickets, but she tells us that they don't come on sale until 7:00 tonight. It's only 1:30 at this point.... Do we stay around for another 5 hours, or do we go home and make the 1 hour and 20 minute trip (that includes walking to and from the subway as well as the ride itself) again tomorrow. Uggg!

Off we went for some lunch, and to study our map and make a plan. On the way to lunch we stopped at a large hotel and got a concierge who spoke English fairly well to write down in Chinese our destination, departure date, and the type of tickets we wanted (soft sleeper, which is two bunk beds in a private room). We weren't leaving anything to chance for our next visit to a ticket agent!

There was a KFC across the street and the girls were interested in that so we thought we'd see if the food was the same. It was NOT! The bun might have been the same and perhaps the fries if they had have been hot, but the meat quality and crispiness left a lot to be desired.

After a quick look at the map we decide to walk back towards the subway where there is a park. It's stopped raining by that time, but it was still cool. We stopped along the way to check out some shops and burn some time.

The park had an exercise area where they had places to stretch, bars, some interesting equipment that you use your own body for the weights. The girls had a great time and we enjoyed people watching. I think they enjoyed watching us too.

Beijingers seem to exercise for a few minutes on their way to where ever they're going. They are often dressed in work clothes or other non-workout gear when they do their exercises. Funny to think of us North Americans and all the work out and sports gear that we invest in.

Eventually we made our way back to the station and booked our tickets. By this time it was fully dark outside. We walked back to the subway and made our way home arriving just before 9:00 pm. The kids went straight to bed. They were really tired, but this is a good thing because it means that they probably won't wake at 4:00 am as they had been because of the time change.

Tomorrow we are planning a slow day. I think it's supposed to rain again.

CM

Lama Temple

We went for a site-seeing tour, but came back feeling more spiritual. The Lama Temple was previously a palace, but was later converted to a Lama Temple. The emperor wished to unite the country and saw this gesture as a means of doing that.

I felt that the buildings were very similar in style to those in the Forbidden City, or at least to the smaller ones. I could certainly see that it was previously a palace, which made it difficult to view as a temple. However, there were many people paying respects to Buddha by lighting incense and praying. I had been unaware that there were so many differnt Buddhas. It is really a station as well as a person.

There were many gold statues of Buddhas representing the past, present, future, healing, virtues, etc. The most impressive was a standing, golden Buddha that was 55 feet tall.

On the way home we stopped at a different park and watched some people spinning tops using two sticks with string attached. As they spun faster and faster the top would make whistling sounds. They would almost dance with the string and top. Check the video below - it was very interesting to watch. We also stopped to see ping pong players. We were invited to join, but declined because they looked too good at it. Maybe next time.

CM + NM