March 20, 2009 Our flight left O'Hare at 12:45pm. We headed North thru Canada and then to the North Pole. While we flew over the North Pole it was -59 degrees. We landed in Beijing at 1:40am (Chicago time). It was a beautiful 60 degrees in Beijing.
March 21, 2009 After we retrieved our luggage, we headed to our hotel. It was 3:30pm Beijing time and we really didn't sleep on the very cramped plane. The hotel is very modern and only 15 minutes from the airport. Paul and I headed to bed around 6:30pm. We weren't able to sleep the whole night because of the different in time change.
March 22, 2009 We have had a wonderful day in Beijing. It was a cool but sunny day! First, we headed to the Great Wall of China. It was very cold and windy as we climbed the wall. We made it to 3 towers. It was an incredible sight. From there we headed to a 'flea market' type of place. They showed us how they made pots,vases, and many other items made out of copper. It was very interesting. We ate lunch at this place. We have about 12 people in our group and they served us family style many different types of Chinese foods. From there we headed to Hutong Lane. This is an area that is pres served by the government. We took a rickshaw(I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly). It was fun to be on the carriage. He took us to a widows home and we were allowed to go in and she made us tea and shared her home(which was a small 2 room house)with us. Her niece was there painting inside of bottles. She had amazing talent. Our driver, drove us by the Olympic Bird Nest stadium, the Cube and the Olympic village.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was almost 6pm. My stomach is not feeling very good so we thought we would try 'American' food-McDonalds. I had a quarter pounder and it really doesn't taste anything like the ones we are use to. I was disappointed.
We were able to walk the streets and ran into a girl from MN. She had a Bethel sweatshirt on. Her trip was coming to an end and we had a nice conversation with her.
Until next time- from beautiful China
Lori, I'm so glad you had an uneventful flight over and an interesting day of sightseeing! I can't believe how close you are to meeting Mikenna! I hope you're able to get on the new time by tomorrow. We are waiting with baited breath to hear about the next BIG part of the journey!!! We'll be praying . . .
ReplyDeleteJulie
P.S. Try the Big Mac! It's pretty close to ours! :)
Hi Lori and Paul,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pics. I just saw a travel show on China yesterday. The wall looks incredible. You two look like you're having the time of your lives. Which you are. Wow, by the time you get this it's Monday. I'm praying and thinking of you two. Good luck on Tuesday.
Barb