Beijing here I come!

My first photo in Beijing, China. We just got off the plane and are on the tour bus heading to the Temple of Heaven. I am so excited to see everything there is to see in China, come along let's go!

Temple of Heaven.

Here is Duncan, our tour guide, telling us about the Temple of Heaven. I can't wait to see what is inside the courtyard! Nate and Raluca paying close attention to what he is saying. :)

The Hall of Prayer of Good Harvest.

I am in the Temple of Heaven courtyard having fun! I almost forgot this building was built using absolutely no nails! It is all wood pieced together like a puzzle. Here is a link if you would like to know more about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven

Cheese!

Just posin' for the people!

Our first Chinese meal!

Dinner is served family style. That glass is a Lazy Susan and life is good. This is a picture of all of us that came from the DGEV. In front from left to right is ME, Kristin (aka Marshy), Raluca, Mo in the back is Nate and Sarah B. This was one of the best dinners. It was Peking Duck. I wish we had more of it!

So?

Alright, so I'll be the person that jumps off the ladder onto the board! Katie you can be the one who gets flipped up and has to land in the chair and Teri you have to balance her while she lands in the chair. Sound like a plan, we can do this?

Stop it!

Ok, really come on now! This woman walked around with the other woman balancing on her head for quite some time. Then she decided it would be a good idea to walk up and down these stairs. Unbelievable!!

I think we could do this?

Now lets all walk on top of each other while spinning plates on sticks. I am impressed!

Talk about balance!

These 3 guys were amazing! They were doing stuff like this and holding it for an incredibly long time.

Who does that?

Are you serious? 13 girls on 1 bicycle riding around the stage at the Chinese Acrobatic Show! All I can say is "WOW"

The Great Wall of China.

It took over 200 years to build the entire wall. Around 2-3 million Chinese died during the centuries of building the wall. It is approximately 4,000 miles long. It would stretch from L.A. to New York City. It was built as protection during the many dynasties of China. And I am going to climb a part of it!

Lovin' life on the Great Wall.

I forget why I did this pose, it looks cool though! I am part way up the Wall here. It's good to take breaks.

Taking a breather...

Just stopping to catch my breath and look around at the scenery. It was a beautiful day out!

Doin' the Wall!

I can't believe I am still smiling. I was holding on for dear life all the way and down! Talk about a great workout.

One last look at the wall....

What an amazing structure!

The Summer Palace.

This where the emperor and empress would go during the summer. It must be nice???

Entrance to the Summer Palace.

The lions are believed to have powerful mythic protective powers. They traditionally stood in front of palaces, temples, and government offices. They are generally in pairs the female on the left and the male on the right. The male lion has his right paw on a ball while the female has a single cub under her left paw. Just a little tid bit of information.

The female lion...

I want a lion in front of my house..well in this case my dorm room door.

Duncan showing us where we are...

Here is Duncan our tour guide. This is a map showing a small part of the Summer Palace. A huge man made lake just for the Emperor.

Are they endangered?

Do your best to help protect the railings. I love it! I hope they survive.

The Phoenix...

The Phoenix represented the Empress. Normally, the Dragon stands to the left and the Phoenix to the right of a building, showing the power of the emperor. Well, this building the empress had it changed, Phoenix on the left and Dragon on the right! Woman Power!

I am the Dragon!

My Chinese sign is the Dragon. The Dragon is historically the symbol of the Emperor of China. Nike had a campaign showing Lebron James slaying a dragon which was immediately censored by the Chinese government due to the public outcry of disrespect. There are many things in China that are censored. Example: No Blogs!

Random...

Random Chinese people would come in our circle as Duncan was explaining things to us about the Summer Palace in English. Notice the little boy has a Commy hat! I think they just wanted to be close to us. I took pictures of people like this and most would walk away...heheh :)

Hanging out in the Summer Palace

Everything in this corridor is hand painted. It is a long, long corridor. The emperor and empress could walk around the lake and be able to be protected from the rain. Those Chinese emperors had everything figured out!

Concubine quarters....

A break from the cold. We went in here and saw some great artwork. I bought some of the students artwork. I can't wait to get home and get it framed and hang it in my new home wherever that may be?

Nate and Sarah being weird!

I don't know what to say? The building behind them is pretty!

This is an important sign.....

No cars on fire are allowed this way! I love this sign! I was fighting off street sellers to take this picture!

Mo have they converted you?

Mo is sporting my new Commy had! Let's all join the Red Army! I bought this hat for a steal from a guy on the street leaving the Summer Palace!

Cracking open the oyster....

We as a group chose a oyster to open and see the pearls inside. 2 lucky people got the pearls from the oyster. I wasn't one of those people. That's O.K. I spent most of my time buying pearls for cheap, cheap, cheap!

Our dinner buddies...

The Frenchy's I like to call them. From left to right: Valerie, Rebecca, J.P., Alexander our favorite French family. We ate all our meals with them. We all made a perfect 10.

Entering Tiananmen Square...

Sarah and I learning that it is going to be a cold day throughout the historical sights of China. We entered at the North Gate of Tiananmen Square. It is the largest open urban square in the world. It is about 108.7 acres! Many historical events occurred here.

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

I believe that is the mausoleum of Mao Zedong behind me. His body was embalmed and is on display. People line up for hundreds of meters everyday to pay tribute to this chairman. I think he is the man that overthrew the last emperor of China and made him work in a factory!

Protecting the Chinese Communist Flag...

These two guards never move just stand and protect the flag, I guess. There is another guard that walks around the flag area.

Leaving Tiananmen Square....

The great Mao Zedong's face is on the building in the background. You must go through this gate to enter the Forbidden City.

I am freezing!

Mom, your scarf saved my face! I wasn't brave enough to jump over the fence to see what the Commi guards would do to me!

The Forbidden City...

The Forbidden City is now called The Palace Museum. It was forbidden because only the emperors could live there with his concubines and family. After the last emperor they say it was still forbidden because it cost so much money to enter. It is still forbidden because you are not allowed to smoke inside. :)

First shot inside the Forbidden City!

There are 9,000 rooms in the Forbidden City. If a baby was born he could sleep in a different room every night for 27 years. Crazy stuff!

It's all about the Olympics...

The building in the left of the picture is being renovated so it will be ready for all the people that will be here during the Beijing Olympics! They really have done a lot of work to get ready for the Olympics. The city is amazing clean!

Forbidden City..

A closer shot of one of the buildings in the City! It's hard to get a shot without a million people in it!

Oh soo Forbidden...

A shot of the buildings in the Forbidden City. There are so many tourist groups!

It is cold TODAY!

Sarah and I freezing our butts off in the Forbidden City. Little do we know a hot chocolate stop is ahead!

One of the last wonders in the the Forbidden City

This is where the emperor and empress went once a year. Since there are so many rooms, it makes sense to make it here only once! It is built up high so they can see everything out and above the Forbidden City. I guess this is their mountain retreat, all hand built.

The Tea House

We went to a Tea House and had the opportunity to try all kinds of wonderful teas. This particular one opens up into a flower after a few minutes in the hot water. It was a really great experience. I liked it alot! I regret not buying any tea while I was there.

Pee Pee Boy

This is what you use to test if the water is hot enough to make tea. Pee Pee boy has unbelievable distance.

Dinner in Fukuoka!

Our first night in Fukuoka, Japan. We had a great traditional Japanese dinner. Starting off the night right with a beer and some appetizers.

Killin' time....

Anderson and I had to kill some time before going to get Marshy at the Ferry Terminal. We decided to hit up the Asian Art Museum and saw a few free exhibits.

Fountain of Peace....

We went to the Peace Park when we first arrived in Nagasaki, Japan. The fountain is the first stop.

The Entrance to the Park....

So, it is an eerie feeling. I am not sure whether to smile or not. It's a hard place to be but hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again.

Peace Park...

One of the many statues in the Peace Park. This one is used on the anniversary of the disaster. They ring the bell once for every victim on this day. All of the statues in the park were sent from other countries as a symbol to represent Peace!

Describes the next photo....

I think this is important to know before seeing the statue. It makes more sense. If it is too small to read, try clicking on it to enlarge it. I found it very interesting.