Today was another extremely exhausting day. We left the hotel at 8:30 a.m., and drove out to the Great Wall of China. It was a beautiful day today and the mountains were magnificent! Guy went up to the first tower on the Wall...there were far too many steep steps for me! There were quite a few of us that just could not muster the Wall! We were there for about an hour and a half. We took tons of pictures that we can't wait to share with everyone once we get home, but we will post a few here for you to get a sample.

After the Great Wall, we drove to a "Friendship Store". It is a government run store that has tons of merchandise. We had lunch at a Chinese Restaurant.... shocker....then headed back into the heart of Beijing to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City! Once we got to the Forbidden City, it took approximately one and a half hours to walk through just part of the square. Our guide, Ike, said that to walk the entire square would take 3 days!! There were street sellers everywhere trying to sell us Chairmen Mao watches, Mao's Little Red Book, etc. They are very persistent!

Did I mention the traffic in Beijing? I will try to describe it for you: people driving everywhere, bike riders driving down the center of the lanes, people crossing the street at random and, they drive very close to the opposing traffic lane. We were all commenting today that we are shocked we have not seen any major accidents! Everywhere you look in the city, there is construction of office buildings and apartments. Our memories of Beijing will be of the masses of people and the traffic!

Well, this is our last entry from Beijing. Tomorrow we leave for Nanchang and we will finally meet Elizabeth in the early evening! More tomorrow!

Love, Cathy and Guy

Next....GOTCHA DAY! November 8th, 2005