This was our last day in Changsha. It was rather uneventful. The last time we left Changsha, we were a little sad as we knew we were taking Kira away from her home and didn't know when or if we would return. Kira handled everything well, though, and said it was a nice place to visit but didn't want to live there.

We flew out of Changsha and arrived in Beijing at about 7:15 pm. It was dark in Beijing and the lights were brilliant and there was bumper-to-bumper traffic. Our guide in Beijing told us that there are 16 million people here in Beijing and that the Chinese people consist of 56 nationalities....can you imagine?! We found out that the increased number of vehicles now is largely due to the SARS outbreak when people were trying to avoid public transportation. We are staying at the Tiantan Hotel which is close to one of the sights we will see, the Temple of Heaven.