Spent....

Man, sightseeing sure does take it all out of you. I am so lame tonight. I got back to my hotel room tonight around 5:30 and I haven't left. I am pooped!! Monday and Tuesday we did bus tours. Those are definitely worth it even though you are screaming to the world TOURIST!! I AM A SUCKER AND WILL PAY TOO MUCH MONEY FOR THINGS. hahahaha Monday's tour was so exciting I don't remember all of it. Hmmmmm... OH YEAH, we went and saw the panda's at the zoo first thing in the morning. Joseph was going crazy! I have never seen him so excited about anything. We stayed there a little longer than I would have liked. There is only so much staring at animals I can do, though I did like walking around the Forbidden City and the kids are quite bored of all the temple stuff. After the pandas we went to one of the most popular temples for worshippers of Buddha. It was crazy seeing all of them lighting their incense and kneeling and praying to the statue. Our guide was telling us that they pray for luck and good fortune. It seems like almost everything they do is for luck and good fortune. It's so empty. I did like the smell of all the incense though. :-) After that we saw Confucius' temple. We ran through that one be/c Jessica was sick and feeling really weak so we had to get back to the bus. Then on to lunch. We ate lunch at a really cool place. We went down a couple of levels and were served a set meal with all kinds of stuff I have not eaten before. While we ate there was traditional music and girls dancing traditional dances on a stage. After that we.......... I can't remember what we did. The very last thing we did was go to a tea shop and had a private tasting. At the end, of course, there was pressure to buy stuff. We caved. Really, I didn't mind be/c there was a certain tea that I wanted.... I just remembered what we did before that. We went to the only part of the old city wall that is still standing. It looks like most forts do. But it is always fun to climb up to the top of things and see the view......... For dinner we went to a popular shopping area called Wangfujing Street. There was another huge mall there! With a McDonald's and I will confess that is what I had for dinner. I am a little tired of foreign food. Tuesday's tour was AWESOME!! We went to the Ming Tombs which really isn't THAT impressive but after that we headed to the Great Wall. I can't believe I was actually there and walking along it. I kinda didn't get to enjoy the view be/c you really have to watch your feet as you walk plus some parts are very steep and the steps were extremely uneven. There were so many Chinese tourists there and our guide was telling us before we got there that most of them have never seen a foreigner except on TV and lots of kids learn English in school but don't get to practice it. We got stopped a number of times by people wanting their picture with us. Especially the Bantseev kids because they are blond and blue-eyed. It is kinda nice to be famous for a sec. There was one particular group that looked like they were in a band. They were very "cool." They were even excited to take a picture with us. They said they were from Tibet. I haven't looked online to see if there is a Tibetan rock band that looks similar to these guys. hahaha There was a girl on the tour with us that was traveling by herself and she and I became picture buddies. The rest of the day we took pictures for one another and then ended the day by having dinner and walking around a hot night spot. The place is called Houhai Park. There are a lot of restaurants and bars that wrap around a small lake. People were ice skating til about 9 or 10. After dinner, we mosied to the Starbucks and chatted over coffee and then decided to check out the opposite side of the lake. On our way we saw this quaint little spot called Guitar Bar. There were a couple of guys playing accoustic guitars singing. We went in and had a couple of pots of Chrysanthemum tea. It was oh so good!!! And I really liked the music. I hadn't heard any Chinese music or singing that I enjoyed but these two guys could really sing. I felt so cosmopolitan hanging out in Beijing drinking some tea with a girl from Mexico that I just met that day. It was a great night. We hung out there for about an hour or so and then walked the rest of the way around the lake. Even though it was 10 at night, I felt safe! I do not feel that safe at 7 p.m. in Russia. This has been such a great trip!!! And it didn't seem to go by super fast. Today I went to the Forbidden City and saw Tianeman Square. I think there were more tourist there than at the Great Wall and of course, we got asked a few times today to have our picture taken. There were four girls that were so excited to get a picture taken with me. We did a group shot and then they each got an individual shot. I saw them a couple more times while we were there and they all giggled and waved everytime. Once we got through the Forbidden City we went back to Beihai Park to do the ice bumper sleds. Instead of taking taxis we got the motorized rickshaws to take us there. (Speaking of rickshaws, I just remembered on Monday we took a rickshaw tour through the Hutong district. That is the area that where the ancient architecture is preserved).....We get to Beihai and go play on the ice for a bit. The find our way to Wangfujing street again for dinner. That is the short version of my trip to Beijing. This is a great tourist city. Even though there are only a few people that speak English it is very easy to get around and if you are not in the markets haggling prices, people are very nice to tourist. Tomorrow I am leaving bright and early for Russia. I can't believe I have only been gone one month. So much has happened I feel like I haven't seen you guys for several months! I have 8 more weeks to go! :-)