CHINA!

Hello friends!
Yes, we did make it to China! It has been a very eventful trip so far, hence the lack of updates. In a nutshell...
I (Liz) struggled with some motion sickness in the last hour or so of the 13.5 hour flight. I guess it's pretty good if I can make it that far. I ended up with a bit of a cold and then a nasty ear ache on the flight from Beijing to Chengdu which slowed me down quite a bit. Thankfully Eric and I were able to google the Chinese version of a decent decongestant (Black and White for those of you who might need it in the future!) and that helped a ton. So, I'm feeling a lot better and can tell you what we've been up to! Unfortunately it's Eric's turn to be sick, but hopefully he'll better soon.

Beijing...
Tuesday: We checked into our nice hotel in Beijing. It was very nice and clean, the Wangfujing Grand right in the heart of the tourist district. When we walked into the hotel, the first thing we heard was an American accent saying, "Hey, Eric, how was your flight?" We spun around and were glad to see Nathan Kluitenberg, a friend from Manhattan KS who is studying Chinese in the area. We were thrilled to see a familiar face after such a long flight. Eric and Nathan went out exploring a bit, and I crashed on the bed and kept the room from spinning. Thanks for the welcome, Nathan!
Wednesday: The next morning I was feeling better enough to join in exploring, so Eric and I walked over to the Forbidden City. The first thing we encountered was a Chinese "student" trying to scam us with the popular "I'm an art student, buy my expensive art/fake print" scam that I had been warned of in several of the guide books. Good grief. This was one of many not-so-great experiences in Beijing where we were targeted as "rich Americans." But, more on that later.
We spent most of the day walking through the Forbidden City. It was amazing to think how old everything was, especially in comparison to "historic" sites in the states. For those of you who don't know what the Forbidden City is, take a minute to google it. It's pretty interesting.
We'll post some pictures eventually...hopefully as soon as I'm done with this, but the bandwidth is currently being used to broadcast a basketball game from the states.
After we walked through the Forbidden City, I was feeling pretty weak again, so we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Then we took a cab back over (cabs are so cheap here!!!) to the Jianchen lookout hill and climbed up to see the view of the city. It was neat to see the design of the Forbidden City from above. Then we climbed down intending to take a rickshaw over to the Tienanmen Square. Unfortunately, the guy who begged us to pick him and gave us a good price was too old and out of shape to pedal us (read: Eric aka Yao Ming) clear over there, so he took us half way there on the back roads, and then gave up. By the time we figured out how to get to Tienanmen Square (the main way was closed for the evening) they had stopped letting visitors in. We were worn out! So, we enjoyed a very popular Chinese fast dinner at KFC and went to bed. (At the risk of sounding MORE negative, I will add that we ate lunch at a not-so-great Chinese restaurant at the Forbidden City)

[Eric]: Beijing has some great sights--no question. I had been most looking forward to seeing the Wall, and I was not disappointed. A word to future tourists though: consider negotiating a round-trip with a local taxi driver. It's easy to book a tour though Expedia or at your local hotel, but there are drawbacks. You are at the mercy of your tour driver, and they will very likely throw in several bonus stops that range from pointless to eerie. Ours took us first to the "Jade Factory." The guide fully disclosed that they take us there because they get a commission on anything we buy. But any percentage of zero is zero, so they should discontinue this practice. Nobody wants to buy a $600 jade cabbage, feng shui notwithstanding. Next up--Ming Tombs. Folks, allocate your time wisely--skip this one. We got a smile though; amongst the sitting lion and standing ox, the tourist map indicated a "porne house." Yikes! Turned out it was a prone horse. Phew...

I could write a lot more about all the things we did that did not include seeing the Great Wall. The bus was nearing revolt when we finally arrived. The one thing I'll mention is that we were dropped at a "Chinese Herbal Medicine Research Center." As we were led through dark abandoned hallways, I noticed jars of snakes and tapeworms in formaldehyde. Lovely. Then we were seated in a dim room, a couple of nurses came in, and our guide left. The doors closed. Speaking a language that at times sounded like English, they told us that their doctors would diagnose all of our problems by only taking our pulse. A few from our group subjected themselves, but nobody wanted to buy the requisite herbs. Once again, no commission.

But we did get to see the Great Wall! Badaling is the most popular and populated section, but we went to Mutianyu--not crowded at all. A good portion of the wall has been restored, but one can reach the unrestored section in about 30 minutes. Note that a sign warns the tourist not to go beyond the refurbished section, but it might not be strictly enforced. Check it out!

So what you see here is actually the restored area, but we'll post more pictures soon, I hope. Now we are in Chengdu, and that's a post for another time. The air is cleaner here, the people nicer, and it is good to be with friends. Here's a sneak preview of the next post. You know it will be good.