Touring Beijing- Day 1

We started off the day at the Jade Factory. Carla and I both picked up a jade bangle bracelet. I also got a couple things for Mia for birthdays when she's older. But I think we both got caught up in the "this is our first day in China" excitement and may have spent too much. We'll see later in the trip if I find the same things for way cheaper. Then I'll be aggravated with myself.

After that we went to the Ming Tombs. I'm fascinated with the history of China. I especially love all the attention to detail. Everything has a meaning whether it has to do with numerology, feng shui, fire, water, the heavens, etc.

The Yongle Emperor of China whose tomb we visited.

I thought this was breathtaking. It's a headpiece worn by the empress.

Our guide is wonderful! Although we were disappointed that no one else wanted to pre-trip it's actually turned out to be great. We have more flexibility in our schedule and Jacky has more time to spend with us and just focus on the stories instead of herding us onto the next thing. We're learning so much about China, the culture, the history. I'm absolutely loving it.

Then we stopped at a cloisonne factory. I always thought these were porcelain. But they're not. They're metal.

Although it was beautiful..... most of it was priced more than I wanted to spend.We saw things more than $10,000 USD.

But I made an exception for this guy, of course.

After a just mediocre lunch, we headed for the Great Wall of China. I've been dreaming of visiting here since I started the adoption. I was absolutely awe struck to finally be standing there. Our guide took us to the section with the cable cars. It was a little scary but we made it up much higher without having to exert any effort.

But the no effort didn't last long. The stairs were steep and uneven. It was quite a work out getting up and down. The crazy thing was.... we saw women wearing high heeled shoes!

We had a few people stop to take photos with us. I don't know if it was the novelty of seeing Americans (cuz we saw very few) or my sister, the natural redhead. But we talked these random Chinese people into doing the OH-IO after we posed with them. It was hysterical. They spoke just a little English but we managed to communicate and had a blast.

This one's for my co-workers. It's "mini Krista" who normally sits on my desk at work. She's on vacation with us. LOL!

How random is this? We found other Ohioans  at the Wall! These are grad students from Kent State who are over here teaching kindergarden English.

After the Great Wall, we gave our legs a rest, hopped in the car and headed to the Bird's Nest for a photo op.

Next up was a tea ceremony.

Then another mediocre dinner. These shrimp were staring at us with their beady little eyes. Which made it really hard for Carla and I to eat them.

There were Chinese dancers during dinner.

Because we didn't eat much today we were still hungry when Jacky dropped us off this evening so we grabbed some munchies from the store. Look familiar? The chips are green cucumber and sizzled bbq. Interesting flavors but not bad. We skipped the tomato flavored but may get more adventurous later and give them a try.

It's been a long day. We're both exhausted ...but happy. Very happy. We'll write more later. Right now the rock hard bed is calling.