Last day of sight-seeing in Beijing

7/16/11

Today we had a full day and I can honestly say I.am.exhausted !!

We began the day driving to the Great Wall - to a section that I've never been to before. Our guide Forrest, who is very nice, is very familiar with the different sections since he used to work there. We wanted to ride the cable car down the mountain, and I've never done that before. He knew just where to take us. It took a long time to get there and get through the Saturday traffic. I have never seen so many people at the wall... and this is my 5th time going! So many people, wow! We went up quite far and it was fun, then we went down the mountain in the little sliding car, which was fun & easy. Our legs are already sore from the climbing. After that, we left and had a chinese lunch. Then we went to the Olympic village and walked (a lot). We saw the bird's nest and the other olympic buildings. We enjoyed nice conversation with Forrest and came back to the hotel. Forrest said goodbye to us because starting tomorrow, our guide is George, who I've had for a guide twice before. He is also great and is flying with us to Inner Mongolia tomorrow. I'm glad to have him since I already know him and also because he is from Inner Mongolia himself. I found out today that instead of us flying out in the morning, we are flying out at 4:20 in the afternoon and he also said we'll be meeting Ying right after our arrival to our hotel! I was surprised since my itinerary says we were to receive her on Monday, and now will be on Sunday night. I'm so excited and nervous. Briella has been absolutely great and a wonderful little guide too, helping to translate whenever needed. When we stop to ask a vendor how much something is, or to buy an ice cream, we discovered it is best for her to ask "how much" in chinese, with me standing off to the side... then we get a better price than if I asked!
She is doing just fine with her chinese and is very confident. I'm so proud of her. This is also a great bonding experience for the two of us.. she has loved the attention and holds my hand everywhere we go. Here are some pics from today. We've been lucky with pretty good weather.. it's hot, but not too bad. But the skies are very hazy, as you'll see in the pics.

Love to all!!!!!! My next post will probably be with Ying :)