Day 2

June 15,2007
Our first full day in Beijing. What a great day. We started with the breakfast buffet from our hotel. We joined a few other couples from our group. It was just great. The food was really good with a large variety. After that we all just ventured out for a walk to check out a bit of the city. We were all amazed at how clean everything is. No cigarette butts or grafitti anywhere. The people were also very warm and friendly although the cars take a bit or getting use to. People don't have the right away!! Something we all tend to forget but we made it O.k. also, there doesn't seem to be any rules on the road. Lights and lanes mean nothing. People, cars,bikes anything thing that moves all just intertwine. No helmuts or safety equipment at all and amazingly there were no accidents or mishaps at all. Nobody really seems to move too fast.We all felt very comfortable and safe touring arround. We then made our way down to the temple of heaven. It was an amazing place. We took lots of pictures. Some new friends from our group have a cousin who lives here.He served as a guide for us.Jayna,Jennifer and I managed to take a cab to there and back and I got to try out my chinese. That was fun!! This afternoon we walked down to the market a short ways away from the hotel. We just looked around and sat down for a beer and people watched. We saw scorpion-on-a-stick at one of the food vendors and it was still moving. At 7:00 we met 3 other couples for dinner at a restaurant our guide recommended. It was pretty good and we are all still standing. After dinner we walked down to the grocery store for some water and a few things. Beijing is just as beautiful and friendly at night. We got back about 9:30 and after an extraordinary and full day we are ready to hit the sack. So far everything has been awesome. Gotta be down tomorrow for breakfast at 8 a.m. for another full day.