Beijing

Nihaoo,

We have been in Beijing for four days now and sadly have had no internet access from the hotel.  At present we are sitting at Starbucks and have WiFi access, probably for the last time while in China, as we are off to Tianjin in a couple of hours for training and the tournament.  We don’t know for sure, but don’t think we will have access there…and apparently Starbucks doesn’t exist there.  I will take loads of photos of the children working out hard however and post them at a later stage.

Anyhow, our last four days have been action packed.  We had a wonderful guide, Josephine and driver, Mr. Wu and they carted us all over Beijing.  On the first day we saw the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City with a small break in a cute teahouse.  The size of the Forbidden City is mind boggling.  Josephine is a bit of a history buff and so we now know a lot about various emperors and their lives and palaces.

Oh, we also went to Tiananmen Square that day and drew a lot of attention.  Our guide had told us that many rural Chinese visitors come to Tiananmen Square, many of whom have not seen European children before, so with three blondies in tow, we not only had lots of people pointing and looking at us but also photo requests!

On the second day we went to the Great Wall of China, which is a one and a half hour drive out of the city (after driving through the city to get to its edge for what seems the same amount of time).  I must say, after a day of literally thousands of people around us all the time and drawing a lot of attention, we really enjoyed the tranquility and peacefulness of the country side.  The section of the wall we saw had been re-built and we ventured up its steep steps.  Ngaroma (the mum of the family we are travelling with) and I made the first section only, but Derek (the Dad) and my three and the other two girls, Jenny and Rangiatea made it up two more sections before returning to us.

That day we also made it too the Ming Tombs where 13 emperors and 23 empresses are buried.  We killed this place, too.

ok, I have to cut this short now as we need too get back to hotel and for some reason I have trouble uploading photoknow we have read all your comments, but won,t have the opportunity to reply until Germany probably, which will be 31 October, a day before the boys turn 9!

Until then love to you all from all of us.

Tanja