Beijing Sightseeing: Day 1 and 2

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not blogged for a while, but this part of the trip consists of very busy days. When we arrived in China on Friday the 30th, we went to the hotel after waiting for some other families. After we got to the hotel we ate dinner and went to bed.

Yesterday we went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tian'anmen Square is the center of Beijing. There is a monument to all the soldiers that have died in war. There is also a building to honor Chairman Mao, who the Chinese people respect very much. After that we visited the Forbidden City. This is where the emperors lived for about 500 years. To get there we had to cross a street. This was another adventure because we had to go through a tunnel under the street. It was wall to wall people. I've never been so crowded in my life! Inside the Forbidden City we looked at all the beautiful buldings and the beautiful garden.In the Forbidden City there were bathrooms and when we were about to walk in ladies from our group were standing outside looking disgusted. They said there were trenches and it wasn't a flush system! It was just a hole in the ground. And on top of that there were no stalls! Ew! So we didn't go into that bathroom and Titi Lu found a bathroom with toilets. Then we went to lunch. After that we went to the pearl factory where they showed us how to make pearls and how to tell if they are real or fake.

Today is the best part of the trip so far. It is very exciting and funny and full of adventure and gross things........WARNING: PREPARE YOURSELF. So this morning we went to a church (it was in English) and after that we went to the Jade factory where they told us how to determine which piece of jade is better and the different types of jade. After the jade factory we went to lunch and we didn't eat much! : ) After lunch we went to the Great Wall and this is where the adventure begins..........

The first thing that happened while traveling to the Great Wall was the traffic. There must be no driving laws here in China because people just drive wherever they want! I am surprised there was no car accidents! There was so much traffic because in China it is a national holiday (the Chinese Labor Day) where they get the weekend off. The Spring has been a cold one and this weekend the weather is warm so it seemed like everyone wanted to go to the Great Wall. So, instead of it taking us an hour to get to our destination it took us 3 hours. It doesn't sound that bad, but some of us had to pee. : ) So, (this is funny) a guy in our group had to pee really, really badly. The bus was traveling really slow so he got out of the bus and went out on the side of the road to pee. As he got out of the bus and went further out, the bus started going faster and the guy was being left behind. Soon enough the whole bus was looking out of the back window of the bus laughing hysterically and video taping it. Meanwhile his wife is having a panic attack. So, he eventually caught up and when he went into the bus everyone clapped. It was so funny!

Then before that I think Julia had been saying she had to go to the bathroom for a while. After he came in she was already saying she had to go, but there was no where for her to stop and pee. So soon enough she was crying and crossing her legs that she had to pee so badly. I also was starting to feel the urge and I was like "Oh no!" Eventually after 3 hours of sitting in the bus we saw the Great Wall in the distance. When we got a little closer, Maggie, the tour guide, told the bus driver to stop and we all got out. As she led everyone to the Great Wall, we found a police station and went in to find a bathroom. Daddy was carrying Julia. Maggie asked for the bathroom and the guy pointed and we ran there. When we got to the bathroom, it was the potties that you have to just squat (it is basically a hole in the ground with a flushing system) so I was like "oh no", but Julia had to go so we went into the stall. I told her to take off her pants so she would not get herself wet so she did that and then I went too. Surprisingly it was not that bad, but I prefer a toilet. So after we went, that problem was solved and everyone was happy again. A couple in our group was supposed to fly out tonight at 8 but because of the traffic they had to make it tomorrow.

The wall was awesome! It was so huge. We climbed up as high as we could before we had to return to the bus. There were so many people there. The views were great and it was really cool to actually be on the Great Wall of China.

After we climbed the Great Wall, which was amazing, we were going to go to the bathroom before we went on the bus and experienced that whole fiasco again. Problem was that the bathrooms where disgusting! The floor was wet with like an inch of pee, water, and whatever other disgusting things. The toilet paper was everywhere and the trenches where overflowing. In the actual toilet it looked like diarrhea was on the toilet and even the Chinese ladies were disgusted by it. It was so gross! It looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a month! Yuck!!

In China this week everyone is like a super star. People come up to you and ask you to take a picture. It's so funny! They are so happy when they take a picture with you. It's like they think your so special! Haha....

Tomorrow we will fly to Nanjing and on Tuesday we will get Jeremy. I will post more tomorrow. : )
Jenna