Where to start, where to start…

On the flight to Beijing touch down, the pilot told us–visibility to due to pollution is 4 km. Yes, it is polluted here, however, the city is very clean.

Our backs are killing us as the beds are so hard. Welcome to China.

Yesterday was Day 1 of our tour and I’m sick as a dog. I think it was the plane food. I had an allergic reaction to something and was rough. OF COURSE, I felt horrible on the day we trekked up the Great Wall of China which was incredible and we have fantastic pictures.

Kitty and The Germ

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

I am really surprised that Beijing beat out Toronto for the Olympics. They did a great job, but there are a few things that would have made me vote for YYZ.

First–toilet paper. Really? You have to carry it around in your purse or you are out of luck. Second–soap in a bathroom. For all the screening and forms we had to fill out about H1N1 virus, you would think the public health would be a bit more up to par. I have not been pleased.

The Great Wall was indeed great. I was worse for wear but managed to walk it. There were moments of it being vertical.

Today we went to Tiananmen Square. Interestingly, no one here has any idea about what happened. No one in China has ever seen the images of tanks rolling over students.

Military presence is EVERYWHERE and in every form. Imagine every uniform you can think of, and you’ll see it here.

Also, NO Facebook. I have the application on my BB so I kind of got around it, but the government has banned it. Of course, there is no YouTube. Yep, kitty and the germ have been CENSORED!

Here are a few details about Beijing so far…

1) babies don’t wear diapers. They have a slit in their pants, they shit on the street and hopefully their parents pick it up. I saw a man today bag shit just like you would your dog.

2) cars don’t stop for pedestrians or obey the traffic lights

3) it is crowded!

4) people smoke a lot less than what we were expecting. I heard it was super smoky, but it hasn’t been.

5) taxis are cheap cheap cheap

6) The birds nest and the Olympic stadiums were just awesome. We took a million pictures, were amazed at the architecture, had a great time

Bird’s Nest

It’s BIG

Olympic Mascots

7) The forbidden city was huge and very impressive

Forbidden City

Inside the Forbidden City

Lovely

8) I am a tourist attraction here. People are wanting to be photographed with me. Marc has a few hilarious pictures, but since we are being censored, we can’t post until later

Tourist Attraction

9) on our group tour, we are traveling the shortest amount of time. A year, 7 months, Euros are traveling machines

10) We saw the MOST amazing Kung Fu show last night. We had seen small portions of their act on the world dance competition. Fights, ballet, artistry–awesomeness

Us with the cast of the Kung Fu Show

So–We are being censored (not anymore) and can’t include pictures. More to come shortly. Off to Shanghai tomorrow.