Joe arrived at 8:30 to start our second day in Beijing. First we went to the Jade Factory and saw how jade was carved and polished. It is a fascinating process transforming a rock into a beautiful carving! I absolutely love jade! It was very good that Joe had not told us we were coming here in advance, or I would have brought all our money and spent it!!! When you first come in the entrance, there are several very large carvings - 2 intricate ships, a herd of wild horses, a fountain with a large water ball, and a large tiger. They are all about 3-4 foot tall and from 3' to 6' long. The prices on those pieces run in the thousands of dollars!!
Next we traveled to the Great Wall, which was about a 45 min. drive. It is really impressive! The Great Wall is 2000 years old and the bricks and stones were carried up the mountain by men and donkeys - either by hand or using ropes and pulleys. I think Joe said it was 3000 miles long but many spots have fallen into disrepair. It is too costly to keep it all up for tourists, so there are only a few places that are kept up. Ryan and I climbed to the very top of the top tower on the West Wall!! Danni gave it a very good try but her knee gave out about half way up. She had a little trouble coming back down but we all made it! The steps are very irregular - some are only an inch or so high and others are over a foot high. There are also several places that are a flat sloping incline. I think that was harder to climb than the steps!!
We ate lunch at the Yulong Restaraunt located in the Friendship Store. Here we saw how they make the cloisonne vases. They start with a copper vase and put thin copper strips on to make a design. Then put an enamel coating on and hand paint it. It is then fired and polished. The Friendship Store is run by the government so there is no bargaining there, but the prices seemed to be very fair. They have just about everything there - jade, pearls, cloisonne (vases, jewelry, and more), silk (beautiful old-fashioned Chinese outfits for kids!), art, beautiful paintings done inside a glass ball, and much more!
Our next stop was the Summer Palace - an hour drive away. This is where the emporer and his family went to get away from the summer heat. It is very large and has many rooms and buildings. It sets on a large lake that is man-made. They are restoring much of this for the Olympics, so a lot was covered. We told Joe we were wanting to come back to adopt a daughter in about 2 years, but really don't want to be here in Beijing during the Olympics - too many people and if we think the traffic is bad now..... For dinner we went to a restaraunt that serves Peking Duck. This is a specialty in China and Beijing is known for it. The duck is filled with water and the skin is covered with honey. Then it is slow roasted for an hour. Joe ordered us some "real Chinese food" here. We tried everything except the chicken feet!!
After we got back to the hotel, Ryan wanted to take some pictures so we walked around the area where our hotel is located. While we were walking, we came upon 3 college kids who wanted to practice thier English. The girl that did most of the talking was from Tibet. They showed us some of their artwork and their teacher made us a calligraphy of our names. They were very nice and friendly - and their English was very good.
I am coming down with a cold so I didn't sleep very well last night. But I woke up at 4:00 ready for our day. Danni and Ryan woke up about 3:30. We have to meet Joe in our hotel lobby at 5:40 AM to catch our plane for Fuzhou. Today is the day we meet Tyler!!