Beijing

We began our final full day in Beijing (and in China) with a visit to the Temple of Heaven built in 1420. It's where Chinese emperors offered sacrifices. The Temple and grounds cover more area than the Forbidden City because the emperors couldn’t have their own houses larger than one built for heaven.

Almost as interesting as the buildings themselves were the grounds surrounding them. They were covered with people engaged in a variety of activities, including dancing (that’s me fourth from the…; kidding, of course), a Chinese version of Hacky Sack (see Leah in action), some type of paddle ball and as many musical performances as you can imagine. The light rain didn’t seem to bother anyone.

We briefly visited a pearl shopping district and made our final stop at a very large open-air market that had the feel of an arts festival (and where I got a copy of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book). “Cecilia” wanted us to have a local experience at lunch, so she took us to a restaurant that specialized in “hot pot” dining. You work up a sweat cooking the ingredients right at the table.

For dinner we were on our own and began to revert to our American ways—Frosted Flakes and yogurt from the local grocery store in the hotel room. The evening entertainment consisted of watching The Last Emperor, a copy of which I got for the equivalent of two dollars, on the laptop. Clearly, we're winding down; tomorrow we head for home.