Our Trip to China

I actually wrote ten pages in my journal, but I don't want to bore you with all of that so I will try to hit the highlights. The first full two days of the trip were spent with a tour group of about 30 people. We woke up around 0600 and got back around 2100 so it was exhausting yet very rewarding. In that time period we climbed the Great Wall; wondered around the Tomb grounds of the 3rd Emperor of the Ming Dynasty; strolled through the Summer Palace grounds; crossed Tiananmen Square; passed through the Forbidden City; toured the Temple of Heaven park; rode on a rickshaw around a Hutong (traditional Chinese neighborhood); visited jade, silk, cholosine, rug, and tea factory/shops; of course, shopped; and ate who knows what and you don’t want to know (actually I ate four fried scorpions). We are glad that we did the tour because it made it so easy to do so much in such a little time. However, it was nice to get on our own.

So the next day we took a 1.5-hour train ride ($4) to Tianjin where we met up with Lonnie, an American professor teaching in China, who we got in contact with through Mark Lanker’s friend. We went to the International Fellowship and then ate lunch at Subway with Lonnie and another couple. Our two-hour conversation there is perhaps the best part of the trip because of the insight and perspective into China we gained (we were and are interested in living their someday). Lonnie showed us typical China and we spent a while talking at Starbucks.

We took a train back to Beijing and spent two days with Tania, a British friend we know from when she taught English in Japan (she teaches English there now). We shopped, explored, drank tea at a fancy Tea House, and ate lots of American food.

After that we decided to go back to Tianjin for a day and a half because it was familiar and a great city to live in if we decide to go to China. So we explored the city (7 million people), shopped at Wal-Mart, and ate dinner with Lonnie ($0.80 for all three of us). The last two nights we stayed at a five-star hotel in Beijing and tried to relax a little which involved shopping and eating at Outback.

This is an extremely abridged version of our trip. I love talking or writing about it so if you want to know any more about it, just ask.

If you want to see a slideshow of some of our pictures in China go to http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOXDdm5ctWzpw…