Touring the Great Wall, the Hutong District and Panda

Today we visited the Great Wall of China near Beijing. I climbed up to the 3rd Fortress Tower and nearly passed out from the heat. John sensibly stayed below.







After the visit to the Great Wall, we tour the Hutong Area, an area built/inhabited by conquering Mongols, in a pedi-cab.



This building fascinated John and I as it is totally incased in glass. The heat generation must be amazing.

A visit to the zoo allowed us to see the pandas in action, yes, action.. um action?

A Clearer Day in Beijing

Nothing exciting today. Just changed hotels from the Crowne Plaza to the Oriental Bay Hotel. We join the Champion Holiday Bejing / Yangtze River Tour tomorrow.

The OBH is on the 2nd Ring Road, right next to the Moat. That's right, the moat. The hotel sits on the outer wall of the old Beijing. I went for a walk along the moat, found a "serenity spa" where I got a 60 yuan ($10) 30 minute massage. A bit inexpert, but nice nonetheless. Also, note, the government policies are starting to work. See the blue sky over Beijing. The Chinese government shutdown factories for 2 months before the Olympics on 8/8/2008. Tomorrow, there will be an even/odd rule of cars. Only cars with even license plates will be allowed to drive, then the next day odd license plate. This is the clearest day I've seen yet.
In the 2-3 miles of my walk, I noticed at least 10 people involved in either cleaning the moat or the street.
I love the esthetics of the moat, the retaining wall around the moat is made of concrete formed to look like wood.
I stopped for water at a small convenience store and found Pabst Blue Ribbon Water?? (In Texas, it's Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.
The hotel is well located near a subway station.

More later,

TMBWitW

Continuing my tour of Beijing

Continuing my tour of Beijing, a busy day today. Here are some of the day's pictures.

Went over to the Olympic grounds to see what we could. Security is tight, so we could not get very close. This is John and I in front of the Bird's Nest Stadium.

We walked into this battalion Olympic volunteers running by. A battalion of very handsome fit young men.

This picture is of, you guessed it, WALMART in China. Same Walmart, just a bit different. For example, this Walmart has a fresh fish market (see fish swimming), and a butcher standing in the middle of the aisles cutting short ribs, dragon fruit, a favorite, and "taste samplers" hawking... and I do mean hawking their samples, loudly with enthusiasm.

More later,

TMBWitW

Beijing China

So, the first full day in China, and of course I go shopping. I'm getting a couple of custom suits made for me while I'm here. We went to the Silk Factory to get them. Here you can also see how silk is made.

This picture is of the silk being pulled off the cocoon of the silk worm pupa. The cocoon is boiled in water allowed to cool, then you pull the one strand off the cocoon match with 7 others to make an 8 strand thread. The thread around a single cocoon is a mile long.
Also, nothing is wasted, after pulling the silk off the cocoon, the pupas are considered food.. ewww. But if you like to experiment, you can buy a can of silk worm pupas for consumption at the Super H Mart in Carrollton TX. No? I didn't think so. However, my Chinese guide Nancy, says they are full of protein and very healthy for you.

Nancy and I got to the Silk Factory via the Beijing Subway system. The subway's signs are in both Chinese and English. The subway was an easy walk from the hotel and the shop we went too.

Start of my 2008 Solar Eclipse Trip

7/15/2008

Today I started my 2008 Solar Eclipse Trip. Some quick background, I've chased every total solar eclipse since my 2nd one in the Carribbean in 1998. During this trip I'll view my 9th eclipse and visit my 6th continent.

On this trip I'll visit Beijing, from Chongqing, travel down the Yangtze river to Wuhan, fly to Urumqi, travel through the Gobi Desert to our eclipse site near Yiwu, and take the Orient Express to Xi'an.

TMBWITW