Well we have not adjusted to the time so guess what time we woke up – yup around 4 am….Sharon turned on the light to read and I just lied there until around 5:15.  We got up showered, went for breakfast and prepared for the day.

We boarded the bus and off to the square.  So when we arrived so did 1 million of our closest friends.  It is national holiday week here and everyone is out…we had to push thru crowds all while trying to follow a little yellow flag in the air.  The square was cool – I think the best part is that we were celebrities.  All the chinese people stared at us and wanted to take our pictures.  At least 4 times I had people come up and motion for me to have my picture taken with their child, or mother…..it was pretty fun….the other unusual thing were the little kids…..Carrie you will appreciate this….they wore crotchless pants….so if the kid needed to go to the bathroom they just squatted where ever they were and did their business…just so you know you had to watch where to step.  Speking of watching were you step….we had two of our group fall on the cobblestones….both were able to continue on but they took pretty hard falls…no I was not one of the two.

We moved on then to the Forbidden City – stopping every once in a while for Charlie to tell us what we were seeing….in the Forbidden City only 80,000 of the 1 million people were allowed in.  Lucky for us our tickets we prepurchaed….we made our way thru the city ending in the Imperial Garden – it was quite overwhelming….from start to finish it took us about 4 hours to walk thru it….pushing, and being pushed – it is part of the culture here….we boarded our bus and went to a special place for lunch – again we had authentic chinese food…and authentic Chinese toilets…don’t ask!

Finally we went to Silk Alley – now this was a bit disappointing for us.  We thought there would be fabric, there was but not enough to buy anything, it was 6 floors of vendors….oh my god, we learned how to negotiate.  I bought a cute Chines box, the price started at 800 Yuan, I ended up paying 100 Yuan….and it went on like that for the few purchases we made…In the end Sharon had me do her negotiating as I got pretty good at it….along the way though they all call out for you….”Ladies , ladies….do you want scarf?”  To which I would answer no we are having hot flashes…..Ladies, Ladies do you want silk pajamas to which I would answer “No we sleep in the nude”….ladies ladies do you want mens shirt….to which I would answer “no we are woman”…..can you imagine for several hours every 5 seconds someone yelling out to you or following you….we got real good at saying Bu Yow….which means “Don’t want it”.

We then boarded the bus again and went to supper….this place was ok – we did not eat much…Upon arriving at the hotel the Custom Tailor came.  We ordered suits and were very excited about these purchases.  In 24 hours we have a fitting and then they will be finalized and delivered to us before we leave Beijing…..well it was a long day, walking more than 5-6 miles….but we did it….a bit exhausted so we are off to bed to get up at 6 am tomorrow for our next adventure…..

Lorrie and Sharon