We just got back from another exciting and exhausting day in Beijing. The city is amazing. It makes New York City look like a small town. The amount of construction going on is hard to believe. Each new building seems to be in competition to be the biggest, the most elaborate and the most architecturally innovative. Parts of the city look like Las Vegas with neon signs lighting up the area. There are many American businesses here, such as Starbucks, KFC, MacDonalds and WalMart, along with others we are used to seeing at home like Ikea, Citibank and IBM. The traffic seems to be in a persistent state of gridlock. Our trip to the Great Wall today took two hours, but it was well worth it. It is truly an awesome sight, and much more difficult to "climb" than I had imagined. We also visited a cloisonne factory and a jade and pearl factory owned by the government and went to the Silk Market, which despite its name, is really a massive flea market where the vendors actually grab at you to try to sell you their wares.
Tomorrow we are going to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Old Commercial District, and we will see the Beijing Acrobats at night. Sunday we leave for Jinan in the Shandong Province. This is quite an adventure.
