12/12-14/09

The last few days in Beijing (and China for that matter) where spent walking around the city.  I went to the Birds Nest, a really amazing gallery area called the 798, hung out with all of my pals, and ate at wonderful restaurants.   Well this is the last post for my China blog.  There is no way for me to say how wonderful this experience has been, and no way for me to talk about how much I have gained, maybe a whole bunch will do the trick..   Thanks for keeping up with the blog and all of the comments. "Go to China, it is a great place with great people."

Good Great Wall 12/11/09

The Great Wall of China is unbelievable.  I walked a few miles in an upwards direction with a few friends.  We would see a peak in the distance that looked to be higher than all of the rest and so our goal was to get to it.  Once there we would see that the next peak was actually higher.  This continued until we could no longer walk. After seeing the wall and the mountains that surround it I have no idea why anyone would want to try to invade another country.  I would have stayed home with a nice warm fire.

Beijing 12/10/09

We arrived in Beijing today after an overnight train ride.  The trip was hilarious as most of us have way to many bags filled with lots of Chinese goodies. We visited the Forbidden City and Tienanmen square.  The Forbidden City was amazingly huge and had an amazing garden filled with different items from around the world.

The Great Mosque 12/09/09

These photos are from the Great Mosque of Xi'an.  Our hotel is located near the Muslim district here in Xi'an.  My friends Chris, Donna, and Jeremy accompanied me to check out the mosque.  The area is really peaceful, and beautiful.  Comparing the Chinese Muslim mosque aesthetic to that of the Ottoman Turks is interesting, and the contrast is striking.

Xi'an Museum of History 12/08/09

Today we visited the Xi'an Museum of history, which had so many wonderful exhibits on Chinese history.  My imagination was all over the place.  The Museum contained the finest artwork and artifacts dating from 5000 BC to the 1700's.  The weather has been cloudy and rainy here, but we weary travelers are nothing but smiles.

Stone Forest 12/07/09

Day 2 in Xi'an finds us visiting a place called the Stone Forest.  The stone forest contains hundreds of these huge slabs of marble and stone with ancient texts, poems, and other writings carved into them.  The stones were used to preserve important texts, whereas paper might be burnt, or disintegrate.

Chen Lu 12/06/09

Today we traveled into the mountains outside of Xi'an to a tiny little, dying, pottery town, called Chen Lu.  The town is located on the mountain side, and was at one time called the city of light because there where always kilns burning brightly somewhere in the town.  We visited an old, famous potters studio who is a friend of Bob's.  We had an exciting day all around, especially during the ride up and down the winding, mountainous road.