Adopting Ariana: On the way to the Great Wall

After checking that we were dressed warmer today, our guide helped us to our driver and off to the great wall which was an hour plus depending upon traffic. We did try to dress as warm as possible, but with bag weight restrictions off 44 lbs or less per bag, it is hard to pack for every possibility. I layered up a bunch of tee-shirts, and Lora borrowed an extra pair of socks to try to keep her feet warmer. We new it would be cold at the wall.

Beijing has more high rise buildings than I have ever seen in my life. Most big cities I have been to (New York, Las Vegas, LA, Seattle, etc) have a down town section with impressive sky scrapers. Beijing is a forest of sky scrapers both for office space and for apartments. Most people live in apartments. As you drive therough the city, it is a mix of buildings that are disintigrating from age, building left from the various dynasties, and miles and miles of glass sky scrapers. Nearly 1 of every 7 skyscrapers is being worked on by a giant crane, Beijings newest bird :)

Many many apartments, some that look quite old!

Arrow Tower- used to be a guard tower for the wall that protected the city. We are driving where the city wall used to be. The wall was torn down and replaced with roads.

Government building-A cool mix of old and new architecture.

Apartments as far as the eye can see.

Endless construction.

Another guard tower for the city wall.

Can't remember......

"The Birds Nest"- We are bound to never forget this weird building after the 2008 olympics. Everywhere you go it is clear the olympics is the focus and is of great pride. New roads, new airport, new trains, new everything to accomodate the huge influx of travelers during the olympics. In fact, entire neighborhoods and apartment buildings have been leveled in order to make room for the olympic village. I guess it helped that people don't really own the land they live on. It makes clearing space much easier.

Olympics aquatic center. The unique walls somehow bring in light and lessen the energy needs of the building to make it more green.

A city on the move. One slip and your a gonner!

On day 1 we visited a silk factory. I learned a lot about silk. It was pretty cool. However, the tour culminated with a hard sell trying to get you to buy a silk stuffed comforter. Actually they had pretty neat silk stuff from silk clothes, silk rugs, silk art, etc. The bottom line was that it was a tourist trap. Today had a similar stop. This time it was to learn about jadeite and how masters created jadeite sculptures, bracelets, and jewelery. Some of the pieces were very very cool! However, it was still just a tourist trap to try to get you to buy things.... We didn't buy anything since ROCK does not help you stay under your 44 lbs weight limit.