Beijing-a-ling

So, I just got back from Beijing.

and it was sooo cool! i think everyone should put Beijing on there must-visit-list

there is so much i could say about the trip but to keep it reasonable i made a top ten :)

1- THE GREAT WALL! on july 17, 2009 i jumped around and shouted at the top of the great wall. and, i carried my pocket bible all the way to the top, opened it at a random passage and read psalm 104 - which was actually SO perfect! "The glory of the Lord shall endure forever; the Lord shall rejoice in his works" & "i will sing unto the lord as long as i live i will sing praise to my God while i have my being"

2-Tiananmen Sqaure.

3-Pictures - so the chinese looove to sneak pictures of you, and a lot will actually ask you to take pictures with them (i felt like a celeb). plus, they made the FUNNIEST poses while taking their pictures - remind me to reenact these when i get home ;)

4-PEKING DUCK. deliciousssss

5-Cameron. one of the guys on our trip that just added a little humor to all our situations - especially when he "gracefully" collapsed into the pool.

6-OLYMPIC PARK! i ran a lap around the olympic stadium. I would LOVE to be able to go to the next olympics, seems like such an amazing event.

7-bartering. this is always fun, and by the end of the trip we were great at it. i bought some chinese style shoes for about US $2.50

8-Hutong village. This really showed us what old Beijing was like and we took a rickshaw around the square.

9-Kung Fu. we watched a kung fu show, which was so impressive, and then all had this ridiculous song in our heads about a lotus and raindrops the next day.

10- BYOTP. I was pretty excited to get my asian experience when i had to use a squatter once in hong kong - but was so sick of them by the end of beijing, since that is all they had!! and no TOILET PAPER! one guy even charged me 1RMB to use a toilet. But, i can say i'm an expert squatter by now.

(11- ice cream. cheap and delicious. the mega orange creamsicle, and one that tasted like french silk pie/cool whip on a stick, and a banana cream pie flavored one. yum!)

finally made it back to hong kong and was completely exhausted. we moved to Chinese University for the next few days in HK. This university is SO gorgeous, imagine MSU but buried in a mountain. very cool - but, really inconvenient and expensive trying to get downtown, which is definitely a bummer

busy week ahead - final exam & presentation, and then a few days to soak in as much of HK as i can before we go to Japan next week!