Week 2 China

Happy Chinese New Year!!! This is the first time, I have ever experienced the New Year twice in one year in two separate countries.

The Chinese Spring Festival is January 22-28. The last day of the year is Jan. 22 and the Chinese New Year is Jan. 23 rd. This is the time when the people of China rest for 7 days and majority of the businesses close. The festival consists of the Lion/dragon dance, cosmic dialogue, and family celebrations.  It's not even the New Year yet and the people have been celebrating every since I arrived on the 16^th. All day and all night…fireworks are going off. It sounds like a mass production of canons being fired. I was told that it will become more frequent once the festival begins, because people across the country will fire off firecrackers when the first person in the family leaves the house each day, to ward off the bad spirits.

-Week two started (Jan. 23^rd), when Kellie and I began our journey back to Beijing to pick up our friend Jimele from the airport. We took the bullet train to Beijing and the express train to the airport. Our timing was perfect because we only waited 20 minutes before Jimele walked through the customs exit doors. We gave her a warm hearty greeting and began our journey through the Beijing transit systems. To make good use of our time, we stayed in Beijing a couple days to do some sightseeing. We stayed at the Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel which was absolutely beautiful inside and out. The next morning on Jan.24^th, we went on an 8 hour tour where we visited The Ming Tombs, we ate at a traditional Chinese Restaurant, and went to The Great Wall. That day the winds were so high and it was so cold, that my fingers and toes were at the point of hurting. I believe I was on the verge of getting frost bite. I had the opportunity to ride  a cable car up the Great Wall and the view was absolutely amazing. After, seeing different areas of the Great Wall, took the Tabagon car, in which I had a long slide down the side of the mountainside.  On Jan. 25^th, we took it upon ourselves to sight see without a tour guide. We went to the Silk Market and The Temple of Heaven. After we finished, our day we caught a bullet train back to Tangau/ Tainjin City.  The rest of the week we rested and listened to the constant ongoing sounds of fireworks going off throughout the city.