Last day in Beijing

Hi All

We're leaving Beijing at the crack of dawn tomorrow and headed for London. Beijing has been great. We've learned alot about Chinese culture and history. The city itself is changing rapidly in preparation for the Olympics and in response to the economic boom. Traditional China can still be found very easily though. Yesterday we spent the morning at the Temple of Heaven and then the afternoon at a local market. We were the only pale faces at the market which was really great as we got to see the traditional Chinese way of doing business. There was everything for sale - from silk to spices and eel to electronics. The kids were particularly "fascinated" by the bull's heads and fungus!
Tonight we're going to an acrobatic performance similar to the Chinese acrobats in the Cirque de Soleill (I'm sure that's spelt wrong).
So tomorrow we'll be landing at Heathrow at about 1pm where Fiona is going to meet us and take us to Windsor where our Hotel is and where she lives. On Friday we'll be collecting the canal boat and meandering down a canal. I was thinking the canal boat was going to be a highlight, but it's going to be hard to top the time we've had in Beijing.

Cheers
Mark

Mum and I as tourist attractions!

Hi there folks!
Yesterday at Tiananmen square a whole lot of Chinese people from the west of China came over to us and took off Reids beanie revealing his blonde hair. They then asked him for a photo, he said no. so then they saw me and took off my beanie but I don't have blonde hair so I thought they would leave me alone. I was wrong. Then they asked me for a photo. I said yes and they took me of to a corner of the square and took pictures of me with small groups of their friends. Mum was also dragged into the photos.once they where done we went back to where they found us and had a snack. we were then found by a man called Lee who became our guide for the day. Reid has made a recount of the Forbidden city where we went after that.
From Adam.

My day in the Forbidden City, Beijing

yesterday we went to the Forbidden City were the old Emperer and Empriss used to live. It was huge. We saw statues of gazzalles pecoks dragons and lions one with a baby lion under its left foot and one with a sphare under its right foot. Some of the bulidings were geting make overs for the Olympics. When we were leaving we saw someone writing chinese on the concret with a giant paint brush and water. From Reid Snuffles and Silky

We're in China!

Neehow everyone!
Sorry I haven't been in touch its just that we haven't had any internet connection. Anyway on the twenty-fifth of October we drove up to the Auckland airport and at two pm we boarded a plane bound for Hong Kong. Our flight took eleven hours and forty minutes, but we had plenty to entertain ourselves with, after all we all had a little T.V screen on the back of the seats in front of us and a book each. We arrived in Hong Kong and took a Taxi to our hotel (Hong Kong disney land hotel.) and went to our room. I was tired and fell asleep quickly but woke up around four o' clock am. (nine o' clock New Zealand time.) What I didn't realize was that so was Mum, Dad and Reid! at around six o' clock we went for a walk at the Hong Kong Disney land entrance but we couldn't go in. Our flight was supposed to be at one forty-five but we were delayed three hours and were told only when we had all boarded the plane. After what seemed liked for ever we took of for Beijing. once we go there Dad's friend John picked us up and took us to his house Where we met his wife, Tanya. we stayed the night at their house. in the morning we whent to a Chinese supermarket where there were GREEN CHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later we went on a pedicab tour around the ancient Hutongs. Yesterday we went on the Great Wall of China and walked a long stretch of it. It was one of the things I was really looking forward to, and guess what! It was snowing! Which is pretty rare.
From Adam.

The Great Wall

Yesterday (Sunday) we visited the Great Wall of China. Our friends took us to a place where very few visitors go there were no crowds. We had to walk up a track through the bush. It had snowed the night before and it looked just like a Christmas card. The wall is nearly 7000km long! That's about 3 times as long as New Zealand! It ranges in age from 1000 years to only 150 years. The people are very friendly and helpful and they Reid's blonde hair - they want to touch him and hey say he is beautiful!
Mark