Catching Up With a Whirlwind

Sorry about the delay in posting something new, folks. The last 3 days and nights have been rather action-packed during the day and exhaustion-filled during the evenings. So, a quick summary of what we've been up to:

• The last day in Beijing was the Summer Palace in the morning, lunch at an excellent Sichuan place visited by Bill, Hillary and, most notably, Deng Xiaoping himself!

• From the restaurant, we took a hutong tour on bicycle rickshaw. This hutong tour was much more "touristy" than the comparatively intimate sit-down with a hutong resident that Jim and Vickie experienced in 2000.

• We then walked thru a fascinating neighborhood to the Bell Tower. Our group split: shoppers bypassing the tower in favor of shopping at local stores, the rest of us touring the tower and getting treated to a formal "tea ceremony" afterward (along with ... shock! ... more shopping!).

• The real highlight that day, though, was the impromptu hacky-sack game that we played at the base of the Bell Tower, with some local onlookers watching on in amusement.

• Then dinner at a fancy "choose your seafood while it's still alive" restaurant. There were turtles, crabs, guey ducks (look it up to see what it is), eels, flounder and a couple other fish varieties, huge crabs, little clams, etc.

• Finally, catching the train at the Beijing West terminal, where we had "soft sleeper" compartments (2 bunks/4 berths) for an overnight train ride to Xi'An.

Upon arriving in Xi'An, we went right to breakfast



and re-arranged our schedule (mercifully). We decided to delay the Terra Cotta warriors to the next day. So:

• We bicycled 10 miles around the city wall of the city (very cool!), lunch at a restaurant with western-style food.

• Then the jade "factory" tour, where there were some beautiful things crying out to be bought!
• The Wild Goose Pagoda (lovely setting, enhanced by lovely weather and the peacefulness of over 1000 years of Buddhist worship)

• Calligraphy and painting exhibition, where we all got to write Clay's Chinese name, Guo Chazhu, in Chinese characters.

That ended the first day in Xi'an. Everyone (adults and children) were completely exhausted at the end of the day. Jim and Rich managed to find the energy to bring McDonalds back to the hotel for the Selleck-Riggs clan, and then to bed. Jim and Dick slept in until 7 am!

At 8 am we set off for the Terra Cotta warriors, who did not disappoint! Again, the loveliness of the grounds around the exhibit were enhanced by a truly beautiful day. We saw much, had a great lunch at a noodle shop that made its noodles from scratch, and then back home at 4 pm.






Jim, Joy and our local guide Lisa were not done: we walked to the Muslim area and were fortunate to catch the call to prayer and beginning of a Muslim service, although we were not allowed in the sanctuary proper. A remarkable experience.


Dinner was at a very good dumpling restaurant, and Nuse, Lisa and our driver were good enough to take personal time to give us a run into Haagen-Daz for ice cream! Oh how good that tasted! Then back to the hotel, some phone calls home, and much-needed sleep.





Oh! The stories we've racked up the last few days: Val and the bug, Joy and the giggles, Rich gets embarrassed by the grown-ups at dumplings, Clay sends a "Chinese hacky sack" sailing off the Bell Tower, we learn how we all have "big mouths" (Thank you for that, Helen!) .....

Today, onwards to Chengdu. Stay tuned, lots more to come!