John got back from China last Monday. Long trip that unexpectedly ended with a couple of wonderful days in and around Beijing. Hooked up with Beijing Sideways – a small tour company taking people around in a sidecar on an older Chinese motorcycle. Highly recommended and a great way to unwind after visiting Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Saturday was spend at the Great Wall in the Jiankou area. This is the most dangerous part of the wall as no restoration has taken place. Everything is crumbling and there are section where almost none of the original rock formation is left. Much walking is done using both hands and feet and the stairs are almost unbelievable steep at times. But the reward is that you’re pretty much all alone in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but admire and appreciate what the people went through to build this line of defense. Jiankou is not for everyone (we saw two familes turn around) but we highly recommend going there if you’re want to get away from the crowds. Stayed for the sunset and didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 1:00 in the morning.
Back in the sidecar eight hours later but this time inside Beijing. Saw the Hutongs, lots of famous and well-knows buildings, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. We also made it to the Olympic City and admired the birdnest. Very impressive building that unfortunately isn’t used a whole lot. Apparently the citizens are not too happy that money is being spent on a stadium that isn’t used.
More pictures from both trips will follow. There’s quite a stack to get through…
We had tickets to go see Atlantis on her final voyage into space, but the China trip got in the way. Turned out the tickets were in high demand but it would still have been fun to see the shuttle lift off. Two more to go…
The house didn’t sell while John was gone and is still on the market. We lowered the price a bit and are excited to see if that will bring buyers. A couple of disclosure packages were handed out last week but so far it’s quiet. There are currently four houses for sale on our street.
We’re missing Moses. Nothing much else to say about that. We look for him every morning and almost head for the dog food while we’re still trying to wake up. No doubt he’s having fun and he’ll be spoiled rotten at the scout’s camp this summer.
Today is Pia’s birthday. She celebrated with most of the girls from class on Saturday. Many congrats to her on turning nine. A final shout to out Parisian friend Magali, who got married to Gauthier this weekend in Vercors (near Grenoble). Sorry we couldn’t join!
