So, we're trying our best to keep you updated. Unfortunately, we are having technical difficulties with blogger along with limited wifi access. I think it is blocked here. Anyway, my awesome brother, Shane, is posting for us via email.
Yesterday, we conquered the Great Wall! Or at least part of it :) It was absolutely amazing!!!! Unfortunately the smog/pollution is really bad and the view wasn't as clear as we would have liked. Our guide, George, gave us about 1hr and 45 minutes to reach the top of the section of the wall that we were climbing. Wow!! Talk about a workout! I can't even begin to explain how steep the steps were and how uneven. Ethan practically ran the whole way. The rest of us kept up pretty well and with no complaints. It was so cool to see all the different people from all over the world. I think it finally hit me as we were climbing that we are in China. The past few days have been nonstop activity topped with not a lot of sleep. The kids are sleeping great but Keith and I keep waking up around 4:00am.
Yesterday, we conquered the Great Wall! Or at least part of it :) It was absolutely amazing!!!! Unfortunately the smog/pollution is really bad and the view wasn't as clear as we would have liked. Our guide, George, gave us about 1hr and 45 minutes to reach the top of the section of the wall that we were climbing. Wow!! Talk about a workout! I can't even begin to explain how steep the steps were and how uneven. Ethan practically ran the whole way. The rest of us kept up pretty well and with no complaints. It was so cool to see all the different people from all over the world. I think it finally hit me as we were climbing that we are in China. The past few days have been nonstop activity topped with not a lot of sleep. The kids are sleeping great but Keith and I keep waking up around 4:00am.
After the wall, we headed to the Olympic Village from the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Bird's nest was an incredible sight to see first hand. I can tell you that the images on TV did not do it justice! We also saw the Water Cube, Dragon Hotel and, of course, the Olympic Torch . Ethan was quite popular with all of the young Chinese girls as we wandered through the Village. That blonde hair, blue eyes and fair complexion instigated many photo opportunities from these young girls. The Chinese people are so polite and have always been respectful in asking "picture? picture?" before swarming our Goldie-Locked Justin Bieber phenom. Several of these girls snuck in a feel of Ethan's golden coif before sending him off, smiling and giggling the whole time. We figured we could pay for a large chunk of our trip if we started charging these girls to take a picture with Ethan. It has been entertaining to say the least.
After spending some time wandering through the Olympic Village we then headed to a Chinese Acrobatic show in the Central Business District of Beijing. Wow! The stunts that these young Chinese acrobats performed were stunning! Just when you thought that they couldn't do anything crazier than what you just witnessed, they would go a step further and blow your mind! The acrobatic show was a great end to a very exciting and exhausting day.
It took about an hour to get back to our hotel which was about 1.5 miles from the Chinese Acrobat Theater. Yes, I said an hour to go 1.5 miles. This was "typical" Beijing traffic for a Saturday night- one big parking lot! Next stop.....Zhengzhou.
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