In China, 25-26 November

Hello everyone,

We arrived safely in China yesterday,and have been enjoying the friendly people and wonderful sights since then. After a cramped flight over on the shortest 3-chair row on the plane (second from the last row, don't recommend at all!) we had an easy meet-up with our guide and arrived at the hotel. We explored the local grocery store where we learned interesting facts such as the Pringles are made in Belgium. Then a quick dip in the pool and dining on the local specialty, grilled vegetables on ciabatta bread.

Today we toured the Lama temple, residence to buddhist monks practicing Tibetan buddhism. Miles was impressed with the 55 foot tall Buddha. We bought too much at the gift shop - the store assistants are amazingly pushy and persistent. They need to send the Girl Scouts over for training for the annual cookie drive.

We had a great meal at a vegetarian-only restaurant, tucked away on a quiet side-street. For those of you in the know, tucked away on a quiet little side-street is guidebook-ese for good luck actually finding it. We were looking for number 12, which remained elusive in the sequence of 10, 11, 16, with 21 directly across the street. But we persevered, gesticulated wildly (and unsuccessfully) with the doorman, and were eventually rescued by a kind native who spoke fluent english and who directed us around the block to the back of the building, where our restaurant was plain as day.

Tonight we joined friends to go the Beijing Acrobatic show, where nimble young people performed mind-boggling physical feats. They were mind-boggling in that it would never even occur to us normal folks to even try some of the stuff they did. "Hey, let me balance on one hand, with another guy balanced on my other hand, and I'll hop one-handed down the stairs, AND THEN BACK UP AGAIN!" We going to try that tomorrow, right after we climb the Great Wall of China.

Everyone is very friendly here. A nice gentleman sat next to me at the Acrobatic show, and I greeted him with "Ni hou" for hello. He replied, "Good morning" - even though it was now 7 night! Very cute.

We hit warp speed tomorrow on the group tour to Tiannamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall, with lunch and shopping squeezed in the middle somehow. Will try to post tomorrow night, and watch for the appearance of the star of this show, Miss Wen Li Leavitt, on Monday's episode.

Lee, Kevin, and Miles, live from Beijing