I have half a mind to let the media in Canada know what it's really like here and what people can expect when they come to the Olympic summer games. What we've been seeing about their efforst to change things and make the place more tourist friendly seems to be pure propoganda....the 'real' people here, don't have a clue....you should see my hotel room...well maybe not! I don't think I'll even take pictures.
Early tomorrow I'm off on an all day tour to see the Great Wall of China about 100 kim outside of Beijing. So once again I'm not able to complete the write-ups of my adventures for the last couple of days and they were good ones too! The following day I'm going to see the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and the Forbidden City.
My hotel is close to Tiananmen Square "It is said to be the biggest square in the world. It is 880 meters from north to south, and 500 meters from east to west, with total area of 440,000 square meters and can hold one million people." http://www.chinavista.com/experience/tiananmen/main.html I drove through it tonight...it's huge! I don't think I can get a picture of it...at least not all at once.I promise to explain about the terra cotta army soon, along with the explanation of the photoe and a host of other great sights and adventures. They're just happening so quickly, I can't write fast enough.
Must say though that I'm ready for a rest in the country somewhere to take a slower pace.
By the way, Beijing definitely has tons of pollution. The only pure blue sky I've seen while in China has been from an airplane high above the clouds. And even then I'm not sure how 'pure' it is. China seems to be covered in one dense mushroom cloud of toxicity. Apparently the smog is drifting east over Korea, so I'll be heading west and possibly south to see how far I have to go to get out of it!
