Trip Part 4

These are from today (Saturday) our second day of touring in and around Beijing. We left this morning heading to the Great Wall, stopping along the way at a jade crafting facility and store. We saw the work that goes into producing this beautiful jewlery and bought a few pieces for gifts back home.

We proceeded to the Great Wall, and as we were told, the city of Beijing more or less suddenly ends and you are on a highway running into the mountains. I decided to push myself to the limit, climbing as high as possible on the Great Wall. I made it a good distance, reaching the first battlement tower from the level at which we parked. When you look at the pictures notice the tall building that comes first as you pan from the bottom of the picture towards the top. That's where I went.

It was a little chilly, but I took off my coat for most of the climb in order to broadcast a special message on my t-shirt, "Never Look Down. Walk By Faith." I had my mp3 player on me and the final section of the climb was done listening to DC Talk's "My Will" and my descent began with "What if I Stumble?"

We left the Great Wall and rode to a brass working factory and store which also had a restaurant on one floor where we enjoyed another wonderful family-style meal passing dishes around on a lazy susan.

The return to Beijing included stops to take pictures of the Olympic Stadium (the Bord's Nest) and the Water Cube. Very cool stuff.

We're in chill mode at the moment. We'll eat on our own tonight, pack our bags and prepare for the travel tomorrow. We have a 70 minute flight on China
Southern to the Henan province. We hope to meet Pam, the angel who arranged for the care of LynnMarie for the past 9 months of her life, and we'll be freaking out the rest of the sleepless night before holding our baby for the first time Monday morning.