We arrived in Beijing after our journey on the soft sleeper. It was a bumpy ride and Casey didn't fare too well. She was sick on the train and I had to stay with her in the hotel room while Catherine and our guide Olive took the rest of the girls to Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. Beijing is 1200 kms from Xian and the weather was nothing like what we experienced yesterday. Very chilly here at the moment.
The girls loved the day and were very tired at the end of it. Apparently the crowds at Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden city were huge and representative of all the nations of the world. Catherine believes that most of the population of China was in the Forbidden City today!!
In the afternoon they visited the Hutong residential area and shared a lunch with a couple in their seventies who have recently opened their home to international tourists. The girls enjoyed both the food and the company and were pleased to be able to gain some insight into the everyday lives of the Chinese people.
Casey and I were able to join the group for the late afternoon performance of the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. They were fantastic. We were amazed at the young age of some of the troupe and at their incredible flexibility and strength. Then we were off for yet another magnificent Chinese feast. What on earth are we going to do when we get home and have to cook again (I'm referring to Catherine and myself here obviously!).
Breakfast at this hotel is buffet style and we gorged ourselves this morning so will do so again tomorrow. Shannan's plan is to attend a first sitting, retire to her room to digest quietly and then return for another go before we board the bus taking us to Simatai. Plans are afoot to celebrate Jess' 16th birthday with an oreo cake at our hotel at the base of the Great Wall. What a birthday memory that will be.
I don't know if there will be internet access there so there may be no posts until we return to Beijing Tuesday. This has been a wonderful trip and we have enjoyed the company of the girls immensely. They are so funny and we have been laughing our way through China. We have been coined 'Sport' and 'Champ' - wonder how that will go down in a Toorak College assembly hall!
