2 February -- Beijing

We arrived in Beijing yesterday after a long and tiring journey. Our flight from Los Angeles to Guangzhou was pretty smooth -- it was the best 16-hour flight we've ever had!

After a few hours in Guangzhou, we journeyed on to Beijing. Of course, with the time change we lost our Wednesday! Fortunately, the only hitch was that our carry on bags were too big to fit in the bins of our crowded flight. So they were put in first class!

Upon arrival in Beijing, we were met by our guide Pan and driver Mr. Chen. They took us to our hotel where we had to wait a few minutes for our room. After a well-deserved rest and freshening up, we went to the nearby shopping area where we did some sightseeing, grocery shopping, and we stopped at a famous restaurant for a dinner of Peking duck -- it was wonderful!

Today we were met by Pan and Mr. Chen and toured Tiananemen Square and the Forbidden City. We then had lunch in a hutong (old neighborhood) -- homemade and wonderful. After a rickshaw tour or the area, we did some shopping. Besides the old area, we also went to a silk shop where we were shown how silk is obtained, and we then went to an authentic tea house for a demonstration of the tea ceremony.

We hope to get soe pictures up soon. Tomorrow it's off to the Great Wall. And in the mean time the wait for Melissa gets shorter and shorter!