BEIJING

Beijing LOVES the Olympics. And that means Beijing loves tourist, at least for now. Everywhere you go, there are card tables with at least four volunteers, head in official gear, ready and willing to help you. Well, maybe not so ready, but they are very willing. Beijing is also huge. Really huge. In fact, its so huge there is no way of describing it to you. We spend about two to three hours on average trying to locate any given location. And Max is a map person. And Kara is good with traveling. So basically, Beijing is huge, confusing, and not well mapped. Regardless, we are having a blast trying to figure it all out.

Ciao
K and M

p.s. we dig the Great Wall. Also, very very big.

SFO. 5 am. And yes, our fleeces are matching. It wasn't intentional.
Max isn't tired. Layover in Vancouver. Perhaps the most relaxed airport i have ever been to. I love you, Canada.

Beijingers are still riding their bikes everywhere, even with an estimated 1,000 new cars on the road daily. 1,000. Yes.

Squat toilets are actually a lot more sanitary than "western" toilets. Plus, you start to develop killer thighs. Thanks, squat toilet!

The Forbidden City:

The day we went to the forbidden city just happened to be the day where all the paralympic athletes were touring the city as well. We met Tim, who is on the U.S.A Sailing team. He was very nice and enthused to see other Americans.

Beijing has made provisions for the handicap on a massive scale for the Olympics. These machines ferry wheelchairs up and down stairs.

Cheesy picture in front of the "love tree." We're not even pretending that we aren't tourists at this point.

Kara didn't want this picture in the blog. Or a lot of them.

This picture is cooler than the one that Max got. He agrees.

Kara is still silly, even in China.

Around Beijing:

There's kitchy animal cartoon olympic propaganda everywhere and Kara can't get enough of it. We had to wait in line to take this one in the Beijing Subway station. A couple of Chinese teenagers also dug this little cow guy.He's the official paralympic...cute...thingy

Hu Jintao's place. Right next to the Forbidden City. Some things change, some things stay the same. We accidentally ran into this place on a 3 hour quest to find our vegetarian restaurant for the day. The map said it was inside this walled compound. Maybe Hu Jintao is a vegetarian; we gave up.





All of these gamers in the internet cafe were playing "World of Warcraft." For hours.

Our Great Wall trip. No tourist bus. Rough Guide did right by us.

"Bathrooms" along the way.


Max eating a fried egg wrapped in a pancake, a common street dish. It was better with each bite, he says.

Max scaling the wall. He got to the top, and I think the Chinese guy who walked by us said something to the effect of, "what a bad ass."

If Kara doesn't want silly pictures on the blog, she should stop being so silly in my pictures.

Fun snacks:

Body Loves Roughage!

Corn chunks in a corn paste. The coolest part of this was the foldable spoon. Even cooler than collapsable straws.


Summer palace paddle boat ride. We miss biking.