Visit to China

 Mr. Lane’s Kung Fu demonstration.

For me today was by far the best day of the trip.  I felt comfortable around the family that I was staying with and for the first time since I left I felt strong connection to my home.  The Kang family that I have been staying is an exceptional group of people.  Tonight I enjoyed a dinner with Mr. Kang the English teacher at Qufu Experimental, his wife and 8 year old daughter, his brother and sister in law, their child and his mother in law.  Everyone came over for a dumpling dinner because I was in town.  They asked lots of questions about America but also allowed me to have a glimpse into their life.  They enjoy humor and being with each other.  They made me feel like I was part of the family and my only wish is that one day they will come to America and I can return the favor.

            My day started with a 6:30 walk to go get breakfast with Mr Kang.  This followed a warm shower that I now understand was not common during the home stay portion of the trip for most families.  Breakfast consisted of tofu (something I have never eaten in my life because I did not think that I liked the taste) and my initial reaction did not change.  We then walked to school (18 minutes) and I discussed with Mr. Kang his thesis for post graduate classes at the University and gave him my Mandarin dictionary because I thought it could be helpful to him in his studies.  When I arrived at the school I was whisked away to the High School where I met some students and Principal Chen, who is quite the character.  His school  is very well run and he is an excellent host.  After touring the grounds we went back to the Middle School for some lunch and an hour of rest.  Most of the group then stayed at school for another hour of rest and a painting competition.  I however became the lucky one.  My host joined the Snapper’s host in a tour of an area called “Confucius Six Elements Park.”  This park was beautiful and included a rifle range (Mrs. Snapper had the best shot of the three of us), a ride, a moving horse and a museum to Confucius. 

            Following the park I left the Snappers and went to a mountain in the hometown of Mr. Kang with him, his good friend (who was the driver) and his former teacher.  The view from the mountain was breathtaking and I later learned that I was standing on the tomb of one of the emperors during the Ming Dynasty.  I then had an opportunity to make and eat dumplings with Mr. Kang’s mother in law and finished the night with a Confucius opera.

            On another note, I experienced first hand the power of a pen pal today as Bridget connected with her pen pal that she has been writing to over the last year.  To see their faces and the pure joy that they experienced when they met for the first time was priceless and worth the trip for me.  It is moments like this that make trips so worthwhile and make me proud to be a teacher.

      After last night’s amazing experience I took a taxi back to the Qufu Experimental Middle School for a day of class.  The day started with me walking into a 7^th grade class before the day started and experiencing something that I am quite sure would ever happen at Fairfield Woods.  The school day here starts at 8:00 but I arrived at 7:30 and because no other Americans were present I went straight to the classroom with Zhou Yanan studied (the students in Qufu stay in their classroom, while the teachers move).  When I sat down Yanan (her given name) stood in front of a class of 50 students and started reading from her English book.  The class then followed her in her practice and spoke very well.  Why would I never see this at Fairfield Woods?  One, all the students were there a half an hour early.  Two, some of them were cleaning the classroom and the hallways (no custodians present).  Three, they started their learning without a teacher being present.

At 8:10 I went into my first class of the day.  For two periods Mr. Lane and I spoke to a class that included three students that some of you are pen pals with.  We answered their questions about American culture and Mr Lane even did some Kung Fu with some of their students.  At 10 o’clock the students had morning exercise where they all ran laps around the courtyard and then returned to their period 3 class.  For Mr. Lane and myself that meant Phys Ed.  The class started with a bunch of students surrounding Mr Lane as I watched them do sit ups and the broad jump.  One of the students then asked me about basketball and when I explained that I was a coach, he asked me to teach him the game.  What started as me and him turned into a group of students and one of them asked me to play a game of one on one.  He was a very good but as the crowd began to grow I felt that I had to show the difference between the American game and that of the Chinese (even if that meant beating a thirteen year old).  In the end there had to be 150 students watching and cheering every basket; for the student that I was playing it had to be a magnificent experience.

After lunch the parents and I judged an English speaking contest that had 23 contestants and I must say that I was very impressed with their ability to grasp the language in a short amount of time.  Some of my favorite quotes in the show were from a young lady who when talking about her parents said “I am sometimes scared of my dad but I love him” and “my mom is neither tall nor beautiful.”  The other thing that really struck a cord with our group was the student who read her speech entitled “Chinese, I am proud of you.”  This student spoke about how great China was and “how the United States had better watch out for this up and coming nation.”  Some of you may have referred to her as ethnocentric but some of her points were valid and made me think seriously about the future of our country.

At the end of the English speaking festival, the parents sang some songs in front of a portion of the student body that included “Row, Row, Row your Boat,” “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” and “America the Beautiful.”  However the highlight of the entire show was the skit the Mr. Lane, Emily, Sarah, Lizzie, Fred and Bridget put on.  The skit called “My daughter is dying” was a big hit and the Chinese students laughed hysterically as our “actors” performed.  It may just be the highlight of the trip.

Tonight I spent the evening at Mr. Kong’s home.  Mr. Kong is an English teacher at the school and the dean of research.  He has a beautiful wife and the cutest 8 year old daughter.  We talked all night and I really feel that I have a life long friend. 

On Sunday we spent the morning at the Muslim Quarter in Xi’an. It was similar to many of the other places in the two cities we visited because of the tourist “kiosks” on the side of the streets but there was one great little area off the beaten track where the locals go and pick up their meat or vegetables for the day. We then took an hour bus ride to airport for an hour and a half flight to Jinan. Surprisingly the flight left five minutes early (much more efficient than our airlines) We were to stop in Jinan for five minutes and take a bus ride to Qufu but we hit a major delay. Morgan and her mom decided that trip was becoming too difficult with Morgan’s knee. It was not getting better and there may have been risk for more damage. SO we had to say goodbye to two our fellow travelers as they headed north for Beijing and we headed south for Qufu. (For the record, I am shocked at how well Morgan did on the trip. She was a trooper and should be very proud of herself for making it that far) Last night we spent at hotel in Qufu after celebrating Mrs. Devlin’s (Lizzi Harkawik’s mom) birthday. We ate a delicious cake with a light frosting and some sort of fruit on the inside with chopsticks. Today we toured the Confucian temple and mansion and entered the Qufu Experimental Middle School for the first time. We were greeted with a big sign as our bus pulled in and outside the children were taking par in their art festival. Today was the singing competition and at least 500 students had to be watching. We were taking upstairs and given a brief introduction of the school by Principal and Vice Principal Wang and Dean Kong, where we noticed a picture of Elize and Amanda? in the their handbook. It was a pen pal letter that Amanda? had written and there it was right in their information about the school. In fact these two were not the only people from Fairfield in the program. Our assistant superintendent Mr. Boyle also appears in the section about student exchange. After the introduction we were given our home stay families. After everyone received a family there was one girl left standing their expecting to see a family of Americans to bring home. Unfortunately that was supposed to be the family that Morgan was staying with. The assistant principal made a decision that I would stay with that family for one night and Mr. Lane would the next so I hopped in a taxi and drove off to a small apartment where I would stay the night. The young lady Zhou Yanan brought to me to her apartment with her friend and I was greeted by her father inside. Her father was preparing dinner and we sat down and tried to communicate with each other. It is difficult for a 32 year old man to communicate with a two 13 year old girls but it is even more difficult when you do not know the same language. We both had our guide books and were trying our best to keep up the conversation. I showed them my computer, we listened to music on my Ipod, I showed them pictures of my family and pictures of my trip so far. They seemed interested most of the time and really seemed to enjoy having me here. They are very nice but the communication is nonexistent. I guess it could be worse. At least they have a shower, unlike some of the other families.

Today in Xi’an we had quite an experience.  The day started with a trip to Small Goose Pagoda which was built on beautiful grounds with a pond and of course, some stores to shop in.  After spending an hour touring the grounds and climbing to the top of the thirteen story pagoda (I say climbing but I really mean crawling, as some of the stairs were not made for someone over six feet tall) we went to the lacer factory.  This was one of numerous spots that we have stopped at on the trip that are created to get some of the tourists’ money.  They give us a free lunch and then give us an hour to tour their grounds and buy anything that we may wish.  The tour guides in China do not receive a salary, they work only on commission and part of that commission comes from these factories.  While we only made one of these stops in Xi’an, we made stops at the Pearl Factory and the cloisonné factory in Beijing.  I think the group has done a good job of feeding Mr. Fang’ and Ms. Shah’s families this week.

            The city of Xi’an was the capital during the time of the first emperors and home to the beginning of the Silk Road so the city must be protected.  In a work of magnificence they built a 26 foot high wall around the perimeter covering over 13 kilometers.  The reason that I am telling you this is because we rented bikes today and rode o top of the wall.  I believe that Matt and Sarah finished fist but that is only because my chain kept popping off of my bike.  Otherwise I would have won easily.  The interesting part about the chain is that I was getting very frustrated getting off the bike and fixing it every time that I went over a bump (which are difficult to avoid on a structure with a brick floor).  When I was about three quarters of the way through the chain popped again and as I bent down to fix it, a man com up from behind and gave me another bike and ran off with that one.  Unfortunately my good day did not rub off on everyone in the group.

            Some people got lost trying to meet the group for dinner.  Others had their cell phones taken from their pockets when people bumped into them on the street.  There was an hour stretch when all of these things took place but to everyone’s credit nobody panicked and took everything in stride.

            Our evening ended tonight with a trip to the movies to see National Treasure 2.  We purchased our tickets and bought popcorn and went into the movie theater.  The movie was on the fifth floor and unfortunately words are not going to be able to explain the experience.  As we went up the escalator, the second floor had this amazing DDR exhibition, the third floor had some stores but as we reached the fourth and fifth floor, it was rundown and dirty.  We opened the curtain to the theater and saw eight to ten rows of couches going across the theater.  The theater had a concrete floor, the dirtiest bathrooms I have ever experienced and a big projector that must have been from the 1970’s.  We sat down just in time and the movie started with the words National Treasure and then the people started speaking Mandarin and the subtitles were in Chinese characters.  I know we should have expected this but for some reason we thought that there were going to be English subtitles.  We sat there and laughed for a couple of minutes and got up and left.  On our way out Lydia was telling me that she had already seen this movie and there were some scenes taken out.  The one about the Constitution and the Statue of Liberty.  Interesting.

            I will answer all questions and show more pictures in my class on Monday the 21^st and the eighth graders will be preparing to show something to eighth grade students.  Thanks for reading.  We will try our best to keep in touch but are not sure about the using the internet in Qufu.

Mr. Marko

Today was spent in Xi’an and at the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum.  The warriors were everything that you would expect, amazing from the intricacy of the carvings to the pure numbers of the soldiers to the thorough excavation process that began in 1974.  They call it the eighth wonder of the world and we could see why when we were standing there. 

The only thing other than the students’ blog that I wanted to report was the interesting game of Frogger that we just played.  For those of you who do not remember the game, it was played in the 1980’s on a video game system called Atari.  In this game a little frog would try to cross the street as cars were zooming by.  Well our tour guide, Mr. Fang, tried to stop traffic after dinner (a great dumpling banquet) for us to cross the street and he waved us on when he thought that he had the traffic stopped.  He only forgot about one thing; drivers are not like they are in the United States and some decided not to stop.  He came very close to getting hit (inches) and the rest of the group had to jump back.  I wish I had a picture of the group’s face when al this was happening.  It was priceless and yes we all made it across the street safely. 

Two quick notes

1. For those of you who may be wondering if we are going to continue this while you are on vacation; all I can say is that I will try my best but we have been running into computer problems every step of the way and I can only hope that we have internet access in Qufu.

2. Lydia got the idea for the Jonas Brothers pictures from my daughter who wanted me to take pictures with one of her teddy bears each day.  So I present to you Mr. Met (who has become quite the World traveler)

 Mr. Marko

 Hey everyone!!!! This is the gang in China talking to you from the bus on our way back to our hotel after our visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian! Everything here is truly incredible-the food, the cities, the palaces, the culture, it’s all awesome! Xian is a truly unique city, as the Terra Cotta Museum we visited today was unbelievable! Thousands upon thousands of ancient statues were discovered from their pits underground and have become incredible symbols of Chinese culture and history. I’m personally amazed at what great shape they’ve stayed in for the nearly 2300 years they were buried! We’ve been having a great time over here! I hope you’re all doing well!

Love,

Declan

   xox

hey peeps!

Its Em here just summing up about what we did today and yesterday.  Yesterday, we got off the overnight train in Xian where we met our second tour guide.  Although he knows a lot about all the places we will be visiting, he can get rather annoying because at the end of ever single sentence, he says “ah.”  Before visiting each place he gives a ” quick” (20 minute) explanation about our destination.  On the bus alone we counted 84 “AHS” it was rather interesting and very funny to listen too.

We also visited a goose pagoda, where we saw a monk and many many many different Buddhas.  We saw the leader of the Buddhas, a good harvest Buddha, and a good luck Buddha..  You all probably know what the good luck Buddha looks like because he is very fat and very smiley.  Mr. Marko imitated him but he did a poor job of it. 

Today we went to visit the terra cotta warriors like Declan said before.  They were amazing.  Its hard to believe that thousands of soldiers were hidden under the ground for so many years without being discovered.  But we did get to see the man who discovered the warriors and he signed autographs for us. Did you know that back when they were being made, the emperor wanted the clay soldiers to be a secret so he killed the artists and soldier models so that know one would know about them? Pretty cool huh?  Anyways China is great and I can’t believe how great of a time were having.  Were heading out to the markets right now so hopefully we will right tomorrow

Peace!

Em Jonas

PS. Whoever said that they got Jonas brother meet and greet passes are meanys! I mean come on, don’t tease us like that in a different country.  That’s rude! Lol

WRITE BACK!!!! Comments are fun to read

Heyyy,

It’s Lyd…..again. :]

I want to start off saying that I don’t like Amanda, Britt, Kelsey, and Emma right now. They are very very mean people. Anyway now that that’s clear, I’m having an AMAZING time, especially in Xian! They have American food for breakfast. I know that may not seem like much but when you are eating Chinese food 3 times a day for a week straight bacon looks like gold. Emily is showing signs of a strong addiction to Pancakes, its kinda gross how excited she gets about them, but what ever we still love her. Last night, me, Lizzie, Emily, Leah, Morgan, Sarah and Matt all went to Lizzie’s room to hang out and get a sugar high. I got really hyper then crashed at around 10 while watching Kyle XY in Chinese.

Today we had to get up really early (7) to go to the terra cotta worriers, but I won’t talk about them because Emily and Declan already did. In between we went to this tea tasting thing and learned about Tea and the Chinese culture. They had this realllyy good sweet tea that I bought that left a honey taste in your mouth. I’m slightly addicted to it. Anyways we are now on the bus going to a market. I’m currently jamming out to Still In Love With You by the Jonas Brothers <3. Yeah well that’s all for now I think,

Write tomarow??

Loveeeeeee

LYD <3

P.S. write comments, they are fun to hear !!

P.P.S i miss Matt R too !! <3

P.P.P.S. Samantha Taylor, did you tape Idol Gives back? I forgot to TVO it.

       Hey Again!

Although we just wrote a bunch to you guys yesterday, there are so many more exciting things to talk about that occurred today. Today was a day of firsts. The first time we rode in a rickshaw, the first and last time we ate a fish that was looking at us, and the first time we used a squatty potty…without missing. Sorry to gross you out but it’s harder than you think. Anyways before our “pleasant” experience at dinner, and our great time at the potty, we went to Mao’s mausoleum where we actually saw him. He was preserved in a big glass case but there are wax replicas of Mao. We all thought he looked like wax but we can’t come to any conclusions. Next we went to the temple of Heaven. This temple was very different because we got to experience the every day culture of China. Every morning, people gather in the park to participate in dance and Ti-Chi. We learned that the reason that the people in the park were older is because the people have to retire at an early age so to pass the time they go to the park. After that we went on a rickshaw ride around a small Chinese area. The streets were very narrow so we crashed a lot and got in many traffic jams with other rickshaws. Although it was funny, we got to see what a typical family in China was like. Finally for the end of our day, we went to an antique marquee where we shopped for paintings, clothing, tea, and other cool items. It was hard not to buy it all but we are told that Xian will have many shops around. Well you guys are in school right now and we just wanted to write a little something before we go to sleep. We are on a overnight train to Xian at this very moment. There are six beds per room in the hard sleeper section. Even though its crowded, we are trying to make the best of our experience in this tiny train. Bye till tomorrow! Emily, Lydia, Lizzie, Bridged, Declan, Matt, Sarah, Leah, Morgan and Fred.

Yo, Its Lyd.

China is sweeeeettttttt. Crazy though. Yesterday we went to this little market thingy and it had like stalls of food (kind of like hotdog stands in NYC) but they were lined up and had things to cook the foods behind them. Anyway, so they had some crazy foods. Mr. Lane, my mom, Mr. Craighead, Mrs. Mallon and Bridged ate bugs (like maggot things), scorpion, sea horse, and crawfish (if Amanda and Brittany are reading this, those things that we used to fish with in New Hampshire that almost bit my finger off). I just stuck to chicken on a stick and noodles. Oh! But I did eat spicy squid. That was pretty good and fried Banana. I swear those are the best things made on earth. I really miss you guys! Have you ever seen that commercial of that dad that takes the teddy bear on his trip and takes pictures of it all around? Yeah well we (me, Lizzie, and Emily) are doing that but with posters of Nick, Joe, and Kevin. :]. Through this trip we have seen and heard some pretty weird things. Everywhere you go Locals are sticking things about the Olympics in your face (like Tee-Shirts and Post Cards), it can get kind of aggravating but its also really funny. Oh good news before I go, anyone who is reading this who heard my purse story (the red Prada one that was $780) I found a purse that looks like it but it is black and only 21 bucks! It’s not Prada but I loveeeeee it. So I really miss you all, See ya in 2 weeks. Loveee LYD <3

Hey everybody! We’re having so much fun in China. Right now we’re in a train on our way to Xian. Write you later!

Sarah

P.S. Carly if you read this I’m so mad that Tennessee won.\ Well I guess it’s good because it’s Candace Parkers last year.

         Right now we are in an overnight train to Xi’an after spending the day in Beijing.  We finished Tuesday night at the night market where people from our group ate larva, seahorses and other interesting things on sticks.  The consensus was that the Fried Bananas and sugar coated Strawberries were the best.  For the second time on the trip I felt like the center of attention because everybody wanted to talk to me and practice their English.  I met students from the universities and a Middle School English teacher who all wanted to speak English to an American and learn about places like New York City.

            We woke up this morning, packed our things and went to see Mao’s Mausoleum.  It was a very interesting situation because it was the only time all week that we had to wait in a line.  We went through a metal detector and then an area where you can buy flowers to place at the site.  You entered into a large room with a big statue of Mao and people would run out of line to place the flowers.  They then ushered you into another room two by two to look at the body that has been preserved since he died.  People were visibly upset by the encounter but were pushed out because the line had to keep moving.  It was well worth the wait but I am not sure that was his real body.  He looked like a wax figure.

            The next stop was the Temple of Heaven which was another area that the emperors set us to celebrate the harvests.  However what made this one different was the park that you walk in to get to the gate.  In this park people were playing a version of hackie-sac, mahjong, dominos, doing Tai-chi, dancing, singing and having a great time.  Many people in our group purchased some of these games after playing with the locals because as we found out this week, everything in the tourist sections of Beijing is to done to lure you in to buy something.  At the temple we saw an area that had an echo that could be heard throughout the courtyard and of course everybody had to try clapping to see if it worked and again people gathered around and took pictures of us.

            After lunch we visited the Hu-Tong areas of Beijing.  For those of you that have never heard of this, it is small very narrow streets which have numerous little passageways that only one person can pass through.  After about six steps it opens up into this beautiful courtyard surrounded by one family’s house.  The entire family lives in this are, which is created based upon the Fung-shwe principals, including any married sons and their family.  This is also the area where the rickshaw drivers take you through the streets.

            We boarded the train and to our surprise the conditions were much better than we expected.  We were traveling in a passenger car that had six beds in each little room.  The beds were on either side of a passageway that you could barely walk through and were piled on top of each other (three to a side).  It was very congested but I took the top bunk because it gave me a little extra leg room and it was the best night of sleep that I had on the entire trip. 

            Thanks to all of you who are reading and keep posting those messages as the students really enjoy hearing from you.

Ni hao guys!!!

We are having a blast in china so far. Yesterday we went to Tiananmen Square where we saw the big picture of Mao (the entrance to the Forbidden City).  The Forbidden City was huge and it was really pretty and very different. Right after we went to the Pearl Factory where we saw how they take the pearls from the oysters and also how to distinguish real pearls from fake ones… and we went shopping. We also visited the Summer Palace which was so cool and also very big. At the palace we ran up to the Buddhist temple and we explored the grounds. That night we went to a “Kung Fu Show” which was very interesting, Mr. Lane and Mr. Marko couldn’t stop laughing. This morning we went to the Great Wall of China and climbed most of it.  After the Wall we went to the cloisonné factory where we learned how to make vases and different items, we also went shopping.

            The food here is surprisingly very good but different. It is difficult to use the chopsticks at every meal and sometimes it can be hard to look at the food, all of us kids hate the fish because they leave the head, tail, bones and insides on the fish. We decided to name our fish today, Nishtar and Fishtar. When Emily left we put the fish head in her bowl to freak her out, she was annoyed. In Beijing there are many American restaurant including KFC, McDonalds and Starbucks.

            Wherever we go people swarm us with gifts, especially when we get off the bus. If we are taking pictures they will sometimes come and stand next to us to take a picture. It was annoying but we get used to it.

            On our way to the great wall we passed the Olympic stadium which is called the nest. Everywhere we go they have Olympic signs, shirts, hats etc. In Beijing the air is very polluted and it can be hard to breath therefore they are cleaning up a lot for the Olympics.

            The bathrooms in China are very hard to use because western toilets are very hard to find.  All of the toilets were we go are “squatty potties” were you have to squat VERY low because the toilets are just holes in the ground and most of the time you do not flush them. Its very disturbing but extremely funny therefore we hold it in until we find a real toilet.

We are about to go shopping in a Chinese neighborhood. So that’s all for now!

From,

Lizzie, Emily, Sarah, Morgan, Bridget, Leah, Lydia, Matt, Fred and Declan.

Word we learned:

Ni hao- hello

Bu shi-not so

Xie xie- thank you

Wo bu dong-I don’t understand

Wo she me guaren- I am an American

NOTES FROM MR. MARKO

1. WE DID NOT “CLIMB MOST OF IT” AT THE GREAT WALL.  IT IS CLOSE TO 4000 MILES AND WE DID NOT WALK THAT LONG
2. WE HAVE NOT EATEN AT MCDONALDS OR ANY OF THOSE PLACES, ONLY SEEN THEM

Monday was spent at Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.  Tiananmen Square is enormous.  I can’t believe that it can be filled with people.  When we were there thousands of people were touring the area and it seemed as if we had the place to ourselves, except when we took a picture in front of Chairman Mao’s picture.  I guess seeing 22 foreigners is not an everyday sight.  As we were getting our pictures taken by our tour guide, Ms. Shah, a handful of citizens started taking our picture and gathered around the area.  For a brief moment we were the site that people were talking about.  In the square itself was Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum (which was not open but will be Wednesday morning), statues and the People’s Hall.  On one end (across a street) is the Forbidden City’s entrance where Chairman Mao gave his famous speech in 1949. 

            When we crossed the street to the Forbidden City we took a rest and sat off to the side for a minute.  I decided to watch the people walking by and noticed something about 80% of them.  They all did a double take when they saw Morgan Conners.  I am not sure if it is the red hair that they are not accustomed to or the fact that she is on crutches, but I do know that it must be getting uncomfortable for her. 

Inside the Forbidden City Ms. Shah led us through a guided tour and I had mixed feelings while inside.  My first feeling was awe as I was walking on the same grounds that emperors were paraded through in the fifteenth century.  My other feeling was disappointment.  You read about things like this in books and see pictures and then when you get there parts of it are under construction.  Some of the most beautiful buildings were covered by scaffolding.  I guess my entire time inside I kept going back and forth as I would see an old brick foyer where the emperor had the workers lay the ground fifteen times in different directions so that nobody would be able to penetrate the quarters from under ground.  Then I would see the bamboo scaffolding.  I understand that we came at a time that they are preparing for the Olympics and should expect it but…

            The Summer Palace was the highlight of the day.  The students really enjoyed climbing stairs to a Buddhist statue and taking a boat across the lake inside of the palaces grounds.  The empress who created this summer escape from the heat of Beijing loved boats but hated the water.  As a simple solution she created a stone ship that sits by the docks on the lake.  Must be nice to have money! 

            Tuesday was spent at the Great Wall and that did not disappoint.  The place where we went to view the Wall was steep and the stairs were far apart.  It was quite a workout but well worth it as the view was breathtaking.  The only downfall about these tourist places is that every time you step off of the bus, people hound you to buy their product.    They sell everything from postcards to Olympic hats to Chairman Mao watches but they stick them in your face and make you feel so uncomfortable that you want to get out of there as fast as possible.

            That is all for today, tomorrow we spend the day in Beijing but take an overnight train to Xi’an.  I will post again on Thursday night.