We are here in Beijing and it certainly is a grand city. I am not really sure how I feel about it. It’s a fairly clean city in a lot of parts, and it’s the most western city we’ve seen so far. It’d be easy to land here, and not really know you’re in China. Well, that’s until you run in to the stinky tofu stand! The driving is much more western, and in general, the people don’t stare at us when we walk down the street. However, there are a ton of people here. We went down to Tianemen Square today and walked through the Forbidden Palace. I can’t say I really liked any of it, it was just too crowded. Too many people all running around, and I just never got in to the spirit of it I guess. Both sites are very impressive though. Incredible in their scale. Tomorrow we’re heading to the Great Wall and I can’t imagine I’ll be very disappointed. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pen something greater than Nixon’s, “It certainly is a great wall,” when I return.

But more importantly, we’ve found a wonderful place here in Beijing. We’re staying in the guest house of the uncle of one of my hurling teammate’s. The guest house is nicer than anything we’ve stayed in so far (with the exception of Tianyi’s house), and it has a kitchen and everything. We were thinking of making some pizza or steak and handing out to the locals :) But we were taken in by David, the owner of the house. He showed us around Beijing, gave us some local flavor and offered us the keys to his house to do laundry, catch up on CNN and check internet while he is out of town on business. It reminds me of Sven Hedin as a young child, traveling in India, when he happened on a Swedish doctor who took him in and took care of him for a time. We are American travelers and are being taken care of, in some ways, by an ex pat. Very nice end to our trip. Tomorrow is the Great Wall, let’s hope it lives up to the billing!

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