Goodbye America. Hello China

Hi friends and family,

It is May 24th, 3:46pm.
We finally were able to get a place with internet in the Nanjing Normal University computer lab. We are doing well. Thank you for your prayers.

So much has happened since our last email.

We have traveled much from flying Raleigh->Chicago->Beijing. Then in Beijing taking car, buses, boat, and walking to many different destinations. Since arriving two days after our group, we missed some sights but there were still many sights we saw before taking the sleeper train to Nanjing.

Beijing Sunday:
1. Summer Palace: one of the ancient temples were the Dragon Lady lived and ate about 100-course meals a day that can feed about 10,000 people one meal a day. And you may be thinking she must have been fat. No. It's interesting trivia for the day. The place was very crowded as it's only open in the summer (thus called Summer Palace). I had to be pushy with an old lady just to get into a bathroom stall just to give you an idea.She tried to squeeze her way into the stall the same time I did. Summer palace is very beautiful palace nonetheless. We took the boat to cross the Kunming river.

2. Beijing Olympic Stadium and Aquatic Center and IBM building: We hope to send pictures of them. We got to a quick stop by there but we got pretty close to it with our own eyes and they are very grand. Chinese architecture is very unique. Everywhere someone is trying to sell us something.





3. New City Jewerly: China main source of freshwater pearls and they say that's why the water is not good for drinking (even worse than Mexico we learned!) Riley and I drink a lot of water in America but when you want to drink water here you have to get bottled water. I've never seen real pearls and none that weren't white. Here they all the 4 colors: white, pink, lavender, and dark purple. The lavender is my favorite. Trivia: Five year old oysters contain 15-20 pearls in many different colors! Five-yrs is young. Older oysters=more pearls.

4. Dr. Tea: The art of tea. We tried Lycee, Golden, jasmine, black, and white teas. They taught us how to sip and taste them. Black and Lycee are very good and good for you. Trivia: it seems there are more KFCs here than McDonalds.

5. Temple of Heaven: similar style to Summer Palace. Roofs, painting, greenery. The main temple round and very high up with a great view of the city. It's hard to believe its made of wood build without a single nail. It's hot here but windy. Not nearly as hot as it usually is.

6. Silk Market: One of the largest markets in China. We learned how to haggle and it was hilarious. The place was indeed large but well organized. The vendors (many clothing vendors) are mildly to very aggressive when it comes to getting you to buy from them no matter what cost. It's safe to assume that the clothes are knock off brands so it was ok to haggle for a cheaper cost and there were many vendors selling the exact same thing. Turns out I was a decent haggler and Riley was pretty impressive. He even managed to get one lady to match the price he asked, then when he walked away she grabbed his arm with an even lower price then lower. Same thing happed at the denim corner and they followed him around the store. Our group gave us a tip that the sellers tend to do that as they did their first day trying to sell knock off Rolexs. Turns out the best way to refuse something is to ignore and walk away. They notice when people take interest. It was a very fun and knowlegable experience. Trivia: 1 dollar=about 6.4 yuan, 100dollars=64 yuan. 100 yuan= about $15.89

7.  Restaurant to try Peking Duck: It's the favorite food in China. The room was tight to fit 22 people but its fun to have community. In China it is customary to have many plates of different dishes whereas in America it is large plates of a fewer dishes. So the variety is wider but smaller in size.The peking duck eaten with thin tortillas and duck sauce. It tastes like fried turkey to me but no one know what that is.

That's all for now. gotta goooo!
Love,
Diane