Day 4

Beijing - Xian

After visiting the Summer Palace and the lovely giant pandas in Beijing Zoo, you will take a flight to Xian. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to the hotel for a 3-night stay.

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Have to make this pretty quick. Got to Xi'an with no problems. It is a tad bit cooler here, though not much :) The pandas were all asleep when I saw them but I did take some pictures. I only spent $15 yesterday too hehehe.

So glad kids are doing so well. I miss them. I miss you. Tell them that today I get to see some very very old carvings and eat dumplings for dinner. Another busy day. Internet is more expensive here so I might not get online again for another few days.

Day 3

Beijing
This morning you will be taken to Badaling where you will experience at first hand the wonder of the Great Wall. For lunch, we have arranged for a special meal to be served at a local popular Sichuan restaurant. Later the journey will take you to the Sacred Way and the Ming Tomb in the peaceful shadow of Longevity Mountain. Conclude the full day tour after taking a glance of the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium) en route to downtown. This evening, we will arrange a delicious meal at a delicate restaurant.

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Edited email from Tara sent at 8:53PM in China-

Not sure if I'll be able to do email tomorrow, but will try. This is the last night at the hotel in Beijing. First, the good news - I had a great day!! The Great Wall was amazing and the food was very good again. I"m hot, sweaty and tired, but had a very fun day and took lots of pictures.

The bad news....I spent too much money today.

Anyway, people are being pretty impatient outside to use the internet so I'll log off. Tell Camden and Shelby that tomorrow I get to see some panda bears!

Day 2

Beijing
Before the tour starts, a pre-tour introductory talk will be delivered in the hotel. You will meet the other members of your group at that time. Your first stop today is the impressive Tian'anmen Square. From there you will enter the "Imperial Palace" known as the Forbidden City to explore its many fascinating halls and pavilions. You will then go to the Temple of Heaven, the place where the Emperors worshipped the heaven for good harvests. To round off a memorable start to your tour, we will arrange the Beijing speciality Duck Dinner at a famous restaurant followed by a lively Red Theater Chinese Kung Fu Show.

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-9:30pm after the above activities-

Slept well last night although that bed is dang hard. Today was so hot. Instead of Hot Yoga, it was Hot Strolling along. I was sweating and drenched everywhere. Tomorrow should be the same as far as the heat and the amount of time we're spending outside. BUT, it was really fascinating to see these buildings from so long ago and I did get a lot of pictures. Tell my mom that the food so far here has been AWESOME. SO good. We had Peking Duck tonight and then went to see a "History of Kung Foo" show at a theater - it was very good but I found myself drifting off to sleep now and then because I'm just pretty tired after today. It has been interesting and I'm enjoying myself, despite he heat and the embarassing amount of sweating involved.

Tell Camden and Shelby I got to eat in a restaurant with a duck standing outside the door. I'll try to get on here again tomorrow to let you know how things go. For now, I'm headed to bed and we're headed out to see the Great Wall tomorrow!!

Tara

Tara Updates- China Trip Day 1

For anyone interested in keeping track of what Tara is doing on her trip, check back here frequently. I'll try to keep it updated as she sends reports back home. -Tara's Husband

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Tara left on the airport shuttle just after 11pm on Tuesday night July 20. I got a text message from her at about 1:30am saying that they were about to board the plane. She landed in Taipei, found a free internet kiosk and emailed to let us know she had landed safely (message received July 21 @ 3:55pm [6:55am July 22 in China]). She had a 2 hour layover in Taipei before taking another flight to Beijing. She was able to sleep a little on the plane but not very well. She says her travel companions are fun and interesting and is looking forward to spending time with them. Hoping to see something other than the inside of an airport soon!

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Edited message from Tara 3:55am July 22 (6:55pm July 23 in China)

I can do internet at the hotel for a small fee so I can probably get an email out to you most days, at least while we're in Beijing. It is now 6:30 - for you it is 3:30 in the morning (I hope you are asleep right now!) and we are all very tired and ready to go to bed! But, I'll stay up a bit longer and then hit the hay.

Beijing is very smoggy and hot and humid. You would not do too well in the heat, I'm afraid. Tomorrow we'll be outside a lot and it is supposed to be 92 degrees and humid. I've got four bottles of water to take with me to help with that.

Tell Camden I got to fly in a 747 and a 737. Tell Shelby I saw lots of people with umbrellas today on the sidewalks.