Last Day in Beijing

Everyone told stories about their free-day adventures. I laughed while I listened to Melanie B. tell the story of visiting her nephew who lives in a hutong, while he attends college in the city. It was also fun hearing how Richard (who never meets a stranger) found himself with members of our group outstretched in a Chinese teacher's hutong, while the teacher painted calligraphy for some of the members.

We visited the Summer Palace today, and it was absolutely beautiful. We also visited the Olympic Park, where we toured the WaterCube and the Bird's Nest.

We all took rickshaw rides through a traditional neighborhood, and had lunch inside a hutong. Later that night, we shopped and ate on Wang-Fu-Jing, where we actually ran into the "kidnappers" from the day before! They were very nice and even posed for photos with us. They still wanted to show us some "artwork," but we resisted. We boarded our overnight train to Xi'an, where we enjoyed the experience of rail travel throughout China. There's nothing like trying to use an Eastern Toilet while the train is moving--Good Times!