The Great Wall

Our weekend continued with an early drive to the Great Wall which took around 90 minutes from our hotel. Once gain, it was a very cold and smoggy day. 

We took a gondola ride to the upper area of the wall and then were able to spend some time hiking around in that area. I discovered that the wall was much steeper than I realized;  of course it is on top of the mountains!

Our next stop was the Summer Palace in Beijing. When the weather became a bit warmer, the emperor and all of his household would move from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace. The grounds included a large lake and beautiful landscaping. 

We had a fun time visiting a cloisonné workshop where we saw how the cloisonné was made and of course were able to buy a few pieces. We chose a bracelet and a Christmas ornament for our collection. 

We returned to Guangzhou after attending church in Beijing. It was a wonderful weekend but we don't think that we will be visiting a second time. 

Yesterday, we took a long metro ride south to Lotus Mountain with the Andersons. There was rain for part of the day but the skies cleared and we were able to enjoy some of the attractions in that area.  This is one of the pagodas at the park. 

The grounds are very beautiful and well landscaped. 

This is an ancient rock quarry with some very interesting rock formations. 

We ended the day with a delicious dinner at one of our favorite Turkish restaurants called the Bosphorous!

More from Guangzhou and traveling to Beijing

We are on the go constantly here in China.  I am at home on the bed right now after a little incident on the way to church this morning. We were all on our way to the bus and I managed to twist my ankle and fall down.  Rick and I returned to our apartment so that I could get my foot up and ice my ankle. Since I am on the bed with nothing to do, I decided that it is a good time to catch up on the blog!

I do have proof that we are constantly on the go here in Guangzhou - in the month of October I set a new record for the number of steps in a month according to my Vivofit. I had 426,979 steps which was more than any other month including our time in Portland, Mexico or Italy. Right now we have trips planned to Shenzhen, Hong Kong, southwest China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and a 14 day cruise starting January 1 from Singapore back to Singapore. I really do not have time for a sprained ankle so I better get well soon!

Rick and I attended the Marine Corp Ball here in Guangzhou at the Ritz Carlton earlier this month. We had an especially fun time preparing for the ball by having our clothes made by tailors right here. Rick had a suit made for him  I had a traditional Chinese dress made.  This first picture was taken of three couples from our little branch here in Guangzhou that all attended the ball.  The couple in the middle are William and Lorie Qian. He is our branch president.

This is a picture of the two of us at our dinner table. The food was quite delicious!

Last weekend we were able to make a trip to Beijing with some of the other China teachers.  We are so thankful to Kathy and Craig Anderson for covering our Friday classes so that we could join in on all of the fun in that fabulous city. 

Friday morning we headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. First we viewed Mao's body.  This is a picture of some of our group before we headed from the square into the city. You can see that it was really cold. I was really thankful that I had boots, a parka and gloves because I stayed comfortable all day!

This is a picture of one of the thrones inside the city where the emperor met with those who had permission to visit. 

This is a picture of our rickshaw ride where we were taken to a private home for a very delicious lunch. 

After lunch we visited the Temple of Heaven. The temple burned down and was rebuilt around 100 years ago.  The view from the temple was amazing even on a very, very smoggy day. It was kind of like being up on the clouds!

We ended an action packed day by watching a show performed by some amazing Chinese acrobats.