My goodness lots has occurred since I last posted. We are home now, all of us, slept in our beds last night and I’m sure all enjoyed that piece of heaven. The flight was ok, long as always but there’s no way around it.

Our time in Beijing was great. We packed in the activities, starting with an afternoon trip to the Temple of Heaven Park. This park is full of people doing all sorts of exercises, taiji, ballroom dancing, push hands and qi gong. Tourists watch and take pictures and listen to the guides explain the various temples and their importance to the Emperor. We did a round of Laojia yi lu at one spot, and listened while one guide puzzled to her group that we must be a special program that cost extra. After watching for a bit, she then commented that maybe we knew what we were doing. We were joined by one woman from the US who managed to follow us all the way through the form and thanked us profusely for allowing her to participate.

The next day we did the requisite tourist spots – Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Silk Market. We lost a person in the Forbidden City. I felt awful about this – the last time we lost someone he quickly wandered off on his own before we had a chance to look for him. This time I admonished the group to always STAY PUT if they got separated, so stay put this person did. Unfortunately, we had left the temple before we noticed he was missing, and couldn’t go back in to look for him. Luckily, he caught up with us several hours and several cab rides later, so all ended well with no harm.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe Beijing. This was by far the best meal of the trip for me. I was just recovering from my stomach bug, and beef was the answer to my ailments. I wolfed down a Red White and Blue burger (cajun hot sauce, onion ring, blue cheese) with fries and a Stella Artois. YUM. I was infused with energy, color came back into my face, and I felt restored. Everyone else had mostly the same thing, and had similar responses.

Our final day was a trip to the Great Wall, the Cloisonne Factory, and an unexpected bonus – a trip to the silk factory, thanks to Dianne Houser. This is where you see how they make silk, from the birth of the silkworms to the pulling of the threads from the cocoon to the stretching of the silk to make a quilt. 11 people bought quilts here. I already have one so I got a pillow and a lap throw. Wonderful experience.

Travel day was not great for me – my stomach bug returned, I didn’t feel like eating, and worse, we had to check out of the hotel by noon but our plane didn’t leave until 9pm. I slept in the hotel lobby for a while and again in the airport. Now that I’m home, I think I will live, but as I said in my previous post, being sick in China sucks.

This was a great trip, a great group with whom to travel, and I hope everyone had a wonderful time. Judy, I’m sorry I didn’t get to say bye to you – I so enjoyed getting to know you! Travis, it was wonderful to share this experience with you again. Nicolas – wonderful getting to know you, and I hope this trip was everything you hoped it would be. Susan, George D and Sheryl, I hope the village was rewarding for you – I was sorry you couldn’t travel on with us. Everyone else – see you at class!!

Zai jian!!

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