We made it!! China is so awesome ... well, I should say, what little I've seen of Beijing is awesome.

Current time in Beijing is 1:30 p.m. Saturday, November 8 - in Dallas it's 11:30 p.m. Friday, November 7.

The plane flight was much better than I anticipated. I would credit that to the drugs. I slept the majority of the flight which was perfect considering we arrived in Beijing around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday. My first impression of China was incredible because we were at their airport. The Beijing airport is unbelievable. I never knew an airport could look so nice. Of course the Olympics were here and I'm sure that's why it looks as good as it does ...

We met our tour guide and fellow tourists after getting our luggage and going through customs. Jerry is our tour guide and I'll post a picture of him and I together. He's really funny ... he is third generation from Beijing and is half Han (I hope I spelled that right) and half Manchurian. Han is the ethnic majority in China.

So, Terri and I grabbed a Starbucks (yes they truly are on every corner worldwide) and hopped on the tour bus. The downside to touring right away is the fact that I haven't showered or brushed my teeth ... I know, disgusting. So, you'll have to forgive the pictures - i look pretty nasty ... no makeup and greasy hair.

OK, so they took our luggage to the hotel and we began our day in China. Jerry (who refers to us as "Jerry's Kids") is a wealth of knowledge and a great teacher. He explained that Beijing is Mandarin. It is actually two words - Bei, meaning North and Jing, meaning capital. That makes so much sense since it is the capital of China. It was previously named Peking which is Cantonese.

Our first stop this morning was Tiian'an Men Square. It is HUGE and full of people. I was expecting to see so many people since the population of Beijing is 14 million, but I think there were more people at the square than normal today. Apparently (if you want to wait in line for three hours) you can go see Mao Zedong's preserved body.

Walking the square was interesting. And seeing the people was interesting too, but I think they were just as interested in us as we are in them. At one point I had a teenage girl walk up to me and take my picture - very odd. And of course, there are tons of people trying to sell you items like postcards, books, hats and gloves. It's pretty cold, so people actually do purchase these items.

After walking through the square we made our way to the Forbidden City. It is unbelievable. The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty during the 1400s. It is over 70 acres ... very large and expansive. What really struck me was the detail that is put into everything - from the carving on marble stairs to the painting on the eaves (for lack of a better word) it is impressive. And there is so much attention to what they call ying and yang. In ancient times odd numbers like 1, 3,5, 7, and 9 were considered to be good fortune. So you see this reflected in the art and architecture of the palaces. For instance on one of the roofs there are five dragons. Also on the massive gate doors there are 81 (9 times 9 is 81) gold decorative pieces.

Walking through the outer court takes much longer than you would anticipate. I tried to picture what it would be like to walk through those courts during ancient times. If it is magnificent today I'm sure it was even more remarkable and breathtaking during those times.

After completing our tour of the forbidden city (which was no longer forbidden after the collapse of the emperor system of governing in 1925) we took a bus to a restaurant for lunch. The place we ate (and I don't know the name of it - or even the majority of what I ate) was beautiful. We ate traditional Chinese style - nine of us sat around a table and food was brought to us on a lazy susan. We picked the food we wanted to eat. I can't even tell what it was, except for the rice! But it was good. Our tour guide said it was Cantonese cuisine. So I suppose I like cantonese. We had tea and beer with our meal. Very interesting and both were good.

I did learn a new skill - how to eat with chopsticks. I started the meal using a fork but decided to learn something new ... After a little practice it is actually easy for me.

After lunch they took us to the hotel - the Great Wall Sheraton. Terri and I checked in, figured out our electric converter, BRUSHED OUR TEETH, showered, and now I'm blogging! We're suppose to meet the tour guide at 5 p.m. in the lobby where he will take us for a Peking Duck dinner. I think I'm going to walk around the hotel and see what's out there since we have a little time.

OH, and I forgot to mention ... we are with a wonderful group of people from the Santa Ana Chamber ... I'll write more about them later. We've been enjoying our time together and I think I've made some wonderful new friends.

Bye for now ... More to come later - OH and we go to the Great Wall tomorrow. I can't wait!