Beijing
Ni Hao!
Today we spent the majority of the day at The Forbidden City with a visit after lunch to the Temple of Heaven. First we started out in Tienanmen Square,
site of the infamous uprising. It was Sunday and most people were families strolling about taking pictures of each other. One of the members of our group who is black told me of how a family from the Outer Provinces came up to her smiling, touching her skin and asking to take her picture with them; they had never seen a black person before. All the woman could do was laugh, it was so weird. Then it was inside to the famed Forbidden City. Bigger than two Disneyland's put together, it really brought the film "The Last Emperor" to life (go rent it if you haven't seen it; great film). 
Outer wall, followed by an inner wall, followed by an inner palace, followed by an inner courtyard, it was enormous. We walked for hours and finally came out the other side just before lunch.And today we finally had our first Chinese meal. 
Lunch was like a great Chinese meal in Downtown LA. Dinner was another matter. Two words - Beijing Duck. And if you weren't a fan of duck (watching it brought out with the head intact and then being sliced up with the eyeballs staring at you didn't help) , you were out of luck because there was no alternative for us non duck eaters. I did try it but it was no go. It tasted like very gamey, greasy dark meat chicken. I tried to find an edible vegetable but the rest of the meal was pork or unidentified meat (the waiters spoke NO English). After much quiet protesting on my part, I finally got my dinner - white rice. Ah well, not every meal can be perfect. That's what I brought Lara Bars for. Bon Appetit, Jack! I guess I can fill up on breakfast tomorrow.
Tomorrow is Monday and we're off to The Great Wall at Badaling.
Jackie Chan & The Jasons
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